The deafness made perfect sense. We see the special bond they share and how much Sam is dependent on his brother and how much Henry likes to have Sam be included in the conversation. It’s interesting to see how people are experiencing this horrible world through their perspective.
you forgot to mention that if sam wasn't deaf he would have attached ellie right when she called his name, him not attacking immediately makes us think that it actually worked when in reality hes just deaf
@@brianachim2670 idk if this counts but in the game there are a number of infected who don’t roam around and stand idle so I think it’s partly that. Not sure though
The deaf choice shows the extra dependence sam has on Henry, When shooting happens or something bad happens he looks at Henry to be able to understand what's going on. I think it added a lot to the story in my opinion.
The leukemia and deafness added quality in my opinion. The small moments add up, and I appreciate the character building and the effort the put into the minute details. Now if only the could focus on Joel and Ellie 😭😂
I think giving Sam Leukemia was a pretty strong motivation for someone to turn on such a “good” leader as Henry put it. He needs those meds way more than food.
Exactly, it also plays into the whole theme of trading Kathleen's brother's life for Sam's life, and hightens the dynamic between Henry and Kathleen. It really shows how in this world there aren't really any right choices to make. Everyone's in between a rock and a hard place essentially.
To me this has been a perfect adaptation, there’s some moments that I was bummed won’t be done in the show but every cut has been to make the show better.
Despite the cracks in the armor, Episode 5 has been my favorite so far. I knew how Henry and Sam's story would end from the game, and it shook me so much more in this version. Lamar and Keivonn crushed it as the brothers, but I owe a lot to Bella's performance too. It's gonna make it hard to watch again (I also work in a children's hospital and made the mistake of watching this after a hard day), but this is one that's definitely gonna stick with me.
I actually like that the Sam being deaf was only used in the last scene and wasn't used as a tool to help them get out of the city. And Henry making sure that Sam was included in the conversation was such an affirming moment and I love Joel is getting all these glimpses into what it will me to care for Ellie. Since Sarah died before things went way bad, Joel has been closed off. It also shows how Ellie and Joel are beginning to work together to survive.
They made Sam deaf because they wanted to tell the story differently from the game. Neil got mad at that change because he didn't think about doing it in the game.
From a filming perspective, being part of organizing and choreographing the big attack at the end with the Bloater, with all those individual moving parts of the military guys and the infected with all those action background shots seems absolutely crazy to me in a fun way. idk if that makes sense but i hope it does lol
Actually since Sam is deaf that’s the reason he was sitting by the window as an infected, since he didn’t hear anything he just sat there until someone disturbed him
i heard somebody say that since he knew he was deaf and that he’s turn, he purposely faced the window so he wouldn’t attack ellie when turned, even if she made any noise.
Gotta say I completely disagree about the whole take on Sam's disabilities. Having Sam be deaf adds to the level of difficulty in protecting him. And gives Ellie someone to take care of. Having him with Leukemia is only not believable when it comes to the diagnosis and the ability to get meds. We're dealing with 2003 meds. Not super great at curing Leukemia. And It isn't diagnosed super easy without decent medical equipment as far as I know. That said, Having Henry rat out Kathleen's brother for some food or something just wouldn't play well. Especially if you want Michael to feel like a significant character to Kathleen and to give Henry a serious dilemma moral dilemma.
Spoilers My only problem was kathleen, i dont know her brother so i personally dont care about her revenge story and it just came across as "meh" but i understand what obsession does because ive played P2 but here it felt weak, whereas abby motivation and obsession i felt much more connected to it because i was in the middle of it and felt the same way when playing as ellie. Kathleen felt a little bit undercooked, but her purpose is to foreshadow P2.
3:07 not sure if you listen to the show's companion podcast with Troy Baker. Neil & Craig explain their decision to cast Sam as a bit younger than the game and deaf. Essentially, they felt that Sam not being deaf, would be almost a carbon copy of Joel and Ellie's dynamic. And that makes sense, and for me, it worked very well.
For me even though sam being deaf is a small inclusion, it made me as a player of the game think things could be different. I felt sam and henry had to die to carry on the story, but for some reason, this time, i felt they wouldn't due to the fact sam was deaf, so when it all came full circle it hit me all over again just like the game did.
I prefer the savage hunters from the game. Cause this group we got is essentially the WLF 2.0 from part 2. Same thing they even kicked out Fedra from there city like a resistance. Not everything needs to be humanized lol but it's fine. I get what they were trying to do in terms of foreshadowing
I believe the writers made sam death because wanted to show how dependent sam was on Henry. So when Henry lost sam, he lost himself and that's why he committed sewer side. Ive played the games and I feel like the show made sam and Henry deaths more impactful for the audience.
