The Last Of Us Episode One Review - Yes, It Is THAT Good

The Last Of Us Episode One Review - Yes, It Is THAT Good

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Nate H
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[wompa]

Making the daughter the focus of the first episode was genius. It made what happened all the more heartbreaking.
Obviously, this is going to be compared to The Walking Dead. Where this has an advantage over TWD is hope. To me, TWD started with wonder and hope. Find a safe place, find a cure or at least the cause. But after a few seasons it just became so bleak and hopeless that it wasn't fun any longer. In this, we know at least one person has resistance. So there's a chance it won't follow suit.

[CyberNorth-fcwi]

I usually hate the global warming insert in stuff but I think it was very well done in this episode, it feels like a very realistic explanation as to why this species jump happens (even though it would actually takes probably millions of years of evolution to be able to infect humans). Also gotta love all these people crying about the show without even watching it lmao

[timothye.]

In this instance I had zero problems with the race swapping. This first episode was very good indeed and I’ll reserve my judgement after I’ve seen the entire series. I am cautiously optimistic.

[Szminsky]

That old granny “turning” in the unfocused background — That was good filmmaking.

[TheSymbiotVenom]

Can’t get past that Joel and Tommy don’t even look vaguely similar to game counterparts, and Ellie’s actress is just down right bad😅

[RPRsChannel]

*_If you watch the episode again, you'll realize one of the reasons they survived is because they are "on Atkins" or that they didn't eat any Wheat products; they only ate animal products. I suspect later we'll find out it affected all vegetable produce shipped into the US, meaning all vegan food is what killed everyone. It would be even better if the disease was in the SUGAR._*
*_By chance, they don't eat cake or pancakes, only eggs and bacon. I'm not sure what his brother/co-worker ate, some leftovers? The daughter didn't eat the cookies because there was raisins in them. The old people did and they went cray-cray._*
*_Is all this a coincidence? The scientists at the start are talking about ergot poisoning, that was on wheat._*

*_Now, there is of course a problem with this, it would have had to be fresh wheat EVERYONE used, but lets say 20% of the wheat eaters in the US ate freshly imported wheat, and their spores infected the rest?_*

[CoffeeFiend]

Some of the scenes, facial expressions, tones and static stances are literally fucking shot-for-shot, sound by sound it's nuts as fuck. He also doesn't look that much different from Joel either, Pascal kept the moustache which doesn't seem too out of place as he can't grow a lot of stubble above the chin/jawline. He's quite lucky his skin tone and hair let's him very convincingly pull off quite a lot of different nationalities and ethnicities though. The voice is kinda something people need to accept, it's fairly easy to find actors that approximate on looks but vocally it's quite hard, especially if you want them to look the part *and* sound the part too in one package.

They do seem to have made Ellie a lot more grizzled and resilient than she is initially in the game at this point too. Acting wise she can do tough and grizzled but she is going to have problems when they get round to part-2 as she's so tiny, people forget she isn't going to get any bigger for part-2, she's a grown woman, she looks like a 12 year old which lets her play little Ellie well but when it comes to 19/20 Ellie who is considerably bigger yeah.... 5 foot Bella Ramsay going hand-to-hand with hench marauders? No way they can make that look realistic and grounded like they did in the game.

[TetraVaalBioSecurity]

Outside of the opening sequence, which was well done — I felt the remainder of the episode was nothing more than a higher-budgeted episode of The Walking Dead.

I’ll give it a few more episodes to formulate a more complete opinion — but nothing about the first episode made me feel like this is ‘must watch’ television.

[GuyPrice]

As someone that has Played every version of the last of us since it came out on PS3, it is an exceptionally faithful recreation on the game but with a few tweaks to adapt it to a TV show. Where appropriate scenes are acted out word for word from the game.

Anna Torv plays an exceptional Tess.

Only thing they seen to have dropped is Spores. As well as being bitten, infected can pass on the infection by way of airborne spores meaning characters have to wear gas masks. I imagine that would be difficult to film so appears to have been dropped.

[SemperSalam]

Only gripe I have is that Ellie’s character looks a bit downsy but other than that it was solid.

