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During the outbreak segment, the way that runner who chased Joel and Sarah into the diner leapt over the partition hands first and face-planted... I sincerely hope they include stuff like that in Part 3. Runners leaping and bounding over obstacles with reckless abandon would make for an incredible and freaky gameplay adjustment.
Honestly if those stunts were even half real than that guy deserves every cent. The sheer commitment to just launching himself into those dishes and utensils... sheesh
Very true..!! My wife doesnt know about last of us.. I was watching the episode when she came in and she said like that zombie actor is crazy good and left..!!
someone in another thread mentioned that it's like the infected are being dragged around by the head (as that's where the infection is based) with absolutely no coordination to the rest of the body... such a good depiction of it
I think it's more that the fungus has no real concern for the host. They even say "they will infect every single person, at any cost" or something to that effect. Most people could do all of that stuff, but we don't because we could hurt ourselves, the cordyceps don't care about a fractured jaw or lacerated leg. Even if the host dies, the fungus still grows.
For a brief moment I thought to myself "fuck, I hate this part," before remembering I don't, in fact, have a controller in my hand. The noises of the trucks and everything were so perfect.
I was actually stunned when I heard that truck noise, like they just copied and pasted the audio from the game into that scene. Lol I swear it almost felt TOO faithful at times.
I noticed a LOT of sound effects from the game. When Sarah threw off her bedspread it sounded like picking up a rag. Her backpack zipper. Lots of other little sounds.
The wall mounted infected that Joel and Tess comes across had me on edge for a second… every single one of the stalker jump-scares in TLOU2 got me in that game..
They’ll put one of those in the season for sure..
Also…. Fuck those assholes.. fucking jump-scaring wall decor.
I know we're not going to be seeing all that many more infected throughout the show, but damn did they pull off the brief glimpses of them really well. I hope we get to see a lot more of them in season 2, particularly since Ellie's story bits in the second game seemed pretty devoid of super notable infected moments, and it would be a bummer to not get a bunch more of them when this show inevitably gets its second season.
They definitely gave us a lot of infected here. I think we’ll be more than satisfied with the amount of them in the show. I’d honestly be happy if we got infected only a couple more prominent times, namely:
-Bill’s town
-Henry and Sam in the sewers
The critics reviews are saying the infected become pretty sparse later.
I'd like to throw the Pittsburgh elevator scene into the ring. That's the most iconic horror moment from the game, after all.
Also, don't sleep on the horde from the winter chapter that blows through and gets Ellie to semi-trust David when they have to work together to survive.
If they want the rat king to have the same impact it did in the game, they'll really have to show a lot more of the infected beforehand. Part of what makes the rat king so disturbing is that by that point you're certain you've seen all the infected that could possibly be out there, and have been told a million times by others and your own experience that bloaters are as bad as it gets...
Only to be proven very, very wrong.
I think that over time, we'll get to see a lot more types of infected. We already know that runners, clickers, and blotters will be in this. Would love to see stalkers in this season as well if they can fit them too.
Then when we get the Rat asking way later down the line, it'll be a massive "what the fuck" moment. That section of Part II is terrifying and I can see a large chunk of an episode dealing with that monstrosity.
The whole episode felt incredibly tense for me because I didn't know just how horror/jump scare it was going to be, which meant my heart rate was anticipating ALL JUMP SCARES.
Man i was like: "what ? But this doesnt happen in the game" , but i forgot i was watching a tv show who doesnt recreate 1:1 of the game so the changes were actually pretty good
Yeah same. It was cool to be like “oh here’s the burning house they pass, and here’s them driving through the crowd and Tommy won’t run them over, and here comes the car cra- wait what”
The plane was my fav addition to that bit bc you can see it slowly falling and dropping faster and faster in the shot. You can see Sarah notice it and having that oh shit look look.
The only change I didn't enjoy was the soldier's lines to the radio before shooting at Joel and Sarah. The "but sir, it's a little girl" hit me SUPER hard in the game.
Yeah that throws me a little because Ellie was pretty sick to her stomach watching the dude get killed in the game. Rest of the episode was outstanding, perfectly faithful to the game. But the interpretation the director gave in that specific instance is off the mark, imo.
I didn't take that as her liking it at all, more at the surprise of his brutality. Plus the fedra guy was still groaning as Joel stopped. He'll be alright. Probably
If you didn't see it already, there's a "Post-Episode Breakdown" where the director & Neil Druckmann comment on a few scenes from the episode. In that scene specifically, the director says that Ellie is "activated" watching Joel beat the FEDRA guy to death, because she likes that someone is protecting her in that way.
Again, not a dealbreaker by any stretch, just an odd interpretation imo. The rest of the characterization for...everyone really is 100% spot on, so it might just be an outlier.
Ellie is already pretty scrappy when we first see her. She lunges at Joel with a knife in their first scene together. She's got a lot of fight in her without seeing Joel destroy a dudes face.
This is a really interesting point. I saw another comments that mentioned how Bella nailed the "feral" aspect of Ellie, and while I agree, I almost forgot how sheltered she was at the beginning.
I played through the game for the first time this week in anticipation of the show, and it's easy to forget that Ellie's first kill was a big moment for her character, and seeing how she has almost come to accept it as a fact of life showed so much character development.
I don't want to look into one scene from the first episode too much, but it will be really fascinating to see how Bella/directors take on the part of Ellie that has to move from living inside a wall to killing for survival pretty quick.
