In the realm of episodic television, the series’ latest instalment has already garnered a reputation as a potential masterpiece. It is also divisive, as it deviates significantly from the source material in some key aspects. While some fans may appreciate the creative liberties taken by the showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, others may feel betrayed by the changes that alter the characters’ essence and relationships.
First and foremost, we must talk about Nick Offerman’s masterful performance—it’s easily the best of his career and a testament to his acting abilities. He brings the character to life in a way that’s nothing short of skilful. Offerman delivers a nuanced and layered portrayal in his portrayal of Bill, a gruff and paranoid survivalist who hides his vulnerability behind a mask of cynicism and sarcasm.
Yet, while there is much to admire in the third instalment, I can’t help but air out some concerns about the changes made. While I don’t mind the alterations to Bill and Frank’s storyline—since that is par for the course nowadays—I do mind the portrayal of Ellie by Bella Ramsey. Ramsey’s depiction of the character is distant from the Ellie we know and love from the games. The personality traits and characteristics that made Ellie such a complex and interesting character are lost in this adaptation. The acting is tonally inconsistent, lacking in nuance and failing to evoke any sense of empathy from the viewer. Ramsey looks nothing like Ellie from the game, which is not necessarily a problem if she can embody her personality.
The writing is also to blame for not giving the character any complexity or emotion, lacking the fire, bravery, compassion, and vulnerability that made Ellie so real and relatable in the game. Her relationship with Joel also suffers from a lack of development and chemistry. The father-daughter bond that is essential to the story seems to be neglected in the series so far. I hope that these issues will be resolved in the remaining episodes because they are holding back an otherwise superb show.
That said, we’re only three episodes in, and there’s still plenty of time for the show to course-correct and iron out these issues. While I’m not a purist who only insists on 100 per cent faithful adaptations of the source material, changes must be made with great care and attention to detail.
01x03 - Long, Long Time: 7.8/10 (Good)
(321-word review) My first thought after the episode was over is that critics and your average audience are incredibly extravagant, especially with their words. Critics considered this episode the season's best by far, with some considering it among the best television. Most average viewers seemingly agree on top of the ocean of tears accompanying that. Extravagant.
Regardless, this episode was different than the game, and I'm not saying that negatively. Its intention, in my opinion, seemed to concern filling in a gap/expanding the backstory of Bill and Frank since there wasn't any of this in the game; the outcome/ending of everything related to that, however, strayed off the source material path. I'm sure some people didn't like that part, but I didn't care that much. Let's face it. If you're not Joel, Ellie, or Tommy, you're not that important, with less screen time to boot in the game. That applies to who I'm talking about, whether people like it or not.
While I never became all choked up or full-on bawling, which is 100% the reaction by the majority and is a little baffling, this episode was well-done.
The cinematography by Eben Bolter was great, and that first shot (as Joel walks away from the stream) took me a second to realize what a fantastic one it was. The score, especially the cue during the montage of Bill and Frank leading up to the dinner, was good.
Nick Offerman's acting was good, and from the sound of his voice, he also tapped into the consciousness of Nicolas Cage; Murray Bartlett's acting wasn't as good but still decent, and I noticed Frank's resemblance in the present to Jordan Peterson. And the final scenes with Joel and Ellie were their best moments yet.
The catch is I wasn't on board with the arguable point of this episode, which was swaying the emotions and opening the tear ducts. That's not me.
Sufficiently entertaining, though.
Looking back, from the perspective of a person who played the game many times, this is both a great love letter to long time fans, and gives a new spin on a well done character that had the potential for some really good lore, which was presented quite well here. I'm happy with the direction of where they went with Bill & Frank's story. I have no clue where they will be going in the next episode, so I will be watching closely to see if they go crazy off trail in the next episodes, but this one felt good. As a piece of work, this hit the emotional marks alongside the story aspects quite well, while also tying in the stories of our main characters throughout the episode. I'm trying to grasp the lens of what a first time watcher would be experiencing, such as those who haven't played the game. I wouldn't call it a filler episode, but it does hit the mark of a self contained story, though it connects to our main story, and helps continue Joel and Ellie's journey. This episode reminds me of what you would see in a show like Atlanta on FX, where the entire episode revolves a self-contained story of one character, and then the main characters would show up at the end, and possibly mentioned or pop up throughout the episode. This was a pretty rough ramble, but it was well done in the sense of a self contained story, branching off of our main journey with Ellie and Joel, which I do appreciate in many shows. This episode contains such beautiful and heavy themes, and it is interesting to show that there are bright spots like this within the bleak world of The Last Of Us.