[garyh]

I was disappointed that Pedro doesn't even attempt Joel's gruff voice. But he has everything else down so well, I forgot about that criticism completely within a couple of minutes. He's brilliant in this.

[hkmrsrg]

I don't know. I gave it 6.5/10. 5 being mediocre and 6 decent and 7 good in my rating. So, it was almost good.
The reason being, I think it lost the tension with how they did the prologue. I liked the talk show at the start and then they showed more of the Miller family, and it gave explanation as to why Joel went out. The tension was because "we as Sarah didn't know where Joel was" when Sarah woke up. The tension was also added by Tommy's call and messages as Sarah walked around the house looking for Joel, and then the explosion on tv and outside the window. It was short and compact, it was perfect. The prologue worked very well because we don't know very much and the changes they made for the episode gave too much information, imo. They also did the same for the "20 years later" section, imo. I get if they build the atmosphere well like Andor did but they didn't.

The other changes also lower the stakes, like it's just a battery now? Huge miscast for Tess, Tommy, and Marlene, imo. Otherwise, it's almost good for me. I still cried when Sarah died, but it's less impactful than the game.

Also, a very minor change really disturbed me like that Nokia phone. The world would halt where tech is concerned so why change the technology to a dumb phone? Just stick with the smartphone and have the time be more vague rathern than forcing it to be 2003.

Without the gameplay aspect, it could've just been 10 minutes instead of 30 minutes and they could do the Robert story and Marlene-Ellie justice with the twenty minutes because those changes expands the world but lessened the impact.

[maximushermanite]

As someone who’s never played the game(s), but is familiar with the main plots points and story beats, I thought this was a great pilot episode. The level of tension and suspense in the beginning of this episode was very reminiscent of the first episode of Chernobyl, although 2/3 of the way in it started to drag just a touch, but the story and characters still had me hooked! Pedro Pascal as Joel I thought was an interesting choice to say the least, but after this episode I’m totally on board with his portrayal. Bella Ramsey is a little bit different, I thought her take was a little off putting at first, but as the episode went on I began to enjoy her portrayal more and more, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing more of her in this series. Needless to say, this show has me hooked, and the next episode can’t come soon enough👍

[toolman]

My choice for Joel would of been the Australian actor Joel Edgerton.

[thetryingscotsman]

I'm not a gamer as such, but this is a good tv series. I don't think being a gamer should take away from that, much better than I thought.

[joshmorales]

The opening 30 minutes of the episode did a phenomenal job adapting the introduction portion of the game, and actually added to it in meaningful ways. They've adapted the material in a way that has pleased both lovers of the game as well as people entirely unfamiliar with the series (if for nothing else than this episode).

I'm certainly tuning in this weekend for episode 2.

[YaBoyMirage]

I was impressed with the designs with The Runners and the fungal mold, I liked how the atmosphere is just like the first game, and I liked Joel and Ellie in the episode as well. Solid start nevertheless👍

[wcw]

Glad you're having a great time in Thailand! Eager for you to get back though cause I miss the Tuesday and Thursday livestreams. 😅

[nelguinevere]

What was really well done about the global warming commentary is that it's not patronising. It was just stating a fact. If Earth warms up for whatever reason, this might happen. And as Earth is a very independent thing and cares little for us humans, this could happen. This was not "you have to make changes now, human race, or we are doomed", there was no comment on us at all. And as we all know, the Earth evolves as it pleases, and so do its creatures, including fungi.
The first part of the episode was just incredible. Not to say that the rest wasn't as it was. But the first part as a stand alone almost short film was amazing - the way the tension was building, subtly and yet inevitably, the focus on Joel's sweet daughter going about her day, on their relationship, the atmosphere of domestic bliss and impending doom, and then everything just going to hell was done masterfully. I didn't play the game and know very little about the plot, so this had a great impact. And the contrast of that normal world in the first part and this new world twenty years later hit hard. Didn't have much expectations going in, tuned in because HBO does produce some top class TV, and will absolutely be watching the rest.

[martynstembridge]

Early days ... So far so good, but first episodes are often stellar.
As soon as uninfected 'evil' humans become more of a threat than the infected, this will gradually slide into familiar territory.