EARLY ACCESS: The Last of Us 2x5 FULL REACTION

You guy are awesome. Keep up the great work and interesting discussions at the end. I live for that stuff! All of you have really great takes and viewpoints. It's fascinating to listen to. Great reaction. And please don't let the negative discourse affect you guys. There are haters everywhere, but to me, and a lot of others, this show is still amazing.

Fredrik IB

Because if you were Ellie or Abby you wouldn't know the other's perspective. That was why the game was so brilliant. They don't understand each other, they don't have the context, they don't know each other and that's why they are so willing to do awful things to these people. It also makes it more tragic when it comes together and you get to know them after you cheered on the terrible things that happen to them. The whole point of the story is perspective and the consequences of hate and revenge. Ellie, Abby and Joel are the same person just in different parts of their story arcs. Also, you shouldn't have to know someone to be disgusted by their torturing.

Adam Edmison

Because this is more realistic, Ellie won't be pissed all the time and hype focused on revenge when she has dina with her and she's in love. She loses herself with dina and forgets about Joel for a bit. Until she plays that guitar and you see the reality hit her again. Once she's alone she unleashed everything on Nora. She's basically manic depressive as dina gives her a high while thoughts of Joel drown her.

Adam Edmison

I don't think we're gonna lose Dina, but I do think we're not going back to Jackson with all four of the people in Seattle. No, I don't think it will be Ellie, either. I think either Tommy or Jesse is gonna die before the season ends. I have no idea which one, and no, I haven't played the games.

DTGstl314

I can't lie, this isn't quite hitting for me. Why have they made Ellie so chipper while on a revenge mission? In my opinion, the tonal shifts aren't good. I wasn't even a fan of the way the game told the story, but somehow this has made it worse. I'll still continue watching because I enjoy your reactions, though.

Stevenstuffguy

It's disappointing to see the show follow one of my main issues with the game—its storytelling and narrative structure. Why should we care about Nora being tortured, when we know know nothing about her beyond the fact that she's part of Abby's group that killed our favorite character and the actrss is playing the MC of Naughty Dogs new game? SPOILERS FOR THE GAME/FUTURE OF THE SHOW BELOW! You only start to care about Nora after experiencing Abby’s side of the story—through flashbacks and seeing Nora on the day Ellie arrives. That’s part of why I was hoping the show would improve on the game's storytelling, just like Season 1 made some smart changes, let us learn more about these characters so when Ellie is killing them, you're saying "oh but they have a family they are tkaing care of!" Or "but they just lost their parents!!!". Unfortunately, it looks like they’re doubling down on everything I disliked about the game’s narrative. They've taken the story’s most frustrating elements—its structure and heavy-handedness—and made them worse by having Bella Ramsey portray an even more insufferable version of Ellie (Bella is a great actress and seems to be an amazing young person off screen, but they were not a good choice for this role, especiallythe grown up version of the character). I loved Ellie in the game, but her story felt overly pretentious compared to Abby’s, which was a rare bright spot in an otherwise overbearing narrative. The game and (now) the show could have benefited enormously from better story organization. Starting with showing the flashbacks of Ellie and Joels life leading up to Joel’s death that they show off and on throughout Ellie’s side kf the story, and showing Abby’s life in Seattle over the five years after her father's death would have given the audience a more balanced, emotional perspective. Interweaving both sides of the story from the beginning would have fostered understanding instead of ambushing players with rage-bait moments. That approach alienated many fans and gave fuel to culture war grifters like Critical Drinke, The Quartering, and Nerdrotic. And here's an annoying little tidbit: In both the gameand show where Jesse shows up was presented in trailers bsck in the games release as Joel showing up to help Ellie in whatever adventure she was getting into. The marketing made it seem like Joel would be a significant supporting character, not someone who dies an hour and a half into the game. It felt like a bait-and-switch—and that kind of storytelling dishonesty is a big part of why I was so pissed about Joel's death, im not one of the people moaning about it being unjustified outside of the fact we didnt find out why until the 60% mark of the games story when you start playing Abby and see her flashbacks.

PurportedGrey

And that would be considered fan fiction. Saying that someone who achieved only a BA in biology when the world ended and therefore can't achieve any advancement in knowledge and expertise in 20 years with a likely single focus on a cure or vaccine is so dumb to me. The creator of the story said it would have worked.

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Emily Rose

The contrast between Alanna Ubach’s character in this and in the Ted series (highly recommend btw) is hilarious

PhatBoySteven

I'm confused on how you come to the conclusion that we are competing to be right? There is no prize for anyone here if they are right. Nobody here is "competing" and this isn't a competition. We have been very consistent with with delivering our thoughts right or wrong.

Badd Medicine

A suggestion for the guys: Asking questions, e.g. “are we losing Dina?” Is much more fun than repeating declarative statements, e.g. “we’re losing Dina. We’re definitely losing Dina.” Declarative statements are often wrong, and said only because the guys are competing with each other to be right, and in my opinion, can kind of interfere with enjoying the reaction, at least for me.

Maisie

I'm so satisfied with that episode, iconic scene with Nora! I remember the thrill I had in the game when I was chasing her down (that game turns you into a psycho ahaha) and Mason Quinn, I saw your anxiety for Dina skyrocketing :D

Rena Unnie

Thats what I’m thinking season 3 is going to be mostly Abby

Anthony Velasquez

I think S2 will end exactly at the game midpoint and S3 will be second half of the game 😎 epic and brutal 💯

Lock_Down

Interesting... I'll have to look at what happened with that

Badd Medicine

what happened at teh beginning, no intro !!?? "Somebody call the doctor , the Badd Medicine is back " miss it :P

Lock_Down