The Last of Us Is Almost Perfect - GHOULIF Reviews

foreign [Music] The Last of Us fever is sweeping the nation pun intended this Series has quickly become one of the most popular if not the most popular things on TV right now and for good reason it's because it's incredible I was never worried that the show would be terrible I was at most worried that it would be just okay or fine but this show is what many would refer to as Prestige TV and I am inclined to agree with them I think one of the beautiful things of having this game adapted and adapted so well is that so many people that wouldn't really get to experience it now get to experience this story I know a lot of people that would never really sit down to play a game let alone a 15-hour gaming experience my father-in-law would have never touched the original game just because he doesn't play games and now he has a way to experience it and it's currently his favorite show spoilers for the entire season I already talked about the first episode but I'd like to talk about my feelings for the first three episodes episodes as the show progressed when the first episode came out I was really into it and it was a pretty solid premiere for the show I enjoyed most of the aspects and I really enjoyed how well streamlined it was from the game My score was sitting at like a 7 out of 10 when I saw this first episode then episode 2 came out and I was a little more lukewarm on it now the episode did have some great stuff in it the performances were good as they are through the entire season and the makeup on the infected was incredible it was still good and really well produced but it just wasn't holding my attention like the previous episode I was getting a little worried that the show was just gonna be fine and kind of a waste of time and that was until episode three this episode made the show go from a good show to a great show episode 3 tells the story of Bill and Frank's life over 20 years it is an incredibly beautiful story of love and life and this episode is almost entirely original none of this was in the original game the showrunners decided to try and tell an original story with these characters and if it did not meet or exceed the quality of the game then they would completely scrap it and do it exactly how the game does it and I am so glad they took a risk and took it in an original Direction because I think this is my favorite episode of the show and it might even be one of my favorite episodes of TV ever everything about it from the performances the music the directing the writing all of it is just top-notch stuff it's just really nice to have this beautiful love story between Bill and Frank bill being a doomsday prepping don't tread on me conspiracy theorist who meets this incredibly kind man Frank who actually allows him to accept a part of himself that he's been ignoring for so long it's by far are the happiest episode of the whole bunch because it shows the most optimistic way of living your life in the end of the world and I love that we get a gay love story that isn't about homophobia or being discriminated against and I'm not saying those stories aren't important because they very much are but I think it's a good thing to have a story that normalizes a romantic relationship between these two men before I move on from this episode I have a bone to pick with a creepy weird little man named Ben Shapiro let me read an excerpt from one of Ben's Facebook posts when referring to this episode the entire episode has no zombies no real threat it is about two gay dudes who meet and have a relationship in which one grows strawberries for the other and then they die by not being killed by zombies one gets cancer and decides to essentially euthanize himself and Gay Ron Swanson decides that he is also going to commit suicide at the same time because of Romeo and Juliet or Romeo and Romeo in this particular case epic joke Ben it's all really well produced and it's beautiful chat okay Ben that part of the sentence is correct however oh no here's the problem with brokeback Zombie Farm it's a zombie show there are no zombies in this entire episode there are no zombies in a zombie show this is worth pointing out it literally has nothing to do with the plot of the show oh boy that's a lot to unpack first off Ben this statement that there are no zombies in this episode is literally incorrect foreign [Music] what's this Mr facts over feelings being factually incorrect In order to sell a nonsense point no Ben Shapiro would never and second this show is not about zombies this show is about Joel traveling across the country with a girl in a world that's Fallen apart as he learns to open himself up again and heal from his past traumas as him and Ellie learn to care for one another the world fell apart due to zombies but that is not what the show is about but you already knew that Ben because you know your audience you know exactly what you're doing just admit it you don't like this episode because you don't like gay people stop pretending that you have any form of media literacy and just admit you're homophobic because we all already know everyone knows it and your audience would probably be just as happy if you stopped pretending you offered any form of valid criticism here's a note to anyone in general when Ben Shapiro doesn't like something and can't really argue his point very well it's probably because it's good Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay are so well cast in these roles now I'll admit I was pretty unsure of Bella Ramsay after the first episode not because she was bad but because I hadn't really seen enough to really make a decision whether or not she fit this role as the episodes went on she really convinced me that she is Ali all of her character quirks and mannerisms are all spot on but she also allows herself to make the character feel like her own version seriously no smart ass I mean I don't know how I was supposed to know that and Bella Ramsay has to handle some incredibly dark and Bleak scenes with very heavy subject matter and she pulls them off perfectly Pedro Pascal really embodies Joel Miller this is Joel to me just as much as Troy Baker is and I'm really glad to see Petra Pascal actually get a role where he can show off his acting chops and kind of flex a little bit because the other big role he's doing he doesn't really get that opportunity he's doing an immense job at really conveying this idea that Joel had an incredibly hard life everything he has done to