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[Thaedolus]

How is this different from any of the millions of love stories on movies, and shows? The only difference is it's 2 gay dudes so it's hyped up to the max.

I’m not sure how many basically flawlessly executed love stories there are about an insanely paranoid and emotionally walled off middle aged prepper finding love and human connection during a zombie apocalypse there are out there but I’m guessing there aren’t any this good and poignant.

I'm not against their love story but I'm sure they can shave off some time from it and include the original stuff from the game too.

The game is the game and the show is show. Having a horror funhouse episode like the Bill sequence in the game might’ve been fun, but ultimately doesn’t advance the overall plot any more than this episode did, and would be nowhere near as impactful emotionally. The end result is the same: now Joel and Ellie have a truck. Any argument that this episode was filler could be used about the game’s Bill area too.

 

[kyliethicc]

How did the episode flesh out the world?

did you watch the episode lol

developing a reason to care about Joel's decision

that was what the entire episode just did

 

[Raonak]

Absolutely loved this episode. I never really cared much about the bill section in the game, so I quite liked the changes.

Kinda crazy they spent most of the episode with characters you don't even meet. But it was cool to see bill and franks backstory, and the changes made their story feel way more interesting as someone who was expecting frank to leave.

I got legitimately emotional about their end when I never gave any shit about either character in the game.

 

[Hugare]

Episode was amazing

I was skeptical about changes (still is), and tho I hated Tess death, I loved what they did with Bill.

Frank's reveal during the game was great, but what they did here was so much more impactful. They developed the hell out of their relationship.

And it served its purpose so much better than the game. That letter to Joel was top tier character building. Showed how much Bill has changed over the years because of Frank, while also developing Joel's character arch.

The only thing that kinda bothered me a bit was Ellie and the infected scene. It was weird. I'm still not sold on tv show Ellie. She kinda looked like a psychopath.

Game Ellie was so much more likeable.

I'm also still lukewarm on Joel. His personality is much more subdued than it was in the game at this moment.

 

[Inuteu]

shit episode

just gay propaganda that will probably backfire

they cut all the interaction between Bill and the main caracters

 

[Oddvintagechap]

3. We know he was Gay in the game but he also was polite about the way he said it, wasn’t in your face and he went on about his day…. HBO though

LOL homie said polite. Im heterosexual myself, its ok to feel uncomfortable, I did. Doesn’t make the story “wOKe”.

The anti-ultra woke sentiment that has permeated the internet is getting more toxic by the day. Extremists complaining about other extremists...

Makes this episode even sweeter.

always funny watching people out themselves with such dumb takes

I used to think it was super fucking annoying.

I wish I was there when ProfessorX was introduced, “Super hero in a wheel chair? fuck this woke shit!”

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Holy fuck this was an amazing hour of TV.

You know you got a winner when even boomers on facebook are loving it, lmao.

 

[Lasha]

did you watch the episode lol


that was what the entire episode just did

I watched the episode and I've beaten the first game twice. I disagree with you. No amount of attacking me is going to change my opinion that the arc felt like a spinoff rather than a necessary use of almost ten percent of the season.

 

[Forsete]

I really liked this episode.

 

[consoul]

Another great episode. God I hope they can keep this up. We might actually have an adaptation of a video game to a TV series that delivers the goods.

 

[Solarstrike]

Episode 3:

 

[Slothbeing1209]

The only thing that kinda bothered me a bit was Ellie and the infected scene. It was weird. I'm still not sold on tv show Ellie. She kinda looked like a psychopath.

Game Ellie was so much more likeable.

I think the Ellie with infected scene is she's getting angry for what happened with Riley.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

The way The Last Of Us went from "this might be a good videogame adaptation" to "this is one of the best TV shows in the last couple years" is mindblowing to me.

This is surpassing even my biggest expectations.

 

[Raonak]

Also this episode feels like the calm breath of air before shit starts hitting the fan as Pittsburg is next....

 

[Thaedolus]

they cut all the interaction between Bill and the main caracters

Not only is your “just gay propaganda” take dumb and revealing but this is entirely false. We got scene with Bill, Joel and Tess we never got in the game.

