When You’re Lost in the Darkness…
Feb. 19th, 2023 11:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teylaminhThis post is about three weeks overdue so will be less in-depth than I initially intended, but I'm determined to get it done. I actually started this last week and gave up midway through because I was too knackered, which is probably a good overview as to why it’s taken so long.
ANYWAY, I have started watching the new HBO adaptation of The Last of Us and it's actually amazing, and I can't just keep enthusing about it on Twitter. I meant to post this after episode 3 but this will now cover up to episode 5, albeit not in as much detail as I wanted.
At some point I'm hoping this will lead into the post about the second game that I've been wanting to do for ages, if not for my job sapping all of my time/energy/inclination, but I will probably replay it once the show is done and... actually make notes, for once. Or maybe use PS5 share to at least post screenshots on Twitter as placeholders.
This will not be an episode by episode break-down because I've probably forgotten quite a lot by now, but I'll try and keep it in some vague kind of order.
Okay, so first off: I was really excited for this show and it has not disappointed me so far. The added plot elements have brought so much to an already great story and the pacing is excellent. I hope by this point anyone who went into the show 'blind', without any prior knowledge of the game, has realised it's so much more than just another zombie show.
Such being said, there is enough of the original source material to make the game fandom squee in delight, which is how I spent much of the first two episodes. Some aspects have been recreated shot-for-shot and there are just so many easter eggs, it's honestly a joy to watch.
I really appreciated the extended prologue in episode 1, introducing us to what I have deemed Joel's "Resting Dad Face" very early on, and making the gut punch of the opening even more effective. (Also, the comment about Atkin’s made me literally LOL – soooo 2003!) Much of the action was filmed exactly as in the game - in particular filming from behind Sarah in the back of the car as the carnage unfolds, and the horrendous way her story ends. As a game prologue it's genius, and for the TV show it sets you up - unknowingly - for the regular heartbreak you are going to experience throughout. The golden rule for this show is: do not get overly attached to any of these awesome characters, because you will regret it.
Skipping forward several years, the brutality of the post-outbreak world is driven home as a young, infected boy is unknowingly given a lethal injection whilst distracted by a friendly-faced police officer: a moment of unprecedented kindness in a world where cruelty reigns supreme. Perhaps that in itself is a microcosm of what the story is about.
Next we see Joel tasked with hurling the boy's body into a fire, which... okay, so I have a lot of thoughts about how the characters deal with their trauma (or don't), and this scene is a small encapsulation of a greater theme. In a world where everyone is fighting for survival, there's no time to process anything or mourn anyone effectively, so it just gets pushed down deeper and deeper until it explodes. In TLOU part 2 I have a lot of feels about the way Ellie, and latterly Abbie, deal with their trauma through clinging to rage and hate and vengeance, and I feel like the same is also true of Joel – but I will save that for my TLOU 2 post.
Anyway, we are also introduced to Tess being her badass self in episode 1, and I appreciated that the show gave us a greater insight into her relationship with Joel - even if he seems understandably reluctant to give it a definition. The fact that they are carving out something of a life together is the first hint to what this show is really about at its heart: it's not just about surviving, it's about why that matters and who you’re hanging on for.
Before I forget, here's a list of Easter eggs that I've spotted so far (excluding the shot-for-shot scenes because I'll be here all night):
I’m sure there are about a hundred more I’ve missed, so I’ll save them for the rewatch. :P
The way the show uses light is really interesting also: in the game it's used as a compass ("Look for the Light") as there's no map or waypoint system, and whilst the show also includes it at similar points - like sunlight shining through rubble in the direction they need to travel - it's also used as framing. The opening shot of episode 2, for example, of Ellie sleeping on the grass in a sunbeam, whilst Tess and Joel are sat in the shadows, is a stunning metaphor.
I've also really enjoyed what little we did get to see of the dynamic between Tess and Ellie - in particular their conversation about how Ellie got bit, and Tess's comment of "You've got some balls on you, sister." That's probably the first time anyone has reacted even vaguely in the positive to that situation - or to anything, quite frankly, considering she grew up in a military school. Where Joel sees her as 'cargo' - and even admits to as much two episodes later - Tess at least treats her like a person.