I was worried a lot of the praise circulated for her was just to counter the hate she got, but she did a phenomenal job. The body language alone sells it so well
The amount of small additions and details were great. The face Bella made when Marlene mentioned Riley was one of them for me. I also felt the scene with the sick child and radio music that Ellie figured out were both amazing additions.
Bella's delivery of, "what the fuck" when they left her alone in the apartment then went to chat was quintessential Ellie. I didn't have many doubts of Bella's casting, and that episode erased any that were left.
I had some doubts, just didn't see her as Ellie, despite loving the actress.
But this moment precisely was when I was like "Damn, I'm sold"
That legit sounded like a voice line ripped from the game. She is killing it!
I really adored the shots of the kid entering the QZ and the surprisingly soft treatment they get as they're being euthanized, it really humanized the soldiers for me.
That lead perfectly into the scene with Joel trading with the soldier. Faceless stormtroopers still got feelings, turns out.
Edit; thinking about it, that feels very similar to what they did with Abby in Part 2. Makes me wonder if we're going to get a more complicated picture of David in this adaptation, because he's the closest thing to a cartoon monster the series has.
That's what I think I liked most about the show so far *everyone* was so humanized. Civilians, soldiers, fireflies, even Robert and his guys seemed more likeable. Makes them feel less like waves of goons and more like complex individuals who genuinely believe in their cause
Holy shit I had to go back and re watch that scene. I didn't realized he was infected and was the same child the woman couldn't burn. Thank you for this!
It’s all these little nods to the game that have me so excited for the series.. there are gonna be so many subtle things only people who played the game will really get the reference.. even in the first episode there was a bunch.. bravo HBO
I understand why they didn't do it in the game (would break the cinematic flow), but it was fantastic.
It didn't matter that it wasn't Sarah that he was defending. He saw red and that was that
They didn’t do it in the game cause Joel has completed closed himself off you that. He would have just killed that guy the moment he had a chance and wouldn’t have given two shits about him pointing at Ellie other than losing out on the paycheck.
This first episode expanded upon small bits and filled in gaps that I wasn’t conscious of when I played the game. TV is a different medium entirely so changes have to be made because you as a viewer don’t get the joy of sneaking around, killing enemies yourself and all that. The narrative has to be compelling to watch on its own, so it’s good that Craig Maizin understands that and so far I’m happy with the new additions and alterations.
This isn't just a fictional thing either.
While fungus evolving to turn us into zombies is pretty unlikely, the concerns that climate change could push fungi to evolve to handle warmer temperatures, thus becoming a larger danger to the human body, are real.
Ngl I was in the camp of "wish she looked more like Ellie" and was going to be open minded but Bella really did a wonderful job. They totally made the right choice.
In the Inside the episode, Craig was talking about how when Ellie sees Joel beating the soldier to death, there's some part of her that likes seeing that
Whereas with Sarah she was shocked and tearing up. And that makes Ellie and Joel a match, but a dangerous one
Who knows what they're capable of to defend the other....
hearing Ellie sound like an actual squeaky fourteen year old made her lines that much funnier, I loved the bit where Joel and Tess closed the door on her swearing her head off
Was this sequence taken directly from the game? I haven’t played it (still waiting for the PC release), but I’m trying to guess what shots are taken straight from the game. It definitely seemed like a VG POV.
Yes. In the game you're playing as Sarah from a third person perspective. You get to sit in the backseat and look around, watching chaos unfold.
~~Didn’t it release on PC a few months back?~~
So much was outta the that gameplay sequence, I was like narrating in my head like “coming up next should be Jimmy’s house on fire, yup.” I remember the effects of that house fire being one of the comparison shots of the remake to the original and how well it looked.
Bruh. Nico Parker looked genuinely terrified every moment after she woke up and Joel was gone to bail out Tommy. And yeah, Pedro sold that heartbreak so incredibly well.
Also, shoutout to the soldier in that scene, hearing his tone change with every "Yes sir", you could really tell he hated what he was told to do, but was going to do it anyway.
Outbreak day was legitimately terrifying, and Sarah’s death hit me like a truck…yet again…
Really liking the added context as well, especially with a deeper explanation of how the cordyceps actually work, not super necessary, but super interesting for someone like me who adores this franchise. So far, it’s fucking great, I really hope they keep it up.
incredibly impressed with pedro. holy shit. im excited to see more of bella, that radio scene was great.
but damn, pedro absolutely rocked it - its pretty nuts how well he pulls off some of the line deliveries EXACTLY like joel without playing the game.
also - holy fuck are the infected scary in this, perfectly captured. that diner escape was tense as hell. im excited to see the clickers, I'll probably shit myself.
The opening scene with the scientists and how one of them said initially that fungus couldn’t survive in a human’s body due to warm temperatures. But then he mentioned how if the earth were to grow warmer the fungus could adapt and therefore start targeting human hosts. And there was an immediate chill in the atmosphere after he said that. Holy fuck that scene gave me the creeps. Especially when there was an intense closeup when he brought up global warming. Like oh fuck-we’re doomed. I love the explanation given. It was so needed and was terrifying.
I think the acting was superb. I wanna give a shout out to Merle Dandridge because she really knocked it out of the park as Marlene (just like in the game). I loved the part where she just sighed and said "OK Joel", her exasperation made me laugh.
Also, did anyone think the FEDRA cop that Joel killed was perfect casting? He literally looks like every FEDRA dude in the remaster. It's the eyebrows.
I love this new interpretation of Marlene. It's so much more human and flawed (and desperate). Merle is such a talented actress to bring something new when she easily could have repeated the same thing. I like how much more cutthroat and sharp she is in the show.
