HBO's "The Last Of Us" (Season 2)

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by jeff BD

Ppl have to stop saying “like the game”. 2 completely different mediums and they don’t work the same.

Not really. Go watch a cut scene compilation of some more popular games known for story telling that run 3-10 hrs you essentially have a long movie/ short series and it can translate very well.

Now in a sense yes it would throw a non gaming audience for a loop if season 3 fired up and just spent 6 of 7 episodes on Abby like the game and then the 7th episode reverted back to end of season 2.

But the actress who does Abby and can handle ranges of emotions would be a much more enjoyable watch than Bella's 1 speed approach.

Originally Posted by eiknarf

Yeah, some haters say it because Bella doesn’t look like Ellie. I don’t care about looks. I want the best actor for a part.

Kaitlyn looks nothing like Abby from the game yet people still like her. Why? Because she can emote. Because she can use facial expressions to show us how she's feeling. Because... TADA... she can ACT!
All we wanted was a semi decent actress to portray Ellie, and Bella is not it.

I just watched Sirens on Netflix, have no idea who the younger female leads are, but OMG, they can act their ass off. They were amazing

Yeah I'm not concerned with any of the issues around what's going on with Bella. My issue is she has 1 range and 1 speed of acting its like if you put Schwarzenegger, Statham, or Stallone in there will be blood or Lincoln for Daniel Day Lewis it just isn't working regardless of how good they are at their 1 thing.... I thought she did great in season 1 but I was concerned with how season 2 and beyond would go for her

She just can't carry the range needed (I'd even argue some of the character mannerisms of the part 2 game fall short of what they're asking of Ellie compared to other female game characters)

Originally Posted by frogmort

What's the cheapest, simplest way for me to get setup to start playing the best versions available and which console should I get that will have the smoothest game play without spending a fortune?

If you want to actually play it then a PS4

if you just want to consume the part 2 story just go on YouTube and type in all cut scenes for last of us part 2 and it essentially is all the scenes strung together as a movie for free.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Of course, but immersive gameplay aside, it's still a more shallow, misguided version of the original story, missing plenty of things that were crucial.

Crucial to whom? Maybe to you. The story was still very compelling, the characters were interesting and well-written, everything about it held my interest throughout.

I really don't have any serious complaints or even minor quibbles about the show.

[Mierzwiak]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Crucial to whom?

Crucial to the story and characters.

If you enjoyed the show then good for you

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Crucial to the story and characters.

The story and the characters are well served as it stands.

I’m not going to call it the greatest show ever made just yet - I want to see what they do with season 3 - but it definitely feels like a top show in terms of what it does with its story and characters and how much of the message underneath it all is very much valid to our world today.

[Bishop_99]

Originally Posted by morphinapg

I think the finale and season as a whole was nearly flawless. I think this season in general was better than the first. Only small nitpicks but for the most part I think it nails the characters and story, and every important moment from the story was there and adapted well.

I respect your opinion, but didn't you notice a steep decline in the writting? Which affected everything in my opinion. Given, I gave up after the first 4 episodes, because it was boring and uninteresting.

Even with the issues I had with season 1 and not having a great deal of interest in it, I can't compare the first four episodes I saw of season 2 to any 4 episodes of season 1 and feel that any episode is better. Even the highly praised episode two with the dramatic event and the action, fails in comparison to the episodes with Henry and Sam. And In terms of action, episode 2 doesn't compare to the great action finale of season 1 with Joel going through that hospital like The Terminator at the police station.

Then, the worst thing for me, was that idiotic teen love drama. These writers are terrible at doing an interesting love story, unless they purely wanted some silly teen love drama. Which is why, I hope season 3 has ZERO love stories in Abby's part. They can subtly show that Abby's relationship fell apart for her, even through looks in between two characters. They don't need to do an episode flashback to explain her love situation or dedicate 40% of season 3 to it. They have a lot to work with besides another love story, which they already exhausted in season 2. I want to watch season 3 and I hope they do better writing, but if they are going to follow a silly love story again, I'll check out of season 3 as I did with season 2.

Again, it's great that you liked season 2 and enjoyed it more so than season 1. But as a show, I fail to see how these stories and writing in season 2, is in any way better than season 1.

[Jay Mammoth]

Amazing show, preordered the 4K steelbook from Gruv

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by Bishop_99

I respect your opinion, but didn't you notice a steep decline in the writting? Which affected everything in my opinion. Given, I gave up after the first 4 episodes, because it was boring and uninteresting.

Even with the issues I had with season 1 and not having a great deal of interest in it, I can't compare the first four episodes I saw of season 2 to any 4 episodes of season 1 and feel that any episode is better. Even the highly praised episode two with the dramatic event and the action, fails in comparison to the episodes with Henry and Sam. And In terms of action, episode 2 doesn't compare to the great action finale of season 1 with Joel going through that hospital like The Terminator at the police station.