And then, of course, it's just Joel and Ellie stuck with each other for the foreseeable. Remember the golden rule. :P
I should probably spend a bit of time talking about episode 3 – not that there’s a dearth of commentary already. If that episode does not win All The Awards then we might as well call it a kiss of death for entertainment. As Paul pointed out, possibly the best thing about that episode (other than the obvious) is that there’s a very specific demographic who it will have irrevocably pissed off, and if that’s the case they can GTFO out of my fandom. If anyone played the game and was surprised by that episode, then they obviously weren’t paying attention. (Much like the people who complained about where they took Ellie’s character in the sequel… notwithstanding that the DLC makes it obvious, it’s not like there weren’t hints!)
TBH once I knew they'd cast Nick Offerman as Bill, I called it a win, because that is some perfect casting right there. (On that note, Pedro Pascal has actually exceeded my expectations, and Bella Ramsay is fab as Ellie.)
What I will say is that I am loving how this show dedicates time to back-story. For obvious reasons, a lot of it is glossed over in the game, but it would be understandably tedious dedicating 9+ hours of TV storytelling to watching people moving around in stealth or having gunfights. To dedicate a whole episode to Bill and Frank and their lives together is an absolute stroke of genius. I thought the scene with a younger Joel and Tess coming over for afternoon tea was also great – another reminder of how people try to find joy and normality in an otherwise desperate situation. The fact that Bill was so averse to inviting any outsiders into their bubble, but kept Joel and Tess in his thoughts at the end.
So, we spend 90 minutes watching a grumpy loner gun-prepper opening his heart and his home, and then… the show breaks our hearts again. Look, I wasn’t kidding about the golden rule.
Episode 4, then – a quieter and slower episode but probably needed after the emotional turmoil of what came before. I really enjoyed this one, and I think it was needed, not just as a means of getting the characters from A to B but because there’s a need to set up the relationship between Joel and Ellie before we get to the end. At the start of the episode he admits that she’s just “cargo”, which is a brutal comparison when he’s just referred to Tess as “family”, but by the end she tells a stupid joke about diarrhoea and sets him off giggling like a small child.
I think my favourite line from episode 4 came towards the end, after they’d climbed however many floors and Ellie was berating him for having a rest. “I’m 56 years old, you little shit.” Also, the bit where Ellie was asking why the government let a lethal pandemic spread like that, which was a little too on the nose. I see what you did there.
I feel like it’s been so long that Joel has forgotten that (a) teenage girls are just Like That, (b) teenage girls are Cleverer Than You Think, and (c) teenage girls are Awesome, but of course, he didn’t have long enough with his own teenage daughter to really understand that. It makes sense that he’d be unwilling to form any kind of bond with Ellie (at least to begin with), because he quite evidently has not processed the loss of Sarah. Early on, when they’re all cornered by the military, he has an obvious flashback and a visceral reaction as a result – and he probably tells himself it’s to protect Tess because he doesn’t want to admit that he feels protective of Ellie.
What I also thought was interesting in this episode was when he made her go back into the hiding spot in the wall so she wouldn’t have to see him shoot a guy in the head… which was basically pointless because hearing it was obviously just as bad. So on some level he’s aware that she’s still just a kid, even if she’s a kid who’s been through too much already.
I also enjoyed how they wrote in Ellie being allowed a gun by switching it to Kansas City rather than the hotel, as they covered the location itself very early in episode 2, but I will admit I missed the scene where she got to cover him with a sniper rifle.
Actually, that brings me nicely in episode 5 where the opposite happens. We are also introduced to Henry and Sam, whose story is given additional angst through Sam being deaf. Let’s just imagine for a moment the fate of a deaf child in the world of The Last of Us if they didn’t have an older sibling / care giver keeping them safe… doesn’t bear thinking about.
I loved the scenes with Ellie and Sam, particularly, and Paul pointed out how all of Sam’s superhero drawings are a nod to the comic books that you collect throughout the game, though we get to see an actual copy of it during the bunker scene. “Endure and survive”. I loved Ellie learning the signs for it, and reading it to Sam even though he can’t hear her, because he clearly knows it well.
The sniper scene: this seemed to go insanely quickly which is understandable because it takes me literal fucking hours when I play the game (I never claimed to be any good at it… ISTG they made the PS5 rebuild even more bloody difficult), but they put the time in where it mattered, i.e. the Angry Mob, the Bloater and then the infected, which I think were Stalkers given how fast they moved.
