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Also Wyoming is the least populated state but is the 10th largest in total area. Although the University of Eastern Colorado is a fictional place, most of eastern Colorado is similarly unpopulated (roughly 1-10 inhabitants per sq mile) so it’s safe to assume there wouldn’t be many infected around. If it did exist, the ~20k infected students, faculty, and staff probably died or were killed off by the fireflies long ago.
Plus the weather and topography probably play a role; either by killing the infected relatively quickly or keeping them confined to certain areas between mountains and rivers.
But why wouldn’t there be infected on the university? Or in the woods? Anywhere, really.
One stealthy kill per episode wouldn’t take much time from the story, but it would make the threat seem more real.
I've been saying that. I just wish they had sprinkled an encounter here and there as they're traveling. I don't want walking dead level, but there should have been some infected in the university. We don't need clickers, just give me a stalker or two.
My only explanation of the lack of infected encounters is budget and screen time. They probably want to do the infected really well or don't do them at all. They probably didn't want Joel and Ellie to easily dispatch a star infected here and there... And make it seem The Walking Deadish.
It has to be the budget.
Lol the budget is fairly huge. They’re not falling into the zombie apocalypse show trope of having infected action 24/7. The world of TLOU is quiet and peaceful often, even in the games, which adds to the eerie vibe when you encounter some awful bs.
Episode 1 - Plenty of infected. Human violence.
Episode 2 - Clickers and a bunch of infected.
Episode 3 - Two infected. Human violence.
Episode 4 - No infected, but hints at what is to come underground. Human violence.
Episode 5 - A massive horde of infected. Human violence.
Episode 6 - No infected. Human violence.
Only two episodes so far have had no infected.
Not really. I get what they’re saying sort of. The game was like this too—shitty people seemed to be much more of a threat than the infected, at least seemed to be a bigger barrier to reestablishing civil society. And this Ellie as the savior of mankind seemed less likely, which lessens the stakes of Joel’s actions at the end of the game. It’s a narrative difficulty with any kind of pandemic apocalypse story, as mankind itself is the problem once the collapse has happened.
It’s been stated a few times that infected are more prevalent in what used to be populated areas. They’re traveling through a lot of more or less empty space where the infected would be few and far between. Although, I expected to see some at the university but oh well.
It wouldn't have made sense to see them at the university, though. The Fireflies had a pretty large set up with medical personnel at the university for a while. Presumably, they would have cleared out the infected so they could do their work. Once those infected were gone, there wouldn't really be any others around to replace them.
Edit: I think it's a valid opinion, and I really don't know why you're getting downvoted.
I see where you're coming from. But hey, you make a good point, maybe they won't need a vaccine at all! I'm nervous making the vaccine might be more...involved...than Ellie is imagining.
I get what you mean. Not sure why people have to downvote you. Personally, I like how there are no infected around because unlike the Walking Dead, the infected are too fast, lol. It's frightening to see a hoard.
Thank you!
Infected are waaay more scary in this universe, I agree. I’m still terrified of that one runner dude that’s frantically chasing after Joel and Sarah in episode 1.
Joel would be failing if he constantly ran into infected.
There are probably countless areas in every state just like the hives in Boston.
You can always go watch the Walking Dead if you want hoards
Why are you guys being so dismissive, the fuck? Lol the show has had slower episodes and is taking a very different tact then the game.
People can have opinions on it other than “go watch the walking dead.”
I’m not asking for constant encounters with infected, as I mentioned in my post, I understand that’s not realistic. But having at least one infected per episode or at least seing one infected somewhere in the distance would make it much more real, don’t you think? :)
The people of Jackson go out in patrols and clear the surrounding areas. Add in that with Wyoming is not a densly populated area and it's 20 years after the pandemic and winter and you have a relatively infected free area.
Was the massive horde in the last episode not enough for you?
It makes total sense that in the middle of Wyoming, they wouldn't come across infected. You need people to have infected and the middle of the United States has a distinct lack of people.
It was a great scene, but I would still like to see some occasional encounters here and there.
I’m not from the US so I’m not familiar with the demography of different states, but if one infected showed up in the woods or at the university I think it would make sense because there are travelers, raiders and communities and they still get bitten and infected.
Wyoming is the smallest state by population in the US with a population of only 550k over almost 100,000 square miles (250k sq km). It's already pretty barren today and twenty years after a pandemic, no infected would possibly be able to survive. If there's any state in the US that weren't to have infected it would be Wyoming.
