There's a good chance that the first game (which was jobs for tons of people for years and provided all of the story and foundations and fan base for this series) cost less than a single episode of this show... that's pretty rough
I can't disagree more honestly. I just finished the show yesterday and all I could think was how much better written and acted Joel and Ellie were in the game that Pedro and Bella just felt like downgrades in every way.
@@guts2016 Bella definitely was a downgrade for me, the acting was fine but the line delivery was really off. Pedro I feel did a better job and I was fine with his performance and even caught myself not constantly comparing him to game Joel and just enjoying him, but still nothing will ever beat game Joel and Ellie, they were just perfect.
Always found the no gas mask thing funny. If any actor in the last few years has proven you can act well without seeing a face, it's Pedro Pascal. Fantastic review sir, thoroughly enjoyed it.
When did he prove that? Because his most prolific masked role is the Mandalorian, which is a terrible show where he spends the entire time phoning it in (literally, in some cases). You know you've done something wrong as an actor when your performance in WW84 was better than in the show that arguably got you famous. You can absolutely give great performances while masked. Pedro, in the Mandalorian, doesn't.
One thing I would like to add: The casting for Ellies Mom was simply phenomenal. When the episode opened, my boyfriend literally thought we were seeing a flash forward to an adult Ellie. Even I (having played the second game) was confused for a moment.
@@lanaakraye6741 I actually found this out like a day after watching this and leaving the comment! Makes it even more amazing that Bella actually looks so much like her!
@@Stargazer_sarahReally? She don't really look that much like Ashley, even less like Ellie in the game, to be honest I hated the casting choice when it was first revealed because she didn't look like Ellie at all but now I just kinda separate it and think of it as it's own thing I guess
@@kimberly6965 I'm just wrong? I swear this Bella fandom's so crazy that u can't go against it, I still stand with my opinion, I don't know how she looks anything like Ashley, besides the obvious differences like Ashley having blue eyes instead of brown and freckles, their face and features don't look the same
Dude, hearing people appreciating Lamar gives me life, I have been following this man since The Next Step which is a not so popular kids dance show (yes, he's a dancer, a phenomenal one btw) in which acting used to be pretty much terrible from majority of the cast thanks to it casting pure teens that never had a job about acting before in favor of having actual dancers, which is why not many actors from there get the chance to be recognized or given the chances to get better and being casted in more things, Lamar was always one of the best actors there and he got crazy better with the time, seeing him in other things like Full Out, more important projects with more recognized actors as in The Hate You Give and now having the big surprise about him getting in such popular show as The Last Of Us, a show from HBO, from this game specifically, in such important role along with Bella and Pedro, god, it was heaven. He'll definitely get more chances and will be more known for this, just as he deserves.
Holy shit dude. It’s so surreal and weird to hear people talking about the next step. I grew up watching that show and they filmed it downtown Toronto which is less than an hour away from where I live. The acting definitely wasn’t the best but I love that show lol.
Just finished the video, brought me to tears you guys did an amazing job on the video and it might not get the most views like a one piece video be proud of what you created truly reMARKable
I was wondering if in the show, since he left the two nurses alive, if those characters are Nora and Mel.. it would give a bit more credence to why they go with Abby to Jackson, but I wonder if they'll also have a conversation with Abby about how he just wanted Ellie and it wasn't personal blah blah blah.. anyways, I haven't seen anyone mention the nurses, just curious if you guys had thought about it, you too mr big filmmaker behind this masterpiece analysis.. @totally not mark
@@StayFractalesque 1. Nora and Mel could be present but they would be kids unless they change that for some reason, so I dont think they would be the nurses. 2. You dont have to kill the nurses in the game either. Just the main surgeon
Little nitpick that people always bring up that annoys me: In the game, Henry doesn’t blame Joel. He’s clearly talking to himself when he says “it’s your fault” since his first line after killing Sam is “Henry what have you done?” He’s having a mental break and conflicting with himself
Yeah, the game was phenomenal, and the show was okay... I just kept contrasting it in my mind. It didn't feel as phenomenal. I feel like Straley should've had input, he kept the first game grounded and ultimately led to it becoming a masterpiece. He was also the lead programmer on both TLOU, Left Behind, and Uncharted 4. I dunno, I think the show was decent by itself, but the story was told far better in the game. I think the overall issue is that the adaptation was unnecessary, I think they would've benefited from doing a reverse Telltale and told a whole new story set in the same world. I think it would've worked a lot better.
@@theperson8539 I agree it's not a 'weird' take but I do agree that the show is above decent. Agreed not phenomenal but more than just 'decent'. I love the game and agree there were a lot of points that might've worked better with the game director you mentioned having a hand in it, I do think the show works amazing as not only a adaptation but more importantly a show for new fans to get into the game with. I agree the game is in the top of Best video game stories of all time and also think the show is an amazing retelling of it that hopefully gets more people into playing the game.
This video is incredible. You know how to keep a 2 hour video really concise and relevant and your perspectives both as a fan of the games and a fan of the way television media is structured is really refreshing and informed👍
Maybe 'Left Behind' would have fit better when put in a more calm part of the main story, like an uneventful car ride or when camping in the forest. Seems like a disservice to the dlc-story being put at a point where the audience obviously wants to get back to the main events. Knowing about Riley earlier and then getting some scenes with Ellie scavenging the same mall while getting faint flashbacks could be used to great effect. That would also help keeping up the tension about Joel.
TLDR naw. Doing it the way they did adds needed tension reduction and explores characters at a moment your wanting more and goes from plot heavy movement to character depth building needed at that point not the end of a completed story (show wise) unlike the games. It’s common in all media to not always give audiences what they want right away to lull you into caring about something else and build anticipation. Give it to me now generation needs to let the authors cook more or get microwaved Al hype no substance meals. I disagree. People seem to be very into gratification these days leading to the give me what I want now type of storytelling while satisfying it’s akin to telling your cook to cook faster and they throw it in the microwave and slam it on your plate. Get to the hype get to the story mentality deals like the new entitled binge watcher creed. Writers implementing a lot of the ideas audiences want isn’t alway good. Audiences often don’t even know what they want. They claim no one wants a Barbie movie that’s complex then it does well. They claim no one wants condensed one piece than nonfans get into it. Putting the dlc where it was worked so well for me since I think it was where I chose to want to play it after I played the game (when it all released at once) of course people who waited would prefer it after the ending of the game or tv show. But that imo gives a even greater disservice as if it’s just what druckman said in the video. As if it’s unnecessary. It’s part of the story. People who think anything not bulldozing the plot along really should just watch tv in fast forward. ( current gen apparently skips scenes). The dlc inserted there is a great natural cool down. People are pre y that a second game exist and the main character isn’t gone. The game method just wouldn’t work. It’s a plot beat here to move things along but that’s ok. The flash back gives us time with the character and time away to yearn for the character. Plenty of series have the delay of gratification and are better for it. Goku on snake way. Near the end we don’t check in on him and get development of the fight. And vise verses right when things get intense. Cut always to luffy fights in one piece. Etc. it would be less pull to watch each week without delays in gratification. Sure it would make for hype viewing but you lose that “tune in next time” appeal. Introducing stuff the reader isn’t super into while their hyped for something resolving is a method writers use to keep attention and have you not notice you also wanna learn about another plot beat since before you know it your interested in the world.
I like how people just praise neil druckmann for everything but forget Bruce Straley also Co-directed the game as well and deserves just as much credit for his decisions in the games development as well.
It makes me so happy to see that some video games are getting proper movie and tv adaptations. I remember when all of them were terrible but we’ve got some really good ones now
Bro dropped a movie. Gonna have to see them by parts. Thanks for the episode time stamps! Edit: Watched it all in one go ☠. It was too good. Great review Mark!
One thing I loved about Joel is his protrayel in the show than to the games. One scene I always come back to in the show is where both Joel and Tommy have their brother talk and find a solution to Ellie's situation. In the game, Joel was more brooding and closed off, and the conversation was about to turn physical. However, in the show, we see a side of Joel that was refreshing, we see Joel racked with trauma and guilt from losing Sarah, and now he's finally letting go that 20 years of bottled up emotions and not wanting to fail Ellie has he did with Sarah even admitting that he's gotten old soft and slower due Ellie and begging Tommy finish it for him.
This first part and the second one make together one of the greatest and most challenging stories ever told in any medium. This review was very well done. Thank you so much, I enjoyed it a lot! The show was really, really good, and hopefully the next season will be even better.
getting to see modern video game adaptations' reception makes me hopeful we will see more of this kind of love and care poured into our favourite franchises
If there’s anything detracting from the TV series, I’d say it’s definitely the pacing. To put it into context, effectively only 5ish episodes of the entire show focus on Joel and Ellie’s relationship. You have to remove the pilot which sets everything up, the two backstory episodes, and the second episode since Tess is still acting as a buffer between them. While I wouldn’t say that it destroys the show, I will say that the harm is felt in both the narrative pacing and the pacing of their relationship. There’s a tangible jump from “you’re cargo” to “you’re my kid” that is hard to fully ignore because the actual core relationship is making up for time spent else where. Edit: also they did remove subtlety in a lot of places, at times it’s not much, others it feels way too on the nose.
Yeah, this show would have done well with a 12 episode treatment at the very least. 16 feels like it would just be dragging and would be biding time with more filler, but 12 would have been just right if the pace was slowed just a little bit to where we get more time to see the bond between Joel and Ellie be fleshed out more to where the audience can understand Joel’s outlook changing over time. The pace right now makes the fatherly role seem very quick despite the show making it obvious that there is a lot of time between events that has passed. It jumps from one major event to the next. Still a great show, nonetheless, but even just 3 more episodes would have helped the pacing tremendously while not changing too much (except the audience growing and understanding their bond a lot better).
