'The Last of Us' - Season 2 Thread (NO GAME SPOILERS!) | HBO | April 13th, 2025 (7 Episodes)

[TheGreatShowtime]

I am curious about one major change from the game...

Spoiler

They swapped Dina and Tommy for the one being there during Joel's death. Tommy was Ellie's voice of vengeance, and Dina was Ellie's voice of reason. I'm curious if those two characters will play out the same way.

 

[kdslittlebro]

I am curious about one major change from the game...

Spoiler

They swapped Dina and Tommy for the one being there during Joel's death. Tommy was Ellie's voice of vengeance, and Dina was Ellie's voice of reason. I'm curious if those two characters will play out the same way.

Spoiler

I doubt that’s any different. Neither one saw what happened in the show or the game. Dina probably gives the WLF tip tho and is more motivated to go to Seattle with her

 

[Jazzy B.]

but how did she know she had the right Joel if she didnt talk to him about why she was doing it?

In the game they knew Joel had a brother called Tommy.

In the game they get rescued by Joel and Tommy but they don't know their names.

After they all escape the horde, Tommy reveals who he is and that Joel is his brother, Joel then confirms his name and that's how they find out.

 

[Kidd Dibiase]

I hate some of these changes but i'm still enjoying the episode.

i just think the game did a better job of building up the tension and suspense

but they did up the stakes for Jackson

 

[Sad Bunny]

People really comparing a 50 hour game to a 8 hour show

 

[detroitwalt]

Naw that was some PG shyt.



You can tell they were SCARED to adapt brutality and darkness of the scene.

They even cut out the Mexican spitting at Joel's dead body

This is the same HBO that showed a pregnant lady getting knifed in the belly, same HBO that showed, coincidentally, Pedro’s head getting smashed like a fukking grape. I highly doubt they were scared of the brutality.

 

[TheGreatShowtime]

This is the same HBO that showed a pregnant lady getting knifed in the belly, same HBO that showed, coincidentally, Pedro’s head getting smashed like a fukking grape. I highly doubt they were scared of the brutality.

Spoiler

Technically we could see the belly stabbing again potentially later in the season or next season

 

[kdslittlebro]

This is the same HBO that showed a pregnant lady getting knifed in the belly, same HBO that showed, coincidentally, Pedro’s head getting smashed like a fukking grape. I highly doubt they were scared of the brutality.

Mfs don’t love them like they loved Joel. I think they were just giving more reverence to the character to reduce the backlash

 

[Jazzy B.]

Can’t speak for everybody, but I’m not a nikka asking for 1:1. I just say if you’re going to depart from the source material, add something to it. They’re subtracting the emotional journey from the audience following the characters by laying out Abby’s character and motivations before you even see who she is.

There’s no shock factor to Joel’s death when you know she’s coming for Joel from jump and is set up to be a major character already, plus the nikka is in therapy and being set up to be the sympathetic character. Anymf who’d watched anything knows when they set up the sympathetic character, they’re not for long.

You get exposition dump in his scene, rather than the “show don’t tell” that makes for better media, to the point even the show itself says STFU and get it over with.

All of this is just typical TV you can get from any decent drama. The story stood out because it did things differently, not because it was a typical drama.

Not even gonna get into Abby not being an intimidating character whatsoever (not even only with her physique, even tho that’s a microcosm of her insecurity and obsession with Joel), and Ellie showing no emotional subtlety this season in her complicated feelings towards Joel, so they have to actually tell the audience “yea we gave our shyt but we’ll be good”.

Facts.

They had Abbie monologue like a supervillain for no reason


Then they had her punching Joel like he's even going to feel them when she's not BROLIC like in the game

 

[Kidd Dibiase]

Can’t speak for everybody, but I’m not a nikka asking for 1:1. I just say if you’re going to depart from the source material, add something to it. They’re subtracting the emotional journey from the audience following the characters by laying out Abby’s character and motivations before you even see who she is.

There’s no shock factor to Joel’s death when you know she’s coming for Joel from jump and is set up to be a major character already, plus the nikka is in therapy and being set up to be the sympathetic character. Anymf who’d watched anything knows when they set up the sympathetic character, they’re not for long.

You get exposition dump in his scene, rather than the “show don’t tell” that makes for better media, to the point even the show itself says STFU and get it over with.

All of this is just typical TV you can get from any decent drama. The story stood out because it did things differently, not because it was a typical drama.

