1x07 Left Behind

@Elicx what about all the callbacks expanding information for things that happened in previous episodes.

@nashowers ...there weren't any? We already knew she'd been bitten on the arm before.

@Elicx Yes, we knew she had been bite that is a call back. You get to see her get bitten and how. Plus
1. We get to see Ellie’s training to be a fedra officer in the fedra military school call back to ep 1 when Marlene said she put her there.
2. We meet Riley callback to ep 1 when Ellie calls Marlene a terrorist and Marlene asks if Riley was a terrorist.
3. We learn where Ellie got her book of puns call back to ep 4(I think)where she’s been sharing it with Joel and now we know why it’s important enough for her to keep.
4. We learn more about Ellie’s lack of family (mentioned episode 1).
5. We see her fight and kill her first infected with a pocket knife callback to when she also try to attack Joel much the same way in ep 1.
6. We see Ellie think she’s going to die. Call back to ep 1 when her and Marlene discuss weather she’s going to turn.
7. We see that Riley got bitten as well which is likely her first experience with loss (the one she is relating to with Joel over the loss of his daughter Sarah in episode 6)

Those don’t include the character development or world building.

Just to make sure we are on the same page we are talking about ep 7 right ?

@nashowers None of those details are important or interesting. A story doesn't require callbacks to every single aspect of a character's background to be compelling. All this episode does is pad the season to make up for a lack of barebones story, and it's not the first to do so either.

@Keldian everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I disagree though, While it’s true that not every aspect of a character needs a callback and maybe not all of those points I made are interesting and/or important to everyone(some may not even be interesting and/or important to me). Doesn’t me they weren’t there and aren’t interesting and/or important to anyone.

I think I and a lot of others found it interesting to see the story of how Ellie got bitten and the circumstances surrounding it. I know I for one did and appreciated it.

I think I and a lot of people found it important to understand the loss that Ellie endured. It’s what is connecting her and Joel, which it may not have been the original basis for their relationship but is what it has now morphed into. It’s why their connection continues to grow.

Joel is looking to fill that that parental role that the loss of his daughter caused. She’s looking for someone to care about some form of family like the way she likely felt about Riley since she never knew her parents or as far as we know has never cared about anyone else as much.

I also think it’s a bit too soon to say anything in this episode is unimportant, uninteresting sure(that’s an opinion) but unimportant. We don’t know how, if and when something from this episode might play to something in a future episode.

Again this doesn’t even cover the character and world building elements of the episode.

Movies have prequels, tv shows have flash back episodes it’s the nature of the beast and obviously how the creators envisioned the show.

They could have told this story first but if they had it would have been less impactful.

I think people forget or don’t realize that the show is considered a drama and thriller. I think people are under the misconception that this is an action and/or horror show, sure it has those elements but it’s not it primary genre.

Maybe it’s too nuanced for everyone and that’s fine. Not everyone one is going too like every show and that’s fine. Sometime people start a show and abandon it because it’s not what they thought it was going to be and/or lose interest and that’s fine. Sometimes shows have episodes that some like and others don’t and that’s fine. Sometimes shows have episodes that you do like and ones that you don’t like and thats fine. In the end though it’s part of the larger story. Which I think can be uninteresting at times sure but that doesn’t necessarily make it unimportant, especially when it’s to early to tell.

I hope you find the future episodes interesting and/or important should you choose to continue to watch and if you don’t, I hope you find a show you do fine interesting and/or important.

Thank you for sharing your opinions and taking the time to read mine.