 

[Stooky]

I think that is the problem with doing this in episode 3. You're bringing people into a new franchise and you've talked up these characters only to have them not matter moving forward, but you still spent so much time on them.

With there being no Bill going forward, it doesn't much a ton of sense to flash back to Bill and Frank. Honestly, there is no point in flashing back to Tess either.

This would have been fine if it were half an episode, and the other half of the episode was Bill, Ellie, and Joel still finding the battery.

I think they're ultimately going to lose a lot of their audience with this episode and they're going to see Episode 4 come in with a much smaller audience.

Mojarity of the people watching the show are never going to play the game. Most reactions are saying how amazing that episode is. This version of Bill is better for tv audiences, higher emotional stakes, and it does a good job of setting up Joels arc.

 

[Elysion]

I haven’t seen this yet, but the descriptions make it sound like Bill‘s part in the story went in exactly the direction I expected it would. I knew they wouldn’t just let Bill be this hardened, cynical survivor, whose relationship with Frank was an interesting background detail, the exact nature of which you only learned about after the fact, and that they would instead make their relationship obvious to the audience. But even I didn’t expect that they‘d cut Bill, Joel and Ellie‘s interactions in the town entirely just so they can focus on Bill and Frank. That was one of the best parts of the game, and one of the things I was looking forward the most when it came to the adaptation.

 

[Spukc]

This thread
If some of you keep crying this loud.
Neil will randomly hole in one someone else just to fuck with you.

 

[Inuteu]

Not only is your “just gay propaganda” take dumb and revealing but this is entirely false. We got scene with Bill, Joel and Tess we never got in the game.

one good scene does not save the episode

so much wasted time with yes, gay propaganda

if was a heterosexual couple, it would be wasted time all the same

almost nothing important happened

 

[Woggleman]

It was a great episode.

I am a huge fan of the two games but at the end of the day they are two separate entities. Think of it as two universes like Rockstar does with the GTA games.

 

[Thaedolus]

one good scene does not save the episode

No what saved the episode was the entire episode being about human connection during an insane apocalypse, and flawlessly executed start to finish. As a fan of the game, the scene with Joel and Tess was cool, but hardly the main strength of the episode.

so much wasted time with yes, gay propaganda

Time spent telling an interesting story about characters that play a pivotal role in both the world building and plot isn’t wasted time. Why does Bill have a perfectly functional truck and fuel and batteries in this world? Well, this episode showed why. And the fact you have a problem with it being about gay guys says more about you than the material. There was literally zero discussion about gay rights or bigotry or anything of the sort in the episode, they simply existed in the world, and their story was told, and you think that’s “propaganda.” Think about that for a minute.

if was a heterosexual couple, it would be wasted time all the same

almost nothing important happened

This all reads like someone who got upset that Ron Swanson kissed a guy and stared at his phone the rest of the hour

 

[Facism]

Unless my memory failed me, I do not remember Bill being involved in a hardcore homosexual gay make out scene.

2 guys making out is hardcore now lmao. lol. rofl

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

2 guys making out is hardcore now lmao. lol. rofl

If this was bill and a woman you just know there would be nothing "hardcore" about it for that user, lmao.

People are just too sensitive here i guess.

 

[Buggy Loop]

2 guys making out is hardcore now lmao. lol. rofl

Why do I have a feeling something happened in his pants that he didn’t know about himself at that moment last night to have such a triggered reaction?

 

[Lord Panda]

As a big fan of both games, I loved this episode and the changes they made. While my gaydar was pinging like crazy in this episode (I mean it's Bill we're talking about), my wokedar remained dormant. My only criticism would be how fast Bill and Frank got it on I guess (a few hours/half a day of meeting each other?)... but I guess Bill was goddamn thirsting like a mofo. And my other criticism would be Ellie's lack of stealth and caution wherever she goes. She's seemingly super cavalier and nonchalant

Really liked how they established how the pair of them hooked up with Joel and Tess.

Nick Offerman's strong yet vulnerable performance in particular, knocked it out of the park.