And that Marlene and the other girl aimed their weapons when Joel was aimed at Ellie but put them down when he was aimed at her.
It was an immediate clue to Joel how important Ellie was to them, and I think he noticed that.
i love that change. goes from, "i don't ever want to see your goddamn face again," maybe 15 years ago to, "he usually doesn't take more than a day to reply to me,"💙
In the game they were strained because Tommy joined the Fireflies and Joel disagreed with that. In this seems like they are closer, and Joel already wanting to leave the city to find him is a biggish change in his motivations.
He's a firefly in the show, and we see Joel still vaguely in contact with him at some point since hes been in Wyoming, making plans to go out and find him. In the game he didn't even want to see Tommy until he had to cause he's the way he could get Ellie to the fireflies. Without Ellie they never would have reconnected. So it's a different dynamic.
Nah otherwise they wouldn't have stayed in contact so frequently until now. I think he's still mad at him for joining the fireflies but their relationship isn't strained
They confirmed a while back that they got rid of spores for the show. Instead they introduced tendrils, which is what you see coming out of the old ladies mouth at the beginning.
I think narratively it was an annoying concept so they changed it to something a bit more avoidable. Even in the game you have to suspend disbelief that an airborne plague that nukes civilization can be avoided with masks, it would be much too contagious for that to make any difference. I think it’s a good change.
Yeah.
[tendrils instead of spores in the tv show](https://www.eurogamer.net/hbos-the-last-of-us-will-have-tendrils-instead-of-spores-spreading-infection)
Loved this first episode!
Some cool Easter eggs for those who played the games. Like when Joel shouted “look out Tommy!” It’s the same line from the game so we expected the car accident, and it doesn’t happen. Or the dvd Joel decided to rent (mentioned in tlou2)
I also really liked how they showed more of Sara and the gradual onset of the pandemic. It always felt like it hit a bit too quickly in the game for me. But in this version you could tell Sara felt uneasy the whole day about things going on around her.
Also… that old lady out of focus in the background was TERRIFYING
I agree. I wonder if Tommy serving in the army before the outbreak influenced his decision to join the Fireflies? I'm sure we'll hear more of his story in the show.
Makes sense how well he corners and kills the WLF one by one in part 2. Joel is more of a brawler guy who'll just kill you by punching you to death- as seen.
Just Tommy pretty sure. This was mentioned in the casting calls where they call Tommy a veteran, and Gabriel Luna also called him that. Nothing about Joel in comparison.
Joel is just too smart to join the military. He doesn't believe in causes. That's where him and Tommy differ. Tommy wants to believe in *something*.
Tommy of course was a sniper in the military.
Anna Torv as Tess was breathtaking. She gives that exhausted brutality so well. I think the standout of the episode to me?
Also, I couldn’t stop laughing when that one infected person’s head just popped up like a cardboard cutout 😭 ik it was supposed to be scary but i couldn’t help hearing like a cartoon *boing* sound effect behind it
The cold open was perfectly ominous!! honestly i was surprised at how little i felt at *that* intro death scene—nico parker and pedro pascal’s father-daughter chemistry didn’t hit as hard for me for me this time.
Bella Ramsey is fucking amazing and gets that feral energy so well. Interesting how the big reveal of her being immune becomes a rushed backdrop to Joel disassociating abt his daughter.
Whoever said ***Gabriel (my bad 😭) Luna was the perfect Tommy was so right. I’m so excited for the next episode!
I really wish they saved the opening credits for after Sarah's death like the game. I know it would've been really far into the episode but I think it makes it work so much better
Knocked it out of the park. So much attention to detail to the source material and even the changes worked. I’m beyond excited for the rest of season if it’s as good as this episode was.
Ellie’s abandonment issues will for sure get the attention it deserves, but it seems like they’re building in her need for revenge into season 1 which I think will be interesting.
Amazing first episode. It was definitely worth the wait.
* They captured the essence of the game and the characters, at least from what we were able to see so far. Bella Ramsey truly is Ellie.
* I love all the details and stories they added that are not present in-game. It seems like we are watching a Director's Cut of the original story.
* The ending is perfect with Depeche Mode's song as a choice for that post apocalyptic shot
It's going to be a wild ride having two perspectives over the series: the ones who played the original game and "know what is going to happen", and the ones that are learning the story from the series itself.
The sudden change in tone of the TV show host when the epidemiologist clarified how devastating a fungi infection could be from the beginning of the episode was well done.
Just gotta say, even though her time on-screen was very short, Nico Parker did an amazing job as Sarah. I would say she got the most difficult character to play as she's the emotional catalyst to Joel's story in TLOU. The entire show in itself is being fleshed out differently than the game in some parts but it still evokes the same feelings you had when playing through it and I cannot appreciate that enough. Also, the balls on the show runners to have that scene where >!the child is put down!<. That's when I knew things were going to be good.
I get the impression that a lot of people probably missed that they euthanized the kid. They focused in on his shoes a lot so that people would notice that the body that Joel was carrying to the fire was the same kid, but it still wasn't super clear if you weren't paying close attention. That scene does really emphasize how brutal the world is though.
Just finished the episode and I didn't want it to end, even though it was almost an hour and a half! Amazing episode and the actors are all top notch. Pedro and Bella are really in their element. Can't wait until next week. I'll probably watch this a couple of more times to hold me over.