Regarding the sinkhole, Henry said the infected in KC were all pushed into underground tunnels that run throughout the city; so while there was the sinkhole that Perry and Kathleen saw and sealed off, they lacked the foresight to realize there might be new weak spots just like it in other areas of the city. So the infected weren't just in that one building but were traveling to other places underground to try to escape, likely following the sound of the humans above them until the fire caused the explosion and the ground caved in. So to me, the horde makes perfect sense bc of how they explained the situation and characterized Kathleen's downfall to be negligence due to blind anger. I don't think it would've made sense for Kathleen to carelessly alert the infected so obviously w/ tendrils bc she's not characterized to be dumb, or else no one would've agreed to follow her. She just placed her revenge above dealing with valid safety concerns by covering them up or prematurely eliminating ppl (the doctor) instead of bringing them to the attention of the public. And besides, there weren't any tendrils present above the ground for it to even happen, as the tendrils were only present in ep2 bc the infected were all above ground. But they're definitely going to utilize the hive-mind in S2 at some point, too.
Yeah some of his takes seem to be from research as I’ve heard some of the themes he explored from other RUclipsrs earlier. Lots of hot takes you gotta remember people spout out plot hole and contrivance as it seems smart or shows you noticed something but a lot of the time it makes sense in the story and the story just showed it without expressly stating it. The explosion would have hit the vines anyway so his point is moot. He just didn’t like the Hollywood like action beat and it’s understandable. The show till that point seemed more I don’t know eehhh or up and sophisticated and different then your average zombie show so the slow methodical feel lulls you into thinking it’s super mature and won’t do crazy action. That’s my guess. Though the airplane explosion says different so i think we forget with all the deep symbolism and character stuff you still gotta entertain a normie like me lol. Last of us is still silly and over the top at times.
I really enjoyed the show as a whole, though a few issues with it left me at a point where I think the game still stands strong on its own with its own strengths. You touched on some of these topics -- largely dealing with the reduced amount of infected in the back half of their travels, which in turn made their relationship growth feel less earned -- but I do also have one issue with episode 6 that I'm a bit surprised doesn't seem to bother others much. The scene with the big argument between Joel and Elly at the house, that is likewise my favorite scene in the game. For me, though, that scene isn't just the argument -- it extends through the horse ride back to the cliff overlooking Jackson, and I just don't think the argument works as well without that. During that ride back to Jackson, you can see the growing sense of shame and regret on Joel's face because he's watching Ellie feel completely dejected during the ride. The pause as they look over Jackson followed by "Go on, Ellie, give Tommy back that horse" and the delivery of that line, along with the initial surprise from Ellie, is what solidified that as my favorite part of the game. I understand some of the gains you get by giving Ellie some agency in the show version of the scene, with Joel offering her a choice to make, but the impactful moment for this point of the story was supposed to be Joel finally making his choice to move ahead, and the show's cut to the next morning just didn't do that moment justice, for me.
Mark… you occasionally drop a video that just knocks it outta the park! You’re such a gem on this platform.. This is like exurb1a doing multimedia analysis!
as always I love and appreciate your analysis. you take so much care with everything you say and go into so much wonderful extra detail it is always a joy to follow your thoughts. But, I have a but this time, I wonder why you felt the Ellie flashback was timed badly in the show, as I felt like it was put there PERFECTLY. As you established, the gameplay moments need to be filled by the show, and I think filling the "play as ellie" part of the game with the inclusion of the ellie flashback dlc was just perfection. Everything happening at present in the show could not have been filled with enough interesting situations, so filling this with her backstory during her time more or less on her own, putting us the viewer into her shoes, her maybe even remembering everything that happened during these moments with Riley and also having the same fear inside her losing someone precious AGAIN made so much sense to me.
Jesus Christ. The (I think Donkey Kong?) music playing while the doctors burned was truly something! xD I’ve loved listening to your analysis. My brother and I had never played the games, and we would spend hours after each episode on the phone talking about it. Although, I do have some unfortunate news for you. You owe me 11 elo rating, when you caused me to time out my chess game while I hurried and paused the video to avoid spoilers ;)
One thing I found interesting about the TV version is the ending. When Joe kill everyone in that hospital, he didn't flinch at all. That made me feel like he was going through the emotion when he lose Sarah and try to kill himself after, he made a choice there and commit to it. No matter how horrible it is.
Thank you for this review! I've been trying to sort out my thoughts on the series, and think about how exactly my bias of absolutely loving the game affected my opinion on the show. Your video here was pretty much the perfect balance of criticism and celebration to put my thoughts into words. Where other reviews seem like they either have to be 100% for or against the changes and decisions, you gave a very balanced take! Thank you!!!!!
Watching week to week was nearly draining on an emotional level. While overall I still prefer the game's presentation, I loved how the show runners depicted The Last of Us for wider audiences. My overall critiques of the series are nitpicks at best because they don't damage the story as a whole, which mostly just boils down to lack of infected after the bloater. Either way, still loved the show and shed a few tears at the end of almost every episode. Can't wait for a season 2, very curious if they are going to hop straight into how Part II was presented or if they are going to directly go chronologically in order rather than through flashbacks. Would be even more excited if Season 2 was completely fresh material to bridge the gap between Part I and Part II and slowly introduce us to characters from Part II, giving Season 3 all the room to work with in Part II's extensive story.
I get the definite sense that season 2 will be new original material + flashbacks from Part II, and Season 3 will be Part II. Bella Ramsey was around 17 when season 1 was filmed and looked very convincingly 14. She's not going to have aged enough to play a 19-year-old Ellie for Part II's events for a few years. It'd make sense to do stuff with a 16-17 year old Ellie first. Plus....I really don't think HBO will be good with killing off the hottest actor on the planet right now to open season 2. They'll wait.
Episode 3 was my favourite, I can't believe people are calling it "filler". What happens EVERY TIME there's a post-apoc show? People want to see more context of the initial stages of the outbreak, how people survive. This episode gives us exactly that! Not only that - but as any survival gamer will appreciate - there's a base-building sequence! But that's all beside the point. The character story being told in this episode is a rich and moving way to show exactly what this long-term survival looks like. Also, the insight into Joel's past is interesting. I'm not as articulate as Mark, so I'm not gonna gush about all the things I loved about this episode. Mark says it well enough in the video. Oh but because it's two men kissing on screen I guess people couldn't see past that.
@@spencermadison It did though. It got them a car, Eli a gun, and other resources. It also gave you the relationship between 4 characters. People call it filler because they're negative. Progress isn't always forward.
I've really only heard of it being 'filler' after the series was nearing it's end. Looking back, it does make you wonder if the episode could have used that time for something else. However, the issue isn't the episode, it was great, it was the series pacing near the end. We either needed more episodes (preferably) or combine a few episodes, because there was a whole lot of concepts that could have really used some fleshing out.
I loved episode 3 and Left Behind, but I felt like they took away too much time from the rest of the show considering how short the season was, the show needed a couple more episodes to let things breathe imo. Also putting it at episode 3 felt like a strange choice pacing wise. I'd have either given one episode of just Joel and Ellie first, or have it integrated with their story more like having Joel and Ellie spend some time with Bill who sends them on their way before doing what they do.
I prefer Joel stopping her from slashing a corpse to what the show did. The fire in the Background is just an epic scene The future days song literally makes me tear up every single time the first line gets sung in the Game.
I think Joel was softer in the HBO series(so part 1 from game) because they want to have a fluent transition to the second season(which will probably be the material of part 2)with his character.In the first game he was constantly on guard and didn't trust any strangers(except for Henry and Sam).So it was weird that Joel suddenly lost his survival skills at the most crucial moment in the second game(The Death scene from him).So him being that naively kind of guy out of nowhere didn't make sense in the second game. Therefore I think the first season did a great job foreshadowing that he can occasionally be off guard which makes his death a bit more believable and convincing later in season 2.At least I hope so...😬
@Tristan 42 Yeah that's true as well. Joel was also really relaxed if you watch his body language.Some people say he got soft in the four year time skip but unfortunately that's not how storytelling works.There had to be some foreshadowing that he lost his survival instinct which wasn't the case.
@@OZ05 "that's not how storytelling works", I'm not a professionel, but keeping the reason of the change for later flashback can be efficient. Some story don't even bother to explain, for exemple in One piece, after the 2 years, the characters have changed, and for most of them it isn't explained, people don't seems bothered by it.
@@Bronte4281for some reason one piece gets a pass with everything. Naruto is bad cause hard work was supposed to be the theme for the entire series (sarcasm) not just a story arc then people get mad about him getting powers but luffy does it and it’s masterful foreshadowing. Both imo are fine just hate the response that one is bad other good writing when both are similar.
@@Bronte4281I never get how the Joel scene was such a gotta. Like as if Joel was perfect in game 1. He lossened up in old age. Expected without having to tell me or show me a long flash back. Besides that they do show you flash backs showing he got more relaxed and happy.
The ending for the first Last Of Us is probably my favourite ending to any story i've ever seen. The first the credit rolled after finishing the game left thinking about it for weeks unable to process it fully.
TLOU has a great ambiguous ending, that being said TLOU2 immediately annoyed me because its entire premise is built around Joel's actions in the first game being morally indefensible. I feel like theres gonna be some massive rewrites for the second season of the show to make the story more palatable to a tv audience.
