Episode 7: Left Behind

We are media. Hello every one, and welcome to of Mushrooms and Men, a last of Us podcast. I am one of your hosts, the host of the Culture Cast, Chris dash You, and I'm joined by my good friend and he is the co host of this show. He is a clicker at heart. He loves to click in the night.

You might hear him clicking around to your neighborhood, your friend and mine, You're sharp and you are the riley to my Ellie. No, how dare an African American character or died to have a white character be the savior of this show? Hey, does anybody know that this is based off of a video game? And like that's what happens in the game. Now, Like I saw a Slash Films review and they were like, how dare an African American characterized the white character could be the savior?

And it's like, how dare you not literally realize what this is based off of? Because like they were gonna do this this way, they were never One of the things they were never going to change was this because there was no reason for them to change, not to mention, like pretty much everyone dies except for like I mean not like again, like a spose. I'm generally like when they got to the show. Besides Joel and Ellie, it's a post apocalyptic show for fuck's sake. Like, I don't know what you guys expected on this episode of Mushrooms and Men we're gonna be talking about.

The seventh episode of HBO's latest adaptation is something that they didn't own ahead of time, the Last of Us. So this episode is titled Left Behind. It is directed by Lisa Johnson and written once again by Neil Druckman and its stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal as Jelly Jelly and Ellie Joel I mean Jelly, I mean hey, you know Joel and Ellie stars them as Ellie and Joel once again, except this time it's a flashback episode featuring and focusing all on what Ellie was up to before she met Joel, Marlene and Tess and what was she up to, Well, she was in a Fedra school, Fedra boarding school, and she met a girl, fell in love with the girl, and then they went and snuck off to a mall together. And that's that's the setup of this episode, folks.

It is focusing on the DLC titled Left Behind from the Last of Us video game that this show is an adaptation of. So all of that out of the way, Yeshar, what did you think of this? I think we would both agree inevitable episode. This was the episode we knew what was going to happen. I think, yeah, well, I wasn't one hundred percent sure if they were going to do the DLC, but they mentioned Riley a couple of times earlier in the season, and it did.

Like you said, it seemed inevitable. And then once we saw the episode title, it's named the same thing as the DLCU. Yeah, we get basically all all the backstory that you ever get in the game for Ellie is here about like who she is, why she is, the way she is, where she came from. Um. I think Liza Johnson directed this episode.

I don't know if she directed any other episodes in this season. I don't think she did, but she also directed an episode of The Sex Lives of College Girls, which the show I also really enjoy and could also be the title of this episode or What We Do in the Shadows another show that she's directed episode. He said that I know if Matthew Berry was in this show, it would be I think a lot different of a show. My god, look at those fun guy men chasing after us, what are they doing? But yeah, you get to see like where Ellie comes from a little bit more on the federal part.

And I think we've talked about how it's interesting how we see like the different areas of feder and how they integrate with people's lives, and I think we get a really good scene with was it Terry Chen early on that kind of it's like maybe be closer to even probably a little better than Joel's experience, but definitely like very far moved from the Casey Fedra and you and you kind of see how they establish like a sort of meaningful society in a in a way where you have the Fireflies being portrayed as more anarchists, and I think even Ellie kind of pushes Riley on that point, and you kind of see, like it's definitely not black and white, like what's good, what's bad? And I like that the show gives us more of that, and you see that that like there's not necessarily a great answer to the question of what's the bay best way to have a functioning society in a world that a lot of the things have been like broken, like an interesting thing.

Actually the pedric I mentioned when he was talking about the ways that you can die and we get it that scene more, you noticed he didn't even mention getting it killed by clickers, like because they've gotten to the point where they can actually manage that, So it's the other things you have to worry about. So I thought that was it was an interesting an initial caveat, and obviously all the interactions with Riley and Ellie was like was heartening. It was sad, but it was also nice, like you got a sense of wonder that you don't get a lot in this show. I don't know what do you think of the episode? You know, I think it was a similarly to last episode.

It was kind of a slowdown and pace. Again. I think the show has kind of been clearly kind of ramping itself up and kind of establishing that the narrative is going towards this inevitable conclusion and this kind of direction of We're going to have an interaction with the fireflies at some point. But I think it was smart to kind of slow the pace of the show down a little bit, give us as much. I mean, like you said, as much backstory as we need for Ellie because again, like realistically, and this is kind of an issue with this show that I think a lot of people, you know, I'm surprised haven't had is you know, like, what are the motivations why we give us more flashbacks?

