Dina’s pov

There's only one really good one in episode 2.

not many of them unfortunately bro

Did the strike prevent them from filming in one go?
Because who's nut ass idea was it to split the 2nd game into 2 seasons,
released years apart
?

Yea at first I thought it wasn't a bad idea. But the execution and pacing was ass, they could have fleshed out everything way more so that it feels like a complete season

i wanted to love this season so much, but Craig Mazin clearly didn't understand the second game, so what we got was:

• character motivation changes
• detours from the game that - mostly - didn't make sense or added nothing to the story
• structure changes that made the story feel flatter

i never PLAYED the games, but i watched a lot of full gameplays, and the story told on the games are much more nuanced, complicated and intricate.

the story told on the series feel so superflous, shallow and inconsequent.

2/10

honestly f*** the Bella Ramsey hate
she's a very good actress

she's prime

never seen that diving knife animation before

the aggressive gameplays gave me a whole new lease on how the game could be played man. they're lit af lmao

That was the finale last week? man

I started watching the first season of the show but I was never fully on board with her, ended up jumping ship after like episode 2. She just doesn't really "feel" like Ellie. All the other casting from what I watched was spot on, but she was just eh for me. As older Ellie she fasho doesn't look the part. Ellie in 2 (the game) was a boss ass mf lowkey, like fairly commanding presence and Bella doesn't really have that.

hearing this just absolutely f***ing bombed lol

Man stop

I definitely don’t always agree with Andy Greenwald’s commentary on TV on The Watch podcast, but after finishing the season a few days ago it feels great to know that he literally repeated this exact criticism I had of the season

Adding on to it, I totally agree with him also that the Ellie Dina stuff just felt like massive CW teen romance stuff. Very uninteresting — and Left Behind was one of my favorite episodes of Last of Us, I loved how they wrote that romance for Ellie and Riley.

In general, the characters just became very unlikable other than Jesse and Joel to me this season. And even Jesse, there wasn’t a huge amount of time to develop that character.

I never played the game so maybe my experience would be different if I did, but as someone coming into this with no prior knowledge/experience the general plot and pacing felt like it weighed down the story so much. Staying in Seattle was super boring after such an expansive look at the world in Season 1. And I didn’t give a f*** about the seraphite wlf.

All that being said I will continue watching because Mazin is still an amazing writer (the creative way he structures scenes is fascinating, even with the plot being super mediocre) and obviously the meticulous production is industry leading.

What if I were to tell you the creative ways he structures scene is just him Copying druckmann lol

jus realized if this show really goes to 4 seasons, we're going to be having TLOU2 discourse into 2029

TLOU2 really game of the decade

It feels so satisfying going apeshit in this game with the combat. Ellie plays like a storm just wiping thru everyone when you go aggressive with it, and you FEEL that rage as you just tear through anyone around you

Really wish s2 captured that kinda energy with her

I'm not gonna jump on the hate train cus I liked s2, but some of the creative choices they made this time around are just baffling.

I'll give them their flowers for that perfect flashback episode with Joel and hope to God they tighten the f*** up next season.

From what I understand, the C Section scene for example was entirely Mazin’s own idea to include. I know there are other examples of these types of additions he’s made, but that’s the freshest one that comes to mind

Also, the best episode by far (Long, Long Time) wasn’t in the game, right?

I know the gamers love what Druckman did, but Mazin clearly has strokes of brilliance. As also seen in Chernobyl

Oh one more thing (and again with the disclaimer that I don’t know anything about the game) — I feel like from what I read about Joel’s death, they felt that people would see some nuance in how Joel made a decision that had shades of grey and have sympathy for Abby

But I’m sorry, dude saved his adopted daughter from a doctor that was going to murder her. Idgaf if it saves the rest of the world or not to let her die, anybody tries killing my daughter or standing in my way from saving her…they’re getting got lmao.

Abby just came off as a whiney b**** that didn’t understand that her dad was high key asking for it trying to stop a dad from saving his daughter. I have zero empathy for her. It’s not some big moral question, it’s obvious what you do in that situation if you’re a dad

Official now

I’m extremely interested to see what the reception will be for season 3

My prediction is that it will be MUCH better received, and Kaitlyn Dever will receive an overwhelming amount of praise for the role.
I also think the season will be much more serious and intense

Also it will be really nice to watch an entire season of this show without seeing the constant Bella memes every week