HBO: The Last of Us

[𝘨⃨𝘭⃨𝘪⃨𝘵⃨𝘤⃨𝘩⃨10ᔦᔦ]

I hope they continue to show events that didn’t happen in the game and certain segments that expand the lore. The last of us lore is still rather mysterious.
Also seeing alot of people talking about that ending scene. While it was weird it’s not a big deal. The game kinda covered it better tho.
What’s next? Bills town and school I think? Wonder how they’ll adapt that.

I wouldn't mind as extra episode showing what Tommy was up to during those 20 years. As a Desert Storm Vet, he must have been kicking some serious a** to make it through the outbreak years.

 

[Jay Virtual]

The spores being replaced has no real impact on the story at all and if that’s someones biggest complaint then I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job so far.

Personally, I think the reason they discarded the spores was because they didn't want their actors to be wearing gas masks in most of the intense/infected encounter scenes which would severely limit their facial expressions and after watching EP2, I agree.

 

[chrisstbh]

I wouldn't mind as extra episode showing what Tommy was up to during those 20 years. As a Desert Storm Vet, he must have been kicking some serious a** to make it through the outbreak years.

We need to see how he gets that brain injury in Part II before he

Spoiler

reveals all of his and Joels personal info to a gang of strangers.

 

[𝘨⃨𝘭⃨𝘪⃨𝘵⃨𝘤⃨𝘩⃨10ᔦᔦ]

We need to see how he gets that brain injury in Part II before he

Spoiler

reveals all of his and Joels personal info to a gang of strangers.

Well, according to Operation Desert Storm documents, brain scans on ODS patients showed them having shrapnel fragments in their brains - which they never removed.
So you could be onto something there. Poor fellow might literally have TBI, which can cause serious memory issues (among many other things). lol

 

[KitbashOfficer]

I wouldn't mind as extra episode showing what Tommy was up to during those 20 years. As a Desert Storm Vet, he must have been kicking some serious a** to make it through the outbreak years.

I was thinking this very same thing the last couple of days. Otherwise, I'm not sure how they're going to "fill up" this series with only 2 games worth of story available. Opportunity to give more backstory to characters.

 

[R_R_X]

I wouldn't mind as extra episode showing what Tommy was up to during those 20 years. As a Desert Storm Vet, he must have been kicking some serious a** to make it through the outbreak years.

I always wanted a DLC of where you play as Tommy during the 20 years where the world fell apart, seeing what Joel does so they can survive, them meeting Tess and the fireflies to their eventual estrangement and how it happened, there's a so much potential in a game like that that it's a shame it's not being seriously considered by Naughty Dog so I hope we get to see it on the show.

 

[R_R_X]

The show will almost certainly still be running and broadcasting by November 2024.

We are all still in a world wide pandemic. There have been a lot of casualties, scandals, controversy and division over all kinds of issues stemming from it. I can see HBO erroring on the side of caution here. There are certain storylines and certain themes they want to avoid, i.e. to not alienate some large segment of their potential audience.

The majority of Hollywood, at least those outspoken, lean in one specific direction. Making TLOU1 in line with the game doesn't help their cause or desired outcomes. It just doesn't.

I also believe HBO is looking at The Mandalorian and off camera controversies there. Including some with Pedro Pascal. His role in Wonder Woman 1984 was also polarizing to a large potential segment of the general viewing audience.

Everything offends everyone nearly all the time now. HBO wants lots of viewers and to make lots of money. They have to toe a certain line with themes and plotlines that push a little too close to real life.

What HBO does not want is TLOU turning into a referendum on what has happened in the past four years, particularly the last two, that every day Americans just can't avoid.

Look at how I'm threading the needle here. Because even skirting the issue, even if it's relevant to the show, I still am bracing myself and am expected to be attacked by someone. We have been conditioned to expected to be gaslit, canceled, shamed and attacked all the time now. It's the new normal. It's why HBO would rather take the tone of TLOU and make it as vanilla as possible. Someone, somewhere, is going to pissed out of their mind about something, and it's going to cost them money.