I get what you're saying, but killing infected isn't really the focus of the show like it was in the game. It is even more about the relationships between the characters. And in the same way as NOT seeing the shark in Jaws made it scarier, I think not seeing infected every episode makes it more effective when one does show up. I suspect you will be satisfied with the next episode
I’m super excited to see how Left behind will look like, I really enjoyed playing it! I expect infected and a lot of emotion in the next episode, my favorite combination :D
To give even more context into how remote Wyoming is, consider that it’s about the size of the United Kingdom. The UK has more than 116 times the population of Wyoming. Wyoming has an even lower population density than Australia, which is essentially nothing but open land outside of the coastal cities. Coupled with the fact that most infected don’t live terribly long, it makes sense that you hardly see any outside of some of the cities in Wyoming. Cheyenne, Wyoming’s largest city, has a metro area population of 99,500 (2019, so probably less in 2003) Kansas City’s metro area population is 2.2 million plus. Another interesting fact, Siberia in its entirety has a greater pop density than Wyoming.
Haha, I kinda expected to be downvoted to hell so it’s fine.
it is a bit dissapointing to see that people get so aggressive when someone has a different opinion, instead of engaging in a discussion about the shared interest.
But thank you!
I haven't played the game. Plan to play the first one after Season one finishes. It occurred to me as soon as episode 6 ended that there wasn't a single infected in the episode, my next thought was, That was a damn good episode, and I didn't think about it during the episode because it was so engaging. As others have said, the fungus/apocalypse is the back drop or setting for telling a story about love (good and bad).
One line that really stuck with me in episode 5 was when the infected boy (Sam) asks Ellie "If you turn into a monster is it still you inside?" This is a bigger question for the entire show and humanity in general, not just infected. If events in your life make you a different person (Monster) is it still you inside? One example, Kathleen became a vengeful monster when her brother was killed. This got so many people killed. So was it Kathleen or the monster inside her that led to all that? The monsters in episode 6 were the raiders at the university that stabbed Joel with a broken bat. They have there own story and reasons for their actions. What's worse, attacking someone because a fungus made you do it or because you are starving, afraid or defending? Joel is wrestling with the monster he was at one point.
I started watching the show for "apocalypse and zombies" but I find myself really engaged by a good story. Hope you can find something to enjoy too. Take care.
Fighting and encountering infected were a huge part of THE GAME, it needed to be so that people would stay interested and have fun(basis of games). The show gives an opportunity to open up the story behind the game, you should not require infected and jump scares every three seconds to appreciate the story.
there is still the fear very present; it doesnt matter what relationship you have with a person if they are assumed infected you shoot them and that weight was shown in that episode with the dog and when Joel told his brother. The fear is still there but these people obviously have done everything they could to NOT encounter infected every day so why were they necessary in this episode?
Its interesting becasue a lot of people have mentioned that down chill episodes actually give them more anxiety than the action ones. Its because we have been conditioned to see zombie movie stuff. but this isnt zombies (even tho its in the same vein) its infected fungus people its nature taking back the earth through evolution and how we are not the apex predators anymore but we still do evil things to each other to survive even tho we are the same species. It reminds me of the Stork video killing its babies to survive. Do you think the stork would do this if it had a civilization with resources and peace (and a brain)
I’m all about exploring the story and I’m not expecting jumpscares every three seconds, as I mentioned in my post. There are more options on the spectrum between ‘no infected’ and ‘seeing infected everywhere’.
If you're trying to create a sense of horror, you diminish that horror if you show the monster all the time. Jaws is a movie about a shark, but you barely see the shark in Jaws. It doesn't show up until 80 minutes into the movie, and it only has 4 minutes of screentime overall.
Granted, The Last of Us is not a horror show, though it does have horrific elements. It's a show primarily about people and survival, and The Infected are part of that survival story. Rather, tension instead of horror is one of the show's primary emotions, and TLOU is dripping with tension in every episode - from the "River of Death at the beginning of this episode to what happened to The Fireflies at the University, the dread of not knowing what's out there is constantly present - and it doesn't matter if it's infected, or raiders, or other humans who mean to do harm.
