HBO: The Last of Us

[Asta]

I thought the Bill and Frank story was too self-indulgent since it was largely extraneous, evident by it's diversion from how things ended between them in the game, wherein Frank's suicide note said he "hated" Bill:

"Well, Bill. I doubt you'd ever find this note cause you were too scared to ever make it to this part of town. But if for some reason you did, I want you to know I hated your guts. I grew tired of this ****** town and of your set-in-your-ways attitude. I wanted more from life than this and you could never get that. And that stupid battery you kept moaning about - - I got it. But I guess you were right. Trying to leave this town will kill me. Still better than spending another day with you. Good luck, Frank."


Felt like it was a story they wanted to tell, so amended it to shoehorn into the episode. It was the equivalent of going into an empty house and finding a random suicide note. As a player you have the choice to pick it up and read it all, or just scan it for useful information so as not to delay your progress any more than necessary. I found a lot of the later Bill and Frank scenes as an interruption to the main event, and supplanted what could've been a more interesting sequence if it had played out closer to the original.

 

[greygoose]

Bill is an important character

An important character who is in just one episode?

Before the gamers come at me, I can understand why this episode is highly regarded. However, as a non-gamer it felt so random and filler. Definitely an episode for the gamers and not the general audience.

 

[Asta]

An important character who is in just one episode?
Before the gamers come at me, I can understand why this episode is highly regarded. However, as a non-gamer it felt so random and filler. Definitely an episode for the gamers and not the general audience.

He didn't die in the game, yet for the show they chose to have him dead before Joel and Ellie arrive. Thereby depriving the audience of the action and interaction of those scenes.

It's the first time in the series that I've thought something felt really off. The Bill and Frank parts would've been more at home as a flashback in Station Eleven.

 

[choombaz]

An important character who is in just one episode?

He didn't die in the game, yet for the show they chose to have him dead before Joel and Ellie arrive. Thereby depriving the audience of the action and interaction of those scenes.

It's the first time in the series that I've thought something felt really off. The Bill and Frank parts would've been more at home as a flashback in Station Eleven.

Having the episode play out in the way it did made sense to me and they gave Bill his own life beyond his relationship with Joel and Tess and the ending was the only one that made sense to me given the circumstances. The whole episode just seemed to reinforce the idea of someone completely closed off to everything and everyone and then finding through a relationship with another person that there is much more to life and seems consistent with the themes of the game and the show.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Gutted they didn't adapt Bill's town. Was looking forward to the upside down ****y trap, high-school and pushing the truck.

 

[Asta]

Gutted they didn't adapt Bill's town. Was looking forward to the upside down ****y trap, high-school and pushing the truck.

That's where I was hoping it was going to go once Bill was introduced, but the flashback went on, and on. And then he's dead before Joel and Ellie get there.

It was well written and well acted, but felt like it was adapted from an unused sequence from another series, such as Station Eleven. I understand they want to do things differently in the show, but it seemed like a missed opportunity.

 

[Sidewinder]

The writers took a risk with this storyline and good on them. It didn't take long to root out all the Facebook homophones, that's for sure.

They did a great job at creating depth for the Bill character and writing a story for Frank, who was not even alive during the game. I really love what they are doing with the show. They needed to expand the storyline otherise it would be pretty basic.

 

[chrisstbh]

Wow! From Vimal Kerketta:

Pedro Pascal as Joel ( Last of Us)​

"The Last of us" is one of my favorite game, and really love Pedro Pascal's take on Joel. Will take the sculpt in unreal and make the final Game res model. Will redo the skin and clothing for realtime. Recorded timelapse for face and Hair, Will post that as well in the post. Hope you guys like it. Sculpted and Rendered in Zbrush.

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Why couldn't we get this from HT for their Mando figure?

 

[greygoose]

The writers took a risk with this storyline and good on them. It didn't take long to root out all the Facebook homophones, that's for sure.

People should be more worried about the fact that Frank literally turns up and demands Bill take a shower before he's pressured into having sex. This is what stuck out to me - unless I'm missing something and this scene wasn't as sudden.

 

[chrisstbh]

People should be more worried about the fact that Frank literally turns up and demands Bill take a shower before he's pressured into having sex. This is what stuck out to me - unless I'm missing something and this scene wasn't as sudden.

