I won't be watching Last of Us (I don't have HBO and I've never played the game.)
I've not watched The Witcher (I've never played the game.)
I won't watch God of War when it comes out (I've never played the game.)

These are all Playstation exclusive games.

The Witcher games never had been! And those other two are either already on PC or coming soon. Highly recommend.

PS Sclusy shows VS Xbox Sclusy shows - what's the score?

...yeah, Halo was pretty cool, but kinda yikes too.

Besides Halo, what Xbox exclusive games have been turned into TV series? Or are on the table to be made?

A movie, but still.

Gears of War was released 16 years ago today and to mark the occasion, Netflix has partnered with The Coalition to adapt the @GearsofWar video game saga into a live action feature film, followed by an adult animated series — with the potential for more stories to follow! pic.twitter.com/3zInFSnUu4

— Netflix (@netflix) November 7, 2022

PS Sclusy shows VS Xbox Sclusy shows - what's the score?

Sony has 10+ adaptations done or in the works. God of War, Horizon, Twisted Metal, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, The Last of Us, Gravity Rush, Jak and Daxter.

Keep in mind that Sony has Sony Pictures. I’m not sure if Sony Pictures (or any of its subsidiaries) are producing any or all of those things, but there’s still industry connections there that they can leverage more easily than Microsoft can, probably.

Ok, with that out of the way, everything after the opening was pretty on point. Great production design and direction, you believe every second of it. The infection detector was a nice touch that was set up for a great tense payoff near the end (I don't remember if this was in the game, with the red/green). The casting was great. Pedro is great as Joel, just nailing it.

It was set up like that in the game as well. When you first start playing as Joel, you can watch a group of soldiers scanning people held at gun point. One pops up red and gets executed on the spot. Then the scene where Ellie gets scanned plays out fairly similarly to the show.

My only worry is that folks who haven't played the game are going to be short changed by the choices in the opening. Otherwise, thumbs up.

I honestly sort of think you’re overthinking it because you’ve played the game. I don’t really see the differences you see. We don’t really see Joel as a shitty dad in the game anymore than we do in the show. I don’t honestly know that we were supposed to think he’s a shitty dad. I certainly never thought that.

Overall, this was a great first episode. The casting is perfect so far. Pedro just is Joel. Bella Ramsey is great as Ellie. If this has been a Netflix style drop the whole season at once, I’m certain I would just stay up all night and watch the rest of it. It’s great.

I also loved the talk show opening. I’m not sure it was the most deft way to do it, but I thought it was effective and honest really haunting.

I loved the fake out when they were in the truck and don’t get hit by the other car like they did in the game.

The story hinges upon Joel failing with his biological daughter, and thus taking care of Ellie as an adopted daughter for redemption. But it just doesn't work if his daughter was adopted too… it's not really a second chance, it's not Joel desperately trying to make peace. It'd be just a redo. Further, children can just happen, so not being a great father but trying to after you realize that to your biological child, is shitty but at least admirable and I think people would root for you. But if you failed your adopted child? Well you chose it, so you're just a piece of shit.

As both an adopted kid and a parent of an adopted kid, I'm really uncomfortable with your distinction between adopted and bio kids. (I have both... I can tell you that for me, there isn't a difference in how responsible for them I feel, or how much I love them... or how I'd feel if I got the chance to take care of another kid if they were all dead in horrible circumstances. And while I don't know my bio parents, I don't have any feelings for them - I don't hate them for giving me up, I don't love them for the blood ties. I don't know them at all, and that doesn't bother me.)

I never finished the game (we've talked about this), but I didn't get ANY of what you described from playing the beginning. I think that whatever lens you're viewing this through is pretty highly affected by your own personal beliefs in a way that doesn't resonate outside your own head. (At least, it doesn't resonate for me, at all.)

I haven't seen the first episode yet.

The story hinges upon Joel failing with his biological daughter, and thus taking care of Ellie as an adopted daughter for redemption. But it just doesn't work if his daughter was adopted too… it's not really a second chance, it's not Joel desperately trying to make peace. It'd be just a redo. Further, children can just happen, so not being a great father but trying to after you realize that to your biological child, is shitty but at least admirable and I think people would root for you. But if you failed your adopted child? Well you chose it, so you're just a piece of shit.