Give us more of what the characters were doing before the pandemic of the fun Guy or whatever you want to call it. You know, the virus taking over before the Yeah, the panny heavy, the panatone Wow, yeah there, well, they they probably got infected for meeting that bread. You never know, It's interesting that this is as much as we'll ever get, and I think it's smart that this is as much as we'll ever probably get unless the show wants to give more, because again, like these these characters are so smartly written that I don't question what they were doing before because it, you know, it less is about why they are the way they are now and more just an experience for us to understand who they are.

Basically, even this is you're saying, you ap appreciate the episode, but even if you didn't have it, you were you were finally the characterization of Elliott. You didn't need it to buy into where we're at with the characters, right, I mean, and I think that that is a that is a success of the show in the way that it has written the characters that this episode I did not need this episode. That is why it is DLC. In the game, it is downloadable content. It is additional content that you can play to further increase your enjoyment of the game, or help recontextualize things or give you a better look at things that they're talking about.

Again, in the game, Riley is not mentioned as much as she's been mentioned in the show, but she can be mentioned in the show because they know they're going to tell this story and they know that people who are watching the show have played the game, have played the DLC, so they know if they say Riley, people who are in the know will know, and people who aren't will have it. In this episode explain for them and kind of shown to them what they keep mentioning and why Ellie. Again, Ellie is the way she is from the start. Clearly she has been this way. Even when we meet her, she's not abrasive, she's abrasive, then she's stuck in her ways.

Then when we meet her at the beginning of this episode the earliest we've ever seen her in the context of the show. So it's not that she's a different character and this is a transformative moment. It just it gives you, the audience kind of a look at her moment that we saw with Joel at the beginning of the show. It that's all this is. It's just us seeing that initial moment of trauma that she has that is, I guess, a transformative moment.

But again, Ellie is very much going to be transformed more by what happens in this show in the timeline of the show versus the flashback stuff. So yeah, I don't think it was needed, but I appreciate it. But we knew they were going to do it. But the show has been doing such a good job of writing the characters that if they had never done this, I don't think anybody would have said, ah, man, what a shame. Like maybe some people would be disappointed, but I think that the love story that the show has already done may have overshadowed how good this episode also could have been.

Oh you mean the Bill and Frank, right, And I think the love story component of it is important, But I don't think that's the crux is to be like, Oh, Ellie is heart bro it's I think the friendship supersedes the love that was more of Ellie has discovered and accepted this thing about herself that I think will play more down the road in the story rather than Oh, this is all about her losing her first love. No, it's about her losing the only connection she ever had. Like we'd learned Riley had a family, so Riley like knows what loss is. Ellie doesn't like. Death is sort of this like weird, almost not real thing to her because it's constantly surrounding her in the context of growing up in the QZ.

But she's I think she was actually she was like too young to unders like remember losing her parents, so like she never had to have the connection and then the loss. The only thing she had was Riley. She obviously didn't have that many friends. She's a bit standoffish and stubborn, but clearly smart, and so this is the one connection she loses by the end of the episode, and maybe it recontextualizes why even though she took a while to warm up to Joel, she's kind of attached to him because this is like a safety she hasn't had in a long since Riley or maybe ever, and so makes it more important for her to maintain that. But she but also it allows her to stay divorced, I think from a lot of the trauma and horrible things that are occurring around her, for better or worse, like when she last at the dead body, right.

Well, And I think that's the other thing about you know this episode is you know, by the time we see Ellie and the show, it's not made clearer how much time has passed. I guess it would be like what a couple of weeks, three weeks, right is what they say, since she's been bitten, right, it's been it's been like, you know, weeks to it couldn't be more than a couple of months right from the end of this episode. Speaking of the first episode, right, so you know this character again, like is it pretty much the character that we see when we meet her, So, you know, it's I don't know, it's it's interesting. I really appreciated the you know, the performances in the episode. I think storm Read is fantastic, not a thankless role, but you know, you know that this character is around past this episode so they have to do more to give their audience an idea of like why this is important because we know this character is not going to survive, Like there is nothing that could be changed about that, because we are already further in the narrative at this point.

So I think she's I think she's really charming. I think she plays really well off of Bella Ramsey. I think this is also a really interesting episode for Bella Ramsey because she does a really good job in carrying the episode almost on her own. And I would say at the beginning of this show, I was concerned if this episode would work because I think you and I both coming into the show were a little hesitant on Bella Ramsey. We know Pedro Pascal can knock it out of the park.

He always does. I mean, in this episode, he's lying on his back the entire episode, and even then he's fantastic. I think he was probably, you know, filming an episode of The Mandalorian this week. Air quotes he got like six hundred thousand dollars for this episode. Man was lying on his back for two scenes and he got paid six undred k.

His agent is unbelievable. His agent is getting paid like six probably at least six K an episode that he does, because his agent's probably taken like ten percent at least. I think, can you imagine can you imagine? Well, right, sorry, sixty k, you're right, sorry, My math is terrible. It's even worse.