Frank was manipulative from the start right until the end.

“Do you love me?… Then love me the way I want you to” whilst asking him to euthanise him, yikes.

 

[R_R_X]

I thought the Bill and Frank story was too self-indulgent since it was largely extraneous, evident by it's diversion from how things ended between them in the game, wherein Frank's suicide note said he "hated" Bill:

"Well, Bill. I doubt you'd ever find this note cause you were too scared to ever make it to this part of town. But if for some reason you did, I want you to know I hated your guts. I grew tired of this ****** town and of your set-in-your-ways attitude. I wanted more from life than this and you could never get that. And that stupid battery you kept moaning about - - I got it. But I guess you were right. Trying to leave this town will kill me. Still better than spending another day with you. Good luck, Frank."


Felt like it was a story they wanted to tell, so amended it to shoehorn into the episode. It was the equivalent of going into an empty house and finding a random suicide note. As a player you have the choice to pick it up and read it all, or just scan it for useful information so as not to delay your progress any more than necessary. I found a lot of the later Bill and Frank scenes as an interruption to the main event, and supplanted what could've been a more interesting sequence if it had played out closer to the original.

He didn't die in the game, yet for the show they chose to have him dead before Joel and Ellie arrive. Thereby depriving the audience of the action and interaction of those scenes.

It's the first time in the series that I've thought something felt really off. The Bill and Frank parts would've been more at home as a flashback in Station Eleven.

That's where I was hoping it was going to go once Bill was introduced, but the flashback went on, and on. And then he's dead before Joel and Ellie get there.

It was well written and well acted, but felt like it was adapted from an unused sequence from another series, such as Station Eleven. I understand they want to do things differently in the show, but it seemed like a missed opportunity.

I agree with all this.

Yes the love story was well done but having an entire episode dedicated to it and not even have Bill meet Ellie felt like a waste, I knew they were going to change things up but Bill's town and his interactions with Joel and Ellie are some of the best parts in the game and it's sad to see all of it was cut.

A good compromise would've been Frank passing away and Joel and Ellie arriving to Bill reinforcing his town, putting up walls figuratively and literally while he's still grieving and then have him interact with Joel and Ellie a bit at the end of the episode but I think the writers didn't want to write another tragic gay story and that's why they didn't even consider telling their love story (if you can even call it that) from the game and to be honest while the show love story could be considered sad I felt more happy for them than anything, in my opinion the moments that will take place in future seasons and characters Like Henry and Sam resonated with me much deeply and actually destroyed me.

And before I get called a homophobe I think It's awesome that gay men can have this type of representation with such high caliber and that Bill and Frank have a "happy" ending and not a tragic or bitter one like the majority of gay stories and TLOU characters get but at a certain point I also felt like I was watching a different show or movie, not only did it feel like Bill and Frank lived in a fairy tale compared to the rest of the world but if you take out the scenes with Joel and Ellie and this could easily be viewed as a romance flick set in an apocalyptic scenario and not an episode of a show about a highly infectious brain fungus that left the world a hellhole filled with nightmarish creatures and death at every turn.

 

[R_R_X]

People should be more worried about the fact that Frank literally turns up and demands Bill take a shower before he's pressured into having sex. This is what stuck out to me - unless I'm missing something and this scene wasn't as sudden.

I agree they fell in love waaaay too fast especially with a hermit paranoid character like Bill, would've felt more organic if we saw Bill slowly drop his guard in a montage with Frank helping him out and then have the piano scene happen.

 

[The Buffinator]

Eating steak every night will do that to you too.

Sadly, its my favorite meal. After ribs.

They had chicken too . But seemed like they loved the steak

Steak? I think that was only in the beginning. Pretty sure they didn't raise cattle in there. I thought they ate a lot of rabbit.

 

[greygoose]

Frank was manipulative from the start right until the end.

“Do you love me?… Then love me the way I want you to” whilst asking him to euthanise him, yikes.

I agree they fell in love waaaay too fast especially with a hermit paranoid character like Bill, would've felt more organic if we saw Bill slowly drop his guard in a montage with Frank helping him out and then have the piano scene happen.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to feel this way.

