new episodes of Last of Us It premieres every Sunday night on HBO, and we’ll recap them here every Monday morning. It delves deep into the differences between telling in games and on TV, and examines whether the source material ultimately helps or hinders this adaptation.
We won’t delve into every plot point in the premiere episode, but obviously heavy spoiler so watch the episode first if you want to go fresh.
Andrew: Never played a game! That’s why I’m here, obviously. Not intentionally avoiding it, but at the moment he only plays about 6 games a year, most of which are his 2D action platformers on Nintendo hardware or pocketable monster catching games. .Every six months when they release a new remaster Last of Us“Maybe this time” you think, but it’s not happening.
I have a cursory Wikipedia-level knowledge of the main storyline beats.I also have some touchpoints in apocalypse fiction that border on pandemic or contagion (first priority: HBO’s station eleven Showing Max Brooks, not a book world war z I think a book, not a movie, will help me here.
Kyle: Speaking of plot beats, I was really excited to see HBO pick up the game’s iconic opening.
Andrew: You’re talking about a talk show in the 60’s.
Kyle: No, that part was actually completely new, but I liked the way it was set up. Perhaps helpful considering how “pandemic-aware” we’re all compared to 2013 when the game was released, it was referring to the entire outbreak sequence leading up to Sarah’s death They stretched things out and fleshed out some of the characters a bit, but I was really impressed with how relatable some of the key moments were. Even though it was eerily familiar in many ways. Even now, I don’t think there are many cutscenes in a game that can make the transition to Prestige TV this far.
Andrew: Coming back to talk shows, it felt like a little signpost. This one is a fungus, it Wrong.”
Kyle: Without it, everyone in the audience would say, ‘We got the COVID vaccine in like 18 months, and who are these people?’ Is doing? ”
Andrew: So I pose a question that I keep asking you: how much of that opening sequence is gameplay and how much is cinematic? Do you want Last of Us, and to what extent do you see actors perform scripted cutscenes? There was definitely a moment or two where I said something like. I had a feeling there should be some kind of list of objectives popping up on the TV screen, but they mostly show up later.
Kyle: In the first part, most of the game is either cutscenes or minimally interactive (i.e. walking around or looking at something) until Sarah dies. It also goes much faster in-game, giving her less time to hit her beats and reach her jumps in time. Last of Us is not really such an open world game (there is another plot in the game where MacGuffin directs Joel and Tess to Ellie). The narrative of the game “I need some kind of excuse to move my character (which makes me go through a section of the shoot with a lot of infected)” despite the shoot bit being mostly missing here A trend can be clearly seen.
Andrew: What surprised me about the opening sequence was the lack of genre, such as hearing something go wrong on the news and then adjusting it, animals are always the first to know, too many people trying to get away, etc. The metaphor was that there was quite a lot of traffic once a plane full of infected people went down.Fungal infections or viruses, the active “zombie” we see are recognizable 28 days later-y. There’s nothing inherently wrong with relying on tropes! Predictable tropes, well-executed are what I really like Star Trek: Strange New World Last year to bring a completely unrelated property into the conversation.
Kyle: I especially liked the subtle signs that things were going bad, but they weren’t just being talked about in the news and weren’t direct. When a police car passed outside the window during the viewing, I was a little shaken…
Andrew: Everything is well done here (and looks expensive!). This first episode hits me as a competently executed apocalypse fiction, a novice. Do you think game players get more out of the show than people who just enjoy it at that level?
Kyle: As a game player, I’m not sure I’m getting much out of the show, but it adds the dramatic irony of knowing what happens to the major players. I also keep comparing characterization to games. Especially for Ellie, her backstory and her relationship with Firefly and Marlene have changed quite a bit.I wonder what she thought of Ellie in particular and the (somewhat subtle) slow reveal.What makes Ellie so special. ..
Andrew:Yeah, there were three other things going on as well at the end where that little blink and what we missed was revealed, but perhaps not so cleverly — I think the show could have held off on that particular mystery. I want to know more about her, who she is and what she can do. station eleven, We see what happens to a young courageous girl when “normalcy” is removed and she is forced to adapt to a rapidly changing post-collapse society. The show’s timeline meant that Ellie knew nothing of the world outside of the present.
Kyle: The generation gap between pre-Crisis Joel and post-Crisis Ellie is definitely a big theme of the game, and I’m looking forward to the show having more room to explore it. She was a computer-controlled NPC who frequently saved my butt or distracted the infected during key combat moments.
Andrew: yes! A lot of what makes the game’s story work is the element of self-insertion, the dopamine hits you get because you let the story progress rather than watch it progress. The show doesn’t let me invest in a handy side character to find items.One of the reasons is that a kind side character who is always handing things over to the main character would be weird in the show. bioshock A television program that sees the protagonist standing in front of an ammo vending machine for 15 minutes each episode.)
Did the show make any other changes to help passive viewers become as invested in these characters as game players are?
Kyle: The changes so far have mainly taken the time to flesh out and edit the backstory so that it always works without the break of “shoot a lot of people/infected”. The TV show has room to slowly explore the motivations of these characters. , mostly just establishing the world and characters (both mediums are really efficient minimal exposition). I’m really looking forward to the moment I know. relationship I care about these characters.
Andrew: Yes, I’m looking forward to talking about them. Because many adaptations have one or two things that really upset fans of the original. I want to know what they are without having to play the game.
Kyle: Last of UsThe story had already unfolded like a TV show, and the changes at the premiere were more of a fill-in-the-blank than a big change. Lord of the Ring Movies If You’re Too Married To Page watchmen movie.
Andrew: In general, yes: I’m looking forward to seeing more. Of course, no knowledge of the game is required. For those still saddened by Hulu’s cancellation, it probably fills the gap. Y: the last man adaptation. And with HBO’s money, I’m sure you can see all sorts of weird fungal zombies in different stages of infection, and they all look creepy and pretty. The first image of the episode to watch was really disturbing.
Kyle: Wall Fungus Man was also an early standout. They are clearly heavily influenced by live action. Super mario bros. movie.
Andrew: as we all do.
Kyle: The last thing I really wanted to talk about in this oversized premiere was the tension between the ‘totalitarian’ government versus the ‘terrorist’ Firefly. Do you think the show was sympathetic to either side? mosquito?
Andrew: Honestly, that was the part that felt most generally like a video game to me. Both must be included. The show is clearly leaning in the direction of Firefly. Because it’s the Army man who stood in for the Rebel Alliance and shot Joel’s infant daughter dead in his arms. But if they’re going to heavily influence future episodes, I need to know exactly what they’re fighting for.
Kyle: I loved the moment when Hotaru walks up to Joel and says something like, “If you tell me to look for the light, I’ll break my jaw.” He’s a survivor, not a rebel.