Dude's a selfish asshole when we see him after the time jump, and he's a selfish asshole at the end when he can't let Ellie die because. He saves her because *he* needs her -- not because it's wrong for her to die.

I think I've identified the feeling of misgiving I've had regarding the show despite its objective quality.

The original game was, at the time of release, striving for a 'cinematic' story, and borrowed so much from film, and in particular prestige TV. Incorporating techniques and lessons from those mediums into that of a video game; saying 'Hey, we can do this too'. And it was a big success, and a big step forward for games as vehicles for more complex narratives.

But when adapted back into the very medium that inspired its choices, in such a 'faithful' manner, it just feels like a reminder of the game and those lessons, rather than something exciting as a show in and of itself. I get that this is what people think they want, and it's kind of just the extension of making 'cinematic' games to begin with. A faithful adaptation simply proves the original had worth. But wasn't it obvious the original game had worth?

And yet, the result just kind of boring no? That sucks to say because again, everybody is nailing it, but you can't just take the watching experience in a vacuum. While the game did what no game did before, the show is doing what every show has done before. The selling point of the show IS the faithfulness of the adaptation, rather than the artistic reachings of the show itself (which, make no mistake, are high and largely realized).

Always ask what new experience to do enable with an adaptation? The shifting of mediums is by definition to enable something different. And here the differences lack, because the show is just an echo of the game and the things it learned from TV. So FOR ME, someone who has played the game… the experience is simply not different enough to be compelling.

In a way, even though the Halo show was 'worse', I found myself far more compelled while watching it than I have been with Last of Us. And what a weird feeling for that show to be trashed for not being 'faithful', yet being far more interesting of an experience for me than a show being highly praised for its faithfulness to the source. But its willingness not to be faithful was what made it so much more intriguing.

First of all, one thing I find fascinating is in the final scene. In the game, Tess orders Joel to go, and he and Ellie both go willingly (After they leave, Ellie briefly chastises Joel for leaving her to die, but quickly moves on). In the show? Joel drags Ellie away with her literally kicking and screaming. She doesn't want to leave Tess. It's kind of a change I can get behind, as right now you want Joel and Ellie on different pages yeah? So they can come together later.

I'm watching a show that for all intents and purposes is nailing it. Nearly all of the choices are solid (dunno about the 'kiss' though…), and they are crafting moments of tension, levity, understanding, and somehow managing to exposit in a way that doesn't bog anything down. The walk and talk, while fine in a game can get too much on the screen, but it was kept to a minimum. As cheapLEY mentioned to me, in the game the explanation for the clickers is just a popup, where here we learn more naturally.

So I can't say if it's just that I know what's happening because I've seen these images and this story before, but it's not affecting me as strongly as when I played. In particular I remember being more attached to Tess. In the show it feels like I didn't really get to know her as well as I'd have wanted, and then she's gone. In the game, I think we spent more time with her and I noticed the difference, especially in understanding her relationship to Joel.

She could've used more screen time, but overall I thought Anna Torv did a great job with a character that was more complex than in the game. I thought I understood her relationship with Joel just as well if not better. (There's less ambiguity about their physical intimacy, for one thing.) The way she talked him down about Robert! Chef's kiss. And speaking of kiss. I was ambivalent, too. I've never seen a runner do anything other than wildly attack and bite you, even in the show. Helluva visual, though. The clickers were great, except, did they bite you in the game? I thought they just ripped your head off. I want to know if viewers new to this guessed that Tess was bit. In the game you knew exactly when it happened, in retrospect. One more thing: Love every nuance Bella Ramsey is bringing to Ellie, but I haven't liked the fake twitch since I saw it in the teaser. I don't think, given her experiences, she would make that joke. Really looking forward to the next episode, given what I've heard.

One thing you inevitably lose is the sense of travel. The show give you a glimpse, but the video game lets you feel the distance they are traveling because you traverse it all more or less. The show does it fine, but the game does it better.

And yet it managed to surprise me with little moments that would not have fit in the game. The VFX hold up incredibly well; 1000x better than Halo's. I guess it helps that most of the CG is inanimate buildings rather than animated aliens, but you'll believe 97% of it.