 

[ScoutingForToys]

It was well written and acted but also felt a bit pointless. They were both gone by the time Ellie and Joel arrive and play no part in the overall story other than a note directing Joel to supplies and giving him a key for the truck.
They could have just been replaced with the note.
Interesting to read how different this was in the game.
Someone said Bill was an important character but from the perspective of someone who has only seen the show, I have to ask why?
I understand if he's important in the game but in the show, his impact on the story could have been done by the note he left.

Frank being manipulative. Yeah I didn't like Frank. I was convinced for a good long while that Frank was going to betray Bill. Maybe he was a mole sent in by Raiders or something. Or was only with Bill for his food and shelter.
Oh well. At least he made Bill happy.

 

[Ryokosama]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to feel this way.

Me too! So glad to finally see some comments about this in here.

We watched it last night and all I was thinking during the piano scene was wow, this guy pretty much manipulated his way into this household and I don't think a paranoid guy like Bill would turn his back on him at any point so early on. The scene was going on for so long that I was genuinely starting to think they were going to throw a curve ball and have this version of Frank hit Bill over the head during the song, then try to raid his possessions or something. Instead, he did the whole "Take a shower" thing, which made me feel so uncomfortable due to the pressurized way it was done and Bill's fantastic acting.

I was also bothered by him nonchalantly trading Bill's things without asking him. Also, as an introvert myself, I was furious when he invited people over, haha.
I was particularly irked by all the demands he was laying out prior to the end. "First you'll do this, then this, then this. You love me, therefore you'll experience this heartbreaking process of my passing the way I want you to experience it".

My Facebook feed is filled with people saying how wonderful, emotional and romantic the episode was, but it left me feeling like Bill was someone who was manipulated into sharing his lifestyle with someone who did not even come across as a particularly likeable, kind soul.

I think this would have been so, so much better had, as R_R_X has already said, the relationship slowly progressed and the trust been built. They literally skipped the entire trust building part, skipped all of the parts that involve Joel and Ellie, but still somehow managed to fill a full hour.

And unrelated to the relationship, but my God did Bill look ridiculous standing right in the middle of the street shooting at people. All that incredible preparation and he stands out there as a fully illuminated target.

 

[Space Jockey]

I get the impression that Bill in the game is the Bill we see on the show a couple of years later had he not drank the wine with Frank.

 

[darthviper107]

In the game, this section is largely just gameplay which doesn't do much for the story, so they wanted to expand on it,

 

[greygoose]

Me too! So glad to finally see some comments about this in here.

We watched it last night and all I was thinking during the piano scene was wow, this guy pretty much manipulated his way into this household and I don't think a paranoid guy like Bill would turn his back on him at any point so early on. The scene was going on for so long that I was genuinely starting to think they were going to throw a curve ball and have this version of Frank hit Bill over the head during the song, then try to raid his possessions or something. Instead, he did the whole "Take a shower" thing, which made me feel so uncomfortable due to the pressurized way it was done and Bill's fantastic acting.

I was also bothered by him nonchalantly trading Bill's things without asking him. Also, as an introvert myself, I was furious when he invited people over, haha.
I was particularly irked by all the demands he was laying out prior to the end. "First you'll do this, then this, then this. You love me, therefore you'll experience this heartbreaking process of my passing the way I want you to experience it".

My Facebook feed is filled with people saying how wonderful, emotional and romantic the episode was, but it left me feeling like Bill was someone who was manipulated into sharing his lifestyle with someone who did not even come across as a particularly likeable, kind soul.

I think this would have been so, so much better had, as R_R_X has already said, the relationship slowly progressed and the trust been built. They literally skipped the entire trust building part, skipped all of the parts that involve Joel and Ellie, but still somehow managed to fill a full hour.

And unrelated to the relationship, but my God did Bill look ridiculous standing right in the middle of the street shooting at people. All that incredible preparation and he stands out there as a fully illuminated target.

Well said. I feel because they were both men it has been overlooked. Imagine if Frank had done that to a woman. "Hey, thanks for the nice food but now it's time for you to get a shower before we have sex".

 

[Wor-Gar]

Steak? I think that was only in the beginning. Pretty sure they didn't raise cattle in there. I thought they ate a lot of rabbit.

It's people! Their meals are people!!!