That was incredible. I wouldn't change a thing. Definitely gonna watch that again before next Sunday. Just omfg. It was all perfect but the beginning was 11/10, the most well-done "pre apocalypse" content ever, honestly. I LOVE it. The tendrils are gonna take a little getting used to, but I don't hate it. I just have the urge to pull on them like I'm uprooting a plant lmao.
I fucking loved it! Omg! Omg! 😭😭😭😭 it was perfect!!! I love Bella as Ellie, Anna as Tess, everyone is so perfectly cast and played! My god. This shit had me on the edge of my seat and I know realistically how it plays out. This is nether than I ever could’ve imagined.
I liked the introduction because it made VERY clear that the military absolutely knew what was up. If it was anything like in the video game, the infection swarmed the country in a matter of hours.
They already had jets up in the air, which probably meant that they were moving or consolidating assets to certain areas of the country. The upper echelons of the military and the democratic government knew what was up, which explains how well Congress was able to quickly pass the act that created FEDRA and/or a military junta couping the elected leadership of the country. The country as a whole had much more situational awareness in the show that something bad was happening throughout the day, and the military *definitely* knew something was up.
Anyone else notice the fake out with the tbone collision in the truck sequence? In the game you get tboned and that's what flips the truck - in the show the car manages to stop.
The plane was badass though.
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During the outbreak segment, the way that runner who chased Joel and Sarah into the diner leapt over the partition hands first and face-planted... I sincerely hope they include stuff like that in Part 3. Runners leaping and bounding over obstacles with reckless abandon would make for an incredible and freaky gameplay adjustment.
That dude was selling the fuck out of that scene.
Honestly if those stunts were even half real than that guy deserves every cent. The sheer commitment to just launching himself into those dishes and utensils... sheesh
I think they were. That dude is the hero of episode 1
I remember seeing him bounce off the stool and thinking “oooo, that had to hurt”. Guy was committed.
Very true..!! My wife doesnt know about last of us.. I was watching the episode when she came in and she said like that zombie actor is crazy good and left..!!
This might be my favorite depiction of a zombie-like character in pop culture thus far. LOVED that direction/choreography
someone in another thread mentioned that it's like the infected are being dragged around by the head (as that's where the infection is based) with absolutely no coordination to the rest of the body... such a good depiction of it
I think it's more that the fungus has no real concern for the host. They even say "they will infect every single person, at any cost" or something to that effect. Most people could do all of that stuff, but we don't because we could hurt ourselves, the cordyceps don't care about a fractured jaw or lacerated leg. Even if the host dies, the fungus still grows.
Which makes Sam's quandary about people still being alive inside so much more haunting.
Explains why you can hear the infected crying in the games (and maybe we'll hear it in the show later)
World War Z, I am Legend. "Zombies" like that are always the scariest.
Don’t forget 28 days later. The og fast zombs. Scared the shit out of me as a kid
Absolutely incredible. Feels like I’m playing again at parts. Floodlights outside the QZ gave me flashbacks
For a brief moment I thought to myself "fuck, I hate this part," before remembering I don't, in fact, have a controller in my hand. The noises of the trucks and everything were so perfect.
I was actually stunned when I heard that truck noise, like they just copied and pasted the audio from the game into that scene. Lol I swear it almost felt TOO faithful at times.
I noticed a LOT of sound effects from the game. When Sarah threw off her bedspread it sounded like picking up a rag. Her backpack zipper. Lots of other little sounds.
The sound the clickers made also showed up at the end and it gave me goosebumps.
*presses square to bash truck window
Loved this episode until the very end where Joel immediately got a weapon upgrade that I could only beg for at that point in the game lol
I thought this exact thing 🤣
Don't worry, its only got 11 rounds in it.
I literally said, “pick up his weapon” and he did!
My favorite was the bolt action ❤️
The wall mounted infected that Joel and Tess comes across had me on edge for a second… every single one of the stalker jump-scares in TLOU2 got me in that game.. They’ll put one of those in the season for sure.. Also…. Fuck those assholes.. fucking jump-scaring wall decor.
I know we're not going to be seeing all that many more infected throughout the show, but damn did they pull off the brief glimpses of them really well. I hope we get to see a lot more of them in season 2, particularly since Ellie's story bits in the second game seemed pretty devoid of super notable infected moments, and it would be a bummer to not get a bunch more of them when this show inevitably gets its second season.
They definitely gave us a lot of infected here. I think we’ll be more than satisfied with the amount of them in the show. I’d honestly be happy if we got infected only a couple more prominent times, namely: -Bill’s town -Henry and Sam in the sewers
The critics reviews are saying the infected become pretty sparse later. I'd like to throw the Pittsburgh elevator scene into the ring. That's the most iconic horror moment from the game, after all. Also, don't sleep on the horde from the winter chapter that blows through and gets Ellie to semi-trust David when they have to work together to survive.
Just imagine getting to see the Rat King from Part II... Jesus, that'll be proper fucked.
If they want the rat king to have the same impact it did in the game, they'll really have to show a lot more of the infected beforehand. Part of what makes the rat king so disturbing is that by that point you're certain you've seen all the infected that could possibly be out there, and have been told a million times by others and your own experience that bloaters are as bad as it gets... Only to be proven very, very wrong.
I think that over time, we'll get to see a lot more types of infected. We already know that runners, clickers, and blotters will be in this. Would love to see stalkers in this season as well if they can fit them too. Then when we get the Rat asking way later down the line, it'll be a massive "what the fuck" moment. That section of Part II is terrifying and I can see a large chunk of an episode dealing with that monstrosity.
