What an episode. My favorite so far. Pascal's acting during the scene where he's talking to his brother is the best acting I've ever seen from him. Just so good. So many good one liners in this one.
I’m getting big Dina vibes from that one girl creeping on them while they were eating in the lounge area
So is next week a flashback episode? Man after that ending…. Fantastic episode though. Pedro Pascal was so heartbreaking in that scene with Tommy, “I’m failing in my sleep” destroyed me.
Umm... okay so my official first complaint about this show. I thought the last 15 minutes after they left the settlement almost felt like it should have been the start of another episode. The university stuff felt waaaaay rushed compared to how vital that segment is to the game, like they were almost trying to breeze past it to get to the next part. Not a major complaint but I think this is the first time the show has kind of failed to hit the mark emotionally like the game did, I imagine non-game players may almost have whiplash from that last act. I do think it's cool how they put so many elements from the second game into it though, that was a pleasant surprise
Loved the episode. I had no issues with how they handled the university stuff as someone who hasn’t played the game. Joel and Tommy reunited and Joel and Tommy in the shed were both so perfect. I wasn’t crying you were.
Anyways can't believe I got fooled into watching what is essentially just a long commercial for the Diva Cup
Yeah I can agree. All of the Jackson stuff was fantastic but the university was a little flat. BUT I can see why they condensed it, the game section is pretty much all infected and hunter encounters, not really much story at all. They definitely wanted to focus on The Left Behind material and then the winter section from the game, which I think will be the wise choice.
Yeah I’m cool with them shortening the university act. I feel like a lot of that act in the game was mostly just looting/shooting and didn’t contribute THAT much to the plot aside from realizing they missed the fireflies and have to go to SLC.
Non-game players: The first 20 minutes or so were pretty much entirely original to the show. The Native couple, the "river of death", the bonfire scene. All of it was perfect though, super in-line with Joel and Ellie in this part of the game. Once we hit the settlement is when it gets interesting, because a lot of that was actually taken from the second game. Joel and Ellie finding that dam was definitely an homage for game players, because in the game that's where they find Tommy and Maria and their crew. It's a MUCH smaller amount of people and they have taken refuge in a dam, creating their settlement there. It's not until TLOU2 where they settle in Jackson with a full on bustling town with movies and children. I actually thought that was a pretty cool change, and might make more sense when transitioning into S2. A lot of the events that happened in the settlement though are still the same as what happens at the dam, with Joel and Tommy going off on their own and Ellie and Maria bonding a little. I actually don't remember how Ellie finds out about Sarah in the game but I don't think it was like that? Someone correct me if I'm wrong though In the game, the conversation between Ellie and Joel is almost verbatim how it was in the show, but there's a bit more to it. Ellie overhears that Joel plans on leaving her with Tommy, and she actually steals a horse and runs away. Joel and Tommy go to find her and eventually track her to a random house, where they have to fight off hunters and save her. Their big fight happens in this house instead. The show dove a lot more into Joel's fears about losing her which I thought was really well done, Pascal was amazing there. Eventually they do go to the university together and like I said above, this segment is a LOOOT more substantial in the game. It's actually one of the most memorable parts of the game for me which is why I was a little iffy on how quickly it went by in this episode. The dialogue with Joel telling Ellie he wanted to be a singer and teaching her the rules of America football was also basically ripped right from the game, and they do come across some loose monkeys, but there are also segments with infected that you have to get through as you search the increasingly evidently empty campus for the Fireflies. Finally, the hunters do show up and you have to fight some, and eventually one gets to Joel and he's knocked out of a window and his side is impaled by a metal pipe. Ellie gets him on a horse and they escape, and like in the show he loses consciousness while on the horse and passes out. So pretty good mix of original, game and even second game material in here. Also, I did not play the DLC that the next episode appears to be adapting so somebody else might have to take this over from me next week haha
So I guess I should have known it since there’s still 3 episodes left but I def did not expect to be in and out of Tommy’s place in one episode. I think I thought the rest of the story would take place in this general area, so ooops. Really good episode, loved the bonding of Joel and Ellie. Loved the cool little town. Not entirely sure where it’s supposed to be because Jackson Wyoming the town is pretty big and that looked a bit smaller. lmao at Tommy realizing they’re communists now. And also lol at Joel trying to explain the differences.
Re: next week’s preview - Bella Ramsey must be short as hell because Storm Reid looks like a giant next to her lol