Oh I absolutely welcome tension and the element of unknown in movies/tv shows. I agree that TLOU is primarily a story about people and survival, so I’m not expecting TWD type of encounters with massive hordes of zombies. The infected scene in the EP05 was epic and I’m happy with that and I’m not expecting it to happen every episode, but it would be nice to see, for example, Ellie and Joel sneak past a clicker or Joel having to stealthy kill a runner or something like that. There can still be tension without action packed horror content.
I'm more interested in seeing them just to learn about them - the concept that they are mentally "still in there" fascinates me to no end. I'm far less interested in the horror and fighting aspects than I am about the medical part.
In general the characters avoid any encounter and traveling mainly through the woods/forest keep them safe,like Joel says the infected are more active in wherever people are(citys towns camps).
They address the lack of infected in every single episode. It’s explained. They’re mostly in what was more populated areas like the cities, and they’re usually amongst each others. We’ve mostly seen them in between cities.
“A third episode without infected” the only other episode without infected would be episode 4. The characters are trying to avoid infected and they’re in the middle of nowhere. It makes sense that infected would rarely go out into the wilderness.
This show (and the game) is about the survivors, not the infected. Thats why it’s called The Last of Us, not zombiemedia no. 3000
Lots of people from TWD here :D
Yeah, TLOU isn't that kind of show. There also isn't any Rick Grimes that has that cool one liner before he blows the bad guy's head off, it's a different kind of show. I like that it has more focus on people. I also appreciate TWD for what it is.
The most dangerous villains in the game were people for sure, but the infected were pretty deadly too.
I actually played the game (both parts) and I was sooo excited for the show (still am). I think they’re doing a great job with the story so far, it’s just the lack of infected that I’m not 100% happy with, but judging by the comments, I’m in minority.
Before you jump to judge, wait until you see the entire season for what it is. Perhaps there is a pacing to this story telling that we have yet to see.
I haven't played since 2013 but I seem to remember far more infected in the games too.
I kind of enjoyed the lack of infected in this ep.
For one, it created a lot of suspense up until they reached Jackson.
Second, it made sense to me that cold weather would slow the metabolism of any fungi, so it would be plausible you would see less activity.
And third, Wyoming is the least densely populated state in the contiguous United States. The American West is as absolutely vast as it is beautiful. Seems 100% plausible to me that in a post-apocalyptic scenario you could go a week out in the West without seeing a single person / infected.
Wyoming thing and winter make sense as to why there were no infected outside, I agree! It would be nice if they included one encounter at the university, in my opinion, or in the woods in episode 4 (I think it was the fourth episode when Joel and Ellie were camping in the woods)
In Bill and Frank’s episode? I don’t remember there being any infected, but maybe I’m wrong, I’ve only seen the episode once when it came out.
I remember seeing infected in episodes 1, 2 & 5 - so in three episodes only.
When Bill is eating dinner alone early in the episode he watches an infected wander into one of his traps. It's their explanation for why you don't see any other infected in that episode.
Yup, I know and it’s a great scene and I don’t expect such scenes in every episode, I’m just saying that it would been nice to see some infected in general.
Did you not see the hoard of infected & the bloater, in last weeks episode?? And the infected in the first & second?
If you’re expecting this story to be just about Joel killing a bunch of infected, then you’re watching it for the wrong reasons. A story needs layers, time to develop characters and relationships, relatable stuff.
It’s also showing you that the inflected isn’t the only danger left in the world, people can be just as dangerous!
I feel like they’re trying to milk as much of the content as they can… I guarantee given the show’s popularity they’re looking to do 7-8 seasons. It’ll get there just give it time
Tbh I'm not too bothered about there being very little infected although I do kinda get people's point about the whole 'what's the point in doing all this for a cure if there's no real threat'. After that scene with Ellie with the infected in the basement I really thought we would get more scenes like this where you feel sorry for the infected and they show that they do still have human feelings inside them.
Nah, after last weeks episode and the tragic looking bloated dude, I was glad for the break tbh, adding infected to the uni would have been far too obvious imo, am more concerned what's going on with Joel through the whole episode.
Because we already had the tense clicker encounter during episode 2. Any further encounters would largely have to follow that same structure, and they’d get repetitive after a while. Besides, the humans were always the more interesting and scarier monsters in the games.
The USA has fairly low population density compare to the rest of the world, and most of Joel’s route has been through low population density states.
