You think very well. I kept wondering why I appreciated the acting, but didn't think about it between episodes. You're right. It's hollow. They missed important opportunities. It was a reenactment of a game I've never played. Ramsey kept me returning
I’m pretty sure I saw an interview with the actress explaining why they chose the kiss for her death scene - if I’m remembering correctly, it was because she had already been infected and was already turning, but they’d also mentioned that they have this kind of hive mind consciousness, so I think the way it was described, the cordecyeps was sort of welcoming her into that mind (while she was attempting to destroy it). I think it also increases the suspense as to whether or not she’ll succeed in blowing them up. It was a definitely a choice. I also remember FEDRA being a bigger obstacle/antagonist in the game, but I agree that threat wasn’t very well communicated in the show. The David chapter from the game haunted me. I thought the entire series did justice to the game’s story. The next game will be way harder to pull off in future seasons. Great video, like your others!
I always felt (from the game) that Ellie was motivated by survivor's guilt and guilt over her own actions. She does explain it like that in the ending, and after the encounter with the giraffes, when Joel gives Ellie the option to not continue. "Everything that's happened... everything that I've done... it can't all be for nothing." The knowledge of Ellie's immunity comes from her being bitten, at the cost of Riley's life. If nothing comes of this, it means Riley died for nothing, just as it would mean all the people who died to protect Ellie (mainly Tess), and those Ellie killed, died for nothing. Also, as to the point of the show, and the game, it is primarily focused on the question of whether or not it is right to kill one person to save humanity, a moral dilemma not unlike that in The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. Most of the major changes to the story for the show exist to show other characters having made similar choices; Bill and Frank, Henry and Sam. Then there is the simple story of Ellie and Joel finding love, a home, a family, in an apocalyptic world; light in the darkness. To many people, this may seem an unimportant and extremely unoriginal idea, but to others, who have lived with great amounts of suffering and may see their world, their lives, as de facto apocalypses, this story of hope is extremely impactful. Downplaying the threat of the infected in favour of human threats serves to increase the similarity to the lives of people threatened and harmed by other people. There are similar stories all over the place, the format is ubiquitous, but here the world is shown to be so dark and hopeless, entering some people's definitions of grim dark, that it feels genuine. Where other stories of hope like Star Wars or countless others exist in worlds that are not really very dark, meaning that there is little contrast with the light, and more importantly, those with a dark worldview, such as those suffering from depression or trauma, can recognize this world as comparable to their own. The existence of hope in Star Wars is meaningless if Star Wars is a fairy tale world where everything inevitably has a happy ending, and the audience knows it. But hope in a grim dark world, translates to a possibility for hope in the real world. To me, the Last of Us can never be hollow in any medium. It makes most other things seem hollow by comparison of the beautiful emotions and hope it presents.
I should say, I always liked Star Wars, for a few years it was my favourite entertainment media franchise, but never in so deep a way as the Last of Us. It was fun escapism, brimming with creativity and so many things for a young curious mind to learn of or wonder at, and great art to appreciate. At least in the later seasons of the Clone Wars, there were definite deep emotions as well, but it was never particularly meaningful. It impacted my emotional state only as a distraction from negative thoughts, and simple dopamine. The Last of Us feels so beautifully meaningful, and truly had the power to make me happy on a more significant level, as well as making me cry.
nah sorry i think my emotional connection to this tv show and the way it made me feel is so much more important that nitpicking details i didn’t even catch
Exactly. The point of storytelling isn't to be plausible, because fictional stories cannot be anything but fake, it is either to teach or to make us feel.
Okay so the way I interpretted the scene with the infected french kissing Tess was that the Cordyceps knew that she was infected so they wanted to rapidly increase the infection and that is why she was french kissed like that. I don't know if that was the intention but that was how I rationalized that scene.
I wholeheartedly agree. I felt that the first episode should've focused entirely on the initial pandemic. The show's approach was like they wanted to do something more slow burn with low-key dread to differentiate the show from the game, but they couldn't quite lean into it enough. And personally, Sarah and her death fell a bit flat for me this time. Partly because this is a remake, but also, I don't think they had fleshed her out enough in relation to her extended screentime. When she was dying, I just wasn't invested enough yet in this iteration of Sarah for the moment to hit.
I feel like the tv show would’ve benefited so much from not being a short series. The world building that made the games so amazing is lacking and it just feels like most post apocalyptic settings
For me I'm still more of a fan of The Walking Dead. I had never read the comic, I know there were changes. But I definitely feel TWD is more about survivial in seasons 1-5. 6-8 was about trying to reestablish society and dealing with clashes between city states. 9-11 is about how even when you think you've gotten the hang of it, there is always a storm that threatens to rip the shutters.off your home. But the difference between TLOU of us and TWD is more brutality. There is a brilliant scene in season 4, when Carl (main characters son) tries to help a lone survivior who sadly kinda sucks at surviving. Who screams and doesn't run when zombies are around? Like really? Smh. But this simple scene and Rick holding him back and forcing him to move back from the clearing tells Carl, you have to ignore people for your own preservation at times. Also Kathleen was absolutely a terribly written character and I cannot believe they compared her to The Govenor. We saw all three sides of The Govenor in ONE episode establishing him as a major threat.
That was accurate foe me. I was invested in the characters during the episodes because they are good actors but as far as a zombie apocalipse I was more agraid watching the walking dead. Maybe the showrunners thought " oh lets not remake several tense scenes with zombies because a lot of people thst didn t play the game will relate to other zombie movies. Well. I am not a zombie buff so i think the walking dead and 28 days from Dany Boyle starts exactly the same. The guy in the hospital wakes up amidst the zombie apocalipse and we are imerse as both characters discovers what is going on. We are imerse.
If you have not read The Stand by Stephen King yet then I think that it would resonate with you. How the world falls apart amidst a pandemic is explored in nuanced and intimate detail. I highly recommend it if you enjoy that kind of story.
Avoid name dropping Hegel like you did towards the end. It won't score points with serious readers of Hegel and it alienates everyone else. I mean this in the kindest way possible.