My literature professor always said "a bad adaption can be a good piece of content". Though I've never played the game, I wish people would realise that things aren't so black and white. The tv show isn't just an adaptation, it's an intro to the game and opened a lot of people up to trying it out.
I really liked the show. It was a solid 8 for me and idk I think they could have squeezed the school and town stuff if they had more episodes. Also that would have definitely helped with the last episode. Which felt super rushed and not fulfilling like the ending of the game. I hope they let part 2 breathe more than this. As well as I did miss seeing Ellie growing and becoming more capable of taking care of herself and others because it’s gonna be a huge jump to make her all badass and a force of destruction in part 2 like the game
I can listen to you discuss and break down damn near any story. I love the anime reviews but I’d also love to see more media (that your interested in) in the live action area of entertainment. Thank you again for all the great reviews and I look forward to more Dragon Ball Z reviews and more anything as long as it’s you and your team creating these videos for Totally Not Mark
SO EXCITED. You're my favorite RUclipsr and the last of us is my favorite game. Loved the show though I had some slight critiques. Haven't even started watching this video yet but absolutely will be after work. Can't wait to hear your thoughts
Amazing deep dive. About those scenes on the second game, I have the same concerns, but seeing how beautifully Craig and Neil are handling the rewriting, I'm pretty confident they'll do a great job.
As someone who didn't play the game, the series thought it was ok. I'm not so capable of horror and was afraid that I would scare me too much. I only found episode 1 really scary. Sometimes I found the handling of the infected consistent. Did they die after a few days or do they live forever (In the sealed sewers) ? And what about the monster zombies from the episode with the brothers. Why weren't they persecuted? Also, I find the "solution" simply cropping Ellie's head, for a miracle cure. So sure, you need it for the climax. But I didn't find it really logical. Because when Ellie is dead, hope is dead. Ellie alive hope still exists.
Yeah they rushed a lot of things in the show. Even if everything doesn’t get answered in the game, everything makes a lot more sense and doesn’t feel confusing. The game overall did it a whole lot better
first of all, i think you made a number of typos in your comments which are confusing and everything you're talking about is sufficiently answered in the show. 1. As Joel said in episode 2, most Infected die within a month or two. Those who live on begin to transform. Runners are the most common (the ones you saw in Ep1, for ex), then the stalkers (the one that kissed tess), then the clickers (the mushroom head ones), and bloaters are the RAREST. That's why we only see one of those. 2. They explain the reason for Ellie's immunity & the reason as to why they need to cut her head open well: the cordyceps grows all over + inside the brain. It is completely tangled in there. And they did run some tests on her, that's how they came to the conclusion they did. They plan on extracting a sample from her brain (and since it is entangled, the procedure will kill her), isolating the chemical messenger that essentially neutralizes the cordyceps growth, then recreate & multiply it in lab conditions. Simple as that. The doctors believe that this is the way to go about making a vaccine. And they weren't just sitting on their hands for the last 20 years. The lab in episode 6 makes it pretty clear that they've been researching for a long time. Ellie's immunity was the missing piece of the puzzle and now they have it. And I think your "Ellie is dead, hope is dead" thing is a bit strange lol. For Joel, sure. But her death would've yielded a vaccine that could've been used to save countless lives. And I am not on the Fireflies' side, btw. I ultimately side with Joel. I am just not in denial about what he did.
@@SidPhoenix2211 I'm sorry that my typos confuse you. What I mean by Ellie dead, hope dead, what if that doesn't work. They cut open her skull, they get her brain out and yet you can't make a vaccine / cure out of it. If that's not the solution. I'm sorry that my typos confuse you. What I mean by Ellie dead, hope dead, what if that doesn't work. They cut open her skull, they get her brain out and yet you can't make a vaccine / cure out of it. The doctors can't know that this is exactly the solution, the doctors only know that after the brain is out. If that's not the solution? I don't mean that in the sense of the game context but in the medical context. I've seen some videos of doctors who also said that blood plasma would be more suitable for a cure. To the point of how long the zombies survive, I referred to the episode with the brothers. It said that the tunnels under the city had been closed for months (maybe it was years) and yet they survived. Even if this can be explained by the threads / roots. I'm sorry I obviously didn't understand this right away. 🤷🏻♀️
@@SidPhoenix2211 Her death *might* have yielded a vaccine. I'm not aware of any vaccine that was effective in it's first iteration. Is there enough material in her head to give them sufficient attempts at creating an effective vaccine? These are questions that need to be discussed openly and honestly with both underage patient and guardian. Of course no discussion was had, and despite what this youtuber inexplicably seems to think is the take way, Joel taking away Ellie's agency in deciding what to do, Ellie was never given a choice. The Fireflys took her agency, not Joel. Also, you probably haven't lived abroad for any amount of time. The person you're responding to has classic marks of a non-native speaker.
I never played the game, but I was aware of it and it`s story. At the time though, it just didn't seem like it would be my cup of tea. (Zombies and horror are typically not things I enjoy) That is probably why it took me so long to finally watch the series. But man, was I blown away! I watched the entire thing in 2 days and loved every second of it. That's why I was so curious what someone like you, who actually played the games and knew the story beforehand would think about it. It was a really cool video and I found the comparisons quite enlightening. I am aware, that I'm very much late to the party here (your video came out about 9 months ago), but I still would like to thank you for making it. You did a really great job. (And sorry for any grammar and spelling errors, I'm german and while I do understand English very well, that unfortunately doesn't quite translate to writing...)
Absolutely stellar and amazing review and analysis like always Mark ❤️ Off-topic though, can you please add the last 2 One Piece Wano review videos to the One Piece review playlist please?
I really enjoyed hearing your analysis! I appreciated you noticing Ellie's vs Sarah's reaction to Joel's brutality, as that was something I picked up as well. And 1000x yes! on how Bill and Franks episode mirror's Ellie and Joel's journey. I too get frustrated when people didn't see the point. For new people, I suppose I can understand, but at the very least, Bill and Frank show what's worth fighting for in this dismal world. As for Ellie's reaction to Joel's conversation with Tommy, I always assumed she only cause Joel's "you have to take her" got mad and ran off, and therefore completely missed Joel's emotional breakdown.
1:15:45 Henry literally says "Henry, what did you do?" in the game. He's blaming himself from the very beginning, the fact that he's pointing at Joel should be seen as him not wanting Joel to stop him from, you know, shooting himself.
Excellent review as always, TNM. I can't wait for your FMA review since it's tied with One Piece as my all-time favorite! I just wish I could interact with TLoU universe man. I sincerely respect the story and characters and the world they've built, but I've been terrified of zombies since the demo of OG Resident Evil 2 scarred me as a child, lol. Since that day, zombies, in whatever form they come in, have been at the tip top of my list of fears. I can watch reviews like this, and I've watched my friends play zombie games, but actually interacting with the stuff myself? Can't even bring myself to do it.
Absolutely amazing work, the sheer enthusiasm coming across from you and the way you highlight aspects, I for one, have not considered in as much detail as you describe them in. Simply amazing. Exactly for that reason I wanted to ask if there is a possibility of you ever doing something similar for the second game, because, whilst it manages to capture me in the flashbacks, just as you allude to here, I really struggled with other aspects in the story and the gameplay. I maybe on some level hope seeing you break it down and either agreeing or disagreeing with my thoughts could elevate my experience the same way your videos on other things did for me. Cheers and take care.
Ngl every episode has something that makes me want to say it's the best episode of the season. It's so very well put together. Talking of put together, this video is amazing!
While I agree that a good portion of the changes made for the show were good calls, some, I feel still didn't make much sense to change/remove. The spores, primarily was one. And while, true, the way they function in the game is not how the function in the real-world, they offer an element of tension (and in the sequel) a way to create drama. Spores in The Last of Us created a more subtle form of tension, as you'll be in an area that is relatively "safe", but then you drop down a floor and suddenly your pace is changed from one of caution, to a sense of danger. And while you can't emote as effectively as you could while wearing a mask, a great actor can emote plenty through body-language. (I mean, Pedro Pascual wears a mask 90% of the time in The Mandalorian, right?) TBH, I do like the addition of the fungal "network". I just don't see a reason to remove the spores element, as it was so tightly ingrained into the games' gameplay as well as story.
I had serious issues with the game (which is one of my absolute favourites) when I was first introduced to spores - and the characters put on their gas masks. This is so dumb for so many reasons that I am really glad that the show changed it.
It also helped with making the world feel desperate, because even if all the infected were to die, the spores could just start it all over again. The show could have had something else stand in for this, but it just didn't. The world didn't really feel doomed, it felt like it had just had the restart button hit, which is fine for the most part. It does take away from Joel's choice at the end though.
@@rgw7345 The series should have had at least one more encounter with infected (preferably near the the start of the last episode) to get the feel of danger back. But spores are a terrible idea because there would be no protection (no, a gas mask doesn't help in the long run) and all humans would have likely died already. That you think that the world didn't feel doomed has much to do with the more realistic approach of the show: Most of the infected in the series are found near the big cities which makes sense if you consider that the fungus dislikes sunlight and wants to spread further using human hosts. Why should it stay in the wilderness where next to no humans cross? Considering how dangerous the infected are portrayed in the show (any encounter with them usually ends with dead or infected people) the world is doomed even with the ones we have seen. So perhaps it would have also worked to show Boston three months later - because I don't think that there are any humans left after the infected broke out.