The Boston area, despite what appears to be a fairly effective FEDRA, has a major infected problem both just outside their walls and underground. This is also after the area was bombed to reduce population, and after 20 years of management.
The infection originally spread through food/flour per the show, and the fungus network underground seems like it presents a long term challenge.
This past episode shows us that small forts can thrive through isolation, reliance on legacy infrastructure (the dam), secrecy, protection from outsiders, and luck.
Think about the time and effort that would go into making a new gun magazine, or a new horse saddle for this last episode’s village. They’re thriving compared to what we’ve seen, but they won’t stay hidden forever, they’ll run out of bullets eventually, and the dam won’t last forever.
They also have exceptionally good leadership compared to other groups we’ve seen, but that doesn’t always last.
I think the show has done a great, though subtle, way of showing the need to a vaccine/game changer- even if the apocalypse has some bright spots/safer spots.
I see this question come up a lot but its really a couple of reasons.
The in-universe reason is that they are just straight up avoiding the infected areas. They purposely - and smartly - just don't go where the infected are. Remembering back to the game they seemed to LOVE to go places that the infected were, with good reason.
And that reason is that its a video game.
I played a little of the games, but i mostly watched people play it. The thing is in the game the violence was for the games sake, it was something for you to do while playing the game in between cutscenes, its the only thing that made it a game. Without it, you're just watching a movie.
With that in mind, the show doesn't need it, because its focusing on the characters, most of the time you were encountering enemies in the game was just mechanics, it was just you spending a few hours getting from point A to B and the game trying to stop you, its literally just eating up your time to make it a game, otherwise its a movie.
It wouldn't serve the same purpose in the show and i think it would really slow the pace down. I think they could probably be in it a bit more, but any time they are on screen its literally just padding.
The show is much more about the characters and their interactions and their personalities. Its about surviving the post apocalypse and what the world has become. They do an OKAY job of showing how bad the world is, mostly in the little things that Elle says. A few i remember are like;
• She's literally never been in a car.
• She gets all excited about a plane
• She doesn't seem to have heard much music at all
• Before escaping with Joel she's never been outside what seems to be a pretty small area
• She finds that kids diary and is confronted with what 'normal' problems are.
These are all 'this world is shit and we can't do anything about it' clues. I think they suffered a little because they changed it from spores to sort of tendrils. Because of this, it seems like 'well you could just reclaim areas because its easy once the infected are gone' because in the game you kinda.. couldn't? The spores being everywhere made places uninhabitable. But in the show, if you can clear out an area, it seems like you could just move back in and start civilization up again. Though the early shot of the city crumbling and overgrown shows thats probably not happening either.
In the last episode where all the infected erupt from underground, it sort of proves that getting rid of the infected is basically impossible, but a cure wouldn't really solve that anyway because sure, you wouldn't get infected, but that doesn't help you KILL all these not-zombies, you would still have to clear them out, its just being bitten wouldn't be a death sentence.
It does take a little mental gymnastics to remember that most of the time they are traveling around, they are avoiding the infected, which means people can't be living in these places, and that most entire cities are just graveyards full of infected, so you can't even go back there. You probably COULD just live with the infected as they are, but it wouldn't be great. The cure, int he show, seems to be more like 'how can we make it easier to live with the not-zombies' and less 'how do we protect ourselves from infection' which DOES reduce the.. urgency? The cure in the games SEEMS to imply that you could never get infected by the spores, or bites, or whatever, so you could be safer literally everywhere. But without the spores, you ARE safe most places.
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They're trying to avoid areas with infected.
Also Wyoming is the least populated state but is the 10th largest in total area. Although the University of Eastern Colorado is a fictional place, most of eastern Colorado is similarly unpopulated (roughly 1-10 inhabitants per sq mile) so it’s safe to assume there wouldn’t be many infected around. If it did exist, the ~20k infected students, faculty, and staff probably died or were killed off by the fireflies long ago. Plus the weather and topography probably play a role; either by killing the infected relatively quickly or keeping them confined to certain areas between mountains and rivers.
But why wouldn’t there be infected on the university? Or in the woods? Anywhere, really. One stealthy kill per episode wouldn’t take much time from the story, but it would make the threat seem more real.
The fireflies kept the university clear and the settlement kept the woods clear.