Actually it occurs to me they haven’t named the infected in the show, but anyone who’s played the game just knows what they are.
I think that was everything I wanted to say, but I will probably remember something later down the line.
There’s four episodes left, and my best theory is that they’ll cover the rest of the story thus:
Episode 6 – Tommy and Maria at the hydro-dam, Ellie running away;
Episode 7 – the university / Joel getting injured;
Episode 8 – “winter” sequence with David / hopefully the Ellie DLC flashback;
Episode 9 – the hospital / epilogue / ending feels.
They have already confirmed season 2, so I look forward to having my heart torn to shreds repeatedly all over again. TLUO2 is honestly one of the greatest pieces of storytelling I have ever experienced, with a mid-game plot twist that literally made me shout “Oh, fuck!” out loud in surprise, and I can’t wait to see how it translates to screen given how well this first season has gone.
I am also just… so glad I’ve played the game and know it so well, because all of the little references they’ve thrown in feel like they’re “for the fans”, without it feeling like fanservice. They know their audience, both new and existing, and they’re playing to all their strengths. Truly, this is TV at its finest.
Now, let’s keep our fingers crossed for a full TV-adaptation of Uncharted, or maybe Red Dead Redemption, because I would happily watch several hours of swashbuckling adventure with Nathan Drake and/or cowboy shenanigans with Arthur Morgan. Make it happen plz TV gods.
Right, posting this now before it gets any longer, with the icon that I just threw together in 10 minutes. I am a little rusty with icon-making, and I’ve lost all my funky brush-sets in one of my many house moves (including my icon-shaped brushes), more’s the pity.
PS: I've also finally got around to reinstalling my old mood theme, which was a mistake because I'd forgotten how long it would take. One of these days I should finish the generic fandom one I started about 20 years ago...
ANYWAY, I have started watching the new HBO adaptation of The Last of Us and it's actually amazing, and I can't just keep enthusing about it on Twitter. I meant to post this after episode 3 but this will now cover up to episode 5, albeit not in as much detail as I wanted.
At some point I'm hoping this will lead into the post about the second game that I've been wanting to do for ages, if not for my job sapping all of my time/energy/inclination, but I will probably replay it once the show is done and... actually make notes, for once. Or maybe use PS5 share to at least post screenshots on Twitter as placeholders.
This will not be an episode by episode break-down because I've probably forgotten quite a lot by now, but I'll try and keep it in some vague kind of order.
Okay, so first off: I was really excited for this show and it has not disappointed me so far. The added plot elements have brought so much to an already great story and the pacing is excellent. I hope by this point anyone who went into the show 'blind', without any prior knowledge of the game, has realised it's so much more than just another zombie show.
Such being said, there is enough of the original source material to make the game fandom squee in delight, which is how I spent much of the first two episodes. Some aspects have been recreated shot-for-shot and there are just so many easter eggs, it's honestly a joy to watch.
I really appreciated the extended prologue in episode 1, introducing us to what I have deemed Joel's "Resting Dad Face" very early on, and making the gut punch of the opening even more effective. (Also, the comment about Atkin’s made me literally LOL – soooo 2003!) Much of the action was filmed exactly as in the game - in particular filming from behind Sarah in the back of the car as the carnage unfolds, and the horrendous way her story ends. As a game prologue it's genius, and for the TV show it sets you up - unknowingly - for the regular heartbreak you are going to experience throughout. The golden rule for this show is: do not get overly attached to any of these awesome characters, because you will regret it.
Skipping forward several years, the brutality of the post-outbreak world is driven home as a young, infected boy is unknowingly given a lethal injection whilst distracted by a friendly-faced police officer: a moment of unprecedented kindness in a world where cruelty reigns supreme. Perhaps that in itself is a microcosm of what the story is about.
Next we see Joel tasked with hurling the boy's body into a fire, which... okay, so I have a lot of thoughts about how the characters deal with their trauma (or don't), and this scene is a small encapsulation of a greater theme. In a world where everyone is fighting for survival, there's no time to process anything or mourn anyone effectively, so it just gets pushed down deeper and deeper until it explodes. In TLOU part 2 I have a lot of feels about the way Ellie, and latterly Abbie, deal with their trauma through clinging to rage and hate and vengeance, and I feel like the same is also true of Joel – but I will save that for my TLOU 2 post.