@@f.carasind4188 Spores aren't really that bad of a concept and are ironically why human cordyceps would be so awful and how TLOU would just be a greener version of the road with no 20 year time skip possible if it was 100% realistic. But yeah, gasmasks wouldn't actually do much, and it's fine to not have them in the show. However, like you said, they needed to be more of a threat, even if it was just one more interaction. I will say though, that the fungus, once it runs out of new hosts, would start wandering away from cities. I mean, a modern city 20 years after the apocalypse is just twisted rotten metal, they would need to find new population centers.
the show is amazing, though there were some scenes I felt the game did better the show had plenty that did better too, and it was nice that the original voices got to come back in some shape (and get killed off XD) I am curious what Season 2 will bring, I kinda hope they don't jump straight into Part 2's plot, maybe instead utilise the flashbacks of that game and fill the gaps in between the timeskip, but we'll have to see. Everyone brought their A Game so it didn't disappoint at all
Maybe it's just the pacing issues and subtle changes in scenes that seem to be pushing a certain perspective, but this show really petered out for me by the end. The two romance episodes, while maybe fine in isolation, only ended up annoying me in retrospect because of how much time was wasted on them compared to other more directly impactful plot points that felt rushed or undercooked by comparison. Hard to explain exactly, but past episode 5 or so I just wasn't looking forward the episodes as much. Not horrible, but feels like a fumble of something that could have been great. Actors were fine for the most part. Wasn't sold on Ellie at first, but she grew on me. Won't be checking in for season 2 though... If they diminished the first game with its solid story, it's hard to see them improving part 2 with its infamous reputation.
Season 2 is supposedly going to be more Ellie and Joel in between what happened at the end of 1 and start of 2, possibly ending with the infamous scene that got a lot of people angry lol. I feel you on the dialog though. I only got to episode 4 then tapped out because it just didn't feel like I was watching people in a messed up world and felt like I was watching actors reading lines to each other to match the words of the game characters, but not the tone. I know it's not Bella or Pedro since if they took those moments out of them copying the game, it would have been pretty damn good. Also, I loved episode 3, but now I'm curious who the 2nd romance episode involved, which I'm guessing Tommy and his wife?
Thank you for your comments on the bill and Frank story. I thought your points and perspective on why the creators chose to tell the story like that was exactly right. Man they took it a whole new level and touched so many people’s hearts. Happy almost pride y’all :)
After watching the video I must say I like the video essay for the most part. The insight you provided was interesting. That said, I think you were a bit harsh on the fact, that some fans didn't liked/ hated the third episode. Everything you said was right, the writer knew most likely what impact this episode would have, because of the change of focus, lack of action. The thing is, not everyone shares the same perspective than you, not everybody have the same perspective or preferences than you. I think it's ok that they, didn't liked the episode, even if their critic wasn't constructive.
One of the things that stood out to me was this quote from The Making of Episode 9: ""What if it’s between saving all of humanity or this one girl? It’s the easiest choice he’s ever made in his life.”
After a Long and HARD working day, there is nothign better than to press F5 and get a 2 1/2h TNM video to smoke your blunt, and fall asleep and reflect. Hope all yall doing well and I hope something great happends to you today.
It honestly makes me so happy seeing you review the Last of Us! I wasn't surprised when you said it was your favorite game ever too! I'd love to see you review other shows and even other narratively-driven games too
As a newcomer, I tried to watch this in a way I thought you would considering I've never played the game and therefore not knowing what differences to look for and just enjoying the story. So I definitely felt proud of myself when you mentioned some things I did like the (admittedly obvious) usage of light in the second episode or Joel's specific choice of words at the end of the eighth.
At episode 5: even in the game Henry blamed himself. but at first glance, it did look like he was blaming Joel. i think this moment also implied Joels suicide attempt too.
Aw man, this was worth every dang second of my time! Also... 2:19:54 is just priceless 😂 Always such wholeheartetly insightful and valuable commentary!
it was ok, i mean now that the heat has died down i can see what the game was going for without the bias of the hate it got which was heavy when it came out, but they executed it horrendously. Gameplay carried the second game in my honest opinion.
Watched til the episode 7 section before realizing that I should deffo experience the pain of the last three episodes first hand. I will be back after my viewing
I DO stop the game to play Left Behind midstory after joel falls of the horse, and it's a way better experience. I was glad to find out that the show was doing the same thing.
Neil Druckmann made this series into the game he invisioned in 2013, not the one he produced with Bruce Straley in his ear, that’s why Ellie dominates Joel during their dialogue , there’s no strong male characters besides bill, and they go off the game’s world renowned story to shove in deaf people, a pregnant lady in labour strong enough to kill an infected and oversexualised scenes with a gay couple and constantly referring to the 14 year old main characters’ period.
Episode 3 was my favorite because it was a microcosm of the themes the show is centered on and elavates everything to follow for having that context in the back of your head. it's insane that they explore Joel's character without him even being on screen for the majority of the episode!!!!!
Yes exactly! When playing you are just trying to help these characters out. You are not pretending to be them. When they die, I genuinely felt like I’d let them down. It massively engages you in the story. Especially when the story is completely taken away from you. You can’t help so you sympathise. That hurts almost like you feel the same loss.
I feel like not having enough of Infected chase/fight scene is kinda ruined the whole journey for Ellie & Joel....when Joel said that Elli fight like hell to go to firefly's place, that's actually make sense in the game because both of them really fought like hell....running from a swarming infected, fighting multiple bloaters, fighting way more hunters etc. While in the show both of them didn't had a sense of struggle as much as the video games
I've never been a fan of this as Zombies aren't my forte. But I will always appreciate this show and video game for delving into all these important themes and delivering them in a compelling story.
this is one of your best reviews, and i've watched all the anime ones since 2019. i've never been more engrossed with your writing if im honest. literally amazing stuff here.
The sink hole essentially set up the set peice at the end of that episode tho.. i felt that worked fine .made sense.. not just the scene wer we first seen the sink hole but all the dialogue coming from henry speaking about fedra driving them under..but also sure they wer dead and then the lack of infected when the group wer at ishs place... The truck opening up a new sink hole was imo pretty genius... It was always implied
I have never played or even seen the Left Behind DLC before and I can't relate more about how the placement of it in this show kinda detracted from one of my favorite parts of the original game. I was kinda taken aback with how little impact Joel's injury had in the show when in the original game it was so shocking I think about that scene all that time 10 years later.
Hope you enjoy this video! Next up, Fullmetal Alchemist!
Yess, so excited for it!
Are you going to bring back bleach when the anime finishes
YES! One of my favorites personally 👍
While I enjoy FullMetal Alchemist, I am really just eagerly awaiting the DBZ series review
Fullmetal Alchemist
Mark, just FYI, the budget was not 150 billion... that would be insane, it was 15 million per episode, so 150 MILLION.
There's a good chance that the first game (which was jobs for tons of people for years and provided all of the story and foundations and fan base for this series) cost less than a single episode of this show... that's pretty rough
@@lumeronswift
Yep game devs get paid and overworked like sweat shops. Similar to visual effects people
Damn. Thank you, Mark. For giving this story a well-deserved treatment of a movie-length review. I'll definitely enjoy my time watching this
Pedro Pascal absolutely killed this role. He added so much to the character with his acting, his facial expressions are always on point.
But how well will he get along with his future castmate N. Iron? ;)
@@Drums_of_Liberation facts
Wait til you play the game.
I can't disagree more honestly. I just finished the show yesterday and all I could think was how much better written and acted Joel and Ellie were in the game that Pedro and Bella just felt like downgrades in every way.
@@guts2016 Bella definitely was a downgrade for me, the acting was fine but the line delivery was really off. Pedro I feel did a better job and I was fine with his performance and even caught myself not constantly comparing him to game Joel and just enjoying him, but still nothing will ever beat game Joel and Ellie, they were just perfect.
Always found the no gas mask thing funny. If any actor in the last few years has proven you can act well without seeing a face, it's Pedro Pascal.
Fantastic review sir, thoroughly enjoyed it.
I mean he does VO for most of Din and aside from a few specific scenes it's not him under the armor but I do mostly agree with what you said
When did he prove that? Because his most prolific masked role is the Mandalorian, which is a terrible show where he spends the entire time phoning it in (literally, in some cases). You know you've done something wrong as an actor when your performance in WW84 was better than in the show that arguably got you famous.
You can absolutely give great performances while masked. Pedro, in the Mandalorian, doesn't.
@@Venez-tr8th Every season has been garbage, and Pedro was never anything other than incredibly stilted and monotone. It's clear he hates the role.
Great to see you expanding into different mediums Mark! I would love to see video game reviews or analyses from you cuz they're so well written.
One thing I would like to add: The casting for Ellies Mom was simply phenomenal. When the episode opened, my boyfriend literally thought we were seeing a flash forward to an adult Ellie. Even I (having played the second game) was confused for a moment.
Fun fact: The actress who played Ellie's mom is actually Game Ellie's voice actress, that's why your mind instantly associates her with our girl
@@lanaakraye6741 I actually found this out like a day after watching this and leaving the comment! Makes it even more amazing that Bella actually looks so much like her!