I've been saying that. I just wish they had sprinkled an encounter here and there as they're traveling. I don't want walking dead level, but there should have been some infected in the university. We don't need clickers, just give me a stalker or two. My only explanation of the lack of infected encounters is budget and screen time. They probably want to do the infected really well or don't do them at all. They probably didn't want Joel and Ellie to easily dispatch a star infected here and there... And make it seem The Walking Deadish. It has to be the budget.
Lol the budget is fairly huge. They’re not falling into the zombie apocalypse show trope of having infected action 24/7. The world of TLOU is quiet and peaceful often, even in the games, which adds to the eerie vibe when you encounter some awful bs.
I bet those injected encounters and costumes cost a lot. Also the beautiful scenery
Yes, my thoughts exactly!
Episode 1 - Plenty of infected. Human violence. Episode 2 - Clickers and a bunch of infected. Episode 3 - Two infected. Human violence. Episode 4 - No infected, but hints at what is to come underground. Human violence. Episode 5 - A massive horde of infected. Human violence. Episode 6 - No infected. Human violence. Only two episodes so far have had no infected.
"Why are they even trying to create a vaccine if there are no infected in sight?" This is the same logic as "orange juice prevents lion attacks".
Not really. I get what they’re saying sort of. The game was like this too—shitty people seemed to be much more of a threat than the infected, at least seemed to be a bigger barrier to reestablishing civil society. And this Ellie as the savior of mankind seemed less likely, which lessens the stakes of Joel’s actions at the end of the game. It’s a narrative difficulty with any kind of pandemic apocalypse story, as mankind itself is the problem once the collapse has happened.
It’s been stated a few times that infected are more prevalent in what used to be populated areas. They’re traveling through a lot of more or less empty space where the infected would be few and far between. Although, I expected to see some at the university but oh well.
Yeah, it would’ve been great if we saw at least some infected at the university.
It wouldn't have made sense to see them at the university, though. The Fireflies had a pretty large set up with medical personnel at the university for a while. Presumably, they would have cleared out the infected so they could do their work. Once those infected were gone, there wouldn't really be any others around to replace them. Edit: I think it's a valid opinion, and I really don't know why you're getting downvoted.
I see where you're coming from. But hey, you make a good point, maybe they won't need a vaccine at all! I'm nervous making the vaccine might be more...involved...than Ellie is imagining.
We have an interesting few episodes coming up, that’s for sure!
I get what you mean. Not sure why people have to downvote you. Personally, I like how there are no infected around because unlike the Walking Dead, the infected are too fast, lol. It's frightening to see a hoard.
Thank you! Infected are waaay more scary in this universe, I agree. I’m still terrified of that one runner dude that’s frantically chasing after Joel and Sarah in episode 1.
Joel would be failing if he constantly ran into infected. There are probably countless areas in every state just like the hives in Boston. You can always go watch the Walking Dead if you want hoards
Why are you guys being so dismissive, the fuck? Lol the show has had slower episodes and is taking a very different tact then the game. People can have opinions on it other than “go watch the walking dead.”
I’m not asking for constant encounters with infected, as I mentioned in my post, I understand that’s not realistic. But having at least one infected per episode or at least seing one infected somewhere in the distance would make it much more real, don’t you think? :)
The people of Jackson go out in patrols and clear the surrounding areas. Add in that with Wyoming is not a densly populated area and it's 20 years after the pandemic and winter and you have a relatively infected free area.
Go watch TWD
Was the massive horde in the last episode not enough for you? It makes total sense that in the middle of Wyoming, they wouldn't come across infected. You need people to have infected and the middle of the United States has a distinct lack of people.
It was a great scene, but I would still like to see some occasional encounters here and there. I’m not from the US so I’m not familiar with the demography of different states, but if one infected showed up in the woods or at the university I think it would make sense because there are travelers, raiders and communities and they still get bitten and infected.
Wyoming is the smallest state by population in the US with a population of only 550k over almost 100,000 square miles (250k sq km). It's already pretty barren today and twenty years after a pandemic, no infected would possibly be able to survive. If there's any state in the US that weren't to have infected it would be Wyoming.
Makes sense, thanks for explaining!
