The Last Of Us - HBO ***No Game Spoilers***

[BobbyPhil1781]

9 hours ago, TitanSlim said:

I honestly have no clue what’s going to happen next.  It’s just my expectations when a new character comes around. 

I’ll spoiler tag it anyway just in case.

Sorry, the way you phrased it lead me to believe what I did. 

[Packerraymond]

2 hours ago, Kingram said:

So one thing I can't seem to figure out is it seems like the infected prefer to live in the cities? Hinted at by Joel in this episode when he's not worried about the woods because its to rural for the infected. If thats the case...Why are all the QZ put into cities??? 

Very interested to see how this QZ "fell", it seemed abandoned so I'm guessing it was overthrown by this new group of people. Very good episode.

So this cordyceps infection is not like your typical "zombie" infection where they wander around for all of eternity until someone puts one in their head. It's a lethal infection with 4 stages, initial contact, infected, clicker, bloater. There's no precise timeline but around a decade to go through the phases is what the game eludes to.

There's no documented official reason why the countryside is relatively uninhibited, but you can assume that less residents meant less people the come in contact with and infect, therefore most of the original infected have died off leaving those areas relatively safe. The cities had the most people and therefore the most re-infection and is why there are high rates of infected there.

It would make sense to start a civilization out in the country, but you'd have all the logistics of how to get food, water and supplies without nearby infrastructure to raid, plus it just wouldn't make for a fun story if everyone was safe and happy ha.

[Broncofan]

24 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

So this cordyceps infection is not like your typical "zombie" infection where they wander around for all of eternity until someone puts one in their head. It's a lethal infection with 4 stages, initial contact, infected, clicker, bloater. There's no precise timeline but around a decade to go through the phases is what the game eludes to.

There's no documented official reason why the countryside is relatively uninhibited, but you can assume that less residents meant less people the come in contact with and infect, therefore most of the original infected have died off leaving those areas relatively safe. The cities had the most people and therefore the most re-infection and is why there are high rates of infected there.

It would make sense to start a civilization out in the country, but you'd have all the logistics of how to get food, water and supplies without nearby infrastructure to raid, plus it just wouldn't make for a fun story if everyone was safe and happy ha.

FWIW the Cordyceps mode of infection with the mycelial underground network and keeping hordes would also make it more likely that rural / remote areas are safer - and it would also explain Bill's Town being a lot safer in this world, than it was in the game.   

I mentioned it before, but while I preferred the spores/random zombie presence & attacks in the game, I totally get why the mycelial network is needed for the TV series.  Random hordes & boss battles would be jarring in a series, and TV ppl don't want the cast in masks for a lot of TV time.     But I also give credit to the writers & Druckmann for making the mycelial network logic work so far - it allows for "organic" timing of horde attacks at crucial times,  it explains rural safety, and Bill's Town being so safe for so long.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Broncofan

[Ty21]

8 hours ago, Xenos said:

Why Friday instead of Saturday?

Saturday is the night before Puppy Bowl

[WizeGuy]

7 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

Man, ton of one star reviews for this episode as well and the few special people here can't blame it on the thing this time. Almost like it was never the case.

Legitimately want to know why people would one star this episode. Very strange bc it followed the game closely and progressed the story very well. Not the most action packed but the game isn't all the time either. Amazing writing, acting, and just a fantastic performance from everyone. Cool to see the guy who voiced Tommy get a nice role as well

 

Probably because the show normalized a gay couple. People get up in arms about that, which is odd because HBO has been showing homoerotic scenes for decades now. 

[WizeGuy]

9 hours ago, 4thandInches said:

Another fantastic episode. The bond that keep growing with Joel and Ellie is really well written.

When Ellie says that corny joke before they go to sleep and Joel laughs, I had to wonder- how long has it been since Joel has genuinely laughed? 

Cool episode. I thought the other 3 were better, but this one was still awesome!

[Xenos]

4 hours ago, Broncofan said:

Suspect live viewership is higher but 🤷‍♂️

I honestly don’t know if Saturday or Friday is better. I just keep hearing about Friday night is the worst night during the week for shows to be viewed. So I was curious about the decision. 

[BobbyPhil1781]

4 hours ago, WizeGuy said:

Probably because the show normalized a gay couple. People get up in arms about that, which is odd because HBO has been showing homoerotic scenes for decades now. 

And based on your logic and comment, I'd suggest you're incorrect in that assumption. The game characters themselves suggest this is true as well unless majority of people watching don't know a thing about the game and even then, it still wouldn't make a lot of sense.

I'd actually be curious about the number of people watching that have played the game vs those that have not

EDIT:

Just watched through this portion of the game and I feel I know why. Forgot this was the part of the game where all this fun stuff happened. They seem to be stripping out a lot of the heavy action sequences of it

Spoiler

This is the second episode in a row they've taken a bloater from us and the basement part is also one of the more fun parts of the game when you're fighting that bloater and all the other infected down there. That would be my guess as to why

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by BobbyPhil1781

[Broncofan]

20 minutes ago, WizeGuy said:

When Ellie says that corny joke before they go to sleep and Joel laughs, I had to wonder- how long has it been since Joel has genuinely laughed? 

Cool episode. I thought the other 3 were better, but this one was still awesome!

45 mins long, introduced new character(s) and really focused on Joel/Ellie.    
 

Given those elements I think it’s going to be viewed exactly as you saw it initially - how the next ep(s) pay off on its setup will build on how viewers see it down the road.    
 

Gotta say I’m excited knowing what the ep5 trailer hinted at - those moments / segments were fantastic in-game.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by Broncofan

[MikeT14]

I thought 4 was arguably the weakest so far, but still a good episode. They're doing a good job of slowly building this situationship. 

I did have a tough time with the casting of Melanie Lynskey at first but so far so good. 

[Nex_Gen]

.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Nex_Gen
NVM

[kingseanjohn]

Hooray apocalyptic Kansas City! Despite only filming some wide shots here, I recognized pretty much everything. Always fun to see places you've been to.

Pretty good episode too.

[skywindO2]

3 hours ago, kingseanjohn said:

Hooray apocalyptic Kansas City! Despite only filming some wide shots here, I recognized pretty much everything. Always fun to see places you've been to.

I was actually really curious about this 

[Broncofan]

7 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

And based on your logic and comment, I'd suggest you're incorrect in that assumption. The game characters themselves suggest this is true as well unless majority of people watching don't know a thing about the game and even then, it still wouldn't make a lot of sense.

I'd actually be curious about the number of people watching that have played the game vs those that have not

EDIT:

Just watched through this portion of the game and I feel I know why. Forgot this was the part of the game where all this fun stuff happened. They seem to be stripping out a lot of the heavy action sequences of it

  Hide contents

This is the second episode in a row they've taken a bloater from us and the basement part is also one of the more fun parts of the game when you're fighting that bloater and all the other infected down there. That would be my guess as to why

 

Spoiler

I strongly suspect judging from the Ep5 trailer that the bloater fight is just out of order sequence wise.  

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Broncofan

[BobbyPhil1781]

29 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I strongly suspect judging from the Ep5 trailer that the bloater fight is just out of order sequence wise.  

 

Spoiler

Oh definitely agree. I'm just trying to justify the logic of review bombing the last couple episodes and since those two portions of the game are very exciting and action packed to be toned down into two, dialogue driven episodes, made game players upset. I'm ready for Friday already!! Can't wait to see how they do this. 

That's the way I look at it, at least. I loved the two episodes but Bill's city and the basement of the hotel are some of my favorite parts. It just seems logical to me that's why it got some reviews that it did.