Topic: The TV Show Thread

@Th3solution I'm amazed - my brother used that exact "Avengers" analogy. He said he felt like he was watching Poundland (I think you call them Dollar Stores) Joel and Ellie. What I'm concerned about is that this sort of story has been done and done so well in recent movies - "Logan" and 'Children of Men" specifically - that (combined with how cinematic the game itself already is) the series will seem either completely derivative or even just artistically redundant to me. It's such a slight plot, as well. Colour me dubious.

@LN78 I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone; I was starting to question myself because of the universal glowing praise. I did notice that a lot of the critical reviewers admitted to having no experience with the game, and so lack of any expectations going in makes for a better viewing experience I think. It was similar with that Uncharted movie. I didn’t think much of it, but if you would have called it “Treasure Hunt” or some other unrelated property, then I probably would have enjoyed it more, rather than thinking “Why is Nathan Drake so short? And why is Sully so young?” the whole time. Because yeah, “dollar store” version would be a good descriptor. I’ve also heard these characters called the “Aldi versions” which is a grocery store here known for its cheaper price off-brand versions of products.

And you’re right about the plot being mostly done before and being slight. I think that has led to these first two episodes feeling quite slow, because to me, the real impactful narrative point is the game’s ending. And of course it only lands because of hours of gradual bonding with Ellie through multiple challenges of combat and exploration. So I fear we’re going to get 10 episodes of slow moving storyline until the real treat at the end.

I liked both episodes well enough but I do agree that it seems a little overhyped by the reviews

@Voltan What did you think of the clickers and of the visual effects overall? Did their heads look a little fake and manufactured to you?

@Th3solution Hype is a killer, isn’t it? I’ve mostly stayed away from reviews other than eyeing the obvious rotten tomato score and being aware of the glowing praise. I guess reviewers have seen the entire season, which I suppose would greatly affect their overall feelings on the show.

I will say that, I am pulled out at times because of over familiarity with the game. It’s a hyper sensitivity to any change but also to any similarity. The same thing happens to me with books. I think it helps to understand that this is an adaptation, and one made for folks who are not necessarily familiar with the games. I truly believe they’ve reached a happy medium of faithfully and respectfully adapting the games while also keeping it fresh and digestible for newcomers.

I do hard disagree with you on the visuals and performances however. For me, it’s beautiful and I think they’ve done an astounding job with sets, makeup and the general aesthetic of the show. This is quite subjective though. I’ve read some valid concerns about it looking too clean, but in the digital age, I find myself feeling this way about a lot of video. As for performances, I think it’s important in a video game adaptation for actors to take the characters in their own direction for fear of feeling like cheap knockoffs. Do you feel they’ve gone too far, or not far enough?

One area that has completely underwhelmed me is the music. Not sure exactly what I was wanting out of it but whatever it was, I haven’t gotten it. Time will tell, I guess!

Adapting a video game is extremely difficult, as the track record has shown. I think it’s unfair to call cinematic games such as ND’s easily adaptable simply because “they’re already movies.” I really think we’ve gotten something special here that, though not perfect, ticks a lot of boxes from all angles.

Well, to the surprise of nobody, HBO have just renewed "The Last of Us" for Season 2. That should be fun.

@LN78 I see it as an opportunity to properly flesh out aspects of the game’s narrative that were lacking, though I think your issues with Part II were more severe than mine, so it might be irredeemable for you. Either way, there’s easily enough content there for two seasons.

@Jimmer-jammer That whole debate again but for an entirely new crowd. At least I know not to get involved this time. It was exhausting.

@LN78 😂 Fair enough!

@LN78 Didn’t even think about the ‘discourse’ starting again. God, that was tiring. I didn’t even really like The Last of Us but the ones banging on about Neil Druckmann were almost as irritating as Gamergate.

@Jimmer-jammer Perfectly fair counterpoints, and I’m in agreement with you all around, the only deviation being the visuals and graphics. I’ll be interested to see the bloaters and get more time with the clickers and the general aesthetic, but I do feel slightly disappointed with the overall look. And “too clean” is a sound descriptor, as the clickers heads in the game were always random and natural appearing, like a sprouting fungus with some unrefined variance and it seemed like the TV costumes were fairly symmetrical and had a synthetic or non-organic feel to them.

As for the acting performances, I think it’s a decent balance between imitation and doing a fresh take. Both Ramsey and Pascal have been performing well and I think the balance is good. The actress that plays Tess is the most differing take so far, such that to me she hardly feels like the same character as the game. I have no issue with the performances, only that there’s an uncanniness about them due to conflicting with my own memory. I do think they are playing up the moral grayness of Joel and Tess which I don’t remember feeling in the game (probably in anticipation of part 2). Joel’s loneliness, bitterness, and unresolved grief has yet to be showcased and he seems more selfish and seedy… to me at least. But I’m certainly analyzing it way too deeply! 😅 Especially for only two episodes.

It’s a good point about the music too. I appreciate the commitment to keeping with the game’s score which is great in its own right, but it feels like there’s a lot of silence without background music and maybe that leads to the sterile feeling of the scenes.

@Th3solution A little bit… like maybe too bright and clean. I didn’t think they were bad though.

watching the last episode of Season 1 of Switched at Birth on Hulu. then i need to finish off Season 4 of Stranger Things.

just wish the episodes of Stranger Things season 4 werent so damn long

@XandertheWise
With that season of Stranger Things I had to break my cardinal rule of always finishing episodes of a show in one sitting no matter how long. That season finale has to hold some kind of Guinness record for longest episode of a show ever.

@Th3solution Funnily enough, Tess has been my favourite character so far. There’s a humanness there that was missing from the game, at least from my perspective. It’s hard to pull off macho without coming across as a caricature, hardened without coming across as unlikeable. I like the balance there.

Concerning the “fakeness” of things, sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. I’ve heard accounts from people who have witnessed traumatic events usually described as, “it’s like it wasn’t real”, or “it was like a movie”, or “I thought it was fake…” I wonder if that concept plays in here at all. For me, I still can’t get over how some exotic plants look completely plastic. Like, here’s a real life plant growing out of the ground and all I can think is how fake it looks! I don’t know…

Bill’s town is around the corner so I guess we’ll see how they deal with that whole thread shortly. Looking forward to it!

Finished watching season 2 of Yellowstone last night. Another great season! Although the finale was kinda underwhelming.

Contemplating now whether to continue with season 3 or start up a new show on SkyShowtime since I only have one week left of my subscription. Even though I've really enjoyed Yellowstone so far, it's starting to lose its grip on me. So I think I might need to watch something different and get back to it at a later point.

@LtSarge
I would personally recommend Penny Dreadful. Though I doubt a week would be long enough to finish it.

@PegasusActual93 Oh wow, I looked it up on there and it actually looks quite interesting! Can't believe I haven't heard of it before. Even if I don't have enough time to watch through it, I'll definitely add it to my watchlist. Thanks for the recommendation!

Glad I gave TLOU another shot, that episode finally proved why the show exists. While I’m sure the deviations will be controversial, for me it was a million times better than the equivalent in the game.

@nessisonett The gamers (patent pending) over in the IGN comments section are (quelle surprise) having a complete and unfettered homophobic meltdown about the episode. Really, really unpleasant stuff going on (from what I can tell from this and their "Hogwarts" content, pretty much unmoderated) on that site. I'm so intrigued to see the show, but I promised myself I'd wait for the physical edition - glad you're back on board though.