botrytis

I cannot fathom how hard could it be to go right with this finale? Here are the cons that should be pointed out right away:

Cons:

• In the game it was clear, that the surgery is imminent and Ellie is already on preparation for it. What that triggers in Joel (and in us players), who don't want to lose another daughter? We rush through the gunmen as fast as we can, making sure everything is clear in order to get to Ellie as soon as possible and get out of the building. Of course that's the reaction, that's human, that's fatherly, that's as natural and intuitive as it can get in that situation, for Joel. Yet, here, Joel, reacts in some robotic way, totally hesitant about the whole massacre, no matter, they can wait in the surgery room, sure.

• Even the game couldn't emphasize on how important the cure is to make it, and to distribute it to the mass survivors, nor could illustrate how much need is there for it, because the people seemingly could adapt to the post-apocalyptic world in a way humanity could survive for a long time if it wanted, no matter the zombies and mushrooms. But here, in the show, they couldn't illustrate nor that nor how dangerous the world is, that the cure was indeed the key for survival, and to solve everything in this post-apocalyptic world, because the main enemy and danger for humanity is human nature itself. There was no clear outline of the world where this whole story plays in, it wasn't specific about its danger and issues.

• In game, you could find many recordings about the tests they were doing for vaccines, that it was close to impossible to find any, and there was little chance to do anyways. Hence, that Ellie's sacrifice could lead any solution for salvation is very thin. Now compare this to the Joel's point of view, his pain, and the fear of losing somebody, but overall, this was all left to the players to decide in a really balanced argument where both sides had their reasonable reasons. Yet, even in The Last of Us Part II the whole narrative somehow wants to lead to the conclusion that the whole sorrow and wrongdoings against the people of this post-apocalyptic world is Joel's fault. No, not at all. But here in the show they really want to serve this narrative.

• What happened to the whole "Joel's panic attack"? I thought they wanted to make the finale dramatic with this new element, as Joel couldn't find any solution to save Ellie as rush to the surgery room no matter what gets in his way. I guess we could forget about that then, and make it as empty and un-dramatic as it can get on screen. Barely any emotional weight in those gunfights between Joel and EVERYONE.

• The episodes within this season were all over the place. It had no flow, some pointless stories/episodes here and there, sometimes we were getting the right narrative associated with Joel and Ellie, but most parts it was all fillers and derailed storytelling that weren't leading to anything. I have already mentioned in early episodes that telling all different stories instead of the main one leads to weightless attachments to the characters and whatever happenings occur to them. And, just as I predicted, the ending didn't have the same powerful shocking value the game had. The whole show was rushed, secondary characters and storylines got way more screen time than they should had, and main ones got way less than they deserved. Again, familiar dialogues are shot, told in a fast paced movie fashion, little time is left to drama and processing tragedies, emotional momentums, because "the next scene is right here at the corner, we gotta move fast!"

Pros:

• Overall visually pleasing, good lighting, where the game waves back from the screen it works, and that is true to the soundtrack as well.

• Still a better episode than most were in the season.

Overall: It was an overhyped season, with mush less to offer than the original. All the global schmoozle towards this production on the media/internet is shocking and displays the poor quality of taste people have and the censorship against people having any honest, negative opinions about it also shows the real enemy within these people. I'm only wishing you good luck wising up and getting over yourselves.

P. S.: Not the best adaptation to a game.

I had the liberty to watch the gameplay walktrough again, to remember all the quality this franchise has, and gotta say that the show is way watered down to almost close blatancy compared to the original. Especially with this latest episode, seeing all the resemblance these two media product have, the series feel like rushing through all the checkpoints just to resonate with the fans, and to show a cheapened version of the original to the newcomers and alike. Emotional scenes and connections between Joel and Ellie seem to have almost zero weight, 'coz the cold, distant Joel has to bring down his walls covering his vulnerable self in order to bridge any emotional connection to Ellie and continue the whole story with some dramatic value, but many of the moments here in this episode felt really unearned and cheap, like throwing bones to the dog saying "Here, see? There you have it, the connection, the drama... satisfied? Now move along"... There is not much episode to be left to say this gripping, heartbreaking story, but that doesn't mean you gotta sprint through it.

And this brings us to the obvious issue people were complaining about for a week now: Was it really necessary to sacrifice a whole, and much longer episode to Bill and Frank, that, at the end, brought us only one conclusion that could have been told even in few minutes: Defend your loved ones? Was it dear Naughty Dog? Was it, dear HBO? Seriously?

It is a shame, because the pilot was really top-notch entry, that not only nod to the original, but also brought fresh take to the whole narrative, that was pleasing even for fans, with its cinema quality lighting and visuals, acting, and overall storytelling. But it was also evident that a story centric game like The Last of Us had already solid written narrative that wasn't a huge challenge to bring it on screen as you had most of it already done in cinematics and in a realistic, flesh and blood gameplay in third person view... you just really had to get it on motion picture with minimum challenges of adapting if we are talking about storytelling and the way it is delivered.

And yet, they still managed to get almost totally derailed from the main focus throughout these latest two episodes. How hard can it be? A Warcraft movie could do it better with its 2 hours of runtime and had been executed vastly better. And yet they call this close-dumpster "The best adaptation to a game"... give me a break you streaming platform addicted uncultivated barbarians, you don't even know what you are talking about.

It is apparent for me now, that this show may have much less to offer than the game itself could do back in the days and still does today and less than a quality HBO show that takes its time to be developed and well made. But I guess that is the difference between a game that runs its story via much longer runtime and a TV show, where you are way more limited to different moviemaking problematics with so much effort put in that ends with way lesser quality payoff it originally should had led to. I mean, the acting even was not on par with previous episodes... who the hell plays Kathleen? Holly molly, what a weak acting that is, embarrassing to watch...

Whatever, I'm still interested where it goes, but hell, the game is way more engaging and fleshed out.

It seems to me like you done fu***d it up dear HBO and Druckmann. But only "seems", yet.