In the end, I enjoyed this episode, I am pretty happy we got some really juicy Bill and Frank lore. I wish we got to see some conversations with Ellie and grumpy Bill , but it's alright, I'm sure we will be able to whiteness more fun Ellie moments throughout the rest of the show. By the way, the performances were absolutely beautiful. I managed to really connect to these characters, and hang on to what they had to say, alongside the amount of empathy I had for them. A beautiful story was told, and though it is different than the source material, which I typically am not a fan of, I was happy to be brought on this lovely adventure.
It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm waiting for my photos to render, so I decided to comment on this episode while I wait lol. I am very tired so mind my poor grammar lmao
This was a truly beautiful thing to watch. The whole cast and crew working at the highest level possible to make a genuine masterwork.
In general though, I hope people just accept that this is not a video game. The Last of Us was my favorite PS3 game. The Last of Us II was my favorite PS4 game. People who can't accept that they are not the same will be disappointed time and time again in the future if they keep expecting things to play out the same way. Accept that the games are an inspiration for a TV show and that many things that work in video games do not necessarily work in a live action medium. The show itself can't be all actiony all the time because frankly it would be entirely unrealistic for Joel to continue to live through constant fights with zombies, especially when in this world one bite and you're done. There's no cutting off a limb or anything else to stop the spread. Unless you're Ellie, if you get infected you die. There's no way if they were constantly fighting he'd make it like you can in a video game. You can't reload if you get mortally wounded when you're doing a TV show.
Usual disclaimer: never played the game, so I'm judging the series - not how much it resembles the videogame or how much it portrays my love for it.
Saying this cause of the amount of overenthusiastic reviews by fans of the game, which put this next to the greatest series ever after 2 episodes...
I found out a thing I never thought about before: the show is suffering a little for bringing too faithfully the videogame experience in some scenes. Which translated to a series some standard horror movie choices. It happened last time with the clicker sitch: it happens that they have to pass through a dark museum, creates a great setting for a videogame bit, but it's a little forced for a series/movie. Here again when Ellie goes in the basement alone. Come on. We can create 270 horrors by having a protagonist go into every basement, every corridor, every empty house and dark corner.. but it should have a solid motivation, not "girl thinks it's a good idea to go alone in a manhole in a infected-creatures world, finds a creature and decides to go close cause why not".
It does its best when it's telling a story and showing a world: through flashbacks, interactions, travelling.. when it goes too much into the "videogame level" kind of stuff, it gets redundant.
The part with Bill & Frank was remarkable, sweet and tragic and human at once. A depiction of a life spent together and what makes it worth living.
small IMO: Nick Offerman should try to convey emotions with his voice as well, his tone hardly changes
Linda Ronstadt - Long long time:
Love will abide, take things in stride
Sounds like good advice but there's no one at my side
And time washes clean love's wounds unseen
That's what someone told me but I don't know what it means
'Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you for a long long time
Caught in my fears
Blinking back the tears
I can't say you hurt me when you never let me near
And I never drew one response from you
All the while you fell all over girls you never knew
'Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I think it's gonna hurt me for a long long time
Wait for the day
You'll go away
Knowing that you warned me of the price I'd have to pay
And life's full of flaws
Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory of a love that never was
'Cause I've done everything I know to try and change your mind
And I think I'm gonna miss you for a long long time
'Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you for a long long time
Review by DAVY XVIP EP 5BlockedParent2023-09-13T06:28:23Z
8.5/10
Sensational
Well that was left field
and no iconic meeting
of Ellie and Bill
plus the upside down
survival set-piece scene,
I was really looking forward
to seeing that all
play out in the live
action show it would have
been Epic.
that being said
and having a hole
1H 17M
deviation by the end I
was sold on the massive
change up.
Bill and Frank's sexual
preference was never
ever stated in the game
Bill only refers to
Frank as his partner*
because originally
Neil Druckmann
wrote Bill and Frank
as police Detectives
before the world went
to hell in a hand basket,
hence partner*
but later Neil rewrote
Bills back story so
the
audience/game players
could interpret for
themselves
If they believed
Bill and Frank
were Straight or Gay.
Neil purposely left
that open in the game
for everyone to have
their own personal
Interpretation,
but not once is it
ever stated either way
After Neil changed it
before the games official
release
(June 14th 2013).
So okay we've had
No interpretation
Interpretation
No Question speaks
for itself.
Do I prefer the games
Events at that part
Yes definitely
(If it ain't broke..)
was this episode a
Gamble, yes
but at the end of this
episode for me it
Landed and hit me right
in the feels so it still got
the job done of what it
needed to achieve.