P.S. Detroit represent

Brought to you by Tampax Pearl.

Ok, so I loved this episode. Loved, Loved, Loved it. My read was that it is essentially a counter example to the notion that so much of apocalyptic fiction has, that given the breakdown of society human beings will naturally gravitate towards conservatism as if it were the default.

It's a pretty common notion in almost all the stories that center around societal collapse, and such criticism has been levied against many shows like The Walking Dead. I feel like the Last of Us the game is not immune to this criticism as well. You see folks either integrate into fascist governments, or embody the old style conservatism of the old west, where you take your guns, protect what's yours, and let the strong survive.

From the game, Bill in particular embodies this. While he is gay, he presents as hyper masculine, aggressive, unfeeling. At the start of the episode, so too does this Bill. But this time he's a Trumper, with lots of guns, a 'castle' with his own (border) wall, cuts wood and eats steak, and sports a 'Don't tread on Me' flag. He berates Frank because he doesn't want Hobos or Vagabonds to try to get a free meal out of him. Perhaps though, more importantly is that he is a repressed homosexual. When he and Frank get in bed for the first time, Bill confesses that he's only had sex once before, and with a woman. The implication as the scene plays out is that he's never let anyone see this side of him.

Frank convinces him to let people through, and they begin trading with Joel and Tess. However when he trades a gun for seeds, that's when the show seals the deal. As they eat the strawberries that were grown, nurtured into being, the joy is too much he weeps. This moment is where the show tells us that no, Fascism or old west masculinity is NOT the only way in this world. And so Bill cares for Frank. A wheelchair, which anywhere else would mean your abandonment in this world, means nothing as Bill and frank live out their lives. Frank's euthanasia is contrasted with Ellie's killing of the stuck zombie. Ellie did it out of a combination of fear, disgust, and curiosity (playing with it before sealing the deal), while Bill's act is born from love.

And so the show DOESN'T commit to the notion that the games and most media do. There IS room in this world for someone like Bill to be himself. Is it a coincidence that I loved this episode so much, when it's the one that deviates from the game the most?

Stupendous.

I loved it, too, but I don't think I attach your labels to Bill (or agree with the interpretations that spring from them. Bill doesn't even accept "prepper"--although I think it fits, and on that score I'd say he bet wisely). When society breaks down, it's predictable that humans act like humans, and this predates "the old west" by quite a bit. I would not say that Bill is unfeeling before Frank. He just didn't have anyone to direct those feelings toward. (Even in the game, it's clear that his gruffness is a defensive act.) I would never say he berates Frank. He explains why he can't feed him, but is easily convinced to do so regardless. I see their relationship as complementary. Yes, Frank brings beauty, intimacy, love, and relationships into Bill's life, but these are luxuries that can exist only because of the protective bubble that Bill provides. George Orwell said, "...men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them." It's pretty obvious which is which in this story.

I do have mixed feelings about the double suicide. I'm for relief from suffering, but in a non-apocalyptic world that is nonetheless plagued by loneliness and depression, I'm anxious about encouraging the option. See also Melancholia.

But this time he's a Trumper

Goddamn, you don’t have to assault the man’s character like that.

In all seriousness, it’s a weird time capsule, right? The association of the Gadsden flag has changed so much recently. You have to remember the outbreak was in 2003, so it doesn’t necessarily carry the same baggage as it does now.

On a related time weirdness not—gay marriage wasn’t legal by the time the outbreak happened, so Bill lived in a time when it was even less acceptable to be an out gay man.

I don't have much to say… it's kind of just back to the plot of the game. It was… fine? Much less interesting than the previous episode.

I thought it was interesting how they tried to add depth to the hunters, but I don't know that it worked, and it might be confusing to those who don't know this world (and if there are Part II resonances, I wouldn't know). We have Kathleen's desire to avenge her brother, what is motivating these people as a group, and what distinguishes them from the Fireflies? And why does that Perry guy sound just like Tommy? (I'm actually very happy that Jeffrey Pierce is getting some screen time, and for the record, Gabriel Luna sounds just like Tommy, too.)