Put yourself as an executive anywhere right now in film and TV production. Could be HBO, could be AMC, could be Paramount, could be anything. If you say the wrong thing, just once, even if you say something that would normally have been seen as innocuous maybe 10 years ago, now you have to think about people digging in your entire life. Seeing if you said something in a high school term paper back in 1984 that could get your career set on fire today.

Could HBO make The Sopranos today? *** And The City? The Wire?

I finished episode 7 last night. At some level, I can't blame HBO and Craig Mazin for toeing a certain line. At the end of the day, they just want to put food on the table for their kids like everyone else.

The toned down elements of TLOU is a lagging indictor of a larger complex issue within the entire industry but also reflecting on the way things are being treated and handled in our entire modern culture. I agree with anyone here who says, "Just tell a damn good story and focus on telling the best story possible above all else" I wholeheartedly agree with that. But it's not what we have now. TLOU is tailored to not offend those who are offended by everything. If that sounds pretty stupid, well, it is pretty stupid. What has happened to modern entertainment is the byproduct of lots of stupid people having a very large immediate platform.

Do you mind me asking how you're already on episode 7? Are you a reviewer or just friends with one?

 

[R_R_X]

29 minutes in they explain what the kiss was about.... I want whatever the hell they're smoking!

 

[R_R_X]

I hope they continue to show events that didn’t happen in the game and certain segments that expand the lore. The last of us lore is still rather mysterious.
Also seeing alot of people talking about that ending scene. While it was weird it’s not a big deal. The game kinda covered it better tho.
What’s next? Bills town and school I think? Wonder how they’ll adapt that.

Next episode is apparently mostly focused on Bill and his partner/lover Frank, they've already said it will deviate greatly from the games tho so a lot of people might not like the new direction they take, guess we'll see I hope they don't go too overboard with the changes because Bill's town and his interactions with Joel and Ellie were some of the best parts of the game and also had some of the most intense gameplay moments/settings with the trap and overrun school.

 

[chrisstbh]

It’s going to be the same overall story, just with some changes/additions, I see no issue with it. The game exists, it’s not going anywhere and this show won’t ruin it. Just gotta accept this is it’s own thing. I dunno why people ever want 1:1 adaptations anyway.

You don’t have to be 100% accurate to the source material to be respectful of it.

 

[darthviper107]

I can see why they would change a lot about the Bill segment from the game, since there's more to do with gameplay rather than story.

 

[ironwez20]

Do you mind me asking how you're already on episode 7? Are you a reviewer or just friends with one?

I don’t think he’s going to answer the question. I already asked twice lol

 

[Rayman]

I don’t think he’s going to answer the question. I already asked twice lol

That’s just because time travel takes…time to…travel? Back. Just give him some…time. Yeah, I’m ok with this sentence, seems right.

Don’t tell me there’s a hole in my story because he said what he said a few days back according to the forum’s date, or I’ll Nolan the heck out of ya’ll.

 

[𝘨⃨𝘭⃨𝘪⃨𝘵⃨𝘤⃨𝘩⃨10ᔦᔦ]

I always wanted a DLC of where you play as Tommy during the 20 years where the world fell apart, seeing what Joel does so they can survive, them meeting Tess and the fireflies to their eventual estrangement and how it happened, there's a so much potential in a game like that that it's a shame it's not being seriously considered by Naughty Dog so I hope we get to see it on the show.

My brother and I have talked about that many times. DLC or even just a full prequel game where you play as a younger Joel and Tommy during the early years with the Fireflies. Joel was already in a pretty dark place when he meets Ellie, so it would be very interesting to see what him and Tommy went through after Sarah's death. There's a lot of story potential there. I wish Naughty Dog would get a separate studio to work on a prequel, since Druckmann will most likely be continuing the Abby/Ellie story for Part III (probably some kind of redemption story).

29 minutes in they explain what the kiss was about.... I want whatever the hell they're smoking!

I wish I could've seen their faces during that interview. Theres no way they were serious about that?

 

[Rayman]

29 minutes in they explain what the kiss was about.... I want whatever the hell they're smoking!