 

[Yoboman]

How did the episode flesh out the world? The bulk of the episode takes place within Bill and Frank's yard. The game somehow got to its emotional climax without Frank at all. An hour spent showing Frank and Bill living for a few decades is an hour less that we have developing a reason to care about Joel's decision. The hour was enjoyable if kind of irrelevant.

Because this is a TV show for new audiences as well. After two action packed episodes of tragic stories, this episode finally ties in the core theme of the Last of Us which is finding love in a broken world. It built upon the characters that inhabit the world, it showed a scenario of how somebody becomes a survivor in such a harsh world since D Day, it shows the dangers of the world with raiders and mostly it will likely be one of the rare moments of joy in a dark setting

You also act like developing side characters we emotionally engage with wasn't already important to what TLOU did so well as a game

Imagine they did Bill or Sam and Henry but they just miss the mark entirely on us caring about those characters

 

[Slothbeing1209]

 

[Tg89]

one good scene does not save the episode

so much wasted time with yes, gay propaganda

if was a heterosexual couple, it would be wasted time all the same

almost nothing important happened

I'd love for you to tell us what part of the episode contained propaganda. You don't seem to know what that word means.

 

[Interfectum]

"bu bu bu it doesn't push the story forward"

Episode 3 was always going to end with Joel and Ellie driving away from Bill's town. Some of you are just mad you popped a slight woody during the bed scene.

The episode was a great story told within TLoU universe and that ending shot through the window was masterclass.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Anyway, brilliant performances. Hardened guy like Bill breaking down as Frank explains how the day will go, reminded me of my grandfather after his wife died of cancer. Nick Offerman nailed it. Gay or not gay doesn’t matter, it was a poignant story.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

As of now I'm not saying the show is woke, but if they spare Sam and Henry...

 

[TGO]

I don't know how much you remember about the game. But the way Bill talks about Frank in the game, the way he reacts to find him dead and the letter Frank left him pretty much tells you Bill is gay. And if that's not enough, the gay porn magazine Ellie finds in the car should be everything you need to know, lol.

Ellie didn't find them in the car, she stole them and put them in her backpack.
And she was nosing at them at his bunker.

 

[balls of snow]

I like It, they established throughout the episode that Bill and Joel are pretty much similar survivalist mindset people. But they showed that with Bill and Frank relationship that when they love, they love deeply. Ties in very well with what is gonna happen in the finale.
Good contrast to the game where Bill is endgame Joel if he never met Ellie.

 

[Xander3116]

My only issue with the series up to this point is they have cut out a few action set pieces from the game and the one with Joel, Ellie and Bill and the school was a pretty cool one, clearly the show runners want to expand story elements at the expense of actual things that happened in the games story, I could understand this decision if it were a movie, you have very limited time, but this is a series with a huge budget, there should be no limitations and they could have easily expanded Bill and Franks story while also including the interactions with Joel, Ellie and Bill and the whole school action set piece, it would have been a better episode.

 

[Hugare]

As of now I'm not saying the show is woke, but if they spare Sam and Henry...

So woke that the only 2 gay characters (with the exception of Ellie) are now dead. When in the game, Bill lived.

I'm 90% sure Henry and Sam are dying.

Sam's death is important for Ellie's character arch.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

Bill in the game: Don't touch any of my shit! Who tf are you?! I don't owe you crap! Fuck off my property bruh!

Bill in the show: I made you dinner and have brand new clothes for you. Oh and there is left overs. Gonna sing you a song real quick. Now never leave me

 

[Dusktildawn48]

So woke that the only 2 gay characters (with the exception of Ellie) are now dead. When in the game, Bill lived.

I'm 90% sure Henry and Sam are dying.

Sam's death is important for Ellie's character arch.

Alive Frank wasn't even in the game and they just dedicated almost an entire episode to him and Bill. But like I said, I don't really think it's went full woke until they change the outcome of Henry and Sam.

 

[deriks]

So Druckman strikes again with his gay liberal woke bullshit. Bill was not gay in the game. Fuck this.

