The Last of Us season 2, episode 1 thread *Spoilers*

ShaneMcComez posted...

Well see if it happens or not. I feel like there's a possibility Joel won't be killed off, or even instead pull a reverse and surprise kill off Ellie instead. I'm skeptical about HBO following the game's story to a tee, and they could very well chicken out of killing the most popular character, if they think it's going to hurt the show's viewership. They are a business after all, and businesses make business decisions all the time.

They definitely won't be doing that.

ShaneMcComez posted...

Well see if it happens or not. I feel like there's a possibility Joel won't be killed off, or even instead pull a reverse and surprise kill off Ellie instead. I'm skeptical about HBO following the game's story to a tee, and they could very well chicken out of killing the most popular character, if they think it's going to hurt the show's viewership. They are a business after all, and businesses make business decisions all the time.

HBO had no problems doing this throughout GoT so I see no reason why they'd be hesitant here.

I could see a possibility (and an extremely slim one at that) and spoilers for the game:

Rather than Joel getting killed off, he is severely injured and/or captured and taken back to Seattle instead.

Also spoilers for the game (plus Stranger Things) Was the Rat King fight in the hospital done to be similar to the hospital scene from Stranger Things Season 3? While Season 3 came out about a year before The Last of Us Part II, it feels like a possibility, but could be a massive coincidence.

I forgot to add Game Spoilers next to those spoilers tags. My bad, I sometimes forget there's a difference between the show spoilers and spoilers from the source material.

I kinda wish a lot of these shows I like. Weren't adaptations of anything, but original content made for tv. Then we all could be discussing what happened in the current episode, and making our best guesses what's going to happen in future episodes in these threads.

jefffan posted...

HBO had no problems doing this throughout GoT so I see no reason why they'd be hesitant here.

There's been some changes since then to who runs the company, and I know there's a different person whose the head of programming at HBO. So we'll have to wait when we get to that episode, whether that moment happens or not.

Damn apologies I didnt mean to keep that post up once I made the spoiler mistake. I also dont see spoiler tags so I dont get the context queues. I shall take the mod as a public shame

So I havent played the game in several years, but I had no idea who Eugene was in this episode (if he is even in the game?). Not sure if he was a minor character in the game that I forgot about or if hes an original character for the show.

So when the therapist lady said that Joel killed her husband Eugene, for some reason I initially assumed she was talking about Abbys father.

I thought that was a hell of a twist and change from the game to have Abbys mother be living in Jackson with the community. But the more I thought about it, it didnt really make sense so theres no way Eugene is Abbys dad.

DavidZ2844 posted...

So I havent played the game in several years, but I had no idea who Eugene was in this episode (if he is even in the game?). Not sure if he was a minor character in the game that I forgot about or if hes an original character for the show.

So when the therapist lady said that Joel killed her husband Eugene, for some reason I initially assumed she was talking about Abbys father.

I thought that was a hell of a twist and change from the game to have Abbys mother be living in Jackson with the community. But the more I thought about it, it didnt really make sense so theres no way Eugene is Abbys dad.

Yea I have no idea who Eugene was either. That scene seems like it expects the audience to know who he was.

DavidZ2844 posted...

So I havent played the game in several years, but I had no idea who Eugene was in this episode (if he is even in the game?). Not sure if he was a minor character in the game that I forgot about or if hes an original character for the show.

So when the therapist lady said that Joel killed her husband Eugene, for some reason I initially assumed she was talking about Abbys father.

I thought that was a hell of a twist and change from the game to have Abbys mother be living in Jackson with the community. But the more I thought about it, it didnt really make sense so theres no way Eugene is Abbys dad.

I found this video that was made yesterday. This version of Eugene could likely be tied to his game version, where while we didn't see him personally, we'd get files and passing mentions of him. He joined the Fireflies and apparently he died of natural causes (a stroke) in the game, though he had an entirely different kind of family. They're probably repurposing his character to show that probably Joel's rampage at the Firefly base to rescue Ellie ended up getting Eugene caught in the crossfire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCQ652aQGwI

Eugene is a very minor character mentioned in the beginning of the game when Ellie and Dina take shelter from the blizzard and they find the hidden hatch of electronics and weed.

