The Last Of US (TV) fans are calling controversial Episode 3 best television episode ever

This article is completely spoiler-free.

imdb.png

The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a fungal pandemic has wiped out much of humanity. The story follows Joel, a hardened survivor, and Ellie, a young girl who is immune to the virus, as they journey across the country to reach the resistance group known as the Fireflies. Along the way, they encounter hostile survivors and dangerous mutated creatures as they attempt to survive and find a way to reach their destination. Throughout the game, the relationship between Joel and Ellie deepens as they rely on each other for survival and support. In the third episode of the TV series, new characters are introduced among which prepper survivalist Bill and his partner Frank.

The first episode of the TV adaptation aired on the 15th of January and received immense praise from fans and critics, currently standing at 9.2/10 on IMDB with over 50 thousand votes. The series itself is currently rated 9.3 by 115K users, making it one of the highest-rated TV series ever. But last Sunday, after the third episode aired, some reviews praised the episode as one of the best television episode ever.

offerman.jpg


Here are some of the headlines you can find in the press at the moment (beware - if you click the links you may get a few spoilers):
  • IGN: 10/10 - Episode 3 of HBO’s The Last of Us is a sensational hour of television.
  • Esquire - The Last of Us Episode 3 Is a TV Moment We'll Never Forget
  • Dexterto - One of the best TV episodes of all time
  • GamesRadar - An early contender for one of 2023's best episodes
  • CNet - A gut-wrenching masterpiece
I could go on. Yet, as you can see on the above IMDB ratings chart, with the high number of 1-star ratings, the episode stirred quite a controversy. If you have watched the episode, you can easily understand (but not necessarily condone) why a certain part of the population may have had a hard time with this episode.

What about you? Have you watched this episode? Are you one of the lovers, or the haters? Comments may contain spoilers - be ready for it. Most importantly, please stay civil and respect each other's point of views.
 
Last edited by Costello,

Costello

Headmaster
OP
Administrator
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
14,197
Trophies
4
XP
19,621
Some people are criticizing the episode because it deviated from source material:



The game's creator Neil Druckmann was interviewed by Deadline about the episode, find the interview here:
https://deadline.com/2023/01/the-la...rman-murray-bartlett-pedro-pascal-1235242560/

DEADLINE: Not sure if “risk” is the right word, but I can’t imagine the immense pressure you both had in creating this adaptation. More specifically, in expanding and creating a new narrative for Bill and Frank that is so different from the source material. What was going through your mind? And why did you feel that you needed to tell the story this way?

DRUCKMANN:
I’ll give you a little bit of my perspective, which was if you were to ask me before I met Craig, would I be willing to take one of the most iconic characters from the game and change their fate? I would’ve been like, hell no. It’s got to be like it is in the game. And it’s like that for a reason. But at that point, I’ve been working with Craig on the first several episodes, and then we started talking about this one and what we could do with it. And there was just the idea of taking a break because the last episode was so intense, and we lost Tess. And then presenting a counterpoint of, well, we saw what you stand to lose and what do you stand to gain?

And there was also taking advantage of a medium that’s very different from games that we could change perspective. We don’t have to stay with our two heroes the entire journey, and we don’t have to stay in the same time and location. We could actually jump around in time quite a bit. And that afforded me the opportunity to tell this kind of story. So, when Craig pitched it to me pretty fully, it evolved over time, but it was mostly there. And again, the faith of the character is 180 degrees different from what happens in the game. It was so beautiful and moving and kind of hit the mark as far as speaking to the themes and increasing the stakes for Joel and Ellie in an interesting way. Even though we’re deviating so much, I felt completely comfortable saying, “Absolutely, let’s do this. This is such a great idea.”

but this isn't the main reason why there are so many 1-star reviews :rolleyes:
 

pustal

Yeah! This is happenin'!
Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
1,547
Trophies
2
Location
Emerald Coast
Website
web.archive.org
XP
6,051
Country
Portugal

samcambolt270

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Messages
1,158
Trophies
0
XP
2,787
Country
United States
My only complaint about the episode is killing off bill. One of the main messages of the show was pushing on through loss and continuing on for the betterment those who follow even if you feel like you have nothing left. Having Bill just kill himself just doesn't feel right. Frank was all about filling the world with beauty through his flowers and paintings, so I feel a more poignant ending would be bill moving on, maybe taking up painting or finding a new reason to live and letting franks memory live on in him through what time he had left.
 

