The Last of Us

First of all I'd like to say that if you haven't played the game before and have the ability to do so, I'd strongly recommend you to experience this story that way first. It's truly one of the greatest games of all time in my opinion and this adaptation does not capture it's magic.

First of all, let's talk about the acting: Pedro Pascal is solid as Joel. He looks the part and embodies the character pretty well but still come off as a bit stiff in comparison to Troy Bakers masterful portrayal.

Bella Ramsay on the other hand is completely miscast as Ellie. She neither looks nor plays the part. While she can't be faulted for the former, I don't think she has the acting range necessary to inhabit the character. Sure, I don't know what directions they gave her on set, but she seems to only possess a handful of facial expressions in total. Where Ellie in the game could come off as nervous, excited and childish, she mostly comes off as bored here. Bella simply fails to instill the character with the sense of life that she has in the game, which is ironic for a live action portrayal.

As for the other actors, they mostly do a good job. There are no standout performances but no really bad ones either, with the exception of Melanie Lynskey (but more on her later).

The major problems of this adaptation however are the pacing and deviations from the source material. All in all, we get a 9 hour long season to cover the event of the first game, which is already pretty tight. The matter isn't helped by dedicating an hour to Bill's gay romance story, which contributes nothing to the overall narrative while deviating completely from the game. The runtime is stretched thinner by adding additional side-characters that at best does little for the story. The worst offender in this category is Kathleen, awfully played by Lynskey in one of the most unconvincing roles I've witnessed. Not in a hundred years could I see her being a leader of a crew like that. I won't go through every little change but the end result is that the story feels very rushed. This, in turn, leads to the underdevelopment of the relationship between Joel and Ellie; the pillar of the story.

Another annoyance I had was the lack of brutality in the show. The violence in the game helped make the world feel bleak and gritty. Here, on the other hand, we get plenty of off-screen deaths and hardly any blood and gore, making the world feel way to sanitized.

Reading through my review, I realize my score may come off as rather generous. But I do think that it's still worth a watch, even if it fails to live up to it's excellent source material.

Season 1 was amazing! Like edge of your seat. I rated the show a 10.

Now season 2....how many times do I have to fast forward Elle playing the dang guitar. They are also trying so hard to make a love story but there is no spark and it's forced. Elles childish attitude as an adult is becoming annoying.

I never played the video game and I understand they had to go with the storyline of the game...but without Joel the series isn't the same. And why does there always have to be some weird cult? Like I don't want to watch this for the "human" drama, I want to see zombie mushroom men, dive into the smart zombies storyline, and be on the edge of my seat... ..

I think the tittle pretty much sums it up, but a summary of some of my reasons could be that it keeps piling up too many incongruences, or lazy plot delivery, or little originality (too much resident evil... too much), or miscasts... honestly, I'll keep watching (for now) just to see how deep can they dig a hole because honestly, now I can't see an episose without pausing at least 5 times to take a break because it gets painful an unnecessary amount of times.

As a side note for those who read reviews: do you also skip reviews of 10/10? How can you trust the judgement a person that gives a 10 to a Marvel movie for example?

Season 1:

While I may feel disappointment by this television adaptation. I am grateful that it introduced the greatest story gaming has ever told to a wider audience, an audience that never would have experienced or connected with it in its previous form.

The biggest problem that this series has is the pacing. With only nine episodes a lot of the story feels rushed, and certain important scenes or entire segments needed more time. Although to be fair, that may be the fault of HBO for not believing in Druckmann's stellar work.

Committing an entire episode to both the left behind dlc and Bill and Frank seems like a mistake in hindsight. While both episodes are great, they really take you out of the main story. We don't get as much quality Joel and Ellie time because of it. Part of why the game works so well is because you spend nearly 20 hours with these characters in the game. You connect with them, you feel as if you know them personally, you deeply care about them. All the small talk about movies, aspirations, and shared tragedy as you traverse desolate wastelands is what makes that game so incredible, and it's why the characters feel so real. In the show you spend less than half that time with these characters. This significantly takes a lot of the emotional oomph out of the story in my opinion.

Even some of the dialogue feels rushed. There are important and impactful lines that aren't allowed to breathe and sit in. A example of this was the dirty magazine scene where it sounds like Bella Ramsey is reading a checklist of lines from the game. The scene is funny, but also feels unnatural and a little stiff. Not to throw shade at Bella Ramsey, she has some truly great moments in this show.

If only this series got another one or two episodes, maybe then it could have fully done the game justice.

When I first heard about The Last of Us I couldn't wait to see it because I absolutely loved the video game. On top of that I'm a fan of Pedro Pascal and HBO has a long history of making the best shows on tv. Then I saw the trailers and my excitement grew even more. Well, it's pretty bad. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen but I had to force myself to finish the first season. I kept telling myself that it would get better but it never did. Like many have already said it's not like the game at all. I could've gotten past that if it was entertaining enough but it's not. Even though the first season wasn't the best I still have the second season a chance and it's been much worse. They got rid of the best part of the show and their lead. Why? I get you want to have a show where anything can happen but killing off your lead and the most talented actor on your show is not smart.