Anyway, we are also introduced to Tess being her badass self in episode 1, and I appreciated that the show gave us a greater insight into her relationship with Joel - even if he seems understandably reluctant to give it a definition. The fact that they are carving out something of a life together is the first hint to what this show is really about at its heart: it's not just about surviving, it's about why that matters and who you’re hanging on for.
Before I forget, here's a list of Easter eggs that I've spotted so far (excluding the shot-for-shot scenes because I'll be here all night):
- introducing us to Ellie feet-first (so game stalwarts would recognise her through her red Converse even though she's not actually named until a couple of scenes later);
- the voice actress for Marlene now playing her on film (apparently the Clickers also have the same voice actors);
- Ellie saying she was alone when she got bitten/attacked (foreshadowing!);
- a long and seemingly innocuous focus on a toy giraffe on the floor outside, just as Joel and Ellie (and Tess) are starting their journey;
- a Clicker silhouetted through a museum display cabinet (reflecting how "listen mode" looks in the game - I actually yelled out loud at that one);
- everyone being chronically unable to shoot straight when panicking, which is exactly how everyone plays the game when stealth fails (I may have yelled out "use a shiv, Joel!" and "Mash the square button!" at a couple of points);
- Ellie finding “the shirt” at Bill's house;
- the voice actor for Tommy appearing in episode 4/5 as Kathleen’s right hand man
- the Bloater ripping the guy’s head in half perfectly reflecting what happens in the game if you fuck up the scene in the high school (it’s fuzzy and in the background, easily missed if you’re not looking for it)
I’m sure there are about a hundred more I’ve missed, so I’ll save them for the rewatch. :P
The way the show uses light is really interesting also: in the game it's used as a compass ("Look for the Light") as there's no map or waypoint system, and whilst the show also includes it at similar points - like sunlight shining through rubble in the direction they need to travel - it's also used as framing. The opening shot of episode 2, for example, of Ellie sleeping on the grass in a sunbeam, whilst Tess and Joel are sat in the shadows, is a stunning metaphor.
I've also really enjoyed what little we did get to see of the dynamic between Tess and Ellie - in particular their conversation about how Ellie got bit, and Tess's comment of "You've got some balls on you, sister." That's probably the first time anyone has reacted even vaguely in the positive to that situation - or to anything, quite frankly, considering she grew up in a military school. Where Joel sees her as 'cargo' - and even admits to as much two episodes later - Tess at least treats her like a person.
And then, of course, it's just Joel and Ellie stuck with each other for the foreseeable. Remember the golden rule. :P
I should probably spend a bit of time talking about episode 3 – not that there’s a dearth of commentary already. If that episode does not win All The Awards then we might as well call it a kiss of death for entertainment. As Paul pointed out, possibly the best thing about that episode (other than the obvious) is that there’s a very specific demographic who it will have irrevocably pissed off, and if that’s the case they can GTFO out of my fandom. If anyone played the game and was surprised by that episode, then they obviously weren’t paying attention. (Much like the people who complained about where they took Ellie’s character in the sequel… notwithstanding that the DLC makes it obvious, it’s not like there weren’t hints!)
TBH once I knew they'd cast Nick Offerman as Bill, I called it a win, because that is some perfect casting right there. (On that note, Pedro Pascal has actually exceeded my expectations, and Bella Ramsay is fab as Ellie.)
What I will say is that I am loving how this show dedicates time to back-story. For obvious reasons, a lot of it is glossed over in the game, but it would be understandably tedious dedicating 9+ hours of TV storytelling to watching people moving around in stealth or having gunfights. To dedicate a whole episode to Bill and Frank and their lives together is an absolute stroke of genius. I thought the scene with a younger Joel and Tess coming over for afternoon tea was also great – another reminder of how people try to find joy and normality in an otherwise desperate situation. The fact that Bill was so averse to inviting any outsiders into their bubble, but kept Joel and Tess in his thoughts at the end.
So, we spend 90 minutes watching a grumpy loner gun-prepper opening his heart and his home, and then… the show breaks our hearts again. Look, I wasn’t kidding about the golden rule.
Episode 4, then – a quieter and slower episode but probably needed after the emotional turmoil of what came before. I really enjoyed this one, and I think it was needed, not just as a means of getting the characters from A to B but because there’s a need to set up the relationship between Joel and Ellie before we get to the end. At the start of the episode he admits that she’s just “cargo”, which is a brutal comparison when he’s just referred to Tess as “family”, but by the end she tells a stupid joke about diarrhoea and sets him off giggling like a small child.