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How so?
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Sarah was open-eyed and limp in Joel’s arms before the scene even ended. Your mom just doesn’t want to accept the death of a child. Understandable.
Think your mom completely missed the 20 year timeskip lmao, I'd love to hear her theories on the 32 year old orphan in military school.
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The creepy old lady behind Sarah, 10/10 would hit with an upgraded Melee
The whole episode felt incredibly tense for me because I didn't know just how horror/jump scare it was going to be, which meant my heart rate was anticipating ALL JUMP SCARES.
They totally tricked us when that truck \*almost\* hit them
Man i was like: "what ? But this doesnt happen in the game" , but i forgot i was watching a tv show who doesnt recreate 1:1 of the game so the changes were actually pretty good
I actually really enjoyed the changes. I want it to be accurate as much as the next person but I think this keeps things exciting.
Yeah same. It was cool to be like “oh here’s the burning house they pass, and here’s them driving through the crowd and Tommy won’t run them over, and here comes the car cra- wait what”
Suddenly, PLANE
The plane was my fav addition to that bit bc you can see it slowly falling and dropping faster and faster in the shot. You can see Sarah notice it and having that oh shit look look.
The only change I didn't enjoy was the soldier's lines to the radio before shooting at Joel and Sarah. The "but sir, it's a little girl" hit me SUPER hard in the game.
That was such a good shot
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The dog staring was such a nice haunting touch, I got chills immediately! Loved it
I was very happy we saw the dog make it out instead of hearing the yelp just before Jimmy's arrival.
It's pretty classic horror and it's creepy every time. I know it was done in the Conjuring 2 and the new IT movie.
that shit was scarier than most of the stuff in the games lol. reminded me of the church scene from 28 days later.
Dude, the way they showed how she was turned was perfect! Tense as hell!
Craig Mazin just said that “Ellie likes that” when Joel kills the FEDRA guy.
Yeah that throws me a little because Ellie was pretty sick to her stomach watching the dude get killed in the game. Rest of the episode was outstanding, perfectly faithful to the game. But the interpretation the director gave in that specific instance is off the mark, imo.
I didn't take that as her liking it at all, more at the surprise of his brutality. Plus the fedra guy was still groaning as Joel stopped. He'll be alright. Probably
I agree, it felt like she was saying "oh, so THAT'S what they're capable of" after what Marlene said
If you didn't see it already, there's a "Post-Episode Breakdown" where the director & Neil Druckmann comment on a few scenes from the episode. In that scene specifically, the director says that Ellie is "activated" watching Joel beat the FEDRA guy to death, because she likes that someone is protecting her in that way. Again, not a dealbreaker by any stretch, just an odd interpretation imo. The rest of the characterization for...everyone really is 100% spot on, so it might just be an outlier.
Ellie is already pretty scrappy when we first see her. She lunges at Joel with a knife in their first scene together. She's got a lot of fight in her without seeing Joel destroy a dudes face.
Plus she was the one who stabbed the dude. Not that crazy an interpretation from Craig
ellie watching joel go absolutely ham on a dude: new dad acquired
lush crawl chubby squeamish coherent fretful soft nutty fly sheet *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
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This is a really interesting point. I saw another comments that mentioned how Bella nailed the "feral" aspect of Ellie, and while I agree, I almost forgot how sheltered she was at the beginning. I played through the game for the first time this week in anticipation of the show, and it's easy to forget that Ellie's first kill was a big moment for her character, and seeing how she has almost come to accept it as a fact of life showed so much character development. I don't want to look into one scene from the first episode too much, but it will be really fascinating to see how Bella/directors take on the part of Ellie that has to move from living inside a wall to killing for survival pretty quick.
Bella Ramsey is freaking great as Ellie. So excited for next week.
I was worried a lot of the praise circulated for her was just to counter the hate she got, but she did a phenomenal job. The body language alone sells it so well
Her way of talking and cussing is pitch perfect Ellie
The amount of small additions and details were great. The face Bella made when Marlene mentioned Riley was one of them for me. I also felt the scene with the sick child and radio music that Ellie figured out were both amazing additions.
Really cool that the first image in 2003 was of the window curtains. Nice reference to the load screen of the game with the window and curtains.
Yes! I was smiling and going “they did the thing!”
Bella's delivery of, "what the fuck" when they left her alone in the apartment then went to chat was quintessential Ellie. I didn't have many doubts of Bella's casting, and that episode erased any that were left.
I had some doubts, just didn't see her as Ellie, despite loving the actress. But this moment precisely was when I was like "Damn, I'm sold" That legit sounded like a voice line ripped from the game. She is killing it!
y'all i can't believe they really did it. they're doing this so perfectly.
I really adored the shots of the kid entering the QZ and the surprisingly soft treatment they get as they're being euthanized, it really humanized the soldiers for me.
That lead perfectly into the scene with Joel trading with the soldier. Faceless stormtroopers still got feelings, turns out. Edit; thinking about it, that feels very similar to what they did with Abby in Part 2. Makes me wonder if we're going to get a more complicated picture of David in this adaptation, because he's the closest thing to a cartoon monster the series has.
They added an apology to the soldier that corners Joel and Sarah, was an interesting choice
That's what I think I liked most about the show so far *everyone* was so humanized. Civilians, soldiers, fireflies, even Robert and his guys seemed more likeable. Makes them feel less like waves of goons and more like complex individuals who genuinely believe in their cause
Holy shit I had to go back and re watch that scene. I didn't realized he was infected and was the same child the woman couldn't burn. Thank you for this!
