That last scene....from my favorite video game of the last decade...and my favorite Depeche Mode song ever.... F*@king 'chefs kiss'. This is how you adapt a video game!!!
Pedro Pascal (Joel) was in Game of Thrones, Mandalorian, Narcos and a bunch of other popular well-known media. Surprised you didn't know of him before.
much better than TWD Spoiler Ellie just appearing out of nowhere captured, and they just use some quick dialogue to explain how she got there. Felt like a scene was missing. I'm guessing they will fill in her backstory as the show goes on.
The girl who plays Ellie is most notable for being in Game of Thrones. Tommy was the bad terminator in the last Terminator movie. Marlene is the actual voice actor from the game, also played Alyx Vance in Half Life 2. Plus you can see Nick Offerman from Parks and Rec in previews for upcoming episodes.
Early shot of the roadsigns at the t-intersection: interstate 183W to the left and FM58 east to the right, first goes to Austin, 2nd to San Marcos.... That made me chuckle a bit.
Real good first episode. Going to torture me that this wasn't a series drop and it's a slow drip week to week. A few differences to the game, I guess some of them were needed to flesh it out to fit as a tv show. Only thing I really didn't like was they sort of brushed over way too quickly the reveal at the end. I'm hoping it's because it'll be touched on much more in the next episode. Felt the game captured that far better than the end of episode 1 did. Poor video game Sarah. Guess the world wasn't ready for a blonde girl. EDIT: Now I think about it I wish they didn't deviate from the opening of the game either with regards to the neighbour. Sarah didn't enter their house, they entered Joel's. Felt that was better in the game.
The action scenes so far were better than the scenes in the game. This episode covered a lot. How many episodes is this going to be?
The narrative and atmosphere of the game were always the strong points, the gameplay was frankly secondary. Every thing about this was tailor made for a great adaptation.
Spoiler If I recall, Ellie was just hanging out with Marlene in the game when Joel first meets her? It's been years since I played the Left Behind DLC, but I think Ellie's friend Riley was a young Firefly and that's how Ellie knew Marlene. But that appears to be different in the show
Lots of beautiful shots. 9/10 Ill say though that the beginning hits way harder on my emotions in the video game. I think some of the cutting didn't allow for us to feel it the same way or it could be that I personally thought it was weird that his daughter didn't look like it would be his daughter. She did really good and she's adorable but I never felt a real father and daughter chemistry between them. You could always argue adopted or his wives previous child with another man and that's fine but with the video game scene in mind? It was hard to make that change visually. If a Latin man like pedro had a kid with a blonde woman, the kid very well could still look like the video game Sarah but show Sarah looks like she'd be the daughter of video game Tommy and a black woman or maybe a Mariah carey type. I know there's a ton of families who don't look the part on the outside but absolutely share genetics. Just super odd to me and then they seemed like big brother and little sister in the scenes they had together and there's no dynamic or parallel between Sarah and Ellie kind of being similar for Joel to internally struggle with. I find casting decisions like that really baffling. No knock on the kid. She's beautiful and did great. The aesthetic carryover from Chernobyl mixed with the video game is perfect for a live action adaptation. Im so glad hbomax is finally releasing their big shows in 4k with hdr/Dolby vision and Dolby atmos surround.
I'm so happy for Naughty Dog and they deserve all the flowers. I still remember how amazing the game was and the show has stuck with the source material and hasn't ****ed anything up. Depeche mode to top it off? I nutted.
I see you've given this some thought and I respect that. I just will never understand how people think something like that could ever matter on what amounts to an apocalyptic fantasy show. With all due respect, it ain't the history channel. I'm sorry it draws you out of the fantasy, but how she looks doesn't matter. As you well stated, she did an amazing job. Edit: maybe mother was creole? Trying to help you figure out a way to enjoy the fantasy in your head.
Well you tend to see the same reactions whenever there is an adaptation of something we've already shaped in our minds in terms of how the characters and the landscape looks. I'd have just as big a problem if they set this story in Hong Kong for example because the city backdrops can also be characters in their own way. The opening scene is pivitol in the story and one of the few times a video game ever brought me to tears and so quickly after starting it. Maybe it's just too much i'm putting on Sarah, but it did feel like she's Joels real daughters bff or something. Maybe the scene hit hard for people who never played or have seen the video game scene. *I rewatched the video game scene and yeah it's just better acted and no cutting to Tommy and dragging a bit too long, game scene just focused on Joel and Sarah and it hits quick and she's gone in the blink of an eye and Joels reaction is so Joel that it's even more heartbreaking compared to Pedro acting with panic and desperation which is understandable, but far from Joels character. Sarah's squeal makes my stomach churn. It's just better done and acted physically and vocally in the video game.