@@Stargazer_sarahReally? She don't really look that much like Ashley, even less like Ellie in the game, to be honest I hated the casting choice when it was first revealed because she didn't look like Ellie at all but now I just kinda separate it and think of it as it's own thing I guess
@@isatherebel1520 you can’t tell me Bella Ramsey doesn’t look like Ashley Johnson as Ellie’s mother.. you’re just wrong like it’s uncanny 😭
@@kimberly6965 I'm just wrong? I swear this Bella fandom's so crazy that u can't go against it, I still stand with my opinion, I don't know how she looks anything like Ashley, besides the obvious differences like Ashley having blue eyes instead of brown and freckles, their face and features don't look the same
Dude, hearing people appreciating Lamar gives me life, I have been following this man since The Next Step which is a not so popular kids dance show (yes, he's a dancer, a phenomenal one btw) in which acting used to be pretty much terrible from majority of the cast thanks to it casting pure teens that never had a job about acting before in favor of having actual dancers, which is why not many actors from there get the chance to be recognized or given the chances to get better and being casted in more things, Lamar was always one of the best actors there and he got crazy better with the time, seeing him in other things like Full Out, more important projects with more recognized actors as in The Hate You Give and now having the big surprise about him getting in such popular show as The Last Of Us, a show from HBO, from this game specifically, in such important role along with Bella and Pedro, god, it was heaven. He'll definitely get more chances and will be more known for this, just as he deserves.
Holy shit dude. It’s so surreal and weird to hear people talking about the next step. I grew up watching that show and they filmed it downtown Toronto which is less than an hour away from where I live. The acting definitely wasn’t the best but I love that show lol.
@@pithicusthen554 well, I talk about it bc I really loved it and, I mean, it's still going on so I kept watching it.
Just finished the video, brought me to tears you guys did an amazing job on the video and it might not get the most views like a one piece video be proud of what you created truly reMARKable
Holy shit. Ending the game by burning the doctors with a flamethrower is hilarious.
the zebras won't mourn them
I was wondering if in the show, since he left the two nurses alive, if those characters are Nora and Mel.. it would give a bit more credence to why they go with Abby to Jackson, but I wonder if they'll also have a conversation with Abby about how he just wanted Ellie and it wasn't personal blah blah blah.. anyways, I haven't seen anyone mention the nurses, just curious if you guys had thought about it, you too mr big filmmaker behind this masterpiece analysis.. @totally not mark
@@StayFractalesque 1. Nora and Mel could be present but they would be kids unless they change that for some reason, so I dont think they would be the nurses.
2. You dont have to kill the nurses in the game either. Just the main surgeon
@@Flipitmixit I mean, it's only 4 years, and Mel and Nora were students of Abby's dad at the time of his death, so ..
@@StayFractalesque I'd say no; one of the nurses in the show was a last-ish minute cameo by Laura Bailey (game Abby)
Little nitpick that people always bring up that annoys me: In the game, Henry doesn’t blame Joel. He’s clearly talking to himself when he says “it’s your fault” since his first line after killing Sam is “Henry what have you done?” He’s having a mental break and conflicting with himself
Yeah, the game was phenomenal, and the show was okay... I just kept contrasting it in my mind. It didn't feel as phenomenal. I feel like Straley should've had input, he kept the first game grounded and ultimately led to it becoming a masterpiece. He was also the lead programmer on both TLOU, Left Behind, and Uncharted 4. I dunno, I think the show was decent by itself, but the story was told far better in the game. I think the overall issue is that the adaptation was unnecessary, I think they would've benefited from doing a reverse Telltale and told a whole new story set in the same world. I think it would've worked a lot better.
@@theperson8539 This is a weird take and I don't like it
@@LithFox I guess you are free to think that. I disagree with the ‘weird’ categorisation though, I think it’s rather reasonable.
@@theperson8539 I agree it's not a 'weird' take but I do agree that the show is above decent. Agreed not phenomenal but more than just 'decent'. I love the game and agree there were a lot of points that might've worked better with the game director you mentioned having a hand in it, I do think the show works amazing as not only a adaptation but more importantly a show for new fans to get into the game with. I agree the game is in the top of Best video game stories of all time and also think the show is an amazing retelling of it that hopefully gets more people into playing the game.
@@silentassason I dunno, the remake seems like a retcon to me. I’d favour the PS4 version.
This video is incredible. You know how to keep a 2 hour video really concise and relevant and your perspectives both as a fan of the games and a fan of the way television media is structured is really refreshing and informed👍
Maybe 'Left Behind' would have fit better when put in a more calm part of the main story, like an uneventful car ride or when camping in the forest. Seems like a disservice to the dlc-story being put at a point where the audience obviously wants to get back to the main events.
Knowing about Riley earlier and then getting some scenes with Ellie scavenging the same mall while getting faint flashbacks could be used to great effect. That would also help keeping up the tension about Joel.
TLDR naw. Doing it the way they did adds needed tension reduction and explores characters at a moment your wanting more and goes from plot heavy movement to character depth building needed at that point not the end of a completed story (show wise) unlike the games. It’s common in all media to not always give audiences what they want right away to lull you into caring about something else and build anticipation. Give it to me now generation needs to let the authors cook more or get microwaved Al hype no substance meals.
I disagree. People seem to be very into gratification these days leading to the give me what I want now type of storytelling while satisfying it’s akin to telling your cook to cook faster and they throw it in the microwave and slam it on your plate. Get to the hype get to the story mentality deals like the new entitled binge watcher creed. Writers implementing a lot of the ideas audiences want isn’t alway good. Audiences often don’t even know what they want. They claim no one wants a Barbie movie that’s complex then it does well. They claim no one wants condensed one piece than nonfans get into it. Putting the dlc where it was worked so well for me since I think it was where I chose to want to play it after I played the game (when it all released at once) of course people who waited would prefer it after the ending of the game or tv show. But that imo gives a even greater disservice as if it’s just what druckman said in the video. As if it’s unnecessary. It’s part of the story. People who think anything not bulldozing the plot along really should just watch tv in fast forward. ( current gen apparently skips scenes). The dlc inserted there is a great natural cool down. People are pre y that a second game exist and the main character isn’t gone. The game method just wouldn’t work. It’s a plot beat here to move things along but that’s ok. The flash back gives us time with the character and time away to yearn for the character. Plenty of series have the delay of gratification and are better for it. Goku on snake way. Near the end we don’t check in on him and get development of the fight. And vise verses right when things get intense. Cut always to luffy fights in one piece. Etc. it would be less pull to watch each week without delays in gratification. Sure it would make for hype viewing but you lose that “tune in next time” appeal. Introducing stuff the reader isn’t super into while their hyped for something resolving is a method writers use to keep attention and have you not notice you also wanna learn about another plot beat since before you know it your interested in the world.
I like how people just praise neil druckmann for everything but forget Bruce Straley also Co-directed the game as well and deserves just as much credit for his decisions in the games development as well.
Neil was the ideas man and Bruce made those ideas into something great.
No he doesnt. Neil wrote the damn story
@@PeachesandCream225 Maybe go give the credits another watch, because that's factually incorrect for the first game.
It makes me so happy to see that some video games are getting proper movie and tv adaptations. I remember when all of them were terrible but we’ve got some really good ones now
Amen this, the Sonic Movies, Carmen Sandiego, & Castlevania all slap
@@arnahunas4048 even Cyberpunk and Arcane if you can count those
Now we need an adaption of the Telltale Games of The Walking Dead featuring Lee and Clementine.
@@NinthShinigami
Yooooo fair point
Now we just got to see if they can make the second game look good and if Pedro can get along with Mr. Nine Iron.
Bro dropped a movie. Gonna have to see them by parts. Thanks for the episode time stamps!
Edit: Watched it all in one go ☠. It was too good. Great review Mark!
One thing I loved about Joel is his protrayel in the show than to the games. One scene I always come back to in the show is where both Joel and Tommy have their brother talk and find a solution to Ellie's situation. In the game, Joel was more brooding and closed off, and the conversation was about to turn physical. However, in the show, we see a side of Joel that was refreshing, we see Joel racked with trauma and guilt from losing Sarah, and now he's finally letting go that 20 years of bottled up emotions and not wanting to fail Ellie has he did with Sarah even admitting that he's gotten old soft and slower due Ellie and begging Tommy finish it for him.
This first part and the second one make together one of the greatest and most challenging stories ever told in any medium. This review was very well done. Thank you so much, I enjoyed it a lot! The show was really, really good, and hopefully the next season will be even better.
getting to see modern video game adaptations' reception makes me hopeful we will see more of this kind of love and care poured into our favourite franchises
If there’s anything detracting from the TV series, I’d say it’s definitely the pacing.
To put it into context, effectively only 5ish episodes of the entire show focus on Joel and Ellie’s relationship. You have to remove the pilot which sets everything up, the two backstory episodes, and the second episode since Tess is still acting as a buffer between them.
While I wouldn’t say that it destroys the show, I will say that the harm is felt in both the narrative pacing and the pacing of their relationship. There’s a tangible jump from “you’re cargo” to “you’re my kid” that is hard to fully ignore because the actual core relationship is making up for time spent else where.
Edit: also they did remove subtlety in a lot of places, at times it’s not much, others it feels way too on the nose.
Pacing was definitely an issue I had, I agree that Joel and Ellie’s relationship was rushed
Yeah, this show would have done well with a 12 episode treatment at the very least. 16 feels like it would just be dragging and would be biding time with more filler, but 12 would have been just right if the pace was slowed just a little bit to where we get more time to see the bond between Joel and Ellie be fleshed out more to where the audience can understand Joel’s outlook changing over time. The pace right now makes the fatherly role seem very quick despite the show making it obvious that there is a lot of time between events that has passed. It jumps from one major event to the next.
