Notably absent is ya know, the racism.  I mean its not hard to notice the extreme hatred for Meghan and the fact she's not white.  Also I adore that monarch fans keep getting offended at the fact the family is racist.  Its a monarchy, they live in a castle, they are only special because of blood quantum.  Come on.

That’s exactly where I am at. It’s a perfectly serviceable (and pretty faithful) adaptation of the game’s story, but when I am actually getting invested is when they are going off on tangents and fleshing out / tweaking stuff that we didn’t get to see in the games, which was exactly what I was hoping for when they…

One of the reasons the exception you’re talking about makes such a big impact is precisely because we haven’t encountered anybody like this person for the entire game up to that point. In a way, it sort of lets the players’ guard down. Every single encounter with key characters were people we had to work with in some…

The hunters were just a faceless obstacle. Works in the game, but makes for a very boring TV series. Fleshing them out is exactly what I want from an adaptation.

I had been a little let down as the adaptive process of turning the game into a show has, so far, left out the recreation of specific, memorable action sequences from the game.

Excellent observation! Wish I’d made it myself.

Watching this episode knowing how it was goong to end was rough. 

Oh, they say that, too!

Chants of “freedom!” are heard rising from a crowd

One thing the show is doing exceptionally well is building up the dread - you know the other shoe is going to drop but you don’t know when and how it happens (not even the game fans cause they change things up quite a bit).

I’m not sure if you’ve played the games or not, but the character work they’re doing is essential, not ‘padding’. TLOU was never a Walking Dead-style hordes of zombies game (or show), the heroes’ relationship is the reason it exists, and it’s also as much about evil humans as it is about the infected. I’m really…

Seriously, where was the padding? The author complains nothing happened in the tunnels but that’s where the characters bonded. It was absolutely essential to the story. Without it there was no point whatsoever. And it was a subversion of expectations after the scene of the bulging floor last week, you definitely…

I would say there’s a payoff. This might be subjective, but for me the Last of Us has managed to do what Game of Thrones never quite did. It manages to make the human drama feel real and important and dangerous, and then reminds you how meaningless it is in the face of something bigger.

I agree. This was more a linger than a dawdle, akin to that in Better Call Saul. The only downside was spending time with the resistance leaders only for them to become fungusfodder with no real payoff.

I’m the first one to call out an episode, or a whole show for being painfully plodding (Mayfair Witches and The Watchful Eye are two shows that I’m rapidly growing impatient with), but, to me, this episode did not feel like it was ‘dawdling’.

i laughed when they revealed it was an old man who was the sniper. i played a lot of mgs3 growing up so i could only think of joel vs the end

never heard of gamers jumping to conclusions and complaining before. particularly about nintendo games. 

Would you settle for a wisecracking hat?

Why not? They already gave us a game where Link *is* the shape-changing dog friend.

This game is too much like one of the greatest games of all time.