I think these guys have done a phenomenal job of understanding what makes a good video game vs what makes a good TV show, and haven't tried to force anything from the game into the TV show, and created/expanded the TV show where it makes sense to.
Compared to Walking Dead, the showrunners of which thought that injecting the show with the most graphic violence probably ever on cable TV was what viewers wanted.
I never made it past when Negan lost and got locked up. Perhaps you're talking about later seasons. But I thought, up to that point, it was reasonable prediction of human behavior in a zombie apocalypse. When the difference between life and death is resources, people in that apocalypse will get violent over resources.
I agree that people would descend into tribalism. I read the comic and I knew exactly what was coming with Negan's introduction, but the insanely graphic death of Glenn and Abraham was purely for shock value. I feel like the show just became an exercise in nihilism from then on and had nothing really more to add. It just became more and more lazily written as time went on.
People were getting violent two years ago over toilet paper. Law and order is the really only thing preventing things like cannibalism and female slavery from happening. We’re not good people. We would not handle it well, we would not be good to each other. It would be a prison planet where everyone is paranoid of each other.
It was for shock value. Was it really to shock us viewers, or because that type of display has been a tool of war forever? Kings and cultures displayed heads on spikes to shock people into obedience for centuries.
This show, wow. What an episode. Bella Ramsey is legit. And seeing Spoiler skinned humans hanging and ready for meat processing? ew. But it was a nice foreshadow setup earlier when the guy said "it's venison" coupled with the "tiny little pieces comment later. Firing on all cylinders.
Yup. That was a hell of a ride. Also, LOL @ Spoiler the religious cult leader eating people and raping kids Pretty on-the-nose right there.
So did Joel actually kill that guy that the preacher claims he did, or was he the one eaten by the group?
Spoiler I didn't get the impression the group was killing anyone for food, but they were opportunistically eating anyone who died. So I think it's both. He was the one Joel killed, but they aren't burying the body.
I'm only about halfway through the latest episode but I just want to underscore that this show could unfold in practically any "universe" and still be great, because the characters are well-characterized, have strong and consistent behaviors and motivations, and - most importantly - great, thoughtful, meaningful relationships with each other. I don't know why so many shows can't grasp this. Create a good character, even an incredibly flawed one, but be consistent in their behaviors and give them strong, well-depicted bonds with other characters, and it doesn't matter if you're telling the story in a zombie apocalypse, a galaxy far far away, or a dragon fantasy world. This series regularly carves out meaningful minutes and hours of its run-time to show you relationships and why they matter. I already said in this thread that the episode with Nick Offerman felt like a bit of TV magic partly because they dedicated an entire episode to drawing you into the world. Again in the latest episode there was a 5+ minute segment - like 15% of this episode's run time - that told no story, had no action, advanced no plot, and was nothing but a peaceful moment strengthening the bond between two characters.
Very true. And I agree with you and appreciate that as well, but I feel that you are in the minority for what the data says a show's formula should be. Modern day editing has done a number on good story telling I think. "Is that critical to the story? No? Cut it out."
Are you still watching this? Is anyone else on here watching also? I watched season 1 and thought it was fantastic. I haven’t started this season yet, but I’ve seen scathing reviews of the writing and acting (completely setting aside the asinine criticism of the looks of the actress playing Ellie). Is it worth watching?
Yes, I finished the season. Yes, still worth watching (in my opinion). I don't know what scathing reviews were referencing but I saw nothing I would give a "scathing review." Maybe a tiny bit less magic than the first season.
Wait, you're current or you've finished the entire season? I thought HBO was releasing new episodes each week? Or was Sunday's episode the finale? We're up to speed on the latest episodes (on HBO) and we're both pretty "meh" about this season. Absolutely loved the first season but just not emotionally invested in this season. The end of Ep 2 didn't affect me at all and I heard the latest Ep was a real tear jerker and bunch of dry eyes in our house.
Sorry, just misspoke. I meant that I had finished watching all of the released episodes. It's definitely true that the first season had a bigger punch, but I still think that this show gives you more reason to care about its characters than 99.99% of shows on TV. I don't know that "tear jerker" is a way I'd describe shows like this, but at least I have a sense of emotional depth from and between the characters.
You were asking Binary, but I kind of gave up after a few episodes. I don't have any context for the complaints about casting because I didn't play the games, but Bella Ramsay seems fine to me. I just didn't find this season super compelling so I moved on.
I think Bella is doing a fine job but I'm just not getting into her and the other chick. Just casually walking around and making a ton of noise in the theater. I'll still finish it because I'm still into the story with the fungus zombies
As someone that's played both games before the show came out, I think a major reason why a lot of people that have NOT previously played the games are finding this season as less entertaining than the first can mostly be attributed to the fact that they did the entire first game in a single season, whereas the events of TLoU 2 are being spread across at least 2, maybe 3 seasons depending on how they go with it. The games themselves are long, oftentimes slow, narrative driven affairs, but when you condense that down into just 9 episodes, you can cut out a lot of the filler stuff that was in the games (that being said, the Bill & Frank episode was a completely made up story that wasn't in the original game). I will continue to watch just because I already know the story and want to see how well it continues to be adapted to the screen, but I also think they did themselves a disservice with the first season being paced nearly twice as fast as this subsequent one.