Still a great show, nonetheless, but even just 3 more episodes would have helped the pacing tremendously while not changing too much (except the audience growing and understanding their bond a lot better).
Regarding the sinkhole, Henry said the infected in KC were all pushed into underground tunnels that run throughout the city; so while there was the sinkhole that Perry and Kathleen saw and sealed off, they lacked the foresight to realize there might be new weak spots just like it in other areas of the city. So the infected weren't just in that one building but were traveling to other places underground to try to escape, likely following the sound of the humans above them until the fire caused the explosion and the ground caved in. So to me, the horde makes perfect sense bc of how they explained the situation and characterized Kathleen's downfall to be negligence due to blind anger. I don't think it would've made sense for Kathleen to carelessly alert the infected so obviously w/ tendrils bc she's not characterized to be dumb, or else no one would've agreed to follow her. She just placed her revenge above dealing with valid safety concerns by covering them up or prematurely eliminating ppl (the doctor) instead of bringing them to the attention of the public. And besides, there weren't any tendrils present above the ground for it to even happen, as the tendrils were only present in ep2 bc the infected were all above ground. But they're definitely going to utilize the hive-mind in S2 at some point, too.
Yeah some of his takes seem to be from research as I’ve heard some of the themes he explored from other RUclipsrs earlier. Lots of hot takes you gotta remember people spout out plot hole and contrivance as it seems smart or shows you noticed something but a lot of the time it makes sense in the story and the story just showed it without expressly stating it. The explosion would have hit the vines anyway so his point is moot. He just didn’t like the Hollywood like action beat and it’s understandable. The show till that point seemed more I don’t know eehhh or up and sophisticated and different then your average zombie show so the slow methodical feel lulls you into thinking it’s super mature and won’t do crazy action. That’s my guess. Though the airplane explosion says different so i think we forget with all the deep symbolism and character stuff you still gotta entertain a normie like me lol. Last of us is still silly and over the top at times.
2 and a half hours! We are in for another masterpiece
I really enjoyed the show as a whole, though a few issues with it left me at a point where I think the game still stands strong on its own with its own strengths. You touched on some of these topics -- largely dealing with the reduced amount of infected in the back half of their travels, which in turn made their relationship growth feel less earned -- but I do also have one issue with episode 6 that I'm a bit surprised doesn't seem to bother others much.
The scene with the big argument between Joel and Elly at the house, that is likewise my favorite scene in the game. For me, though, that scene isn't just the argument -- it extends through the horse ride back to the cliff overlooking Jackson, and I just don't think the argument works as well without that. During that ride back to Jackson, you can see the growing sense of shame and regret on Joel's face because he's watching Ellie feel completely dejected during the ride. The pause as they look over Jackson followed by "Go on, Ellie, give Tommy back that horse" and the delivery of that line, along with the initial surprise from Ellie, is what solidified that as my favorite part of the game.
I understand some of the gains you get by giving Ellie some agency in the show version of the scene, with Joel offering her a choice to make, but the impactful moment for this point of the story was supposed to be Joel finally making his choice to move ahead, and the show's cut to the next morning just didn't do that moment justice, for me.
2:05:18 beautiful transition with the alarm sound kicking in to bring the point home 👨🍳👌
Mark… you occasionally drop a video that just knocks it outta the park! You’re such a gem on this platform.. This is like exurb1a doing multimedia analysis!
Exur1a mentioned
as always I love and appreciate your analysis. you take so much care with everything you say and go into so much wonderful extra detail it is always a joy to follow your thoughts.
But, I have a but this time, I wonder why you felt the Ellie flashback was timed badly in the show, as I felt like it was put there PERFECTLY. As you established, the gameplay moments need to be filled by the show, and I think filling the "play as ellie" part of the game with the inclusion of the ellie flashback dlc was just perfection. Everything happening at present in the show could not have been filled with enough interesting situations, so filling this with her backstory during her time more or less on her own, putting us the viewer into her shoes, her maybe even remembering everything that happened during these moments with Riley and also having the same fear inside her losing someone precious AGAIN made so much sense to me.
I can't wait for your take on part 2.
At 1:29:00 i am so glad you played future days by pearl jam got me in tears
Jesus Christ. The (I think Donkey Kong?) music playing while the doctors burned was truly something! xD
I’ve loved listening to your analysis. My brother and I had never played the games, and we would spend hours after each episode on the phone talking about it.
Although, I do have some unfortunate news for you. You owe me 11 elo rating, when you caused me to time out my chess game while I hurried and paused the video to avoid spoilers ;)
This was so well researched, I loved how thoughtfully put together this review was
One thing I found interesting about the TV version is the ending. When Joe kill everyone in that hospital, he didn't flinch at all. That made me feel like he was going through the emotion when he lose Sarah and try to kill himself after, he made a choice there and commit to it. No matter how horrible it is.
Thank you for this review! I've been trying to sort out my thoughts on the series, and think about how exactly my bias of absolutely loving the game affected my opinion on the show. Your video here was pretty much the perfect balance of criticism and celebration to put my thoughts into words. Where other reviews seem like they either have to be 100% for or against the changes and decisions, you gave a very balanced take! Thank you!!!!!
Watching week to week was nearly draining on an emotional level. While overall I still prefer the game's presentation, I loved how the show runners depicted The Last of Us for wider audiences. My overall critiques of the series are nitpicks at best because they don't damage the story as a whole, which mostly just boils down to lack of infected after the bloater. Either way, still loved the show and shed a few tears at the end of almost every episode.
Can't wait for a season 2, very curious if they are going to hop straight into how Part II was presented or if they are going to directly go chronologically in order rather than through flashbacks. Would be even more excited if Season 2 was completely fresh material to bridge the gap between Part I and Part II and slowly introduce us to characters from Part II, giving Season 3 all the room to work with in Part II's extensive story.
Intersting idea briding part 1 with 2 but they need to be careful. More content means more chances to mess up
I get the definite sense that season 2 will be new original material + flashbacks from Part II, and Season 3 will be Part II. Bella Ramsey was around 17 when season 1 was filmed and looked very convincingly 14. She's not going to have aged enough to play a 19-year-old Ellie for Part II's events for a few years. It'd make sense to do stuff with a 16-17 year old Ellie first.
Plus....I really don't think HBO will be good with killing off the hottest actor on the planet right now to open season 2. They'll wait.
One of the best reviewers out there. I only recently started to watch your videos and this one was perfect in it's analysis and thoughts.
Not something i thought you'd cover, but i'm so glad you are! Hope to see more videos about things other than manga and anime
Episode 3 was my favourite, I can't believe people are calling it "filler".
What happens EVERY TIME there's a post-apoc show? People want to see more context of the initial stages of the outbreak, how people survive. This episode gives us exactly that! Not only that - but as any survival gamer will appreciate - there's a base-building sequence!
But that's all beside the point. The character story being told in this episode is a rich and moving way to show exactly what this long-term survival looks like. Also, the insight into Joel's past is interesting. I'm not as articulate as Mark, so I'm not gonna gush about all the things I loved about this episode. Mark says it well enough in the video.
Oh but because it's two men kissing on screen I guess people couldn't see past that.
It was filler because it didn’t move the plot forward.
@@spencermadison It did though. It got them a car, Eli a gun, and other resources. It also gave you the relationship between 4 characters. People call it filler because they're negative. Progress isn't always forward.
I've really only heard of it being 'filler' after the series was nearing it's end. Looking back, it does make you wonder if the episode could have used that time for something else. However, the issue isn't the episode, it was great, it was the series pacing near the end. We either needed more episodes (preferably) or combine a few episodes, because there was a whole lot of concepts that could have really used some fleshing out.
I loved episode 3 and Left Behind, but I felt like they took away too much time from the rest of the show considering how short the season was, the show needed a couple more episodes to let things breathe imo. Also putting it at episode 3 felt like a strange choice pacing wise. I'd have either given one episode of just Joel and Ellie first, or have it integrated with their story more like having Joel and Ellie spend some time with Bill who sends them on their way before doing what they do.
@@spencermadison touch grass
I prefer Joel stopping her from slashing a corpse to what the show did. The fire in the Background is just an epic scene
The future days song literally makes me tear up every single time the first line gets sung in the Game.
39:13 THAT CUT TO BEN SHAPIRO KILLED ME😭😭
I think Joel was softer in the HBO series(so part 1 from game) because they want to have a fluent transition to the second season(which will probably be the material of part 2)with his character.In the first game he was constantly on guard and didn't trust any strangers(except for Henry and Sam).So it was weird that Joel suddenly lost his survival skills at the most crucial moment in the second game(The Death scene from him).So him being that naively kind of guy out of nowhere didn't make sense in the second game. Therefore I think the first season did a great job foreshadowing that he can occasionally be off guard which makes his death a bit more believable and convincing later in season 2.At least I hope so...😬
Everyone say he was naive, but really it's Tommy that reveals their name
@Tristan 42 Yeah that's true as well. Joel was also really relaxed if you watch his body language.Some people say he got soft in the four year time skip but unfortunately that's not how storytelling works.There had to be some foreshadowing that he lost his survival instinct which wasn't the case.
@@OZ05 "that's not how storytelling works", I'm not a professionel, but keeping the reason of the change for later flashback can be efficient. Some story don't even bother to explain, for exemple in One piece, after the 2 years, the characters have changed, and for most of them it isn't explained, people don't seems bothered by it.