x65943

hunger games round 29 big booba winner
Supervisor
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
6,190
Trophies
3
Location
ΗΠΑ
XP
25,853
Country
United States
My only complaint about the episode is killing off bill. One of the main messages of the show was pushing on through loss and continuing on for the betterment those who follow even if you feel like you have nothing left. Having Bill just kill himself just doesn't feel right. Frank was all about filling the world with beauty through his flowers and paintings, so I feel a more poignant ending would be bill moving on, maybe taking up painting or finding a new reason to live and letting franks memory live on in him through what time he had left.
I guess I should have expected spoilers in this thread,

ah well. I guess I can watch it in a few years when I forget this

(yeah I played the game but since they changed a bit I was wondering how they would deal with that character)
 
  • Like
Reactions: xkrazykidx

Justinde75

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
2,529
Trophies
1
Age
23
XP
4,521
Country
Germany
I don't know if I am getting old and I am just not interested in other things anymore but as someone who absolutely loved the original since its launch, I never played 2 or watched an episode of this. All I had to hear is that it doesnt really have the same story as the game and I instantly lost all interest in it.
 

x65943

hunger games round 29 big booba winner
Supervisor
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
6,190
Trophies
3
Location
ΗΠΑ
XP
25,853
Country
United States
Read them they all say its BS that Neil is just killing fan favorites again for shock value. the positives reviews are all off topic and unintelligible nonsense typed.... Botting plain and simple again.
This is off topic and unintelligible nonsense?

1675136111728.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: pustal

Costello

Headmaster
OP
Administrator
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
14,197
Trophies
4
XP
19,621
I don't know if I am getting old and I am just not interested in other things anymore but as someone who absolutely loved the original since its launch, I never played 2 or watched an episode of this. All I had to hear is that it doesnt really have the same story as the game and I instantly lost all interest in it.
It's got the same story as the game, it's almost impressively identical in some ways, the way they recreated scenes, backgrounds, dialogs

However, some of the secondary character storylines have been expanded - under the direction/guidance of Neil Druckmann himself.

If you don't watch it you may miss out on something really good :) but nowadays there is so many shows to watch already, so I guess to each their own.
 

pustal

Yeah! This is happenin'!
Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
1,547
Trophies
2
Location
Emerald Coast
Website
web.archive.org
XP
6,051
Country
Portugal
Read them they all say its BS that Neil is just killing fan favorites again for shock value. the positives reviews are all off topic and unintelligible nonsense typed.... Botting plain and simple again.

I read them, that's why I commented what I commented.

Also this episode is directed by Peter Hoar and written by Craig Mazin.
Post automatically merged:

It's got the same story as the game, it's almost impressively identical in some ways, the way they recreated scenes, backgrounds, dialogs

However, some of the secondary character storylines have been expanded - under the direction/guidance of Neil Druckmann himself.

If you don't watch it you may miss out on something really good :) but nowadays there is so many shows to watch already, so I guess to each their own.

The idea that an adaptation has to be the exact same as the source material is kinda silly. What would be the point of an adaptation then? To tell the same exact story to people who can't pick up a controller or can't read a book?
 

pustal

Yeah! This is happenin'!
Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
1,547
Trophies
2
Location
Emerald Coast
Website
web.archive.org
XP
6,051
Country
Portugal

Costello

Headmaster
OP
Administrator
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
14,197
Trophies
4
XP
19,621
Gotta admit though, not as on toppic and readable as this one:

View attachment 350322

But here's a sample of continuous bad reviews instead of cherry picking just one:
View attachment 350323
last week's Fox News headline: Microsoft pushing woke green agenda
this week's Fox News headline: HBO pushing woke gay agenda
rinse and repeat :)

fox_and_friends_-_06_00_01_am_1.jpg
 

K3Nv2

Village Idiot
Member
Joined
May 26, 2013
Messages
1,399
Trophies
3
Age
32
XP
4,705
Country
United States
Part of me feels like it would of done way better in views had it launched in the walking dead days but still from what I said before, it's alright but just feels like any other zombie flick out there.
 
Last edited by K3Nv2,
  • Like
Reactions: drazenm

BlazeMasterBM

I Eat Garlics
Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2020
Messages
929
Trophies
1
Age
20
Location
the snow
XP
3,076
Country
United States
IMDb scores are very unreliable. They go from one extreme to another.

It was a good episode.
review sites in general are unreliable. I always form my own opinions and I think it's subjective. One thing one person likes could be trash to someone else. Everyone has their own tastes.

That being said, the episode was nothing special. I didn't like it. It felt a bit out of place for the whole series.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty: Good night