The last of US (TV)

[subtle plague]

Holy shit. Episode 8 is some of the most intense TV I've ever seen. Breath taking and really fucked up. And scary realistic when it comes to what people do to survive.

Mando and Lyanna Mormont are fabulous actors.

I'd say no spoilers until the season is over?

[HappyCamper]

Fuck, I am going to have to watch it after all, huh?

I told myself no more end-of-world shows after the Walking Dead beat me down after 11 goddamn seasons with each suspension of belief becoming more painful.

I guess I need something to balance out the optimism of Ted Lasso Season 3.

[Elkhound Odin]

This is what TWD could have been with good writing and good acting.


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[Diamond Joe]

Its been really good TV, they have diverged quite a bit from the game though (that entire episode with Bill and Frank was not at all part of the game, ditto with the chick running the gang in KC). They've also toned the violence way way down from the game.

TWD *was* a good show for several seasons until it just became ridiculous and unwatchable.

[subtle plague]

Its been really good TV, they have diverged quite a bit from the game though (that entire episode with Bill and Frank was not at all part of the game, ditto with the chick running the gang in KC). They've also toned the violence way way down from the game.

TWD *was* a good show for several seasons until it just became ridiculous and unwatchable.

If they toned it down in episode 8, it must have been quite the splatterfest.

[fastfred]

awesome show
can't get enough and only one more episode this season that's kind of a bummer I'll go back and rewatch it all after the final

so many great moments and scenes but the best is when all the zombies come rushing out of the ground

[neckdeep]

IMHO, it's a decent enough show but lets be honest. This show is a bit overrated and is coasting on a wave of goodwill for its brave choices regarding character.

For better or worse, the show decided to center itself on characters. But, the multiple character driven side stories are melodramatic one-offs and distract from the woefully underdeveloped main story and core relationship. It's a curious narrative choice, spending so much time developing side characters only to kill them before the episode ends.

Also, for a big budget show, meh, it's hard to see where the money got spent. World building is surprisingly thin. Except for a few welcome moments spent examining the detritus of a lost civilization, the setting is practically an afterthought.


What is discouraging is how often the show doesn't even try. Lazy shortcuts all over the place. Fungus without spores. Big mountains in the suburbs of Boston. A Jackson that looks like a tiny hamlet with just a couple streets. Penicillin with a 20 year shelf life!! Weak sauce like this is distracting. The whole fungal infestation thing often feels like a poorly considered mcguffin that the writers had to include as a plot device and not the center of the show. Poor choices.

At this point, I am thinking Chernobyl can be credited to its director more than its writer/showrunner. Seriously, the drop off in quality between this and Chernobyl reminds me of what happened to True Detective when the director of the first season left the show.

[Elkhound Odin]

Whoa. Fred likes something.
Has he been eating Life cereal?


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[subtle plague]

IMHO, it's a decent enough show but lets be honest. This show is a bit overrated and is coasting on a wave of goodwill for its brave choices regarding character.
.

If you didn't like episode 8, youre are stone cold film critic. It was flawless and the actinf was stellar.

[neckdeep]

If you didn't like episode 8, youre are stone cold film critic. It was flawless and the actinf was stellar.

It was fine...except for that part where only two guys able to drag a dead horse for miles through the snow thereby making it easy for Joel to track Ellie. Yeah, good luck with that. Even the good episodes have some totally groan inducing moment of lazy writing.

Hey, I want to like this show. I am a huge fan of Chernobyl. But, I give it a B because it has squandered a lot of opportunities in favor of building characters who immediately die.

As an adaptation, it's like they've overcompensated and now the doomed NPCs are crowding the player out of the action. Too many self-indulgent cutscenes, not enough game. Too much melodramatic filler, not enough horror. They just didn't find the right balance, imho.

[Supermoon]

Haters everywhere, but this has been one of the best seasons of TV that I can remember. I think the character building has been really good, and the flashback episodes are beautiful stand-alone TV as well as give us insight into why the main characters are how they are.

I’m willing to suspend some disbelief about some things when it’s a show about zombies that is adapted from a video game. It’s not pretending to be a documentary.

My favorite little detail is how the communists in Jackson are comfortable and ready for winter, but the white religious nutters are having to resort to eating each other.

[BCMtnHound]

It was fine...except for that part where only two guys able to drag a dead horse for miles through the snow thereby making it easy for Joel to track Ellie. Yeah, good luck with that. Even the good episodes have some totally groan inducing moment of lazy writing.