survive has broken something in him and Pascal does a superb job performing that idea I just know that when I wake up I've lost something Pascal and Ramsay are such a great on-screen Duo that allows you to fully invest in them and their story they kind of struck gold because they're such a good pairing and they work so well on screen together the show has very few action scenes in it but those few scenes we do see are always really well done and always engaging specifically episode 5 the sinkhole attack at the end of the episode is so incredibly visceral and intense I was on the edge of my seat the entire time watching this everything devolves into pure chaos and Carnage and our main cast of characters are stuck in the middle of it all we also get to see a lot of these horrific looking infected and they did not disappoint the Practical effects on the show are fantastic whenever they cut to a close-up shot of an infected you can see like the individual strands of cordyceps digging through the infected skin it's so disgusting and the bloater they showed in episode 5 looks amazing it's ripped directly from the games it looks so good my favorite thing about the infected in The Last of Us is just how genuinely horrifying they are Ellie can't be infected sure but that doesn't stop her from being ripped apart if the infected are given the proper opportunity because these things are shown to have that capability the final episode of the show is nearly identical to the final segment of the video game it's very interesting to watch because of how short the final episode felt which is strange because there was like almost nothing trimmed from that segment besides the tunnel sequence I feel like I read a book that got turned into a live-action adaptation and I'm getting to see everyone's reactions for the first time of things are I already know and I don't know I think it's just kind of a cool cool feeling to have I get to introduce this story to people that otherwise would have never experienced it in their entire lives this has got to be one of my favorite endings in a video game and to see it brought to life was really cool every line nearly every shot and even the editing is just perfection and I love how it isn't really a happy ending it's very ambiguous as to what's going to happen with these characters from this point on does Ellie believe Joel was Joel wrong for what he did why did July was it selfish for what he did or was it a good thing he did it brings up so many questions that so many people would have different opinions on and that's kind of why I love it a lot of it's upper interpretation it's just the trolley problem but with the main difference being your kids involved in this trolley problem the show is doing a really really good job of setting up this idea of this cycle of violence and how people are punished for seeking Revenge we see this through the actions and outcomes of the characters of Kathleen and David Kathleen seeks revenge against Henry for betraying her brother and in the end this is her undoing and she suffers greatly for her dedication to Revenge with David he seeked revenge against Ellie and Joel specifically Joel because he had killed one of their own because David pursues this revenge against Joel it costs him many members of his own group and his own life I really like how they're setting up this idea because it's going to come into play in season into much more than it did in season one and I think setting up that narrative through line in this first season is a really nice way to introduce the audience into that idea I am very excited to see how this story will unfold in season two I have played the second game and I promise I'm not going to spoil anything but the second game was incredibly controversial the discourse was wild some people were saying it's the best game ever it was the Masterpiece of a generation of Storytelling in gaming and others were saying it was the worst game since Fallout 76 so you had both people on both spectrums and it was just a nightmare on the internet a lot of the controversy was the story that it decided to tell and the way it decided to tell that story personally I really love part two and I love how ambitious it is I understand a lot of the people's issues with it and I do see those problems but I still really love the second game I love something that'll just swing for the fences it might not always connect but it was a hell of a swing and I'm glad that it didn't just play it safe I really do wonder how many changes the second season will have I really hope they stick to the story of the second game and don't cower it out but I really don't think they're gonna cower it out I do think they'll commit to the story but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they reshuffled the way it was told and maybe re-edited the way information is transferred to the audience the first game is told in a chronological order where you follow Joel and Ellie from the beginning and it just goes beat for beat until they get to the end of their Journey the second game is very much not like that and I think that's a major problem a lot of people have so don't be surprised if they completely reorganize and restructure the story for the second season I am very pleased with how this adaptation turned out everything from the look of the show to the music to the direction to the performances it's all amazing it expands on ideas from the original and gives us an incredible episodes specifically episode three it's not afraid to take a risk and go in a different direction than the original if it can improve upon it I don't want this to be an exact beat for beat adaptation I want it to stay true to the subject matter of the original but it needs to be different enough to Warrant an adaptation at all if this was identical in every single way then what would even be the point of adapting it I don't think an adaptation could get much better than this specifically of video game adaptation I'm giving the Last of Us season 1 and 8 out of 10. watch it if you're on the fence about it because it's really worth it okay Resident Evil welcome to Raccoon City sucks part two is coming out next bye [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Ghoulif

Views: 2,312

Keywords: the last of us, hbo, pedro pascal, bella ramsey, video game adaptation, video game, review, series, show, tv show, prestige tv, apocalypse

Id: 1yyTZsmFy2E

Length: 12min 38sec (758 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023