The Last of Us - S1 Finale Review

foreign [Music] The Last of Us episode 9 the season one finale has just debuted so let's talk about the ending of this intense Journey we've all been on over the past few weeks interestingly this episode is actually the shortest of the entire season at 43 minutes this blows my mind a couple episodes ago in one of my videos I said that these last couple episodes are probably going to be either very long or there could be a cliffhanger I was wrong on both fronts there is no Cliffhanger and the episode is short as [ __ ] I don't know how they did it but they did but this episode opens with the original actress who played Ellie in the games Ashley Johnson portraying Ellie's mother and you get to see the moment that Ellie is born and the horrific event that happens as this woman is being chased by one of the infected and is attacked while giving birth this scene features one of the more heart-wrenching moments I've ever seen with an infant a newborn baby in this case this kid gave an amazing performance in a very short time and I just felt so immediately protective of baby Ellie in this scene even to the point where when Marlene was about to fire her gun I thought to myself cover that baby's ears and then she says cover the child's ears and when I watched it I was like bro you didn't [ __ ] cover that child's ears what the hell is wrong with you why didn't I see you do that that's probably just the parent in me having a very visceral reaction to things like that now but now we catch up with Joel and Ellie and they are very close to their destination and as they're walking you can tell that Joel has finally fully accepted her as a friend as someone he really cares about because he's doing all the Talking Now and Ellie's being quiet it's a complete shift from the start of the show when Ellie was doing all the talking and Joel was being very very Gruff and quiet now he wants to hear puns and she's being distant she's likely afraid that their journey is coming to an end and she might not see Joel again because you can tell she really cares for him too in a beautiful scene when they Overlook the city she says that she'll follow him anywhere and in another great scene in this episode you learn why Joel has a scar on the side of his head that he had a very dark moment and here He suggests that it's actually Ellie that has made his life worth living now which is so beautiful and heartwarming and it just makes you smile but this episode also gives us something that I think all fans were excited to see and that is the giraffes scene but it's little moments like this that make not just the game but the show and as a story The Last of Us stand out and that's watching Joel look at Ellie with real Joy on his face as she gets to feed the giraffe and you see that there is a part of him that is remembering what happiness actually feels like and all of this is so important because if you've played the game you have an idea of what's coming because once Joel gets Ellie to the fireflies he realizes that the procedure they're planning will be invasive to her brain and she will die so he's faced with this immediate Choice save this girl that I've come to love and view as a daughter which would result in a potential cure not happening or let this person that I now love die and maybe will get a cure Joel decides that that's not gonna happen and he brutally murders almost everyone in this building to save Ellie in a thrilling sequence that reaffirms Joel's status as not your normal hero he's never been viewed that way in this show and I think this show does a even better job than the game at hammering home that Joel is not really a good guy he has a good heart but he will make really viciously wrong choices there's a guy who gives up and puts his hands up and Joel kills him anyway there are so many examples throughout this show where Joel will do the thing that most people wouldn't do to survive but now he's doing it to help someone else survive this episode more than most really is very careful with sticking to the game right down to the ending and the dialogue being pretty much verbatim the difference here is that Ellie admits to Joel that Riley the girl that she loved is the first person she ever killed that obviously would not have been in the game because that ended up being DLC down the road but now we get to see Ellie have a chance to be honest with Joel about this Joel tells Ellie that while she was unconscious it just didn't really work out they're kind of done searching for a cure there's other people like you and we're just gonna go back to Tommy and we're gonna live our lives Ellie is in face with this choice of do I believe him or not is he lying to me did something else happen while I was put under and Joel is like no I'm telling you the truth Ellie accepts that and that's the end of season one of the last of us just like the end of the game I was curious to see if they really did play it out exactly like that if they ended with Ellie saying okay or not because there's a version of this where we cut to Black before she answers him and we're left wondering whether or not she accepts this lie but the confirmation at least gives you an ounce of happiness in such a miserable show which strangely doesn't make me feel miserable I don't know what it is about watching characters go through really hard things and thrillers or horror movies or action movies they don't make me feel that way I get excited it's a great experience if I want to feel miserable or sad I'll watch a true story about a war or some horrific atrocy City but something like The Last of Us makes me feel really good when I watch it because it's so well made Craig Mason Neil druckman all the directors the production designers the set decorators the visual effects artists everyone behind the scenes of this show did such an amazing job crafting it and Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were perfect casting choices I am so curious to see what they do with season two because adapting The Last of Us Part One I won't say it's easy it's of course not easy but at least everybody likes that game you don't have to go like should we do the ending everybody likes maybe we'll do a new one that that nobody likes no everybody likes The Last of Us Part One that is not the case with the sequel not everybody likes the sequel some people do some people don't there are choices in it that were very divisive for people and so if they are deciding to make season two literally be Last of Us Part Two a few years later and Ellie's older and choices were made people didn't always like it there's also a version where we are very much like the Star Wars books of the 80s and 90s what happened in between a New Hope and Empire Strikes Back let's write a book about that then season two becomes completely made up here's the cool thing Neil druckman if he's still involved he created the goddamn characters so it's not like it's fan fiction if he's involved writing it it's like the guy who created these characters is telling the story so you could feasibly have other Seasons before you get to Last of Us Part Two or they could just have Last of Us Part Two be season two of the show and if they choose to follow it that's going to be a very interesting choice because it's different with shows and movies than than it is with video games I'm going to get into spoilers for The Last of Us Part Two if you've never played the game that's your warning but in the game Joel dies very early TV shows and movies are big on star power if you've got a really big star in your show and movie and people are are watching the movie the series of movies or the show itself because they love seeing this person and you're like that guy's gonna go you're damaging the potential re-watch ability for people who are there for that guy it's different with a game games can kind of survive when characters shift in and out like the funding aspect of it the will it get green lit aspect of it is different for a game than it is for a movie if you tried to kill off Tom Cruise and Mission Impossible 3 for instance some people would be like uh that's a bad idea in the case of The Last of Us I think a lot of people really enjoy Pedro Pascal on that role and he has a massive fan base that's coming to this show so it's a real discussion I imagine they're having is is do we go with this idea of Joel dies this early I'll say this my opinion is that Joel should at some point die I don't know if I want him to die at the beginning of season two but maybe near the end of the show that's not a bad idea but it's it's interesting it'll just be interesting to see what they do I'm excited to see the path they take but guys Honestly though season one was so satisfying I loved everything about it I would say the only thing I would have liked a little more of is just that more maybe like 10 episodes an extra episode with Joel and Ellie doing things and really feeling that Trek a little more that's it this is a phenomenal show one of the best video game adaptations of all time and I hope it bodes well for Future video game adaptations where people realize that these can be taken seriously that they can be made extremely well and we continue to see more things like this happen guys thank you so much as always for watching look forward to more videos very soon and if you like this you can click right here and get stuck minized [Music] oh

Channel: Chris Stuckmann

Views: 292,504

Keywords: The Last of Us, Reviews, Video Game, Playstation, PS3, PS4, PS5, TV Show, Episode, Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Joel, Ellie, Scene, Clip, Trailer, Teaser, Review, Chris Stuckmann, The Last of Us: Part II, Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Infected, HBO, Bill, Frank, Henry, Sam, Tommy, Riley, Storm Reid, Left Behind, Troy Baker, Episode 9, Episode Nine, Finale, Ending, Hospital, Fireflies, Look for the Light

Id: 5onpvpCTCMs

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 13 2023