@@Bronte4281for some reason one piece gets a pass with everything. Naruto is bad cause hard work was supposed to be the theme for the entire series (sarcasm) not just a story arc then people get mad about him getting powers but luffy does it and it’s masterful foreshadowing. Both imo are fine just hate the response that one is bad other good writing when both are similar.
@@Bronte4281I never get how the Joel scene was such a gotta. Like as if Joel was perfect in game 1. He lossened up in old age. Expected without having to tell me or show me a long flash back. Besides that they do show you flash backs showing he got more relaxed and happy.
The ending for the first Last Of Us is probably my favourite ending to any story i've ever seen.
The first the credit rolled after finishing the game left thinking about it for weeks unable to process it fully.
TLOU has a great ambiguous ending, that being said TLOU2 immediately annoyed me because its entire premise is built around Joel's actions in the first game being morally indefensible. I feel like theres gonna be some massive rewrites for the second season of the show to make the story more palatable to a tv audience.
My literature professor always said "a bad adaption can be a good piece of content".
Though I've never played the game, I wish people would realise that things aren't so black and white.
The tv show isn't just an adaptation, it's an intro to the game and opened a lot of people up to trying it out.
Except for league of legends. I am NOT going near that toxic waste dump of a game.
Arcane however, was fucking fantastic.
I really liked the show. It was a solid 8 for me and idk I think they could have squeezed the school and town stuff if they had more episodes. Also that would have definitely helped with the last episode. Which felt super rushed and not fulfilling like the ending of the game. I hope they let part 2 breathe more than this. As well as I did miss seeing Ellie growing and becoming more capable of taking care of herself and others because it’s gonna be a huge jump to make her all badass and a force of destruction in part 2 like the game
I can listen to you discuss and break down damn near any story. I love the anime reviews but I’d also love to see more media (that your interested in) in the live action area of entertainment. Thank you again for all the great reviews and I look forward to more Dragon Ball Z reviews and more anything as long as it’s you and your team creating these videos for Totally Not Mark
About the last thing I expected covered on this channel, what a pleasant surprise.
This should be good~
Don't get your hopes up
SO EXCITED. You're my favorite RUclipsr and the last of us is my favorite game. Loved the show though I had some slight critiques. Haven't even started watching this video yet but absolutely will be after work. Can't wait to hear your thoughts
Amazing deep dive. About those scenes on the second game, I have the same concerns, but seeing how beautifully Craig and Neil are handling the rewriting, I'm pretty confident they'll do a great job.
As someone who didn't play the game, the series thought it was ok. I'm not so capable of horror and was afraid that I would scare me too much. I only found episode 1 really scary. Sometimes I found the handling of the infected consistent. Did they die after a few days or do they live forever (In the sealed sewers) ? And what about the monster zombies from the episode with the brothers. Why weren't they persecuted? Also, I find the "solution" simply cropping Ellie's head, for a miracle cure. So sure, you need it for the climax. But I didn't find it really logical. Because when Ellie is dead, hope is dead. Ellie alive hope still exists.
Yeah they rushed a lot of things in the show. Even if everything doesn’t get answered in the game, everything makes a lot more sense and doesn’t feel confusing. The game overall did it a whole lot better
first of all, i think you made a number of typos in your comments which are confusing
and everything you're talking about is sufficiently answered in the show.
1. As Joel said in episode 2, most Infected die within a month or two. Those who live on begin to transform. Runners are the most common (the ones you saw in Ep1, for ex), then the stalkers (the one that kissed tess), then the clickers (the mushroom head ones), and bloaters are the RAREST. That's why we only see one of those.
2. They explain the reason for Ellie's immunity & the reason as to why they need to cut her head open well: the cordyceps grows all over + inside the brain. It is completely tangled in there. And they did run some tests on her, that's how they came to the conclusion they did. They plan on extracting a sample from her brain (and since it is entangled, the procedure will kill her), isolating the chemical messenger that essentially neutralizes the cordyceps growth, then recreate & multiply it in lab conditions. Simple as that.
The doctors believe that this is the way to go about making a vaccine. And they weren't just sitting on their hands for the last 20 years. The lab in episode 6 makes it pretty clear that they've been researching for a long time. Ellie's immunity was the missing piece of the puzzle and now they have it.
And I think your "Ellie is dead, hope is dead" thing is a bit strange lol. For Joel, sure. But her death would've yielded a vaccine that could've been used to save countless lives. And I am not on the Fireflies' side, btw. I ultimately side with Joel. I am just not in denial about what he did.
@@SidPhoenix2211 I'm sorry that my typos confuse you. What I mean by Ellie dead, hope dead, what if that doesn't work. They cut open her skull, they get her brain out and yet you can't make a vaccine / cure out of it. If that's not the solution. I'm sorry that my typos confuse you. What I mean by Ellie dead, hope dead, what if that doesn't work. They cut open her skull, they get her brain out and yet you can't make a vaccine / cure out of it. The doctors can't know that this is exactly the solution, the doctors only know that after the brain is out. If that's not the solution? I don't mean that in the sense of the game context but in the medical context. I've seen some videos of doctors who also said that blood plasma would be more suitable for a cure.
To the point of how long the zombies survive, I referred to the episode with the brothers. It said that the tunnels under the city had been closed for months (maybe it was years) and yet they survived. Even if this can be explained by the threads / roots.
I'm sorry I obviously didn't understand this right away. 🤷🏻♀️
@@SidPhoenix2211 Her death *might* have yielded a vaccine. I'm not aware of any vaccine that was effective in it's first iteration.
Is there enough material in her head to give them sufficient attempts at creating an effective vaccine?
These are questions that need to be discussed openly and honestly with both underage patient and guardian. Of course no discussion was had, and despite what this youtuber inexplicably seems to think is the take way, Joel taking away Ellie's agency in deciding what to do, Ellie was never given a choice. The Fireflys took her agency, not Joel.
Also, you probably haven't lived abroad for any amount of time. The person you're responding to has classic marks of a non-native speaker.
I never played the game, but I was aware of it and it`s story. At the time though, it just didn't seem like it would be my cup of tea. (Zombies and horror are typically not things I enjoy) That is probably why it took me so long to finally watch the series. But man, was I blown away! I watched the entire thing in 2 days and loved every second of it. That's why I was so curious what someone like you, who actually played the games and knew the story beforehand would think about it. It was a really cool video and I found the comparisons quite enlightening. I am aware, that I'm very much late to the party here (your video came out about 9 months ago), but I still would like to thank you for making it. You did a really great job. (And sorry for any grammar and spelling errors, I'm german and while I do understand English very well, that unfortunately doesn't quite translate to writing...)
I can't explain how much I laugh when you said you had to burn alive those poor doctors bc you had no other weapon left
Absolutely stellar and amazing review and analysis like always Mark ❤️
Off-topic though, can you please add the last 2 One Piece Wano review videos to the One Piece review playlist please?
What a meaty piece. I am forever grateful for your hard work
I really enjoyed hearing your analysis! I appreciated you noticing Ellie's vs Sarah's reaction to Joel's brutality, as that was something I picked up as well. And 1000x yes! on how Bill and Franks episode mirror's Ellie and Joel's journey. I too get frustrated when people didn't see the point. For new people, I suppose I can understand, but at the very least, Bill and Frank show what's worth fighting for in this dismal world. As for Ellie's reaction to Joel's conversation with Tommy, I always assumed she only cause Joel's "you have to take her" got mad and ran off, and therefore completely missed Joel's emotional breakdown.
1:15:45 Henry literally says "Henry, what did you do?" in the game. He's blaming himself from the very beginning, the fact that he's pointing at Joel should be seen as him not wanting Joel to stop him from, you know, shooting himself.
Excellent review as always, TNM. I can't wait for your FMA review since it's tied with One Piece as my all-time favorite!
I just wish I could interact with TLoU universe man. I sincerely respect the story and characters and the world they've built, but I've been terrified of zombies since the demo of OG Resident Evil 2 scarred me as a child, lol. Since that day, zombies, in whatever form they come in, have been at the tip top of my list of fears. I can watch reviews like this, and I've watched my friends play zombie games, but actually interacting with the stuff myself? Can't even bring myself to do it.
Love your vids Mark! Keep em coming!
DUDE I'M FREAKING DYING AT YOU KILLING JERRY WITH THE FLAME THROWER!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL!
I need to do it too when I get there again
Absolutely amazing work, the sheer enthusiasm coming across from you and the way you highlight aspects, I for one, have not considered in as much detail as you describe them in. Simply amazing.
Exactly for that reason I wanted to ask if there is a possibility of you ever doing something similar for the second game, because, whilst it manages to capture me in the flashbacks, just as you allude to here, I really struggled with other aspects in the story and the gameplay. I maybe on some level hope seeing you break it down and either agreeing or disagreeing with my thoughts could elevate my experience the same way your videos on other things did for me.
Cheers and take care.
I've been meaning to watch this for days now but amazing video Mark
Ngl every episode has something that makes me want to say it's the best episode of the season. It's so very well put together. Talking of put together, this video is amazing!
This was an epic video. Can you do this on more media like films? Your insights are always so great!
While I agree that a good portion of the changes made for the show were good calls, some, I feel still didn't make much sense to change/remove. The spores, primarily was one. And while, true, the way they function in the game is not how the function in the real-world, they offer an element of tension (and in the sequel) a way to create drama. Spores in The Last of Us created a more subtle form of tension, as you'll be in an area that is relatively "safe", but then you drop down a floor and suddenly your pace is changed from one of caution, to a sense of danger. And while you can't emote as effectively as you could while wearing a mask, a great actor can emote plenty through body-language. (I mean, Pedro Pascual wears a mask 90% of the time in The Mandalorian, right?)
