FIRST TIME WATCHING: The Last of Us S2E1

"...it was mostly sweet and wholesome right before everything's gonna come crumbling down and devastate me." Wow. She's pretty good at this.

A little late to the watch party, the S2 premiere snuck up on me and I needed to rewatch S1 (I bought the 4K Blu-ray for a reason) before I watched it with Natalie's full reaction. This was a much slower-paced season premiere compared to the series premiere. I understand they're setting things up and catching us up after the 5 year time jump, but there's no denying that anyone not already invested in the series would NOT get hooked by this episode. The premiere ended with a double cliffhanger of foreboding threats. It would've been better to extend the premiere a half hour longer (similar to the series premiere) and include a major action set piece. Aside from that, I appreciate the premiere following the opening of TLOU2 fairly faithfully (for better and worse later). I'm grateful they literally toned down Abby because she had the worst, most unrealistically butch female character design ever -- she was basically an ugly female head grafted onto a male character model, and it still made no sense for a man to be that cut in a post-apocalyptic world. Even the big guy who Ellie was sparring with at the beginning was too big (he's a MMA fighter IRL). Survivors are built like Joel, not like The Rock. Unfortunately, Ellie has the opposite problem. Even though Bella Ramsy is a couple of years older, she's still petite, and it's just not plausible for her to do what Ellie did -- even though they acknowledged that the guy pulled his punch. Critical Drinker did a breakdown for the terrible lack of technique in the sparring scene, and it doesn't make sense for the choreography to be that terrible in a big-budget HBO production like TLOU. I also disliked how Ellie and Dina were so arrogant and reckless, like those are admirable traits. This is clearly an instance of woke double standards and hypocrisy, because any male character would be villainized for those traditionally masculine traits, whereas they're portrayed positively because Ellie and Dina are women. Furthermore, Kat is portrayed as the overly cautious, only slightly older, PUSH-OVER "leader", while two dudes are just standing by deferring to her indecisive non-orders. Kat displayed no leadership abilities whatsoever, and the men had barely any lines or characterization at all. BOTH Ellie's recon patrol and Abby's Firefly group consisted of FIVE PEOPLE, 3 female and 2 male. HOW is that equality or even equity? Seems like the scales are slanted in the opposite direction, and the show is so quick to call out perceived sexism, like at the Council meeting wherein Tommy said it would be different if Joel and him did the same thing. YEAH, it would be, because they're more experienced AND stronger than a pair of 100 pound women. Anyone who says they're the same is deluded and has never been in a dangerous situation in their life. It's not just physicality either, but terrible decision-making and utter recklessness too. Ellie and Dina holstered their sidearms after hearing two Infected inside the building, and chose to use their knives before they even had eyes on the threats. Also, Dina fell for Ellie's dare of calling in the men for backup, making her nearly as dumb and irrational as Ellie. It's like writers do not understand how to make likeable compelling characters anymore, which have traits that make them role models. Instead, everyone is BROKEN in their own way. They all behave like idiots looking for trouble to facilitate action/horror scenes, instead of being SMART and bad things happening beyond their control; then having to be brave and resourceful to get out of the situation. Why can't we return to an era of great characters and writing, combined with a balance of modern equality? I don't want to play as a dude all the time in video games, and I enjoy watching great female characters in movies and TV shows. It's simple: Focus on character instead of identity. Identity is a MASK worn for the world; character is what makes a PERSON.

Wait just a damn minute, Nat. Are you telling me you don’t just wake up with those perfect curls??? lol

God, I know the fireflies must've felt so much Hatred back when Joel first did it, but can you imagine hunting him down for FIVE YEARS!? Their hatred would've fucking triple folded over by then that is such intense grief this is gonna be nuts

Going forward, nobody comment any spoilers for the game. Nat hasn’t played it, and whether or not you think it’s common knowledge some people may not know and not want it spoiled! 🔊

Nat SO wanted that to be a dog in the supermarket. 😂😂

Damn! I love your reactions lol

They have announced that the second game is going to be split into two seasons, so there’s going to be a season 3. The second game had a lot more material than the first so there’s room for it imo And NO SPOILERS for the game, but I also appreciate the small changes made for the show tbh. With a video game, you’re an active participant in the events and so it’s easier to connect, it’s satisfying to kill infected and complete objectives to follow the story, while also being able to explore and read lore etc. A show is different, you need to lead viewers in and set up certain narratives early on in order to get the same emotional reaction someone might’ve had playing the games Not saying it’s a /better/ way, but the first episode was good and everyone killed it so I’m excited for the rest 🎉

Damn I really thought at the beginning that we weren’t gonna need the tissues for this episode, Nat 😅 but Pedro’s face in that therapy session, and when Ellie yells at him… don’t talk to your dad like that 😭

The therapist is the mom from home alone.

Hey nat, stay out of the comment sections for the last of us on here and youtube. Some people who played the game apparently have no choice and are compelled to spoil what’s going to happen.

When Season 1 premiered, I was so skeptical. TLOU is one of my favorite games to replay over and over. When I became a complete mess on the first episode with Sarah, I knew it would be amazing. I cried the entire season. I got Season 2 for my birthday. Pedro and Bella crushed my soul because I'm an only child of a single parent. I see myself in Ellie and Joel crushed me with his reactions making me think of the one person in the world that I love unconditionally.

Feels like Nat kinda knows whats gonna happen later down the road and kinda beating around the bush lol. get it, its hard to not be spoiled by ***** death. been wondering if her and her husband played the games together, or at least he did and they talked about it. would like for her to have more of a discussion after the end of the ep, see how she felt about the ep

I really enjoyed this first episode. Still not a huge fan of Ramsey in this role, but outside of that, the casting continues to be great. Isabela Merced's portrayal of Dina is spot on. Young Mazino as Jesse. And Kaitlyn Dever looks like an absolute force as Abby. This season is gonna be WILD!

I think Nat is more scared of what she thinks is going to happen and not what actually happens. The anticipation is what gets her...

Really enjoyed this episode! Was cool seeing a new infected and Pedro absolutely killed it with his emotional performance

I'm excited and a little worried, hopefully this season isn't as devastating as season 1 for you Nat..

Joel's face after being told off by Elie just breaks my heart.

The colored flag thing is actually smart. If they're being watched by outsiders they can never tell what color is the right one to show this specific day to indicate things are all clear.

Happy Wednesday Nat 😊 I love the 2nd Last of Us game more than the first. It's probably my favourite videogame to date, so I was excited but cautious going into this season's premier. I have to say I found it somewhat disappointing. Based on this episode, and from what I've seen of next week's, they aren't really doing a close adaptation of the game, rather they are telling the story their own way, throwing in the odd scene and dialogue from the game to at least keep it tied to the source material. Around 75% of this episode's content wasn't from the game. Much like season 1, the writers' obsession of adding new unnecessary characters and expanding the lives of secondary background characters, rather than focusing on the main characters and the plot, is a creative choice that just baffles me. Everything they need to tell a great story is already there, right in front of them 😅 It's early days. But they do only have 6 episodes left this season. Anyway, time to see what you made of it Nat. I enjoyed watching this story again through your eyes Nat 😊