The Last of Us - HBO Series [Spoilers after episodes have aired -- no game spoilers]

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Bostonians up in arms about geography taking them out of the show lol

https://www.reddit.com/r/Thelastofus..._on_episode_2/

To be fair, I can only sympathize with them after seeing what they did to represent the Calgary '88 Olympics in the Eddie the Eagle movie with Hugh Jackman. Ruined it for me!

Those townies can take a wicked pissah in tah yahd!

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

The clickers are legitimately scary.

Great hour of TV

[chemgear]

After two episodes, the only complaint I could really have was the continuity of the chicken sandwich.

EDIT:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1617545005907968004

[FireGilbert]

Pretty cool seeing a Calgary landmark done up for the apocalypse.

Solid 2nd episode. Enjoyed the intro providing more background and then a well written story to follow. The plot was easy to understand, getting from A to B with obstacles in the way, with good pacing that crammed in a lot of details and characterization. Good use of tension and I enjoyed the clicker introduction. Only gripe was that"kiss" that looked cool but didn't seem to fit with what we'd seen of the infected so far. Maybe they are going for something with the cordyceps hive mind or the infected having some humanity inside.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

She's not British. She's Australian.

I knew she was of the Vegemite persuasion. Not some Marmite pommie

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Lyanna Mormont in our northern stomping ground

we've been honoured

[Johnny Makarov]

She steals every scene. Continuation from game of thrones.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Pretty cool seeing a Calgary landmark done up for the apocalypse.

Solid 2nd episode. Enjoyed the intro providing more background and then a well written story to follow. The plot was easy to understand, getting from A to B with obstacles in the way, with good pacing that crammed in a lot of details and characterization. Good use of tension and I enjoyed the clicker introduction. Only gripe was that"kiss" that looked cool but didn't seem to fit with what we'd seen of the infected so far. Maybe they are going for something with the cordyceps hive mind or the infected having some humanity inside.

This was covered in an interview with the show runners. The only reason the infected attack people is to subdue them to spread the fungus. Tess was already infected and she was losing control of her body, so there was no reason for the zombie dude to attack her. Transferring the tendrils through the "kiss" was simply the most efficient way to speed up the process and connect a new body to the network

[blankall]

Wow. Really loving this show so far. Amazing how great this is and how bad the Uncharted adaptation was.

As for the "kiss". I thought that was conveyed pretty well. They could sense she was already infected and were just transferring more fungus to her. Either to speed up the process or connect her to their network. The fact she was still conscious didn't matter, at all the infected are still conscious to some degree, they just lose total control to the fungus. From the infected point of view, she was just another infected.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

I knew she was of the Vegemite persuasion. Not some Marmite pommie

Calling an Aussie a Brit? You've made an enemy for LIFE!!

As for 'The Kiss,' that was creepy and disgusting...fantastic! I'd call that 'job done.'

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by blankall

Wow. Really loving this show so far. Amazing how great this is and how bad the Uncharted adaptation was.

As for the "kiss". I thought that was conveyed pretty well. They could sense she was already infected and were just transferring more fungus to her. Either to speed up the process or connect her to their network. The fact she was still conscious didn't matter, at all the infected are still conscious to some degree, they just lose total control to the fungus. From the infected point of view, she was just another infected.

That actually makes this a lot more terrifying than standard zombies. In something like Walking Dead, you die and then get reanimated, so your consciousness is gone. But what if in TLOU you never actually lose consciousness, you just lose control of your body? It's like locked in syndrome but way worse

[Swift]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I didn't know they'd keep so much of Calgary recognizable in a post-apocalypse setting

Yep, though the downtown vacancy rate is far more severe than I realised.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

That actually makes this a lot more terrifying than standard zombies. In something like Walking Dead, you die and then get reanimated, so your consciousness is gone. But what if in TLOU you never actually lose consciousness, you just lose control of your body? It's like locked in syndrome but way worse

I think if your brain is replaced by mushrooms then your consciousness is gone.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

That actually makes this a lot more terrifying than standard zombies. In something like Walking Dead, you die and then get reanimated, so your consciousness is gone. But what if in TLOU you never actually lose consciousness, you just lose control of your body? It's like locked in syndrome but way worse

Observation from video game of infected, which some may consider spoilerish (not a plot point):

Spoiler!

In the video game you'd see the infected crying at points, which suggested they were aware of what they were doing, but just with no ability to control it.

As wormius stated the fungus eventually takes over large parts of the head, but I doubt it would totally take over the brain, as you'd still need that for basic function of your body, Ex: breathing, movement, etc... Also, when you stab a clicker in the head, you kill it, suggesting the brain is still a very important organ, even at later stages of infection. The clickers also claw at the growths on their face.

It's never been confirmed that the infected are still conscious, but heavily suggested they are.

[Fuzz]

Well that's nightmare fuel. At least in TWD they are dead dead.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by blankall

Video game spoiler

See, that video game comment is potentially a spoiler. That could be brought up in a future episode.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Regardless, it's clearly an open question in the world of the show how "dead" the person inside an infected is, or what degree of consciousness they have left. The cold open to episode 1 made the point that fungus can affect the way you think, so it's entirely possible that there's a semi-functioning person in there who has simply had the fungus affect its brain to conclude that the only thing it needs to be doing at all times is spreading the infection. I would think that in that state, at least, you wouldn't have the sort of human consciousness we have, but would be a lot more like a fairly base animal that is more just acting on instinct.

Still, obviously, one of the most horrifying concepts of what zombification could be like.

[devo22]

I really liked that Jakarta flashback in the beginning. It's great that they add scenes to give some background regarding the outbreak and explain the infection in more detail.

I thought it was clever that they gave Ellie a second bite to drive home the point that she really is immune, whereas Tess, who was bitten at the same time, is deteriorating fast. They obviously used spores in the game to do this, but since they're not using those in the series, the second bite was a good choice. The infection "kiss", I'm less sure about ... even with Mazins explanation, that was weird af.

Absolutely loved the scenery. I've always felt the world in TLOU with nature taking over was stunning, and the series is no different from the games in that regard. It's pretty funny to read the location watching stuff, I'm sure this is an awesome aspect for you guys. Thought the second clicker looked a bit weird, but I loved how they introduced them to the series. Still not 100 percent convinced by Bella Ramsey in her role as Ellie, but I think it's coming.

Looking forward to Bill and Frank.

[Flames0910]

"Bomb" was awesome at conveying the gravity of the situation -- it built on the "game over" line from the previous episode and you could see her realizing there was no real hope.

Also IDK why you'd expect a scientist to have a perfect understanding of the tactical tools that might be available but I can absolutely see somebody saying "#### it, our only hope is to nuke the cities".

Also as a non-videogame viewer, I thought the kiss was incredible. It was also set up in the opening scene with the tendrils coming out of the infected's mouth while on the table.

[chemgear]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1617957108393324544