This isn't fair, but every scene where Joel and Ellie follow the script of game exactly, I'm disappointed with the new delivery--especially in Bella Ramsey's case. Her performance is more consistently an obstinate teen, whereas Ashley Johnson walked the line between that and wide-eyed kid. For example, in the magazine sequence, I know the old line "it was just lying there" doesn't really work with the changed story, but it's exactly the kind of justification a kid would come up with.

A plus I just thought of: I like that she's shot someone before. I suspect that's a reference to Riley. There's part of me that doesn't want that particular part of the story revealed, but it would make it more heartbreaking. So far this show's done a lot of "let's take heartbreaking, and turn up the volume to 11."

Kermit

I still quite enjoyed the episode. I absolutely love all of the interactions between Joel and Ellie, but the problem is they then turn around and spend a bunch of the episode with people I do not care about. Maybe that's all going somewhere and we'll find out next week, but I kindof doubt it, honestly.

We now have five episodes left to get through meeting Tommy, all of the David stuff, the end of the game, and Left Behind. They're going to have to wrap up this thread with these people and Henry and Sam next episode.

I understand wanting to give some depth to a group of people who have none in the game, but it seems that treatment could have been better spent maybe on David's crew or something. I also think it's necessary for Joel and Ellie to overcome obstacles together, and that's sort of the only thing happening in this segment in the game. I'm not sure going into the Hunter's backstory is really a worthwhile use of time in this instance.

I'll reserve total judgment until it's all finished--maybe they're doing something great with this sub-plot, but, again, I don't see it.

Ok for real.

I'm imagining this scene is going to come next episode… but I can't help but feel like in the game at this point Joel and Ellie have been through more together, and developed a more complex relationship. If we see this scene next week… would you buy it? From what we've seen in the show, would you believe Ellie would tell Joel she'd be more scared with someone else?

I'm worried that the show isn't really giving us the one thing the whole story is actually about. There's only 4 episodes to go… I'm wondering how we are going to get there when time is running out.

The small moments that fill the game wouldn’t make sense in a tv show, no matter how much time you had to include it.

“I’ve written before that part of what I like about videogame design as a dramatic instrument is their ability to put us a hundred percent into the moments editors would leave out of a film”

-Tim Rogers

And so we come back to the unavoidable deficiencies in AAA game to film adaptation.

It’s hyperbolic, but only sort of of. The show is fine. But it has failed in perhaps the most important way.

I don’t buy Joel and Ellie’s relationship. When he calls her baby girl at the end of tonight’s episode, I just don’t believe it. In the game (which I played through the week the show started), that line lands and solidifies the relationship we knew existed. The show has not given us enough for me to buy into the relationship all the way yet. They’ve hit all the big events and moments, and I even think most of those individual moments are done better in the show. But it hasn’t quite been enough. It’s not a fair comparison, but I think it highlights the strength of video games that the relationship is stronger there. Because it’s not only the big character shaping moments, it’s all the little ones. The ice cream trucks and the movie posters and every little conversation and one liner that makes me believe the building of that relationship.

I think much depends on how fair we think it is assess the show as failing compared to the game. So far, the people I'm exposed to who haven't played the game seem to buy it completely. There are inevitably going to be moments between Joel and Ellie that I miss from the game. On the other hand, there are really great moments between them in the show that are not in the game. I was definitely very worried about exactly what you're saying up until episode six. I thought the Kathleen subplot was a nearly complete waste of time. Her dialogue was the worst of anyone in the show, and seemed mainly created to FORESHADOW and UNDERSCORE THE THEME in contrast to the subtlety and realism that typifies everything else.

I was struck a bit by the ending of the episode in Jackson with Tommy. Joel changing his mind and his line, “you deserve a choice,” was probably the change I like the least. I think that moment was much stronger in the game. It feels much more like Joel coming to an independent and very deliberate choice in the game. And also the show has been very heavy handed in the lead up to what Joel will eventually do. I honestly wonder if they know that some people aren’t going to quite buy in and needed to really reinforce that with Bill’s letter and what’s her name’s monologue to Sam and Henry.

I agree. I liked Joel making that decision. However, making it her choice was somewhat rhetorical--I think he knew what Ellie's choice would be.