I'm apparently alone in this, but my impression was that Eugene was infected on patrol and Joel shot him. I can't think of another situation where she'd be hesitant and embarrassed about expressing her anger over it, much less give him multiple therapy sessions. I think she even says something like she knew it had to be done.

I'm guessing he was bitten and didn't take it nobly. Started panicking and begging for his life and Joel just shot him in cold blood. So it had to be done, but he did it in arguably the cruelest way possible. I would assume that we'll get the bit where Ellie and Dina find his stash house and they talk about what happened in the next episode.

I thought it was a pretty solid first episode. It's funny, I think I prefer the original scenes to the ones that are just shot-for-shot remakes of the game, but maybe it's just that I've already seen them. And quite recently, I finished the game for the first time about a week ago.

I'm not sold on Abby, at least from that first scene. She acted it well, but an important part of her character IMO is that she's immediately physically intimidating. Kinda looks like Ellie could throw her around the room. I also don't like that we immediately get her motivation, the last scene would have worked better without it. I don't think we need the full twist reveal that the game had, but let it sit a little longer would have been good.

Dina is probably the biggest win. Just full of charisma.

Loved the stalker scene. One of my few complaints with the first season was that they backed off on a lot of the infected portions, so having an immediate scene with them was great. Also liked the pipe being full of cordyceps and promising that there's more coming. That said, fuck stalkers. I would rather fight any other enemy in the game.

The dialogue in this episode was dog shit tbh. Hopefully the writing gets better.

DavidZ2844 posted...

So I havent played the game in several years, but I had no idea who Eugene was in this episode (if he is even in the game?). Not sure if he was a minor character in the game that I forgot about or if hes an original character for the show.

So when the therapist lady said that Joel killed her husband Eugene, for some reason I initially assumed she was talking about Abbys father.

I thought that was a hell of a twist and change from the game to have Abbys mother be living in Jackson with the community. But the more I thought about it, it didnt really make sense so theres no way Eugene is Abbys dad.

Lol, yeah. As someone who never played the game I was like... huh? And looked him up to make sure I was forgetting someone from the first season.

The soundtrack when Ellie shouted run at me! And then walked and turned the corne r really stood out to me. It crescendos, and when she turns the corner its like this eerie wail in the background. It worked with the scene so well.

pegusus123456 posted...

I'm apparently alone in this, but my impression was that Eugene was infected on patrol and Joel shot him. I can't think of another situation where she'd be hesitant and embarrassed about expressing her anger over it, much less give him multiple therapy sessions. I think she even says something like she knew it had to be done.

I'm guessing he was bitten and didn't take it nobly. Started panicking and begging for his life and Joel just shot him in cold blood. So it had to be done, but he did it in arguably the cruelest way possible. I would assume that we'll get the bit where Ellie and Dina find his stash house and they talk about what happened in the next episode.

This was my interpretation of the scene, not sure what other way there was to read it.

opopopza posted...

This was my interpretation of the scene, not sure what other way there was to read it.

I admittedly forgot she said "I knew you had to do it" or something like that, so that's my bad.

The Eugene thing kinda just feels like bad writing.

Smashingpmkns posted...

The Eugene thing kinda just feels like bad writing.

They should have explained better who the hell he was. Or just never brought him up. That whole part was pointless. We don't know who Eugene and the writers didn't make us care. He might as well not even exist

That part was exclusively an ode to the game.

The first hour or 2 in game mentions him repeatedly before you found his weed farm underground.

I thought TV did him better cause it made it more emotional by using the therapist wife. Maybe jno

Smashingpmkns posted...

The Eugene thing kinda just feels like bad writing.

how I feel, so far.

unless if there's some pay off, I'm not sure if I'm feeling the therapist angle in general.

it should have stayed like the game *minor spoilers since it happens at the very beginning, but marked just in case* where Joel confided in Tommy instead, IMO, which could have led to us seeing them grow closer.

Tag, havent caught it

Zikten posted...