Then, the worst thing for me, was that idiotic teen love drama. These writers are terrible at doing an interesting love story, unless they purely wanted some silly teen love drama. Which is why, I hope season 3 has ZERO love stories in Abby's part. They can subtly show that Abby's relationship fell apart for her, even through looks in between two characters. They don't need to do an episode flashback to explain her love situation or dedicate 40% of season 3 to it. They have a lot to work with besides another love story, which they already exhausted in season 2. I want to watch season 3 and I hope they do better writing, but if they are going to follow a silly love story again, I'll check out of season 3 as I did with season 2.

Again, it's great that you liked season 2 and enjoyed it more so than season 1. But as a show, I fail to see how these stories and writing in season 2, is in any way better than season 1.

Nah you arent wrong. Season 1 was definitely much better without a doubt

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Originally Posted by thenexus6

I think they need to wrap this up in season three as people aren't going to stick around for a fourth. I AM interested in seeing the Abby side of things next season as I loved that part of the game.

If they want to tell more stories beyond Part II, I'm not going to wish ill-will against that, even if Druckmann isn't onboard. They may shit out bricks or gold, and either way that can be removed from people's head canon and never affect the stronger material that was adapted before.

However, as far as "this" goes, the Part II game content needs to end by Season 3, absolutely. Making it two seasons to begin with is a devastating blow for viewers, especially as they shifted some parts of the story but not others that so far make the worst sense (and are further exacerbated by the two year break).

I can't speak for others when I claim myself to be one of the biggest advocates for the show, but now I must stand as one of their biggest critics when I say that they are losing their audience. I'm not speaking against them at all, I am trying to be their lifeline here and support them.

One of the things I'm coming to the reality of though, perhaps for less nefarious reasons than one dark corner of the Internet states, is that Bella Ramsey was not the ideal casting choice for the entire Ellie saga.

[emailking1]

I don't have any major issues with the writing S2. I don't agree with everything but I definitely didn't think it was bad or a steep drop or anything.

[joshsquash729]

Don't get me wrong- I do feel like, taking each season as its own thing, season 1 is the stronger of the 2, but I do wonder how much that benefits from being the complete story, whereas season 2 is half (ish? Maybe even 1/3ish) of the story, so it's going to feel incomplete no matter what). Again, I do think that s1 in general allowed things to breathe a bit more and had more overall depth and subtlety, but I don't know if it's exactly a fair, 1:1 comparison. My boyfriend, who hasn't played either game, quite enjoyed season 2, and felt that there was enough moral gray area and unlikability on Ellie's part, so that's gotta count for something.

I hate to be THAT guy, but I do wonder how many people (assuming they stick it out) end up being more okay with Abby's part because of the lack of overt gay relationship. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of folks' qualm is with Bella Ramsey themselves more than Ellie/Dina, but still- I've seen plenty of "woke" comments and gross anti-gay stuff, even from people who didn't mind the Bill stuff from s1. Whereas Abby's side of the story doesn't have a gay romance; yes, it has a trans character, but that's presented in a far more subtle way (I've seen a handful of people over the years who didn't even realize that character even was trans- I guess they either didn't pay attention or it just didn't click for them).

That aside, I do wonder how much Kaitlyn Dever is able to win people over. Like others have said, it does feel like she has a slightly better ability to portray the emotion needed for a character like Abby. Nothing against Bella- I quite like them overall, but it does feel like, although they may have worked really well for a younger Ellie, they perhaps weren't the best choice for an older one (though I do admit that it could just be an overall different creative choice on everyone's part- Bella, Neil, Craig, etc. to make Ellie different in this version).

Surely they knew, with as divisive as the game was (and continues to be) that following the narrative like they are was a risky decision. I'm sure they and HBO took that into consideration and may or may not be super worried because of it. HBO obviously has faith in it enough to renew for season 3 before season 2 aired, and I'm sure once season 2 gets all its nominations, they'll feel good enough to renew for season 4 (especially if it does follow the game and would, in theory, be another shorter season).

[jeff BD]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultas...t-of-thin-air/

Hard to disagree with alot of the points.

"This Ellie feels like a kid going on a fun road trip with her girlfriend, only occasionally remembering what she’s there to do when a switch is flipped and she temporarily activates revenge mode.

The show is deathly afraid of portraying Ellie as unsympathetic or cruel, a girl trying to avenge her father figure but realizing how hard and sad it makes her when people start actually dying, often by accident.

By this point, it’s deeply weird that show Ellie has killed barely anyone. One guard, I think. She left someone to die and accidentally killed two other people this week."

