Let's rank The Last of Us HBO episodes. I like every one of them but my top 2 are easily the best ones. I'm a bit suprised that episode 4 is so high on my list but I really like the Joel and Ellie scenes. It was hard to rank 2 and 8. Episode 7 isn't bad but its the only episode I haven't rewatched yet. I might do that today.
Episode 1 starts out absolutely amazing but the post-outbreak part is really poorly put together. Lots of jumping around without context. My family were hooked after the first 30 mins but barely wanted to watch episode 2 after the rest.
Episode 4 is basically just a set up for 5, which delivers a huge payoff.
7 has some amazing ambience but the teenage love story feels forced and pretty cringe. Especially as it's someone who's nearly 17 getting with a 14 year-old.
I'm actually surprised a lot of people liked episode 3. I've nothing against gay romances, but Bill and Frank's romance was weird and unnatural. Harry and Sam episode was probably among the best ones, but if I have to pick one, it's episode 2. I loved the Chernobil vibes in the Jakarta sequence, and Tess's death as it was waaaay more impactful than in the game.
Also I didn't like how rushed the latest episodes felt. But overall, it was a great series.
Well seeing two old hairy dude kissing kinda ew ( tbh I wouldnt mind if they're hot) . But the problem I had with ep 2 is how easy their life is in a post apocalype world . It ruined all the world building in the first two episode for me . Dangerous ? What dangerous ? "Frank you wouldnt understand , I just want a normal garden party with strangers in a post apocalype world , is this too much to ask?" Kinda vibe .
The only episodes I didn't like were 3 and the one with Ellie hanging out with her friend / origin story. Both were really slow and didn't add much for me. All the others were about equally good. TBH i was only in it for the aesthetic camera work and the zombie action.
Let me be controversial here. There series is far away from the HBO's best. Almost everything felt rushed and underdeveloped.
That said episode 3, together with the world building parts in the other episodes, especially the parts that they didn't xerox and "expanded the lore" from the game, were the best parts.
I have so much to say about this show. Far and away episodes 4 & 5 were the peak for me. Not only is the story compelling, but there is so much heavy lifting from the supporting cast. Pedro and Bella are on point, but so are Lamar Johnson (Henry) and Melanie Lynskie (the militia leader). It's also one of the few times we get to see Joel sort of earn his reputation.
The series completely falls apart for me at the University. Part of what makes the whole tail end of the game work the way it does is that Ellie, having been trained and raised by a monster, becomes a monster herself. The University is the payoff after seeing Ellie slowly take on more and more of an active role during combat. The subsequent Ellie sections cement this so that by the time we leave David's, Ellie and Joel have effectively destroyed an entire town for having crossed them.
That HBO Ellie is never allowed to come into her own is a problem. It robs the TV series of her arc.
Again, I've got a lot to say... I'll leave it at that.
BUT NOT BEFORE SAYING.....
What was up with the Ellie's mom scene!!!? SOOOO DUMB
So, the reason Ellie's immune is because mom was bit while giving birth? Seriously?! So, instead of leaving well enough alone, or coming up with an actual good reason, they gave the series "Blade" rules? Ellie's powers are as stupidly given to her as they were to the fricken' daywalker? No disrespect to Blade, but, c'mon.... the show didn't need this lazy boring explanation.
I have so much to say about this show. Far and away episodes 4 & 5 were the peak for me. Not only is the story compelling, but there is so much heavy lifting from the supporting cast. Pedro and Bella are on point, but so are Lamar Johnson (Henry) and Melanie Lynskie (the militia leader). It's also one of the few times we get to see Joel sort of earn his reputation.
The series completely falls apart for me at the University. Part of what makes the whole tail end of the game work the way it does is that Ellie, having been trained and raised by a monster, becomes a monster herself. The University is the payoff after seeing Ellie slowly take on more and more of an active role during combat. The subsequent Ellie sections cement this so that by the time we leave David's, Ellie and Joel have effectively destroyed an entire town for having crossed them.
That HBO Ellie is never allowed to come into her own is a problem. It robs the TV series of her arc.
Again, I've got a lot to say... I'll leave it at that.
BUT NOT BEFORE SAYING.....
What was up with the Ellie's mom scene!!!? SOOOO DUMB
So, the reason Ellie's immune is because mom was bit while giving birth? Seriously?! So, instead of leaving well enough alone, or coming up with an actual good reason, they gave the series "Blade" rules? Ellie's powers are as stupidly given to her as they were to the fricken' daywalker? No disrespect to Blade, but, c'mon.... the show didn't need this lazy boring explanation.
So, the reason Ellie's immune is because mom was bit while giving birth? Seriously?! So, instead of leaving well enough alone, or coming up with an actual good reason, they gave the series "Blade" rules? Ellie's powers are as stupidly given to her as they were to the fricken' daywalker? No disrespect to Blade, but, c'mon.... the show didn't need this lazy boring explanation.
Another issue this "addition" brings is that Marlene knew what could make people be born with immunities but she did nothing with that information in pursuit of the cure.
