The Last of Us (HBO) TV Show • Page 33

Everyone on social media are geographers now smh

 

i mean as someone who lives here that shot is very obviously not massachusetts, but my wife and i did yell when they went to cumbies

 

Better than all them "NYC" shows filmed in Vancouver.

 

“Save who you can save”

The season finale is on track to wreck everyone

 

I can semi-relate to people needing to state they see the geographical fudging. A ton of shows and movies take place in Los Angeles where characters take a walk from LA to Pasadena/Santa Monica/Beverly Hills in 10 minutes and, every time, my wife and I acknowledge it’s preposterousness out load to each other.

 

I enjoyed it and thought it brought some strong themes into play in a unique almost standalone anthology type of episode, but I did have some complaints...

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED EP 3 YET (NO AHEAD SPOILERS)
- I didn't like, or don't think it was addressed enough yet, Ellie's killing of the infected she found. I guess she saw the fungus underneath the cut she made and was like 'yea, you're not human, die?'. Hopefully that's expanded on or someone can explain exactly what it was showing if I missed another interpretation.
- I still don't fully understand the rules of how the connections work between the tendrils. My best guess is that it showed this town entirely empty so there was nowhere for the fungus to grow to? Felt weird that when Ellie messed with that infected, it didn't trigger something like before.
- I thought the whole Bill/Frank story was overall just a bit too... mushy? It felt almost manipulative and too 'clean' like the sole purpose was how do we make people cry? Vs having a good story that also makes people emotional. I'm going to watch the episode again later with my wife, but it felt a bit too planned out, rushed and straight to the point I guess from a first watch. I know it was trying to cram a lot into an hour, but it seemed a bit too calculated of a story.
- I do hope that 2 amazing action set pieces from the game somehow make it in later but I doubt it now the upside down trap and Ellie driving the car (which I'm 100% positive won't happen based on previews and it being very clear she's never been in a car before whereas game Ellie says - I know how to pop a clutch
Things I did like:
- The lunch scene introducing Joel and Tess, I liked the cut there.
- Do we think Bill was getting his medicine from Joel and perhaps that's what Joel was going to lean on to get Bill and Frank to take Ellie off his hands? The 'favor' that Bill owed Joel from the game was never explained.
- Completely different from the game, but I enjoyed Ellie and Joel's conversation early on, and Ellie basically said 'hey, a lot is happening to me out of my control. Don't hate me'. Some people have been rubbed the wrong way by that, and that Ellie is a bit too cold, and snarky already, but I think she's being written well. There is still a lot of innocence as well as the indifference and attitude in Bella's portrayal.

 

I get the sense Ellie's never had a good chance to see one up closer and personal like that, and I also took it as a way of "getting back" for Tess.

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, I love the first time Bill and Frank get dinner they sit across from each other, but in their final meal Bill's right beside Frank.

 

The script supervisor was banking on the fact that a large portion of the audience is not intimately familiar with Boston geography (or really cares about the type of trees in the background). I didn't even blink at it. Last episode they were in a city, this episode they were walking through a not city, and then they came across a town. That's all the explanation I needed.

 

also it is top tier television so (personally) im able to look over a small ass geographical error, but idk maybe Im weird I guess!!!

 

I was able to look past it too, I just thought it was interesting to establish this fictional mountain range 10 miles west, and on their way to Bill's, and then immediately follow it with an establishing shot of the town and its relation to Boston, with not a mountain in sight. Just thought it was a funny oversight.

 

As an MA native I find the 10 miles west of Boston stuff hilarious, Newton is healing

 

On one hand being intimately familiar with the geography of a place that is then obviously changed drastically for the sake of a movie/tv show can be jarring

On the other hand - do you know what else isn’t in Boston? Quarantine Zones that were setup by the military in 2003

 

If you live in the Midwest, you’re used to geography being all wacky because most states don’t have tax breaks so it’s just Georgia standing in for everything from Missouri to Nebraska.

 

I'm not even from the area, and really don't care one way or the other, but like come on. You can't tell me that's not a funny goof..

 

Gotta disagree. It didn’t show a picture perfect relationship. We saw them argue and have significant differences, whether it was the text or subtext. Bill was always reclusive and cagey, where Frank was open and optimistic and we saw how those clashed without having it drawn out too much. We saw what Frank’s love drew out of Bill and how he sacrificed his ego and isolation to make it work.

We also got to see how they kept their sanity, by creating a whole community with stores like the before times. I don’t think we’re gonna see much more of that with the show, at least not until Part II. I think it was necessary for the show to do that to show it can deviate from the game and still be good and also prove the show doesn’t have to be all gloom and doom like so many entries in the genre are.

 

It was a filler shot they probably realized they needed to add in when filming out west. Sure it makes no sense geographically but it's a damn tv show. Find something else to occupy your time if it bothers you that much...

 

That shot reminded me of one of my favorite areas of the game which is out west, and I thought they jumped ahead in the story

 

Regarding the scene with Ellie killing the infected. Maybe I'm off, but I get the sense that she's obsessed with violence, or at least fascinated by it. The way she looked at Joel beating up that dude in the pilot and how she's constantly asking for a gun.

 

Yeah, Mazin has alluded to this being the reason, and has described Ellie as feral.

 

10 MILES WEST OF BOSTON

 

beautiful watertown, MA

 

I love how Offerman subverts the idea that he’s some walking super masculine Libertarian meme. Bill could have easily been that, just judging by his time spent alone. But when it comes down to it, he’s a guy that loves Linda Ronstadt and is terrified of emotional vulnerability and intimacy and he channeled those emotions so well.

 

still recovering from the episode. is it next sunday yet? I am in awe of how good this has been so far considering its peers (Halo, namely)