They made the change to Sam because if they had remained the same, their scenes without Ellie and Joel present would have come off as too similar of a dynamic and possibly even stale. I like the change - it works better for what the show wanted to do, while the game works for what that tried to do. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other.
OMG lamar used to act in a disney channel show called the next step i used to watch it ALL the fucking time i am so excited to watch these episodes great video too
Actually, I thought Sam's deafness did add a lot, especially when he got infected. Its made quite clear Infected are blind, and with Sam's lack of hearing, adding loss of sight to that...? Oh boy.... Also, the actor who played Sam is deaf irl.
the directors literally explained WHY they made sam deaf, in the FREE PODCAST. maybe listen to them before doing reviews. makes sense youre playin the wizard game too.
My issue with the character of Kathleen was... hard to articulate. Either the writing was poor for the actor's tone, or her tone didn't fit her arc... idk she's the only character who FELT like an actress playing a role instead of JUST the character. Still loving the show, and this is a pretty minor gripe, I just didn't feel it from her [and ftr I've loved her in other roles, she just didn't sell it to me here idk]
Gotta hard disagree on parts of this review - I thought the deafness added a fair bit to Sam's character and explaining Henrys over-the-top need to protect him - there's no way you can survive by yourself with a disability like that anymore. Also, I thought Kathleen and her survivors felt rushed, one dimensional, and had the acting talent of extras getting too much screen time. I agree on the sewers and the little backstories/worldbuilding you mentioned were fantastic. Love it. The ending of Ep5, while a nice nod to the game, had so many holes. (though the sniper turning out to be an old man was great, and explained a lot) Why was the initial tunnel clear, but the infected were shown later to _still_ be underground? They made a TON of noise in the daycare, stayed for half a day, and didn't even see a sign of fungus. So was there a _secondary_ tunnel leading all the way to a single story home out in the suburbs? Theres so many reasons why that doesnt work. Even supposing its true: did no one who had lived in the city before know about it, not even FEDRA? Or did the infected just dig a new tunnel? If the answer is 'the infected can dig' then how are they just digging out now? There has been huge car crashes, riots, explosions, all prior to this, and the infected didn't dig out over the last few years/decade? It was impressive from a visual and technical standpoint, but story wise just felt contrived for the sake of having some big booms and fires to kill off the single episode worth of Kathleen&co extras.
I`m loving every second of this show, i love the games so much as well and so impressed how they have adapted the games. I hope what they do with the ending of the show is exactly like the games where you feel conflicted at the end. When i played the ending of the first game i felt at the time i wouldve done the same thing if i was in Joel`s boots and then when the credits ran i started to question the morality of such actions. I hope the show can do that to the people that have never played the games.
One of the reasons the writers gay for making Sam death was that if he wasn't the conversations between himself and Henry will have the same feeling of the conversations between Ellie and Joel and would feel a little repetitive. This way, the two brothers literally have their own language.
shows been good so far. i think the only think that disappointed me is the lack of the bill and ellie dynamic. i think they’re going to add that dynamic somewhere else though, like maybe with tommy?????
Thank you very much for the spoiler warning for those of us who haven’t played the game. Very thoughtful of you unlike some other YT vids. I was able to politely exit the conversation at 12:24 😊
2X1 TWD when Rick grabs Sophia and she wants to shoot the walkers Rick says no because their would be hundreds of them not 2. Rick has such smart thinking early on in the apocalypse
I think season 5 was much more tragic than season 3. So far every episode has been fantastic. I started playing the game on PS3 and it's very good too.
I have the exact same doubts with show Joel, he isnt as closed off and badass as game Joel at all. Instead of avoiding his emotions he seems really tormented by them. If anything, Ellie seems more like the badass and kinda like a psychopath to be honest (the way she played with the infected in ep3 and how happy she was after getting a gun eventhough she just shot someone with it in ep4). All of this really makes me curious about how they are gonna handle the ending and season 2. I feel like its gotta be quite different from the game
While I agree that between the writing an Pedro's performance Joel does come across softer and more compassionate in the show, I really don't see that having a negative effect on the impact of his choice in the end. To me, the ending was never about him doing what he does because "he's a hardened badass who doesn't care about anyone" - in fact, quite the opposite: if he were still the hardened badass who didn't care, he WOULD have let Ellie die! His drive to save her at any cost comes FROM the humanity she's helped him regain by that point, not any lack of humanity. Not that we're meant to walk away from the ending going "yeah, he 100% did the right thing", because obviously he commits a massacre and deprives the world of, if not a definite cure, then the only known potential for one that it has. And in doing so massively betrays Ellie's trust as well. So yeah, it's selfish and brutal and a "bad guy thing" to do... but I don't personally believe the story has ever taken Henry's stance that doing a bad guy thing makes someone the bad guy. The whole point of the story, imo, is about how just about anyone will do "the bad guy thing" if that's what it takes to save the person they love most in the world. And that can have awful, tragic consequences, no doubt about it - love conquering all is not always a good thing - but it's a deeply *human* thing. So it's not about Joel "being the villain, actually", or him lacking in any capacity for compassion. It never was. It's about him being imminently faced with another loss he knows would well and truly crush his soul beyond repair, and for once he has the power to stop it, so he does. At devastating cost to those caught in the crossfire. Just like Henry, who was also a compassionate and loving person.