I’m gonna have to replay it then. The last time I played it was on ps3 before the ps4 version even came out. There definitely was no gay make out scene in the game though.

u mad/

 

[Katajx]

My message is they are starting to branch away from the source material quite a bit, stuff that didn’t exist suddenly existing. I said I would feel the same if episode 2 started with shit that didn’t happen just to spice things up. it can go either way i wasn’t thrilled about that awful sex scene with Abby on part 2 either it’s all just unnecessary cringe.

No Agenda…

Which is a thing. I get that adaptations are different, but I don’t agree with every change they do to make it work for “TV”.

I don’t think it’s always anti woke or necessarily showing same sex things in the first place.

My problem with the X-men and other things in general are how they change things to be more relatable or real In an attempt to cater to a wider audience than portray something closer to the source material.

 

[PaddyOCanager]

This episode fell pretty flat for me.

I was looking forward to the expansion of Bill and Frank's story, but this dragged. Offerman's beard was comically distracting, and it drained the seriousness out of several scenes. I would've liked to see them follow and expand Bill and Frank's story from the game, but instead we just got a tropey love story. All this was done at the expense of the relationship between our main characters too.

 

[Stooky]

My only issue with the series up to this point is they have cut out a few action set pieces from the game and the one with Joel, Ellie and Bill and the school was a pretty cool one, clearly the show runners want to expand story elements at the expense of actual things that happened in the games story, I could understand this decision if it were a movie, you have very limited time, but this is a series with a huge budget, there should be no limitations and they could have easily expanded Bill and Franks story while also including the interactions with Joel, Ellie and Bill and the whole school action set piece, it would have been a better episode.

I think that plays well in a game but not for a tv show where you less time to build character bonds and motivations. The episode showed love in this world something Joel needed to see. It’s going to make Joel’s motivations stronger. Going the game route would have just been one big setpeice it probably would have felt empty. They made the right choice. Still have 5 episodes to go.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Episode was brilliant, the wife and I enjoyed it a lot. I always felt like the bill/frank thing lacked more detail in the game.

Some embarrasing takes in this thread as expected.

 

[Interfectum]

I think that plays well in a game but not for a tv show where you less time to build character bonds and motivations. The episode showed love in this world something Joel needed to see. It’s going to make Joel’s motivations stronger. Going the game route would have just been one big setpeice it probably would have felt empty. They made the right choice. Still have 5 episodes to go.

6, right?

 

[Interfectum]

ScreenCrush nails it.

 

[digdug2]

I think the Ellie with infected scene is she's getting angry for what happened with Riley.

Not to mention, she has been bit twice. I'd be a slight bit agitated by that.

 

[BadBurger]

We could argue all day and night about how a video game should be adapted, but at the end of the day live action scripted entertainment tells a story in a manner very differently than a video game does. Thaedolus said it best earlier: at the end of the day, the conclusion was the same - they found a battery and made their way off in a truck. I would rather have had that powerful love story define the characters of Bill and Frank than another rote, overdone, hermit tale with another action piece we've already seen.

 

[Xander3116]

I think that plays well in a game but not for a tv show where you less time to build character bonds and motivations. The episode showed love in this world something Joel needed to see. It’s going to make Joel’s motivations stronger. Going the game route would have just been one big setpeice it probably would have felt empty. They made the right choice. Still have 5 episodes to go.

They could have had both, and there is no excuse for them not to have done it that way, it could have been done in multiple ways, Bill could have been in 2 episodes, this flashback one and the one where he helps Joel and Ellie or they could have had a 90 minute episode where both things happen. What this episode showed me is that the show runners clearly see this show as being separate from the game, its not a bad thing but for me, who wanted to see things playing out closer to how they do in the game it feels disappointing.

 

[12Goblins]

Dang that episode was boring as fuck but I thought it was going somewhere?? And then in the making of he just said he made it up cuz he thought it would be a cool backstory? lololol people are saying they cried n shit get a grip that shit was corny and bad. Good actors tho

 

[THE DUCK]

Kind of slow but the framing, direction and acting was amazing. Still a great episode, which is impressive considering it's lack of moving the story forward.

 

[John Bilbo]

I think the third one was the most interesting episode yet. And I see the story branching even further out from the game(s). And actually I don't mind that as it makes the show more of an entity of its own.

Looking forward to episode four!