I’m really eager to see the final episode and how it ultimately lands. This is pretty clearly the best video game adaptation that’s been done, and I still think it’s excellent overall. But I do think it’s weaker than I expected, too. The individual elements of the show are great. The actors are excellent, and I like these versions of Joel and Ellie maybe even more than the game versions, but the show (and especially Joel and Ellie’s relationship) doesn’t quite capture the game. I do think some of that could be fixed with more focus on Joel and Ellie, but I’m not sure anything could have made it match the game in that regard. The small moments that fill the game wouldn’t make sense in a tv show, no matter how much time you had to include it.

Two things about this last show (and the one before that) that I greatly missed, because I viewed them as high points in the game. I love it when intimacy is shown, but not fully shared with the audience. (Think the unheard whisper at the end of "Lost in Translation".) It underscores how no one can really know the contours of love between two people except for those two people. The game had that, with the unheard words from Joel when he comforts Ellie in the steak house. (I also liked that he stopped her rampage.) That's missing from the show. The other element is the deer hunt. In the game, it comes as a shock. Joel just got impaled, he looks dead, the screen goes black, and it's now a different season, implying an indeterminate period of time has passed. We're playing as Ellie for the first time, and that surprising turn is the biggest sign pointing to Joel's death. We're forced to hunt, something we haven't done in the game before, and the fate of Joel weighs like on anvil on us as we try to track the deer. The pressure isn't relieved until Ellie asks David for medicine. Much would have to be done differently in the show to preserve this, if it could have been preserved. I think it could have, but I don't know how they would have stuck in the DLC episode like they did. (From what I can tell--that episode was either beloved or a drag on the story's momentum for non-gamers.)

Looking forward to the finale. SPOILER ALERT: I predict that Ashley Johnson plays Ellie's mom.

It flew by. Everything just went so quickly when he went terminator on everyone

These are the words of someone I know who had not played the game. I for one agree. The finale dropped the ball. It did not work and unraveled it all.

Now, I haven't played the game in a while so my recollection might not be exact, but I think the criticism still holds here. Joel does indeed go 'Terminator', and the lack of emotion here is just ridiculous. I recall getting to Ellie being difficult; in the show it should have been possible only through sheer will and desire to save her. Also, the coldness of it all really came off very differently than the game. Before it felt like an act of despair. Now? Kind of… psychopathic. As a viewer I don't know if I'm 100% behind Joel the way you were when it was you playing. I mean shit, he just executes Abby's dad immediately.

What was a gut punch in the game goes by just like another action scene, as does their conversation in the end.

Let down pretty hard IMO. But needlessly so. They wasted 2 episodes. The DLC episode just never should have happened. And while Bill and Frank's story was amazing on its own, it took too much time away from the main relationship. I really think it could have worked if things didn't have to happen at warp speed.

I disagree with your experience of the game. :) I mean, I had a different experience. I didn't want to kill fireflies. I was torn about "rescuing" Ellie. I wasn't sure if I was doing what she would have wanted, but I had no choice in the matter, exemplified by the decision to kill or not kill the doctor, which wasn't a decision I was given (it sucks that I have to know who he is because apparently that's entered into the domain of "common knowledge." I'm sad for all the non-gamers who can't really live in the world without having season 2 spoiled. FU to YouTubers in particular, with their spoiler thumbnails.). Unlike the show, I didn't know what Ellie had been told and what she hadn't been told (what amounted to a plothole in the game). Although I think they could have had more Joel & Ellie time, and I tend to agree that the DLC content in particular didn't work as well as it did as add-on content, I'm not sure that would have made gamers such as yourself happy (and it definitely would have made a ton of people very unhappy). The bottom line is that the show can't replicate the experience of the game no matter what. What's interesting is that your experience of the show does align with my experience of the game in terms of what I felt. The difference of course is the in-game experience of controlling Joel killing "innocent" people--ostensibly the good guys.