Awesome, hadn’t heard it but it’s related to what I was explaining a few posts back. It may be a little over the top, and I’m guessing most people won’t get it, but I do find the intention behind the scene really interesting. It does give a lot to think and talk about imo.

The only reason I guessed their intention though was because I analyze differences with the game more than anything else, to try to understand why they chose to change this or that. I don’t think a first time viewer, specially at this point in time through the series, would think “oh right that’s a juxtaposition of the horrible of the being and the beauty of the moment”. Still… nice. Some things have to be there for a second view, or in this case for those of us who played the game too.

I hope they keep on consuming whatever they consume. I’m guessing it’s no smoke though, rather… you know… Their experts on fungi and stuff. Isn’t it obvious?

 

[e30ernest]

After watching all this... I have a craving for...

 

[R_R_X]

Awesome, hadn’t heard it but it’s related to what I was explaining a few posts back. It may be a little over the top, and I’m guessing most people won’t get it, but I do find the intention behind the scene really interesting. It does give a lot to think and talk about imo.

The only reason I guessed their intention though was because I analyze differences with the game more than anything else, to try to understand why they chose to change this or that. I don’t think a first time viewer, specially at this point in time through the series, would think “oh right that’s a juxtaposition of the horrible of the being and the beauty of the moment”. Still… nice. Some things have to be there for a second view, or in this case for those of us who played the game too.

I hope they keep on consuming whatever they consume. I’m guessing it’s no smoke though, rather… you know… Their experts on fungi and stuff. Isn’t it obvious?

To me it just sounds pretentious and borderline creepy...

"It's underscoring, again, the theme of love and the way love functions because the fungus loves too."

"What we are may look disgusting and the way we reproduce may be horrifying and violent but it's tender, when this man comes to her it's not violent because she is not fighting, if she ran, if she fought back, they would have taken her apart but she's just standing there and he shares himself."

All of that sounds absolutely insane to me, he's basically saying the infected man is violating Tess but it's tender because she doesn't fight back and now it's underscored by the theme of love? To imply this disgusting and horrifying moment for Tess is beautiful and romantic to some extent because she doesn't fight back and lets a man "share himself" with her is both laughable and concerning, saying the fungus loves too is ridiculous considering the cordyceps works more like a rapist than a lover in my eyes taking over animals and in the ficitional world of TLOU humans to benefit itself and grow a larger network and it doesn't do it out of love but to survive just like every single living thing on the planet, I don't think anyone with a sane mind thought that moment was beautiful or romantic, interesting and disgusting way to show how the fungus is different from the game but their comments on what the scene is supposed to mean sound absolutely wack.

 

[R_R_X]

My brother and I have talked about that many times. DLC or even just a full prequel game where you play as a younger Joel and Tommy during the early years with the Fireflies. Joel was already in a pretty dark place when he meets Ellie, so it would be very interesting to see what him and Tommy went through after Sarah's death. There's a lot of story potential there. I wish Naughty Dog would get a separate studio to work on a prequel, since Druckmann will most likely be continuing the Abby/Ellie story for Part III (probably some kind of redemption story).

I wish I could've seen their faces during that interview. Theres no way they were serious about that?

A standalone prequel game similar to Lost Legacy would be great, Naughty Dog could absolutely do it since the remake wasn't even handled by Druckmann but other people I just think they probably don't think it would be interesting enough considering they're already developing the multiplayer game and Part 3, the devs probably want to move on to something different instead of making another TLOU game, with the show there's room for them to expand on those 20 years so I hope they do it even if it's just an opening of Joel and Tommy doing questionable things.

 

[Ryokosama]

29 minutes in they explain what the kiss was about.... I want whatever the hell they're smoking!

I didn't think I could feel more awkward about that scene, but then I heard them trying to explain it I cannot believe that some people in the youtube comments are trying to connect that to Tess's desperation to kiss Joel?! I feel like a person has to be a little unwell to read into it so much as to think of it as romantic in any way. I love looking into the deeper meanings of things, but certainly not in this case.

 

[jye4ever]

Fungus controls brains

Tess infected by fungus

Lack of resistance to fungus kiss explained

This isn’t rocket science