TBH, I do like the addition of the fungal "network". I just don't see a reason to remove the spores element, as it was so tightly ingrained into the games' gameplay as well as story.
I had serious issues with the game (which is one of my absolute favourites) when I was first introduced to spores - and the characters put on their gas masks. This is so dumb for so many reasons that I am really glad that the show changed it.
It also helped with making the world feel desperate, because even if all the infected were to die, the spores could just start it all over again. The show could have had something else stand in for this, but it just didn't. The world didn't really feel doomed, it felt like it had just had the restart button hit, which is fine for the most part. It does take away from Joel's choice at the end though.
@@rgw7345 The series should have had at least one more encounter with infected (preferably near the the start of the last episode) to get the feel of danger back. But spores are a terrible idea because there would be no protection (no, a gas mask doesn't help in the long run) and all humans would have likely died already.
That you think that the world didn't feel doomed has much to do with the more realistic approach of the show: Most of the infected in the series are found near the big cities which makes sense if you consider that the fungus dislikes sunlight and wants to spread further using human hosts. Why should it stay in the wilderness where next to no humans cross? Considering how dangerous the infected are portrayed in the show (any encounter with them usually ends with dead or infected people) the world is doomed even with the ones we have seen. So perhaps it would have also worked to show Boston three months later - because I don't think that there are any humans left after the infected broke out.
@@f.carasind4188 Spores aren't really that bad of a concept and are ironically why human cordyceps would be so awful and how TLOU would just be a greener version of the road with no 20 year time skip possible if it was 100% realistic. But yeah, gasmasks wouldn't actually do much, and it's fine to not have them in the show. However, like you said, they needed to be more of a threat, even if it was just one more interaction.
I will say though, that the fungus, once it runs out of new hosts, would start wandering away from cities. I mean, a modern city 20 years after the apocalypse is just twisted rotten metal, they would need to find new population centers.
the show is amazing, though there were some scenes I felt the game did better the show had plenty that did better too, and it was nice that the original voices got to come back in some shape (and get killed off XD)
I am curious what Season 2 will bring, I kinda hope they don't jump straight into Part 2's plot, maybe instead utilise the flashbacks of that game and fill the gaps in between the timeskip, but we'll have to see. Everyone brought their A Game so it didn't disappoint at all
Maybe it's just the pacing issues and subtle changes in scenes that seem to be pushing a certain perspective, but this show really petered out for me by the end. The two romance episodes, while maybe fine in isolation, only ended up annoying me in retrospect because of how much time was wasted on them compared to other more directly impactful plot points that felt rushed or undercooked by comparison. Hard to explain exactly, but past episode 5 or so I just wasn't looking forward the episodes as much. Not horrible, but feels like a fumble of something that could have been great. Actors were fine for the most part. Wasn't sold on Ellie at first, but she grew on me. Won't be checking in for season 2 though... If they diminished the first game with its solid story, it's hard to see them improving part 2 with its infamous reputation.
Yeah, this show had serious pacing issues, It almost felt like they were rushing through the series, especially the second half.
Season 2 is supposedly going to be more Ellie and Joel in between what happened at the end of 1 and start of 2, possibly ending with the infamous scene that got a lot of people angry lol. I feel you on the dialog though. I only got to episode 4 then tapped out because it just didn't feel like I was watching people in a messed up world and felt like I was watching actors reading lines to each other to match the words of the game characters, but not the tone. I know it's not Bella or Pedro since if they took those moments out of them copying the game, it would have been pretty damn good.
Also, I loved episode 3, but now I'm curious who the 2nd romance episode involved, which I'm guessing Tommy and his wife?
So you hate good writing?
Thank you for your comments on the bill and Frank story. I thought your points and perspective on why the creators chose to tell the story like that was exactly right. Man they took it a whole new level and touched so many people’s hearts. Happy almost pride y’all :)
After watching the video I must say I like the video essay for the most part. The insight you provided was interesting.
That said, I think you were a bit harsh on the fact, that some fans didn't liked/ hated the third episode. Everything you said was right, the writer knew most likely what impact this episode would have, because of the change of focus, lack of action.
The thing is, not everyone shares the same perspective than you, not everybody have the same perspective or preferences than you. I think it's ok that they, didn't liked the episode, even if their critic wasn't constructive.
One of the things that stood out to me was this quote from The Making of Episode 9: ""What if it’s between saving all of humanity or this one girl? It’s the easiest choice he’s ever made in his life.”
it's not even guaranteed that it will save all of humanity
I swear the end of episode 5 made me cry I felt so bad for the kid and the brother
After a Long and HARD working day, there is nothign better than to press F5 and get a 2 1/2h TNM video to smoke your blunt, and fall asleep and reflect. Hope all yall doing well and I hope something great happends to you today.
this is the realest comment ever, you are so iconic for this and i hope that one year later you're having a fun and whimsical day
You should be proud of this video. Great work
NO WAY!!!! One of my favorite RUclipsrs and one of my favorite games colliding??? What world is this??
It honestly makes me so happy seeing you review the Last of Us! I wasn't surprised when you said it was your favorite game ever too! I'd love to see you review other shows and even other narratively-driven games too
You are one of the best youtube film/anime/storytelling critics!!! Keep it up!!!!!!
As a newcomer, I tried to watch this in a way I thought you would considering I've never played the game and therefore not knowing what differences to look for and just enjoying the story. So I definitely felt proud of myself when you mentioned some things I did like the (admittedly obvious) usage of light in the second episode or Joel's specific choice of words at the end of the eighth.
I think the show works best the way you watched it. Like one piece live action is best for new comers. Fans nitpick and sometimes do it badly.
love this review sm
At episode 5: even in the game Henry blamed himself. but at first glance, it did look like he was blaming Joel. i think this moment also implied Joels suicide attempt too.
Great video! As always!
1 Minute in: "Sees Raiden fighting Sam wearing a Sombrero". Dayum they always get me with the Sombrero
Thank you for this
this is a step forwards towards mark making videogame reviews (their story at list)
Thank you for this ❤
Aw man, this was worth every dang second of my time! Also... 2:19:54 is just priceless 😂
Always such wholeheartetly insightful and valuable commentary!
this is the best late birthday present ive ever got :)
i totally want to see u review the last us part 2, both the game and when the show covers it.
Just to be clear, what was your overall opinion on the last of us part 2’s story?
it was ok, i mean now that the heat has died down i can see what the game was going for without the bias of the hate it got which was heavy when it came out, but they executed it horrendously. Gameplay carried the second game in my honest opinion.
@@adityaganesh5865 Totally Not Aditya Ganesh
@@Milkra 😭😭😭
Watched til the episode 7 section before realizing that I should deffo experience the pain of the last three episodes first hand. I will be back after my viewing
mark i really liked this vid, keep yo head up dont mind the lack of views on the vid !!!
I DO stop the game to play Left Behind midstory after joel falls of the horse, and it's a way better experience. I was glad to find out that the show was doing the same thing.
Neil Druckmann made this series into the game he invisioned in 2013, not the one he produced with Bruce Straley in his ear, that’s why Ellie dominates Joel during their dialogue , there’s no strong male characters besides bill, and they go off the game’s world renowned story to shove in deaf people, a pregnant lady in labour strong enough to kill an infected and oversexualised scenes with a gay couple and constantly referring to the 14 year old main characters’ period.
Didn’t expect this from you Mark! Love it!
Episode 3 was my favorite because it was a microcosm of the themes the show is centered on and elavates everything to follow for having that context in the back of your head. it's insane that they explore Joel's character without him even being on screen for the majority of the episode!!!!!
Yes exactly! When playing you are just trying to help these characters out. You are not pretending to be them.
When they die, I genuinely felt like I’d let them down.
It massively engages you in the story.
Especially when the story is completely taken away from you.
You can’t help so you sympathise.
That hurts almost like you feel the same loss.
I love your videos Mark. I've been watching for years now as a fellow Dragonball fan. I find much of your takes very insightful and entertaining.
love when you upload
I feel like not having enough of Infected chase/fight scene is kinda ruined the whole journey for Ellie & Joel....when Joel said that Elli fight like hell to go to firefly's place, that's actually make sense in the game because both of them really fought like hell....running from a swarming infected, fighting multiple bloaters, fighting way more hunters etc.
While in the show both of them didn't had a sense of struggle as much as the video games
Oh boy i wanted this. thank you mark
I've never been a fan of this as Zombies aren't my forte. But I will always appreciate this show and video game for delving into all these important themes and delivering them in a compelling story.
What a great dive in yo creativity and how it affects oneself huh... ❤
this is one of your best reviews, and i've watched all the anime ones since 2019.
i've never been more engrossed with your writing if im honest. literally amazing stuff here.
The sink hole essentially set up the set peice at the end of that episode tho.. i felt that worked fine .made sense.. not just the scene wer we first seen the sink hole but all the dialogue coming from henry speaking about fedra driving them under..but also sure they wer dead and then the lack of infected when the group wer at ishs place... The truck opening up a new sink hole was imo pretty genius... It was always implied
Never played the game. Never seen the show but a 2 hour TNM video is *chefs kiss*
I have never played or even seen the Left Behind DLC before and I can't relate more about how the placement of it in this show kinda detracted from one of my favorite parts of the original game. I was kinda taken aback with how little impact Joel's injury had in the show when in the original game it was so shocking I think about that scene all that time 10 years later.