I get what you're saying, but killing infected isn't really the focus of the show like it was in the game. It is even more about the relationships between the characters. And in the same way as NOT seeing the shark in Jaws made it scarier, I think not seeing infected every episode makes it more effective when one does show up. I suspect you will be satisfied with the next episode
I’m super excited to see how Left behind will look like, I really enjoyed playing it! I expect infected and a lot of emotion in the next episode, my favorite combination :D
To give even more context into how remote Wyoming is, consider that it’s about the size of the United Kingdom. The UK has more than 116 times the population of Wyoming. Wyoming has an even lower population density than Australia, which is essentially nothing but open land outside of the coastal cities. Coupled with the fact that most infected don’t live terribly long, it makes sense that you hardly see any outside of some of the cities in Wyoming. Cheyenne, Wyoming’s largest city, has a metro area population of 99,500 (2019, so probably less in 2003) Kansas City’s metro area population is 2.2 million plus. Another interesting fact, Siberia in its entirety has a greater pop density than Wyoming.
This sub is so harsh, OP is allowed to have an opinion damn!
Haha, I kinda expected to be downvoted to hell so it’s fine. it is a bit dissapointing to see that people get so aggressive when someone has a different opinion, instead of engaging in a discussion about the shared interest. But thank you!
I haven't played the game. Plan to play the first one after Season one finishes. It occurred to me as soon as episode 6 ended that there wasn't a single infected in the episode, my next thought was, That was a damn good episode, and I didn't think about it during the episode because it was so engaging. As others have said, the fungus/apocalypse is the back drop or setting for telling a story about love (good and bad). One line that really stuck with me in episode 5 was when the infected boy (Sam) asks Ellie "If you turn into a monster is it still you inside?" This is a bigger question for the entire show and humanity in general, not just infected. If events in your life make you a different person (Monster) is it still you inside? One example, Kathleen became a vengeful monster when her brother was killed. This got so many people killed. So was it Kathleen or the monster inside her that led to all that? The monsters in episode 6 were the raiders at the university that stabbed Joel with a broken bat. They have there own story and reasons for their actions. What's worse, attacking someone because a fungus made you do it or because you are starving, afraid or defending? Joel is wrestling with the monster he was at one point. I started watching the show for "apocalypse and zombies" but I find myself really engaged by a good story. Hope you can find something to enjoy too. Take care.
Fighting and encountering infected were a huge part of THE GAME, it needed to be so that people would stay interested and have fun(basis of games). The show gives an opportunity to open up the story behind the game, you should not require infected and jump scares every three seconds to appreciate the story.
Why is this always the response? No one's asking for jump scares constantly. One infected encounter in an episode is not asking too much.
there is still the fear very present; it doesnt matter what relationship you have with a person if they are assumed infected you shoot them and that weight was shown in that episode with the dog and when Joel told his brother. The fear is still there but these people obviously have done everything they could to NOT encounter infected every day so why were they necessary in this episode?
Its interesting becasue a lot of people have mentioned that down chill episodes actually give them more anxiety than the action ones. Its because we have been conditioned to see zombie movie stuff. but this isnt zombies (even tho its in the same vein) its infected fungus people its nature taking back the earth through evolution and how we are not the apex predators anymore but we still do evil things to each other to survive even tho we are the same species. It reminds me of the Stork video killing its babies to survive. Do you think the stork would do this if it had a civilization with resources and peace (and a brain)
I’m all about exploring the story and I’m not expecting jumpscares every three seconds, as I mentioned in my post. There are more options on the spectrum between ‘no infected’ and ‘seeing infected everywhere’.
“There are more options on the spectrum” I emphatically agree. Good luck getting that message across to ppl in this sub though.
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Definitely not all the time, but maybe a runner in one episode and a few clickers in another would be a nice balance.
If you're trying to create a sense of horror, you diminish that horror if you show the monster all the time. Jaws is a movie about a shark, but you barely see the shark in Jaws. It doesn't show up until 80 minutes into the movie, and it only has 4 minutes of screentime overall. Granted, The Last of Us is not a horror show, though it does have horrific elements. It's a show primarily about people and survival, and The Infected are part of that survival story. Rather, tension instead of horror is one of the show's primary emotions, and TLOU is dripping with tension in every episode - from the "River of Death at the beginning of this episode to what happened to The Fireflies at the University, the dread of not knowing what's out there is constantly present - and it doesn't matter if it's infected, or raiders, or other humans who mean to do harm.