Not even gonna get into Abby not being an intimidating character whatsoever (not even only with her physique, even tho that’s a microcosm of her insecurity and obsession with Joel), and Ellie showing no emotional subtlety this season in her complicated feelings towards Joel, so they have to actually tell the audience “yea we gave our shyt but we’ll be good”.

all of this

 

[Codeine Bryant]

They never asked Ellie though. They kidnapped her, so that shows they didn't GAF if Ellie consented or not.

If I'm Abby, I'd probably want to kill Joel too but, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm morally superior. I'd be killing Joel solely because I'm emotionally attached and upset that he killed my father. Not because my father was right for what he did. Deep down, I would feel a little disgusted that my dad wanted to kill a little girl.

Being blinded/biased because of love and emotional attachment is assumed from somebody like Abby's perspective. From a storytelling standpoint, of course Abby is going to look past the moral conundrum of looking for a potential cure at the definitive cost of somebody's life. She believes, like her dad, that they were doing work for the good of people that could save mankind.

The game leaves it open to interpretation as well. It never says one way or another that the surgery and subsequent science would be a success or failure. It just said that it had not worked previously. And the fact that Joel lies about it to Ellie, not wanting to tell her what he did, only further reinforces the ambiguity and open-to-interpretation of it all.


Show does a good job of selling Abby to viewers with her backstory. The rare occurrence where you feel for the victim but also understand the motive for the killing.

 

[wire28]

Man fukk this shyt

 

[BlackXCL]

Its so fukking refreshing to see the TV audience reacting to this like normal civilized people.

The gaming audience let this scene turn ANY discussion about this game into the most toxic online discourse I have EVER seen in all of media. Death threats to the director and writers.

They couldnt handle his death and went on to HATE Neil Druckmann.

TV audience, much more mature and smart. Handled it like regular people.

 

[Jmare007]

TLoU probably my second most played games ever (behind Destiny 2). Factions was incredible (until it kinda became pay to win). I’m saying that to preface what I’m going to say next:

do not watch this shyt with people that played/liked the video games. They’re largely insufferable because they’re not getting 1:1 of the shyt they played through. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from these fakkits

No offense

Funny thing to me is that the most 1:1 part of this episode was Abby having to out run a horde of infected and somehow surviving like 50 of them trying to touch and bite her while she was crawling under a fence that was about to give....that shyt was by far the worst part of the episode to me because it obviously doesn't translate as well on TV as it does in the game

Can’t speak for everybody, but I’m not a nikka asking for 1:1. I just say if you’re going to depart from the source material, add something to it. They’re subtracting the emotional journey from the audience following the characters by laying out Abby’s character and motivations before you even see who she is.

There’s no shock factor to Joel’s death when you know she’s coming for Joel from jump and is set up to be a major character already, plus the nikka is in therapy and being set up to be the sympathetic character. Anymf who’d watched anything knows when they set up the sympathetic character, they’re not for long.

You get exposition dump in his scene, rather than the “show don’t tell” that makes for better media, to the point even the show itself says STFU and get it over with.

All of this is just typical TV you can get from any decent drama. The story stood out because it did things differently, not because it was a typical drama.

Ehh, I think the TV show going for tension and dread instead of shock value is not as bad as you make it sound. Mostly because they do an amazing job at creating tension so people unfamiliar with the game dreading Joel getting got and slowly but surely seeing that it's gonna happen is an incredible TV watching experience that can feel just as fulfilling as the shock factor.

Sure, they are vastly different feelings and the game gets points for being brave enough to go for it the way ND went for it. But TV done this well, regardless if it isn't groundbreaking, it's still TV done well and that's appreciated as well


PS: Joel also tells Abby to shut the fukk in the game and get it done. Both the show and the game are telling its audience that these people looking for revenge are way too deep into their own fukked up issues that they are oblivious as to how they sound or are perceived from the outside.

Spoiler: spoiler from the game, warning for TV only brehs

I'm now VERY intrigued as to how the show does the scene were Ellie meets Abby in Seattle. Talking about Joel and what Abby did and she's like that shyt is in my past I just went through hell and back with Lev, the fukk you mean Joel? I let you live

That encounter is one of the best interactions I've ever seen/felt in any media. Just so many things that encapsulates how useless revenge is

 

[kdslittlebro]

PS: Joel also tells Abby to shut the fukk in the game and get it done. Both the show and the game are telling its audience that these people looking for revenge are way too deep into their own fukked up issues that they are oblivious as to how they sound or are perceived from the outside.

Abby doesn’t give a speech. He says say whatever speech you got rehearsed and get it over with, after she says like two lines. Then she says the “you don’t get to rush this” line like the show and cracks his melon.

Otherwise the game would have had the same exposition dump as the show