They should have explained better who the hell he was. Or just never brought him up. That whole part was pointless. We don't know who Eugene and the writers didn't make us care. He might as well not even exist

There's going to be an episode expanded on Eugene and what happened. Joe Pantiliano is playing him

Eugene was basically just a story device to exposition dump the therapist's connection to Joel but idk, it wasn't necessary at all. Like I didn't need the therapist to hate him just because it's Catherine O'Hara. And idgaf what happens between them in the next few episodes because their story is so weak. Making the audience retroactively care about an unseen character is going to be a super hard thing to do. Tbh I don't think they will do much more with Eugene either way.

There was a lot of weird exposition decisions in this ep. Like getting everyone's dating history so plainly. No one talks like that and it just felt super lazy/hacky. I don't subscribe to the "all exposition is bad!" camp either, just make it good lol

LonelyStoner posted...

Also wish Bella looked a little older. She got taller, but her face still makes her look 12 lol. Almost looks like AI at times.

This. Their viewership would plummet before it even got a running start.

Also, while I like Bella, I don't feel like she can carry the show on her own.

Smashingpmkns posted...

Eugene was basically just a story device to exposition dump the therapist's connection to Joel but idk, it wasn't necessary at all. Like I didn't need the therapist to hate him just because it's Catherine O'Hara. And idgaf what happens between them in the next few episodes because their story is so weak. Making the audience retroactively care about an unseen character is going to be a super hard thing to do. Tbh I don't think they will do much more with Eugene either way.

There was a lot of weird exposition decisions in this ep. Like getting everyone's dating history so plainly. No one talks like that and it just felt super lazy/hacky. I don't subscribe to the "all exposition is bad!" camp either, just make it good lol

They are doing more with Eugene

Smashingpmkns posted...

There was a lot of weird exposition decisions in this ep. Like getting everyone's dating history so plainly. No one talks like that and it just felt super lazy/hacky. I don't subscribe to the "all exposition is bad!" camp either, just make it good lol

Aside from Cat, all the other dialogue is pretty verbatim from the game.

pegusus123456 posted...

Aside from Cat, all the other dialogue is pretty verbatim from the game.

It's been about 3 years since I played so I don't recall but bad dialogue is bad dialogue. Someone should have tightened that up.

I think Ellie and Dina should've faced at least some discipline and even jail time for not following orders, and being reckless and going into that grocery store. You would've thought Ellie (well maybe not Ellie since she's immune) and Dina would know better as well how super dangerous these zombies can be and one fuck up can end your life. They're not like the zombies from the Walking Dead that lumber around slowly and you got a good window of time to stab them in the head.

That's just one small gripe I had with the episode that no one else has mentioned, and I didn't need a near 1:1 recreation of it from the video game.

ShaneMcComez posted...

I think Ellie and Dina should've faced at least some discipline and even jail time for not following orders, and being reckless and going into that grocery store. You would've thought Ellie (well maybe not Ellie since she's immune) and Dina would know better as well how super dangerous these zombies can be and one fuck up can end your life. They're not like the zombies from the Walking Dead that lumber around slowly and you got a good window of time to stab them in the head.

That's just one small gripe I had with the episode that no one else has mentioned, and I didn't need a near 1:1 recreation of it from the video game.

Tbh Ellie's behavior in general would have her kept on toilet cleaning duty irl.

Tbf, it's made pretty clear that both Tommy and Joel are playing favorites with Ellie.

just watched the first episode and i enjoyed it. only complaint i have is regarding the initial scene. it could have been left out.

but hey, at least they didnt spoil it further by revealing right out of the gate who Abby really is...

By the way I don't think Joel just shot Eugene. The therapist says it's fine and needed to be done but HOW he did it was her big problem. So I'm assuming Joel did Joel things and didn't do things in a graceful manner.

My take is that this Ellie is still far far more immature than she should be. She feels like she's still 14 and not any older or wiser. Like just a bratty kid

You know, thinking about it, the sparklers triggering the cordyceps to attract the infected is probably a good thing.

The alternative being that they think they clean out the pipes, run water through it, and people in the city get infected.