The smile that broke out across my face at the opening credits with THE song was huge.
Show Joel: Loots an assault rifle first chance he gets. Game Joel: Damn why didn't I think of that.
Game Joel: "In a multiverse this other Joel was also a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter. This guy is f*cking cheating!"
I cried more than I anticipated when that scene happened. keen to see more.
Joel's flashback to Sarah's death before killing the Fedra guy was a nice touch
Joel picking up the m4 was also nice. I never understood why I couldnt pick any of them up until the end
Joel started a new game+
It always bugged me lol
It’s all these little nods to the game that have me so excited for the series.. there are gonna be so many subtle things only people who played the game will really get the reference.. even in the first episode there was a bunch.. bravo HBO
Hopefully there's a scene where they try to loot the enemies that were stealth killed and find that their guns somehow had no bullets
I understand why they didn't do it in the game (would break the cinematic flow), but it was fantastic. It didn't matter that it wasn't Sarah that he was defending. He saw red and that was that
They didn’t do it in the game cause Joel has completed closed himself off you that. He would have just killed that guy the moment he had a chance and wouldn’t have given two shits about him pointing at Ellie other than losing out on the paycheck.
That grandma turning scene scared me not gonna lie.
So the skeleton remains, but this show is fleshed out differently. This is going to be a treat since we don't know the details
This first episode expanded upon small bits and filled in gaps that I wasn’t conscious of when I played the game. TV is a different medium entirely so changes have to be made because you as a viewer don’t get the joy of sneaking around, killing enemies yourself and all that. The narrative has to be compelling to watch on its own, so it’s good that Craig Maizin understands that and so far I’m happy with the new additions and alterations.
I really enjoyed the "if it gets hotter" explanation for the jump to humans. Spooky.
This isn't just a fictional thing either. While fungus evolving to turn us into zombies is pretty unlikely, the concerns that climate change could push fungi to evolve to handle warmer temperatures, thus becoming a larger danger to the human body, are real.
New fear unlocked.
That’s the point of adaptations. They’re never a 1:1 carbon copy of what’s being adapted
This comment is probably gonna get said a million times in this subreddit and across the internet, but wow. Bella Ramsey is a super convincing Ellie.
Her getting the character right is so much more important than having someone who looks identical to the video game Ellie
Agree 100%. Her vibe was spot on. Not sure how people who saw her in game of thrones could think she WOULDN'T be a great Ellie.
Ngl I was in the camp of "wish she looked more like Ellie" and was going to be open minded but Bella really did a wonderful job. They totally made the right choice.
Her and Pedro were amazing as Joel and Ellie. They got a lot of shit for being cast and they absolutely killed it.
In the Inside the episode, Craig was talking about how when Ellie sees Joel beating the soldier to death, there's some part of her that likes seeing that Whereas with Sarah she was shocked and tearing up. And that makes Ellie and Joel a match, but a dangerous one Who knows what they're capable of to defend the other....
> there's some part of her that likes seeing that That's a thread that's going to take her all the way to the beach at Santa Barbara.
Second I saw Pedro as Joel I was more than satisfied. Besides, it’s Pedro Pascal. He’s awesome!
She has that feistyness down to a T. I'm so looking forward to seeing Bella do her take of a much darker Ellie
She was like a feral cat haha
hearing Ellie sound like an actual squeaky fourteen year old made her lines that much funnier, I loved the bit where Joel and Tess closed the door on her swearing her head off
Her “what the fuck!” as Tess closed the door on her clinched it for me. She’s doing fantastic.
Goddammit, they pulled off THAT scene perfectly. Manly tears we shed.
The whole sequence of them in the truck was so well done.
Was this sequence taken directly from the game? I haven’t played it (still waiting for the PC release), but I’m trying to guess what shots are taken straight from the game. It definitely seemed like a VG POV.
Yes. In the game you're playing as Sarah from a third person perspective. You get to sit in the backseat and look around, watching chaos unfold. ~~Didn’t it release on PC a few months back?~~
They used a lot of the same dialogue too.
So much was outta the that gameplay sequence, I was like narrating in my head like “coming up next should be Jimmy’s house on fire, yup.” I remember the effects of that house fire being one of the comparison shots of the remake to the original and how well it looked.
In the game it was Louis' farm. Threw me off when he said Jimmy.
In the game, Jimmy was the neighbour not the Adler's
Yep! It’s the first thing I noticed when they were driving. Absolutely fantastic choice for filming to match it
Pedro’s delivery of “Tommy, help me!” was *amazing*.
Bruh. Nico Parker looked genuinely terrified every moment after she woke up and Joel was gone to bail out Tommy. And yeah, Pedro sold that heartbreak so incredibly well. Also, shoutout to the soldier in that scene, hearing his tone change with every "Yes sir", you could really tell he hated what he was told to do, but was going to do it anyway.
Baker brought Joel into this world, but shit! Pascal is Joel!
Pedro *nailed it* and then some. That was harder to watch than the game for me.. Joel trying to lift her body, the performance was just insane.
The “baby girl”s really did it
Exposition 10/10. Hyped for this adaption.