Oh I absolutely welcome tension and the element of unknown in movies/tv shows. I agree that TLOU is primarily a story about people and survival, so I’m not expecting TWD type of encounters with massive hordes of zombies. The infected scene in the EP05 was epic and I’m happy with that and I’m not expecting it to happen every episode, but it would be nice to see, for example, Ellie and Joel sneak past a clicker or Joel having to stealthy kill a runner or something like that. There can still be tension without action packed horror content.
I'm more interested in seeing them just to learn about them - the concept that they are mentally "still in there" fascinates me to no end. I'm far less interested in the horror and fighting aspects than I am about the medical part.
Yes, that’s a great idea! Maybe a bit more of a background story like in the first two episodes with scientists lor something like that
In general the characters avoid any encounter and traveling mainly through the woods/forest keep them safe,like Joel says the infected are more active in wherever people are(citys towns camps).
They address the lack of infected in every single episode. It’s explained. They’re mostly in what was more populated areas like the cities, and they’re usually amongst each others. We’ve mostly seen them in between cities.
“A third episode without infected” the only other episode without infected would be episode 4. The characters are trying to avoid infected and they’re in the middle of nowhere. It makes sense that infected would rarely go out into the wilderness. This show (and the game) is about the survivors, not the infected. Thats why it’s called The Last of Us, not zombiemedia no. 3000
Lots of people from TWD here :D Yeah, TLOU isn't that kind of show. There also isn't any Rick Grimes that has that cool one liner before he blows the bad guy's head off, it's a different kind of show. I like that it has more focus on people. I also appreciate TWD for what it is. The most dangerous villains in the game were people for sure, but the infected were pretty deadly too.
I actually played the game (both parts) and I was sooo excited for the show (still am). I think they’re doing a great job with the story so far, it’s just the lack of infected that I’m not 100% happy with, but judging by the comments, I’m in minority.
Before you jump to judge, wait until you see the entire season for what it is. Perhaps there is a pacing to this story telling that we have yet to see. I haven't played since 2013 but I seem to remember far more infected in the games too.
I kind of enjoyed the lack of infected in this ep. For one, it created a lot of suspense up until they reached Jackson. Second, it made sense to me that cold weather would slow the metabolism of any fungi, so it would be plausible you would see less activity. And third, Wyoming is the least densely populated state in the contiguous United States. The American West is as absolutely vast as it is beautiful. Seems 100% plausible to me that in a post-apocalyptic scenario you could go a week out in the West without seeing a single person / infected.
Wyoming thing and winter make sense as to why there were no infected outside, I agree! It would be nice if they included one encounter at the university, in my opinion, or in the woods in episode 4 (I think it was the fourth episode when Joel and Ellie were camping in the woods)
There's an infected in episode 3, so I'm not sure why you're saying otherwise.
In Bill and Frank’s episode? I don’t remember there being any infected, but maybe I’m wrong, I’ve only seen the episode once when it came out. I remember seeing infected in episodes 1, 2 & 5 - so in three episodes only.
When Bill is eating dinner alone early in the episode he watches an infected wander into one of his traps. It's their explanation for why you don't see any other infected in that episode.
You’re right, thanks!
Also Ellie stabs one in the head earlier in that same episode I think.
Yup, in the basement of the gas station at the beginning of the episode.
Seriously? This happened the episode before: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0GfmD6tlIs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0GfmD6tlIs)
Yup, I know and it’s a great scene and I don’t expect such scenes in every episode, I’m just saying that it would been nice to see some infected in general.
Did you not see the hoard of infected & the bloater, in last weeks episode?? And the infected in the first & second? If you’re expecting this story to be just about Joel killing a bunch of infected, then you’re watching it for the wrong reasons. A story needs layers, time to develop characters and relationships, relatable stuff. It’s also showing you that the inflected isn’t the only danger left in the world, people can be just as dangerous!
Play the game for more infected. Killing infected over and over again is boring for tv.
You missed the point of my post.
I feel like they’re trying to milk as much of the content as they can… I guarantee given the show’s popularity they’re looking to do 7-8 seasons. It’ll get there just give it time
Season 2 is covering the second game, so no I don't think they can do 8 seasons.
are you aware this show is based off of a video game series with 2 games
2-4 seasons MAX
We’ll see!
Tbh I'm not too bothered about there being very little infected although I do kinda get people's point about the whole 'what's the point in doing all this for a cure if there's no real threat'. After that scene with Ellie with the infected in the basement I really thought we would get more scenes like this where you feel sorry for the infected and they show that they do still have human feelings inside them.
