A few of my own thoughts after finally catching up (and coughing up the money for Crave).
- Pedro is excellent as Joel. If I'm splitting hairs, I wish they'd thicken up his beard a bit and he'd be a perfect match.
- Bella as Ellie was really good. I kinda felt like something was missing thru the first three episodes, and I finally figured it out. There's nothing missing, but Ashley Johnson just did such an amazing and iconic portrayal of Ellie and Bella's performance is just different. It would be like if someone tried to play Gandalf after Ian Mckellan absolutely owned the character. They might do great, but they'll never be Ian.
Potential game spoiler, but not really.
- Loved the Jakarta story and the scientist was awesome. "I've studied this my whole life, so listen carefully to what I say"
- Offerman and Bartlett's acting was sublime in S1E3. I didn't know Offerman was in the show, so when he was introduced as Bill I was like whaaaaa. But delighted.
- They moved a ladder! (Ladder Moving Simulator meme)
- The deviation from the game was a bit jarring. I kept expecting the worst to happen and it didn't. There was an important lesson for Joel at the end of it, but the show went about teaching the lesson in a WAYYYY different way than the game. It was obviously really well done but I was really excited for an action packed episode, and so felt a bit disappointed that all we got was 3-4 humans lit on fire. Plus, there was supposed to be a lot of interaction between Bill, Joel and Ellie.
- Offerman was an extreme doomsday prepper. He thought of everything, including how to rebuild a battery. The more unrealistic thing is that his generator lasting 20 years. Also, suspend your belief a little bit for crying out loud. It's a zombie show.
- Joel still doesn't trust Ellie. It takes a long time, thats why he doesn't let her have a gun.
Overall I am freaking thrilled with this show, and I will immediately play the game after the season.