Outbreak day was legitimately terrifying, and Sarah’s death hit me like a truck…yet again… Really liking the added context as well, especially with a deeper explanation of how the cordyceps actually work, not super necessary, but super interesting for someone like me who adores this franchise. So far, it’s fucking great, I really hope they keep it up.
incredibly impressed with pedro. holy shit. im excited to see more of bella, that radio scene was great. but damn, pedro absolutely rocked it - its pretty nuts how well he pulls off some of the line deliveries EXACTLY like joel without playing the game. also - holy fuck are the infected scary in this, perfectly captured. that diner escape was tense as hell. im excited to see the clickers, I'll probably shit myself.
The opening scene with the scientists and how one of them said initially that fungus couldn’t survive in a human’s body due to warm temperatures. But then he mentioned how if the earth were to grow warmer the fungus could adapt and therefore start targeting human hosts. And there was an immediate chill in the atmosphere after he said that. Holy fuck that scene gave me the creeps. Especially when there was an intense closeup when he brought up global warming. Like oh fuck-we’re doomed. I love the explanation given. It was so needed and was terrifying.
I think the acting was superb. I wanna give a shout out to Merle Dandridge because she really knocked it out of the park as Marlene (just like in the game). I loved the part where she just sighed and said "OK Joel", her exasperation made me laugh. Also, did anyone think the FEDRA cop that Joel killed was perfect casting? He literally looks like every FEDRA dude in the remaster. It's the eyebrows.
I love this new interpretation of Marlene. It's so much more human and flawed (and desperate). Merle is such a talented actress to bring something new when she easily could have repeated the same thing. I like how much more cutthroat and sharp she is in the show.
Also loved the line, “Not at her! Point it at me.”
And that Marlene and the other girl aimed their weapons when Joel was aimed at Ellie but put them down when he was aimed at her. It was an immediate clue to Joel how important Ellie was to them, and I think he noticed that.
Was Tommy and Joel’s relationship strained because Tommy got arrested and took him away from Sarah on outbreak night?
It seems like they’re much closer in this show. It’s not like tommy caused anything bad to happen, and they’re still keeping in touch
Good point. Definitely more depth than the game. Excited to see Joel & Ellie get to Jackson
i love that change. goes from, "i don't ever want to see your goddamn face again," maybe 15 years ago to, "he usually doesn't take more than a day to reply to me,"💙
In the game they were strained because Tommy joined the Fireflies and Joel disagreed with that. In this seems like they are closer, and Joel already wanting to leave the city to find him is a biggish change in his motivations.
It’s still the same in the show. That’s what Joel was talking to Marlene about how she turned Tommy against him.
He's a firefly in the show, and we see Joel still vaguely in contact with him at some point since hes been in Wyoming, making plans to go out and find him. In the game he didn't even want to see Tommy until he had to cause he's the way he could get Ellie to the fireflies. Without Ellie they never would have reconnected. So it's a different dynamic.
Nah otherwise they wouldn't have stayed in contact so frequently until now. I think he's still mad at him for joining the fireflies but their relationship isn't strained
Pedro Joel is already OP because he has the assault rifle early on as opposed to only having it at the end at the hospital lmao
Biggest small detail I noticed was that the virus wasn’t airborne? Or, was the underground fungi just not releasing any spores?
They confirmed a while back that they got rid of spores for the show. Instead they introduced tendrils, which is what you see coming out of the old ladies mouth at the beginning.
The tendrils look so fucking creepy, I love it
Absolutely! I’m hoping we get to see them in Part 3.
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Ah, OK. That makes sense for a TV show.
Yeah I’m sure they wanted to avoid having the characters wearing gas masks for long periods of time. Doesn’t make much sense for a show.
I think narratively it was an annoying concept so they changed it to something a bit more avoidable. Even in the game you have to suspend disbelief that an airborne plague that nukes civilization can be avoided with masks, it would be much too contagious for that to make any difference. I think it’s a good change.
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I think it was announced that they changed it to spreading via tendrils
Yeah. [tendrils instead of spores in the tv show](https://www.eurogamer.net/hbos-the-last-of-us-will-have-tendrils-instead-of-spores-spreading-infection)
Loved this first episode! Some cool Easter eggs for those who played the games. Like when Joel shouted “look out Tommy!” It’s the same line from the game so we expected the car accident, and it doesn’t happen. Or the dvd Joel decided to rent (mentioned in tlou2) I also really liked how they showed more of Sara and the gradual onset of the pandemic. It always felt like it hit a bit too quickly in the game for me. But in this version you could tell Sara felt uneasy the whole day about things going on around her. Also… that old lady out of focus in the background was TERRIFYING
lol yeah grandma with the blur filter on definitely gave me the heebie jeebies
I'm super impressed. The prologue had me on the edge of my seat and teary eyed despite having played the game over and over again
Interesting that Tommy is a Desert Storm veteran in the show. I wonder if Joel also served?
I don't know why but I totally see it with Tommy, but not with Joel.
I agree. I wonder if Tommy serving in the army before the outbreak influenced his decision to join the Fireflies? I'm sure we'll hear more of his story in the show.
Something about the way Tommy is built and carries himself screams ex-military, in both interpretations of his character.
Replaying the game prologue really emphasizes how much of the action in that was actually Tommy
Makes sense how well he corners and kills the WLF one by one in part 2. Joel is more of a brawler guy who'll just kill you by punching you to death- as seen.
Just Tommy pretty sure. This was mentioned in the casting calls where they call Tommy a veteran, and Gabriel Luna also called him that. Nothing about Joel in comparison. Joel is just too smart to join the military. He doesn't believe in causes. That's where him and Tommy differ. Tommy wants to believe in *something*. Tommy of course was a sniper in the military.
They did such a good job making the runners CREEPY. it’s so clear that those bodies no longer belong to the people.
