Claira! Such a good read! I really love your point about how all the flashbacks shoved together in one episode robs us of the delight and surprise when they sporadically appear in the game. I was talking to a friend about the season and she said this one was their favorite and so well done. I challenged her on it because I know she didn't play the games, and it really seems like a dopamine shot that general audiences love. We'll feel the hangover through the rest of the show.
Hi Rachel!! I also watched with someone who knew nothing about the games, and they said the same thing. Show Joel/Ellie being more affectionate with each other doesn’t necessarily bother me, in fact I was hoping it would make their fights hurt and impact the audience even more, knowing what we lost. Alas, here we are…
I watched a YouTube video by The Thrifty Typewriter called “The Last of Us Season 2: a Lose-Lose Situation and Season” (highly recommended for good points btw) and they said that the show tries too hard to please too many people, the people who loved the second game, the people who hated the second game, and the people who just watch the show. The result, as we know, is a season that undermines its own beautifully nuanced source material and gives us just… blah. The fact that they were so scared of people misinterpreting season 2 is such a shame. I watched the show with my mom, I’ve played the games and she went in blind. In the second episode when Joel is killed, I was excited when my mom turned to me with a surprised look, saying “Ellie is going to be a monster.” She got it!! She understood!! WHY do the writers think everyone watching is a baby?? It’s sooo frustrating!! Perfectly put as always Claira! :D
I watched this video too it was so informative on what probably is the shows perspective. When will writers realise you can’t please everyone, and you should instead tell the best version of the story.
I was vigorously nodding my head through this entire piece, you get it!!
before s2 even started I was nervous about how they were going to spread out the flashbacks, because the game hands them out like puzzle pieces, and leaves you room to decipher and interpret how ellie and joel's relationship declined.
so for the writers to shove them all in one episode. I was. devastated.
“we spend, quite literally, the entire game assuming the very last time Ellie spoke to Joel was when she got angry with him at the dance.”
- this!! there is no tension, no build-up, no gray area. the show audience will never know the anguish of believing ellie and joel's relationship was strained until the very end, only to finally *earn* that final flashback on the porch.
[[slight spoilers for the game, I hope that's okay]] most of all I truly believe that showing the porch scene at this point in the show, makes the rest of the story almost unnecessary. giving us access to a moment ellie has been repressing and where she chooses forgiveness – the flashback that ends the cycle of violence altogether – before she has even faced abby is.. nonsensical.
you quite literally put all of my frustrated thoughts about this season into insightful words, thank you (and sorry you had to witness this episode haha)!!
Fantastic read as always Claira! It always deepens me with great sadness reading how much the show is mishandling, not only its source material, but what it’s trying to achieve too. There’s no subtlety, no nuance, no breathing room this season - and I’m always shocked when I see scenes I’d consider harder to ruin than pulled off destroyed. Porch scene really is the final nail in the coffin, how are audiences meant to be invested when all sense of mystery is gone. They know Abby’s intentions, they know how much Ellie knows, they even know the thematic lessons of the whole 2-3 season story by its THIRD episode. Makes it a whole lot worse when Bella Ramsey really is pulling their all into this role, we’ve seen training videos of things never used, it really feels like Mazin and Druckman are purposely butchering this.
Claira! Such a good read! I really love your point about how all the flashbacks shoved together in one episode robs us of the delight and surprise when they sporadically appear in the game. I was talking to a friend about the season and she said this one was their favorite and so well done. I challenged her on it because I know she didn't play the games, and it really seems like a dopamine shot that general audiences love. We'll feel the hangover through the rest of the show.
Hi Rachel!! I also watched with someone who knew nothing about the games, and they said the same thing. Show Joel/Ellie being more affectionate with each other doesn’t necessarily bother me, in fact I was hoping it would make their fights hurt and impact the audience even more, knowing what we lost. Alas, here we are…
I watched a YouTube video by The Thrifty Typewriter called “The Last of Us Season 2: a Lose-Lose Situation and Season” (highly recommended for good points btw) and they said that the show tries too hard to please too many people, the people who loved the second game, the people who hated the second game, and the people who just watch the show. The result, as we know, is a season that undermines its own beautifully nuanced source material and gives us just… blah. The fact that they were so scared of people misinterpreting season 2 is such a shame. I watched the show with my mom, I’ve played the games and she went in blind. In the second episode when Joel is killed, I was excited when my mom turned to me with a surprised look, saying “Ellie is going to be a monster.” She got it!! She understood!! WHY do the writers think everyone watching is a baby?? It’s sooo frustrating!! Perfectly put as always Claira! :D
I watched this video too it was so informative on what probably is the shows perspective. When will writers realise you can’t please everyone, and you should instead tell the best version of the story.
I was vigorously nodding my head through this entire piece, you get it!!
before s2 even started I was nervous about how they were going to spread out the flashbacks, because the game hands them out like puzzle pieces, and leaves you room to decipher and interpret how ellie and joel's relationship declined.
so for the writers to shove them all in one episode. I was. devastated.
“we spend, quite literally, the entire game assuming the very last time Ellie spoke to Joel was when she got angry with him at the dance.”
- this!! there is no tension, no build-up, no gray area. the show audience will never know the anguish of believing ellie and joel's relationship was strained until the very end, only to finally *earn* that final flashback on the porch.
[[slight spoilers for the game, I hope that's okay]] most of all I truly believe that showing the porch scene at this point in the show, makes the rest of the story almost unnecessary. giving us access to a moment ellie has been repressing and where she chooses forgiveness – the flashback that ends the cycle of violence altogether – before she has even faced abby is.. nonsensical.
you quite literally put all of my frustrated thoughts about this season into insightful words, thank you (and sorry you had to witness this episode haha)!!
Fantastic read as always Claira! It always deepens me with great sadness reading how much the show is mishandling, not only its source material, but what it’s trying to achieve too. There’s no subtlety, no nuance, no breathing room this season - and I’m always shocked when I see scenes I’d consider harder to ruin than pulled off destroyed. Porch scene really is the final nail in the coffin, how are audiences meant to be invested when all sense of mystery is gone. They know Abby’s intentions, they know how much Ellie knows, they even know the thematic lessons of the whole 2-3 season story by its THIRD episode. Makes it a whole lot worse when Bella Ramsey really is pulling their all into this role, we’ve seen training videos of things never used, it really feels like Mazin and Druckman are purposely butchering this.