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Sir_Bantersaurus t1_j6noykf wrote

Wow that's harsh. I was up for reading something that challenged the glowing reviews elsewhere because although I loved the episode it's always interesting to see dissenting takes.

But this seems to be contrarian for the sake of it and finds fault with every single aspect of the episode including the writing and the acting which I think even some of the more negative takes on the episode have conceded was a highlight.

I mean even this is stupid:

> One of the most engaging aspects in the storytelling of The Last of Us is that, because Joel dictates how you move forward in the game, you’re implicated in his increasingly gray decision-making. On TV, the viewer is primed to be sympathetic toward a main character, so there’s not the same level of friction as experienced by the gamer.

The series isn't finished yet. The nature of Joel's decision-making is yet to be explored, that's this got to do with this episode?

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ElwoodJD t1_j6o5wry wrote

It’s also stupid because as a viewer you still experience the gray area. My wife who never played the game (I have) says she doesn’t like Joel. She feels bad he lost his daughter and understands how that made him cynical, but she thinks he’s a selfish dick who hasn’t learned to make peace with his past. Which is accurate so far and belies any attempt to say they have glossed over Joel’s bad choices and outlook.

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taintpaint t1_j6owhzw wrote

Ha I was gonna say the exact same thing. My wife keeps saying "god damn Joel is cold" and every time I think that's the show succeeding.

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LuckyPlaze t1_j6p7l4i wrote

“It feels contradiction for the sake of it.”

Yes.

And I’ll add that he shouldn’t write reviews or interpret what an episode means until viewed through the lens of the whole story, or season. He is wildly wrong about why this episode exists or what it is meant to achieve.

That said, Last Of Us has always been great but overrated. It excels in many areas, but he is right that it borrows tropes and plot devices from a long library of zombie and post-apocalyptic medium. I immediately thought of Children of Men back playing the game.

However, it’s strength lies in the Joel and Ellie dynamic. That’s what elevated what might be forgettable zombie fare into something really special. And that’s what he’s missing - because he doesn’t have the whole story.

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midnightscientist42 t1_j6pfnux wrote

Children of Men meets the Happening meets [insert smart/fast Zombies movie here].

And despite derivatives (aren’t all stories these days?) I’m hooked because it feels original with the writing and acting.

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SmoothAsPussyMilk t1_j6o5fm7 wrote

I actually fully agree with that excerpt, and I'm really curious to see how people react to the ending considering they don't have to actually DO what Joel ends up doing.

But on the whole the article on the whole is too acerbic and sarcastic for me to even understand the point.

> In a literal sense, there’s the gore of the Cordyceps fungus turning humans into unthinking drones (“They’re not zombies,” I hear you sniff, but they’re basically zombies).

He "hears me sniff"? I wasn't even thinking that. I can enjoy a piece that's hostile to the reader but this reads like he's trying to be contrarian

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improper84 t1_j6p4xes wrote

Also, most of the best shows ever are above characters who either exist in a morally gray area or who are outright bad people. Walter White started out somewhat morally gray and became an egomaniacal sociopath. Vic Mackey was a bad person who had some good qualities.

Tony Soprano, Omar Little (and most of the other characters from The Wire), Admiral Adama, Jaime Lannister…there’s a long list of TV characters who are or become protagonists that do morally questionable and sometimes awful things, and the vast majority of us are capable of understanding that they are not solely good people.

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zlide t1_j6olgd3 wrote

Also that’s not really even a criticism, just sort of acknowledging that games and tv are different mediums with different implications lol

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kugglaw t1_j6ny60o wrote

The reviewers got all of the episodes to watch earlier this year, so the person writing this may well have a fuller scope of the show than those of us watching it week to week.

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kugglaw t1_j6opyxy wrote

Why is this being downvoted, it’s just a simple fact!

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