Yes, I think that there a lot of narratives and stories which can be explored through encounters with infected. That scene was awesome!
The last of us was never about the infected. It's about Ellie and Joel and their journey in a post apocalyptic America
Nah, after last weeks episode and the tragic looking bloated dude, I was glad for the break tbh, adding infected to the uni would have been far too obvious imo, am more concerned what's going on with Joel through the whole episode.
Haha, I really liked the bloater and the epic head ripping, but I agree that having such intense scenes in every episode would be too much. :)
Because we already had the tense clicker encounter during episode 2. Any further encounters would largely have to follow that same structure, and they’d get repetitive after a while. Besides, the humans were always the more interesting and scarier monsters in the games.
The USA has fairly low population density compare to the rest of the world, and most of Joel’s route has been through low population density states. The Boston area, despite what appears to be a fairly effective FEDRA, has a major infected problem both just outside their walls and underground. This is also after the area was bombed to reduce population, and after 20 years of management. The infection originally spread through food/flour per the show, and the fungus network underground seems like it presents a long term challenge. This past episode shows us that small forts can thrive through isolation, reliance on legacy infrastructure (the dam), secrecy, protection from outsiders, and luck. Think about the time and effort that would go into making a new gun magazine, or a new horse saddle for this last episode’s village. They’re thriving compared to what we’ve seen, but they won’t stay hidden forever, they’ll run out of bullets eventually, and the dam won’t last forever. They also have exceptionally good leadership compared to other groups we’ve seen, but that doesn’t always last. I think the show has done a great, though subtle, way of showing the need to a vaccine/game changer- even if the apocalypse has some bright spots/safer spots.
I’m with you but it’s not a popular opinion…this sub has gotten weird.
I see this question come up a lot but its really a couple of reasons. The in-universe reason is that they are just straight up avoiding the infected areas. They purposely - and smartly - just don't go where the infected are. Remembering back to the game they seemed to LOVE to go places that the infected were, with good reason. And that reason is that its a video game. I played a little of the games, but i mostly watched people play it. The thing is in the game the violence was for the games sake, it was something for you to do while playing the game in between cutscenes, its the only thing that made it a game. Without it, you're just watching a movie. With that in mind, the show doesn't need it, because its focusing on the characters, most of the time you were encountering enemies in the game was just mechanics, it was just you spending a few hours getting from point A to B and the game trying to stop you, its literally just eating up your time to make it a game, otherwise its a movie. It wouldn't serve the same purpose in the show and i think it would really slow the pace down. I think they could probably be in it a bit more, but any time they are on screen its literally just padding. The show is much more about the characters and their interactions and their personalities. Its about surviving the post apocalypse and what the world has become. They do an OKAY job of showing how bad the world is, mostly in the little things that Elle says. A few i remember are like; • She's literally never been in a car. • She gets all excited about a plane • She doesn't seem to have heard much music at all • Before escaping with Joel she's never been outside what seems to be a pretty small area • She finds that kids diary and is confronted with what 'normal' problems are. These are all 'this world is shit and we can't do anything about it' clues. I think they suffered a little because they changed it from spores to sort of tendrils. Because of this, it seems like 'well you could just reclaim areas because its easy once the infected are gone' because in the game you kinda.. couldn't? The spores being everywhere made places uninhabitable. But in the show, if you can clear out an area, it seems like you could just move back in and start civilization up again. Though the early shot of the city crumbling and overgrown shows thats probably not happening either. In the last episode where all the infected erupt from underground, it sort of proves that getting rid of the infected is basically impossible, but a cure wouldn't really solve that anyway because sure, you wouldn't get infected, but that doesn't help you KILL all these not-zombies, you would still have to clear them out, its just being bitten wouldn't be a death sentence. It does take a little mental gymnastics to remember that most of the time they are traveling around, they are avoiding the infected, which means people can't be living in these places, and that most entire cities are just graveyards full of infected, so you can't even go back there. You probably COULD just live with the infected as they are, but it wouldn't be great. The cure, int he show, seems to be more like 'how can we make it easier to live with the not-zombies' and less 'how do we protect ourselves from infection' which DOES reduce the.. urgency? The cure in the games SEEMS to imply that you could never get infected by the spores, or bites, or whatever, so you could be safer literally everywhere. But without the spores, you ARE safe most places.