Another issue this "addition" brings is that Marlene knew what could make people be born with immunities but she did nothing with that information in pursuit of the cure.
5 was the best. Had a great balance of drama, tragedy and action with strong performances all around.
8 comes in as a close second though I did like this part more in the game.
Episode 3 for me was the worst, not sure what people love about it and the fact it's voted as the best speaks poorly of the rest of the show.
Overall I thought it was pretty solid, easily the best live action adaptation so far. Though ultimately I still think the game was a far superior experience
I think overall quality is high, but I would have preferred to see more of the main characters. I'll gladly switch Episode Bill or Left Behind for more screen time of Joel and Ellie building the relationship wich is the core theme of the series. I felt they had to rush in some parts due to not having much time, but they mismanaged it. They should've used that side content and add more for a mini series between season 1 and 2. I don't understand why they decided to expand the Bill storyline since he's a character that in the series universe Ellie doesn't even meet. It was basically filler content. I would have rather watched a better handled University part that left me totally unsatisfied. Joel and Ellie needed more time together on screen before winter imo. They skipped a crucial part of their bond build up.
She didn’t know Ellie’s mom was bitten before she cut the umbilical cord, she believed her mom. Fourteen years go by and you expect her to immediately conclude Ellie’s mom lied, she was bit precisely after giving birth but before cutting the cord, and that certainly explains things? That seems like far more of a stretch to me.
She didn’t know Ellie’s mom was bitten before she cut the umbilical cord, she believed her mom. Fourteen years go by and you expect her to immediately conclude Ellie’s mom lied, she was bit precisely after giving birth but before cutting the cord, and that certainly explains things? That seems like far more of a stretch to me.
Why would she not start to think of what set Ellie apart from everyone else? She believed the mom initially sure, but once she discovered the immunity a smart person would've started connecting the dots when perusing a cure. Marlene seemed to have doubts at first and the mom had to stress that she'd been bitten afterwards.
Why would she not start to think of what set Ellie apart from everyone else? She believed the mom initially sure, but once she discovered the immunity a smart person would've started connecting the dots when perusing a cure.
Fourteen years is a long friggen time, especially during the apocalypse. And besides that, we don’t even have an indication that she didn’t connect the dots. Maybe she did and verifying it was the plan. Either explanation is perfectly valid
ep9 was by far the best one, and even then only because it was saved by the hospital rampage scene, (which was shot kinda weird as well...)
everything else was just boring and uneventful.
I think episode 3 was the “best” episode in a vacuum, but it wasn’t close to my favorite since it was kind of pointless in context to the plot. And it wasted valuable time that could have been used to flesh out future episodes like 8 and 9 and I’ll always hold that against episode 3. I don’t know if I can rank them, I liked them all close to the same. I’d have to say I’d probably put 4 last simply because I thought it what the least amount of character development and action, and it had Kathleen who was by far the worst character of the entire season. It’s absurd Kathleen got probably more screen time than Marlene did during the season.
Episode 5 was great, but the sniper shootout was probably my least favorite part of the season, it felt too video gamey.
I’d say 9, 8, 6 were probably my favorites. But again, enjoyed them all.
It's a tie between 5 and 8. I love the changes they made, while retaining the core story. But I think 5 edges it out just because of how heart breaking the ending was.
I liked all the episodes. The only one i would say was weak was episode 7.
Fourteen years is a long friggen time, especially during the apocalypse. And besides that, we don’t even have an indication that she didn’t connect the dots. Maybe she did and verifying it was the plan. Either explanation is perfectly valid
Ever forgetting that the mom asked to take care of the new born because she herself is infected doesn't seem likely(IMO). Seeing how they're moving on to the lethal operation(without telling her) within hours seems to indicate to me that they're not (properly) exploring other options first.
Ever forgetting that the mom asked to take care of the new born because she herself is infected doesn't seem likely(IMO). Seeing how they're moving on to the lethal operation(without telling her) within hours seems to indicate to me that they're not (properly) exploring other options first.
Another issue this "addition" brings is that Marlene knew what could make people be born with immunities but she did nothing with that information in pursuit of the cure.
You move the goalposts. How could she know the circumstances that leads to immunity? Is she knowledgeable on the topic of passive and active immunity, does she know about innate immunity and adaptive immunity?
Connect what dot? She is not an immunologist, she isn't pursuing the cure herself, they have a team of scientist doing that. They haven't figured it out in the 20 years of the pandemic but somehow Marlene who is not a scientist nor an immunologist should connect the dots and figure it out what causes Ellie to be immune?
Is Ellie the only child that has been born from an infected mother in the 20 years since the pandemic? How is Ellie unique in that regards? You are adding details that make the story less plausible.
Ask yourself, what would connecting the dots as you prescribe add to the story? You are so smart; did you figure out the cause of COVID 19, or did you wait for much smarter people to create the vaccine?
Because the other option was that Ellie is also infected therefore, she would have to kill Ellie as well. That is why the mom stressed that she'd been bitten after giving birth and not before.