[punisher]

so we have to wait two years to see Dina shoot Abbey and save Bella's life???

oh well....there were filming a murder/strangulation scene for Dexter where I was hiking last week..guess I will look for that. I volunteered to be the corpse but hey already had some"body"..lol

[BluBonnet]

"This Ellie feels like a kid going on a fun road trip with her girlfriend, only occasionally remembering what she’s there to do when a switch is flipped and she temporarily activates revenge mode.

Definitely didn't feel that way to me. The road to hell isn't all thunder and lightning.

[emailking1]

Originally Posted by jeff BD

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultas...t-of-thin-air/

Hard to disagree with alot of the points.

"This Ellie feels like a kid going on a fun road trip with her girlfriend, only occasionally remembering what she’s there to do when a switch is flipped and she temporarily activates revenge mode.

The show is deathly afraid of portraying Ellie as unsympathetic or cruel, a girl trying to avenge her father figure but realizing how hard and sad it makes her when people start actually dying, often by accident.

By this point, it’s deeply weird that show Ellie has killed barely anyone. One guard, I think. She left someone to die and accidentally killed two other people this week."

Joel also killed significantly fewer people in the show. He only killed 5 people before the hospital. 1 was self defense and 1 was an accident. In the game he's killed between dozens or a couple hundred by that point, depending how you play. So I see the lower death count in keeping with that. It's just not realistic for anyone to be clearing rooms full of armed guards solo and coming out alive.

[Mierzwiak]

Anyone else thinks the cliffhanger is awful? It worked in the game, but here you can't play as Abby right after it and it comes as tacky and dated, similar to far too many cliffhangers from other TV shows.

Personally I would end it with a scene from the later section of the game: with

[Show spoiler]Abby finding bodies of Owen and Mel.

The rage on her face could have been a nice final shot of the season.

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by Mierzwiak

Anyone else thinks the cliffhanger is awful? It worked in the game, but here you can't play as Abby right after it and it comes as tacky and dated, similar to far too many similar cliffhangers from other TV shows.

Personally I would end it with a scene from the later section of the game: with

[Show spoiler]Abby finding bodies of Owen and Mel.

The rage on her face could have been a nice final shot of the season.

nah the "We let you both live, and you wasted it!" line is so good and needed to be done as a cliffhanger.

i dont think anything they could have done would have made the finale better. It was always going to end on a cliffhanger so having that be at a different moment doesnt change things IMO.

[BluBonnet]

I think it was the perfect season finale. It made me really want to watch the next one as soon as it starts streaming.

[BluBonnet]

Pedro totally deserves an Emmy for this one


+

[Techlet]

Originally Posted by jeff BD

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultas...t-of-thin-air/

Hard to disagree with alot of the points.

"This Ellie feels like a kid going on a fun road trip with her girlfriend, only occasionally remembering what she’s there to do when a switch is flipped and she temporarily activates revenge mode.

The show is deathly afraid of portraying Ellie as unsympathetic or cruel, a girl trying to avenge her father figure but realizing how hard and sad it makes her when people start actually dying, often by accident.

By this point, it’s deeply weird that show Ellie has killed barely anyone. One guard, I think. She left someone to die and accidentally killed two other people this week."

This has been my biggest issue with the season. The "revenge" felt like a distraction to Ellie's teen rebellion road trip to Seattle.

For me, Ellie's motivation here just isn't communicated through her actions on screen. You can show internal conflict in a character without reducing them to having no conviction at all.

[morphinapg]

Originally Posted by Bishop_99

I respect your opinion, but didn't you notice a steep decline in the writting? Which affected everything in my opinion. Given, I gave up after the first 4 episodes, because it was boring and uninteresting.

Even with the issues I had with season 1 and not having a great deal of interest in it, I can't compare the first four episodes I saw of season 2 to any 4 episodes of season 1 and feel that any episode is better. Even the highly praised episode two with the dramatic event and the action, fails in comparison to the episodes with Henry and Sam. And In terms of action, episode 2 doesn't compare to the great action finale of season 1 with Joel going through that hospital like The Terminator at the police station.

Then, the worst thing for me, was that idiotic teen love drama. These writers are terrible at doing an interesting love story, unless they purely wanted some silly teen love drama. Which is why, I hope season 3 has ZERO love stories in Abby's part. They can subtly show that Abby's relationship fell apart for her, even through looks in between two characters. They don't need to do an episode flashback to explain her love situation or dedicate 40% of season 3 to it. They have a lot to work with besides another love story, which they already exhausted in season 2. I want to watch season 3 and I hope they do better writing, but if they are going to follow a silly love story again, I'll check out of season 3 as I did with season 2.

Again, it's great that you liked season 2 and enjoyed it more so than season 1. But as a show, I fail to see how these stories and writing in season 2, is in any way better than season 1.

No, I think the writing got even better. I think it's kind of crazy you gave up after episode 4, which was at the time my favorite episode of the entire series, and may still hold that title, although some of the later episodes would compete pretty closely with that so it's hard to say.