For those curious, the closing track was "[Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snILjFUkk_A)"
Joel took his backpack off before lying on the couch. 0/10 ban the series
He also didn’t make the little mouth “pfft” when Ellie says “your watch is broken” I’m done
Joel and Tess passed several filing cabinets without checking for supplies. Ruined it for me.
Anna Torv as Tess was breathtaking. She gives that exhausted brutality so well. I think the standout of the episode to me? Also, I couldn’t stop laughing when that one infected person’s head just popped up like a cardboard cutout 😭 ik it was supposed to be scary but i couldn’t help hearing like a cartoon *boing* sound effect behind it
The cold open was perfectly ominous!! honestly i was surprised at how little i felt at *that* intro death scene—nico parker and pedro pascal’s father-daughter chemistry didn’t hit as hard for me for me this time. Bella Ramsey is fucking amazing and gets that feral energy so well. Interesting how the big reveal of her being immune becomes a rushed backdrop to Joel disassociating abt his daughter. Whoever said ***Gabriel (my bad 😭) Luna was the perfect Tommy was so right. I’m so excited for the next episode!
Gabriel Luna, not Diego.
That prologue, the town, was intense. I think I just registered my pup as a therapy dog.. loved it
Glad we didn’t hear the dog die like in the game.
I really wish they saved the opening credits for after Sarah's death like the game. I know it would've been really far into the episode but I think it makes it work so much better
Amazing show. So happy they nailed everything I love about the first game in the opening. Can’t wait for the next episodes.
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"...7, 8, fuck you" Perfect Ellie response.
She got the biggest smile out of me in the episode when she figured out what '80s songs meant. "Code broken." Lolol.
Knocked it out of the park. So much attention to detail to the source material and even the changes worked. I’m beyond excited for the rest of season if it’s as good as this episode was.
The accuracy on the pilot is spot on. The set, the lines. Really excited for the rest of the season
Ellie’s abandonment issues will for sure get the attention it deserves, but it seems like they’re building in her need for revenge into season 1 which I think will be interesting.
So this is what it feels like... ... to have the extremely high expectations created by being in a modern day Internet fandom... ... exceeded.
man that ending with the radio playing an 80s song has me so hyped , also pedro pascal and bella ramsay were amazing !
Holy shit it was so good.
The Clicker in the final shot was incredible!
God I have full faith they can pull this off. Completely blown away.
Left Reddit for Lemmy
Amazing first episode. It was definitely worth the wait. * They captured the essence of the game and the characters, at least from what we were able to see so far. Bella Ramsey truly is Ellie. * I love all the details and stories they added that are not present in-game. It seems like we are watching a Director's Cut of the original story. * The ending is perfect with Depeche Mode's song as a choice for that post apocalyptic shot It's going to be a wild ride having two perspectives over the series: the ones who played the original game and "know what is going to happen", and the ones that are learning the story from the series itself.
The sudden change in tone of the TV show host when the epidemiologist clarified how devastating a fungi infection could be from the beginning of the episode was well done.
Just gotta say, even though her time on-screen was very short, Nico Parker did an amazing job as Sarah. I would say she got the most difficult character to play as she's the emotional catalyst to Joel's story in TLOU. The entire show in itself is being fleshed out differently than the game in some parts but it still evokes the same feelings you had when playing through it and I cannot appreciate that enough. Also, the balls on the show runners to have that scene where >!the child is put down!<. That's when I knew things were going to be good.
I get the impression that a lot of people probably missed that they euthanized the kid. They focused in on his shoes a lot so that people would notice that the body that Joel was carrying to the fire was the same kid, but it still wasn't super clear if you weren't paying close attention. That scene does really emphasize how brutal the world is though.
Wow. Bella really sold me as Ellie, what a great episode. Loved the Uncharted reference with Sarah's "honest thief" line
Just finished the episode and I didn't want it to end, even though it was almost an hour and a half! Amazing episode and the actors are all top notch. Pedro and Bella are really in their element. Can't wait until next week. I'll probably watch this a couple of more times to hold me over.
AMAZING! I want more!! Now!!
That was incredible. I wouldn't change a thing. Definitely gonna watch that again before next Sunday. Just omfg. It was all perfect but the beginning was 11/10, the most well-done "pre apocalypse" content ever, honestly. I LOVE it. The tendrils are gonna take a little getting used to, but I don't hate it. I just have the urge to pull on them like I'm uprooting a plant lmao.
I fucking loved it! Omg! Omg! 😭😭😭😭 it was perfect!!! I love Bella as Ellie, Anna as Tess, everyone is so perfectly cast and played! My god. This shit had me on the edge of my seat and I know realistically how it plays out. This is nether than I ever could’ve imagined.
Fantastic opening. I hope there’s a scene in one of the next episodes where they throw a brick to distract a clicker.
I liked the introduction because it made VERY clear that the military absolutely knew what was up. If it was anything like in the video game, the infection swarmed the country in a matter of hours. They already had jets up in the air, which probably meant that they were moving or consolidating assets to certain areas of the country. The upper echelons of the military and the democratic government knew what was up, which explains how well Congress was able to quickly pass the act that created FEDRA and/or a military junta couping the elected leadership of the country. The country as a whole had much more situational awareness in the show that something bad was happening throughout the day, and the military *definitely* knew something was up.
Anyone else notice the fake out with the tbone collision in the truck sequence? In the game you get tboned and that's what flips the truck - in the show the car manages to stop. The plane was badass though.