Well, it is far easier to drag a carcass on snow than without. Maybe it was all downhill.
But yes, dragging 600lbs each of dead weight would be a tad difficult. Maybe possible once gutted and the weight halved, but that image of the carcass in the ‘meat locker’ certainly didn’t indicate that occurred.

Personally, Joel’s recover and strength in the subsequent fights were a harder element to swallow.
I have given up on such ‘irrelevant to the plot’ details on prime time TV long ago. I am entertained regardless. And hollywoods take on an American dystopia are always entertaining. Such a bleak view of your country’s social cohesion. Which came first, the story or the reality I wonder

[neckdeep]

I’m willing to suspend some disbelief about some things when it’s a show about zombies that is adapted from a video game. It’s not pretending to be a documentary.

I hear ya but there's willing suspension of disbelief: e.g.. a cordyceps plague that, in fact, is not remotely fungal in behavior.

And then there's just plain lazy writing: e.g we need Joel to find the meat locker so we're just going to pretend these two starving, weakened guys can drag a horse that weighs more than the pair of them. Willing suspension of disbelief shouldn't be applied to overcome basic physical rules. That's just shit writing. Penicillin with a 20 year shelf life but no snowmobile to drag the horse? Just too damn lazy and inconsistent, its a plot contrivance.

[fastfred]

H

My favorite little detail is how the communists in Jackson are comfortable and ready for winter, but the white religious nutters are having to resort to eating each other.

yup

the nice thing about tv shows and movies is you don't have to worry about anything real you just go with the story and let it unfold being concerned about how joel didn't die and how to wimps dragged a horse and didn't even gut it thats your deal you can sit around and rip every two minutes of the show up if you want I did that for years until I realized how fun it is to just zone out completely

[neckdeep]

yup

the nice thing about tv shows and movies is you don't have to worry about anything real you just go with the story and let it unfold being concerned about how joel didn't die and how to wimps dragged a horse and didn't even gut it thats your deal you can sit around and rip every two minutes of the show up if you want I did that for years until I realized how fun it is to just zone out completely

See, that's what's wrong with America. A bunch of half-assed product gets poured down consumers throats and eventually people stop caring or even knowing what the good stuff is.

Its a damn shame because raising this show from flat B to an A+ wouldn't have taken much

[Supermoon]

See, that's what's wrong with America.

This feels like a bit of an overreaction

[Soups]

Jesus H. Some real fun people that are probably a blast at parties in here.

If you watch a show about the end of the world with people coming back to life as mushrooms and the only thing you think about is applying real life scenarios, I feel sorry for you. Suspend the disbelief and enjoy the acting, writing, and side stories or, better yet, turn it off and don't comment.

[fastfred]

This feels like a bit of an overreaction

serious people man serious business

Jesus H. Some real fun people that are probably a blast at parties in here.

If you watch a show about the end of the world with people coming back to life as mushrooms and the only thing you think about is applying real life scenarios, I feel sorry for you. Suspend the disbelief and enjoy the acting, writing, and side stories or, better yet, turn it off and don't comment.

the party quote is top notch!!
add some alcohol and drugs and I guess I can be a blast unless I pass out

as I get older work stress lifes bullshit I have found turning the tv on at 8pm every night watching some sort of show (my attention span doesn't really like movies) is the greatest thing in the world I can veg out zone out and be entertained

I now watch series I like over and over I know it's weird but I do I've watched some series up to six or more times then rewatch my favorite episodes as needed it might stem from the idea of doing a show back when I was younger for 1-2 months the same show over and over 4-8 times a week I thought it would be boring and dumb but it's a whole different level of theatre and character development and becoming someone else

[subtle plague]

I mean neckdeep is probably partly right. Some people were rubbed how she Held the gun. I didn't care because I have no clue how to hold guns. I usually cringe at climbing scenes in movies.

The Horse carcass thing: I assumed they got sleds or took it apart. My mind filled in the gaps. Surviving in Jackson: I don't know but I assume a rural setting with guns helps against Zombies.

[AK47bp]

Did you guys see how nice that yard’s wood fence was in episode 8? Even if that was cedar it would have been way more weathered over the years.

Fucking bullshit series.


In all seriousness I did notice the fence.

[fastfred]

great write up about craig mazin

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/a...aig-mazin.html

ya'll can just turn off the tv and read a good book and let your mind do the role playing for you instead of having to suffer through a tv show

(and yes with the gun I expected her to catch the butt of the rifle in her face)

[subtle plague]

Does she know? Did she want to go willingly?
I don't know where season 2 will take us. But I'm on board.

[Supermoon]

In the after show the actor who plays Ellie says that she knows it a lie deep down.