I'm dyslexic. This episode had WAAAAYYYY too many subtitles for my taste. I can read fine. It's just tiring for me to do. I hated that they made Sam deft in the show. My blind step-dad is gunna have a LOT of trouble with the subs, too. That being said, I wouldn't have minded him being deft in the game. They could have used that for stealth communications and had our characters learn a few signs from them that we could then use to do the same. It could have been a fun addition, similarly to the scars whistles in part 2. It still would alienate some players, but potentially not as much as it would in the show like this. **If Sam was deft in the game, this episode would have been near perfect despite the extremely aggravating subtitles.
@@ignasias Yeah they've said they don't want to go beyond the story the games have already told, but they might stretch things out or change them to fit a television medium.
I gotta say as a hard of hearing man I find these haphazard inclusions a bit weird. I don’t need to see my exact situation on screen to relate to the characters. Just tell a good story please.
if they’re splitting part 2 into two seasons, i think they’re going to make season 2 more about joel and ellie and i think they’ll probably have him die towards the end or even the third season. i hope that’s the approach they take because i yearn so hardcore for more joel and ellie content
The problem is even with the actual game a lot of people still sided with Joel so I thinks it’s inevitable that people won’t see Joel as wrong even tho he’s a terrible person for what he does
I don't think he's a terrible person because he chooses to save Ellie. Yes, killing a bunch of people to do it is fucked up, but they were trying to kill him so it could be interpreted as self defense. Also, if Joel knew ahead of time the Fireflies plan was to kill Ellie to create a vaccine, he never would have brought her there to begin with. And, although many people think it is appropriate to sacrifice the few to save the many, that is not a universal truth. For example, if one is trying to become a police officer, this question is asked, and if one answers that "Yes, it is okay to sacrifice the few to save the many," they will not be hired.
There is just no way that a deaf person will survive an apocalypse, zombie, viral or otherwise. I rejected Connie on TWD just for that reason. Her sister was a fine character because she started out hearing and still had partial hearing at the end. I simply cannot suspend my disbelief enough to allow for a deaf survivor in these apocalyptic shows. And forget about wheelchair-bound characters, too.
he didn't survive the apocalypse. he was born after the apocalypse, survived for barely over a decade only thanks to being protected by an older brother in a human shelter, then turned into a zombie and died. you are confusing disabled people *existing* during (or after) an apocalypse with them surviving it. but if people are still having able-bodied children, then it's not like disabled people will stop being born either, just because the world is more hostile than ever.
Dude I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about sam being deaf. I keep getting told I'm wrong and its not tokenisric or forced but let's be real yes it is. There was absolutely no reason to make him deaf. It just made it more annoying and dragged out his moments and made me have to lean toward and squint hard to see what he was writing (my eyes are really bad). If they wanted to have representation use a new character dont change what wasn't broken. This is probably the first thing I actually disliked from the show changes so far. I mean I hated the time spent on Kathleen but I wasn't really mad about it but with this one I just said like ok enough is enough. We don't need to have something new and changed completely in every God damn episode. Also let's be honest dude a deaf person would not make it in the last of us world. I can excuse it since he's a child and has been protected but seriously I think they can get away with not having deaf representation in a world such as last kf us.
Imagine making someone feel bad for the games they choose to play. Separate the art from the artist Rox. Everyday you buy, use or play something that a shitty person had a hand in making. Just gotta accept that and do what you enjoy.
Targeted boycotting of a product has never and will never be proper activism. You’re not going to stop someone who has wanted to be a wizard since they were a little kid from playing a game that gives them that feeling. If you have ever used twitter, eaten Nestle products, bought anything disney, or MANY MORE THINGS you are just as “guilty” as anyone who plays hogwarts legacy.
What issues exactly are you talking about? That JK Rowling is a shitty person? As the other commenters said, this is true for basically every mass produced item, including the app and device you used to watch this video, type your comment, the email address you need to set those things up, etc etc.