As regards the show, what ultimately matters is how effective it was as a show, and I think the consensus is that it was very effective. And they took great advantage of it NOT being a game. They reduced Joel & Ellie's body count, which would have been numbing had it been the same in the show. They added amazing content--the flashbacks (especially in this episode), the plugging of potholes (there were too many instances to count where the show explanations worked better than those in the game), the way they upped the ante, either by making Sam deaf, or adding Joel's suicide attempt (the reveal of which was one my favorite scenes in the show). Not perfect, and I bet they've thought of ways it could've been better since making it, but pretty damn good and I'm happy with it. I've stopped making comparisons to the game for my non-gamer friends because they finally got it through my thick stull to stop. They don't care. They like the show, and the show is what they know. And they'll never experience the game. There's a gap between gamers and non-gamers, and I felt it intensely after playing The Last of Us. Here was this great story, and I had so many story-loving friends who could never experience it. Now they have experienced a form of it, and they seem grateful. I am, too.

It flew by. Everything just went so quickly when he went terminator on everyone

These are the words of someone I know who had not played the game. I for one agree. The finale dropped the ball. It did not work and unraveled it all.

Funny. My brother has not played the game, and hates the post-episode "recaps" that explain the creator's intent with the episodes (he literally walked out of the room after every episode so these summaries would not manipulate his own thoughts on the episode).
And yet, he understood how the show emphasized Joel's biggest character flaw throughout: his selfishness and willingness to manipulate his loved ones for his own gains. For as rushed as the episode was (and boy was it rushed), it did almost every character justice, except, sadly enough, Ellie.

Now, I haven't played the game in a while so my recollection might not be exact, but I think the criticism still holds here. Joel does indeed go 'Terminator', and the lack of emotion here is just ridiculous. I recall getting to Ellie being difficult; in the show it should have been possible only through sheer will and desire to save her. Also, the coldness of it all really came off very differently than the game. Before it felt like an act of despair. Now? Kind of… psychopathic. As a viewer I don't know if I'm 100% behind Joel the way you were when it was you playing. I mean shit, he just executes Abby's dad immediately.

Now, I HAVE played the game several times, and recent enough that I still have emotional context (and with the bonus hindsight offered in Part II), and I think the show did a good job establishing that Joel is a monster for what he is doing, especially since the show creates a more compelling explanation for how the "vacccine" works. It's feasable, and Joel, in his selfish refusal to lose another daughter, slaughters the world's last hope in order to hold on to her. It is truly psychotic, and the coldness with which he straight up murders people (even the ones who stand down) is captured perfectly.
That said, the game gave you way more time to bond with Ellie, and gave you way more "unimportant" scenes to get you to love her (I had a talk very recently about how the very last comic book in the game's collectathon for Ellie is found during Spring's emotional high point, coming after a tough fight with multiple bloaters, and after you get just comfortable enough that the bright and cheerful Ellie is back! And literally moments before it all comes crashing down and she drowns for Joel.
Knowing that the Fireflies who find you and knock you out before you can see or hear her awake and safe again made it much easier to kill them just for a chance to get that moment with her again does add a sense of "desperation" to the slaughter, but remember that this is where the game gives you your first fully-automatic rifle, and with plenty of ammo to boot. You are given the tools to make the rampage easier, and the body count higher. It is psychotic. Despair would have been if you had to claw tooth and nail to get to her, but the game itself made it explicit that that wasn't the case. It was always meant to be a bloodbath (and as Part II established, Joel wasn't the only one with something personal to lose here).

What was a gut punch in the game goes by just like another action scene, as does their conversation in the end.

The true gut punch, act of desperation, and emotional weight, funny enough, was what happened after Joel's rampage. It was picking Ellie's unconscious body, and running blindly through the halls as Fireflies swarmed and blocked any possible exit while they shouted about trying to get a clear shot at you. In this segment, you are unarmed, you are lost, and you have Ellie at her most vulnerable. This is the moment that broke me during the game. It was the "what have I done? What am I doing? What do I do?" thoughts running through my head as I clung to Ellie, knowing that I was actively robbing her of her life's purpose, but knowing I needed to escape with her alive.

And yet, that was cut entirely from the show, skipping right to the last chance moment of making things right.

Let down pretty hard IMO. But needlessly so. They wasted 2 episodes. The DLC episode just never should have happened. And while Bill and Frank's story was amazing on its own, it took too much time away from the main relationship. I really think it could have worked if things didn't have to happen at warp speed.