I think my favourite line from episode 4 came towards the end, after they’d climbed however many floors and Ellie was berating him for having a rest. “I’m 56 years old, you little shit.” Also, the bit where Ellie was asking why the government let a lethal pandemic spread like that, which was a little too on the nose. I see what you did there.
I feel like it’s been so long that Joel has forgotten that (a) teenage girls are just Like That, (b) teenage girls are Cleverer Than You Think, and (c) teenage girls are Awesome, but of course, he didn’t have long enough with his own teenage daughter to really understand that. It makes sense that he’d be unwilling to form any kind of bond with Ellie (at least to begin with), because he quite evidently has not processed the loss of Sarah. Early on, when they’re all cornered by the military, he has an obvious flashback and a visceral reaction as a result – and he probably tells himself it’s to protect Tess because he doesn’t want to admit that he feels protective of Ellie.
What I also thought was interesting in this episode was when he made her go back into the hiding spot in the wall so she wouldn’t have to see him shoot a guy in the head… which was basically pointless because hearing it was obviously just as bad. So on some level he’s aware that she’s still just a kid, even if she’s a kid who’s been through too much already.
I also enjoyed how they wrote in Ellie being allowed a gun by switching it to Kansas City rather than the hotel, as they covered the location itself very early in episode 2, but I will admit I missed the scene where she got to cover him with a sniper rifle.
Actually, that brings me nicely in episode 5 where the opposite happens. We are also introduced to Henry and Sam, whose story is given additional angst through Sam being deaf. Let’s just imagine for a moment the fate of a deaf child in the world of The Last of Us if they didn’t have an older sibling / care giver keeping them safe… doesn’t bear thinking about.
I loved the scenes with Ellie and Sam, particularly, and Paul pointed out how all of Sam’s superhero drawings are a nod to the comic books that you collect throughout the game, though we get to see an actual copy of it during the bunker scene. “Endure and survive”. I loved Ellie learning the signs for it, and reading it to Sam even though he can’t hear her, because he clearly knows it well.
The sniper scene: this seemed to go insanely quickly which is understandable because it takes me literal fucking hours when I play the game (I never claimed to be any good at it… ISTG they made the PS5 rebuild even more bloody difficult), but they put the time in where it mattered, i.e. the Angry Mob, the Bloater and then the infected, which I think were Stalkers given how fast they moved.
Actually it occurs to me they haven’t named the infected in the show, but anyone who’s played the game just knows what they are.
I think that was everything I wanted to say, but I will probably remember something later down the line.
There’s four episodes left, and my best theory is that they’ll cover the rest of the story thus:
Episode 6 – Tommy and Maria at the hydro-dam, Ellie running away;
Episode 7 – the university / Joel getting injured;
Episode 8 – “winter” sequence with David / hopefully the Ellie DLC flashback;
Episode 9 – the hospital / epilogue / ending feels.
They have already confirmed season 2, so I look forward to having my heart torn to shreds repeatedly all over again. TLUO2 is honestly one of the greatest pieces of storytelling I have ever experienced, with a mid-game plot twist that literally made me shout “Oh, fuck!” out loud in surprise, and I can’t wait to see how it translates to screen given how well this first season has gone.
I am also just… so glad I’ve played the game and know it so well, because all of the little references they’ve thrown in feel like they’re “for the fans”, without it feeling like fanservice. They know their audience, both new and existing, and they’re playing to all their strengths. Truly, this is TV at its finest.
Now, let’s keep our fingers crossed for a full TV-adaptation of Uncharted, or maybe Red Dead Redemption, because I would happily watch several hours of swashbuckling adventure with Nathan Drake and/or cowboy shenanigans with Arthur Morgan. Make it happen plz TV gods.
Right, posting this now before it gets any longer, with the icon that I just threw together in 10 minutes. I am a little rusty with icon-making, and I’ve lost all my funky brush-sets in one of my many house moves (including my icon-shaped brushes), more’s the pity.
PS: I've also finally got around to reinstalling my old mood theme, which was a mistake because I'd forgotten how long it would take. One of these days I should finish the generic fandom one I started about 20 years ago...