While I agree that Left Behind didn't need to be an episode, I don't think it deserved to be cut. I think they messed up by making Riley noticeably older than Ellie, but it did a number of things right, down to setting up how the Fireflies had Ellie in their possession in the first place. I think the biggest problem was that HBO gave them 10 episodes to work with, they trimmed it down to 9, and should have had 11. Winter and Spring being a single episode each was a huge mistake, while giving the Hunters an extended focus was well-meaning, but mishandled in the two episodes with them. That should have been time spent with the cannibals instead (and they should have included the section where Ellie had no choice but to build trust with David in the sawmill. It would have also reminded us that the infected are an ongoing concern, as they otherwise completely disappeared after episode 5. And would have endeared viewers to David, as the show has us completely on guard against him the entire time

As with all things, running a script through a third person to tighten up characters, dialogue, and interactions would have done wonders for the show, but as far as adaptations go, I've seen most people very happy with the show. It always comes down to "We know better", having played the game, but it's otherwise a very successful adaptation, and I loved Ashley Johnson's entire scene.

Also, did you catch Laura Bailey's cameo in the show? A very fitting place for her, all things considered. :)

I think the finale is done really well, in isolation. I'll echo what's been said before--overall I don't necessarily buy Joel's bond with Ellie. Not that it doesn't exist, but that it is well-established enough for him to do what he does. I can extrapolate and fill in those gaps, especially as a game player, but I shouldn't have to. The show spent too much time focused on things other than Joel and Ellie. I understand them wanting to ground the show, and that it can't just be Joel and Ellie killing their way across America, but we needed more of that than we got. Also, I hate to be that guy, but where's the all the zombies in the fucking zombie show? I wanted to see Bloater in the basement so fucking bad and they just ignored it. The Bloater we got was terrifying for what it was--now imagine that showing up in a dark, flooded basement corridor. Maybe that's why they didn't do it. Joel surviving the bloater in the basement segment of the game may have just been too unbelievable in the show.

Now, as for the finale itself, I think you all made great points. Joel actually having to get Ellie out of the hospital is sorely missed. I liked how extreme him getting to her was. He just completely disassociates and getting to Ellie is the only thing that matters, and anything in his way won't be there for long, no matter what it takes. I actually thing that segment was more effective in the show. For as much as we laud the heightened immersion of playing Joel, this is the one case where that was more harmful. As Korny mentioned, it's the first time we get an automatic rifle and tons of ammo. The game wants us to mow through the Firefly goons (and I did so with impunity, much as Joel did). But it felt too much like a video game moment too fully land emotionally. It turned into Uncharted in that moment, which actually served to downplay the real consequences of what was happening. That changed the minute I made it to the hallway leading to Ellie, but the gunfights weren't as impactful as they were probably supposed to be.

I loved the opening with Ellie's mother. I actually love the echo between her and Joel. Both made incredibly selfish decisions and lie to protect her. While we can debate the severity of those actions against each other, it's just a nice little touch that both of her protectors made a version of the same decision--she's more important than anyone else. The love a parent has for their child is hardly a revelation, but it just stuck out to me as something worth highlighting.

Because I'm talking to Bungie fans, I won't go on about the impact a great soundtrack can have--you all know this. I think the soundtrack to TLoU game is a big part of its success.

With specific exceptions (the role of music in ep. 3 and 7 and at the end of 1 and 6), I thought the show underutilized a great resource. I noticed that when the show strictly followed the game, they still felt the need to make it different, often by flipping the blocking of the characters. When it came to the soundtrack, when they copied the game, they seemed to have made it different putting music lower in the mix, muting its effectiveness. An exception is the final episode, where they had the right music playing above all else, but left out the crucial part (as Korny noted), where Joel is dodging an army of soldiers with flashlights while carrying Ellie. The resonance of that scene in the game can't be overstated, in no small part because of the version of "All Gone," which serves its purpose to recall the initial trauma of the game.

I know I've said some of this before, but it became clear when I listened to the show's soundtrack. The added tracks are unmemorable, whereas when listening to the soundtrack of the game nearly every track evokes a memory of a scene, which is what a good soundtrack is supposed to do. Bottom line: in my opinion, the show wasn't scored nearly as well as the game, and it's a shame, because this was an unforced error.