Can you imagine getting sixty k an episode as this dude's agent for him to just be like, I'm on my back the whole episode, Like all right, bro, it's fucking great. Like he's gotta like, I know, he's not the highest paid actor like per episode, but if you think about like per minute of work, he's gotta be up. He like the highest paid actor on TV right now. I mean he might be, but my point is, like the actual effort, like six hundred K for like two minutes of screen time is you know, pretty dope? Dude?

You wouldn't. You wouldn't pass that gig up anymore than I would. No, no, no, I would even wear a helmet and cover my face the whole time. Right. But but Bella Ramsey was kind of the question going into the show, not that I had any issue with their casting.

Look, it's not like I love the last of us going into this show. I hadn't even finished the game, so I didn't have an emotional connection with either character to the point where I was angry that a certain person wasn't being cast. Look, Ellen Page was the inspiration for the character, not according not according to the creators, but yere right, But but Elliott Page would not be playing the the Ellie character obviously, even if he took the whole transition out of it. Too old at this point, right right, That's about That's my point. Like, even all of that aside, even if it was based off of them before they transition, they're like in their thirties now, so not gonna work.

But when you have the character being played by Bella Ramsey, who, again Bella Ramsey is nineteen but looks the age, I think that that was smart to cast someone who looks younger but is older, versus casting someone who was younger, because I just think that they well, no, I'm talking about, like you, someone who's fourteen to actually play a fourteen year old, I just don't know if they could rise to the occasion the way Bella Ramsay has. And I'm not saying all child actors are bad, but they say don't work with animals. And kids for a reason, and pre eighteen, you're still a kid as far as I'm concerned, even if you're a teenager. And they're probably taking like a like a longer term view on this, Like in the second game, we know there's like a several year gap, four or five years, so like Ellie is an adult in the second game, So if they're thinking of, hey, we want some sort of continuity, but I mean, I guess you could recast, but it seems like they would rather keep the same people than yeah, you cast, what a little oil They can play younger and then in the next one, I assume she'll be essentially her real aid well, and in the video game between the first and the second one, it's a couple of years, right, like three or four years.

Three or four years, yeah, which would actually take her to like eighteen ninety. I mean, like she's in like an adult relationship and stuff like that, Like like she's an adult, like she's self sufficient, and I mean, good second, but like she is like an adult, right, But I mean, look, that's that's not surprising I think for anyone, even if you don't know where the second game goes. But I think more to my point this episode, I think finally I am comfortable saying, like Bella Ramsey is a fantastic actress, and that scene where she watches the lights turn on in the mall, I mean, her ability to kind of be convincing and her reaction to that, I think is just really impressive. I think she's a fantastic actress.

And look, I don't think her time on Game of Thrones or The Worst Witch on Netflix is indicative of her acting ability. I think this is. And I think the second season of this show is going to be the Bella Ramsey hour. And I think we both know that, maybe not the second season, but definitely the third season. Yeah, if you and I, I mean we've never even talked about that at at length, but I think we both like kind of ev esping one another, like we're able to connect and know kind of where it's going because again, like the story in the second game is a lot different.

It's a lot less straightforward, there's a lot more moving not moving parts, but the timeline is a little less straightforward as this one is more or less chronological. Yeah, so you know that was kind of my big concern going into this episode, was Isabella Ramsey going to be able to carry an episode on her own, and I think she does, and I think this is actually a better episode for it, for them just going let's just do it. Let's do the episode where she has to do everything. There's these little moments when she's in the mall. Obviously it's all quite new to her, but like the thing where they go to Victoria's Secret or was a Victoria's secret or a Victor's secret, like, and she like looks at the launch ray you can kind of see like she has a glance, she looks in them in the mirror.

I interpreted that as she kind of wants to look good for Riley, you know, So she was like fell the little because she's like, oh, I don't look like this woman this like you know, more traditional heteronormative like ideal of Obviously, as we learned, Ellie not particular surprisingly as a lesbian, so she hasn't I think, maybe fully come to terms with that, at least with Riley. And then she's also like feeling a bit uncomfortable in her skin, and just these little micro moments I think show the depth of the character and like a really like masterful show of acting. And they both leads played really well off one another, and I would have liked to see a bit more time with them, But that's not really what this shows about.

It's about like love and loss and like the things that love makes you do, good and bad. And I think this is just emphasizing that, like Joel has lost someone that he loves, his daughter right and tests now, and you know Ellie has lost someone that she loves and how do people that are broken find that and come back together. I think that that resonated with me. And then you also get the underlying tension between the Fireflies and Fedra. I think that we mentioned earlier.

You want to actually get into that. Did you like that scene about the fed with the Fedra agent. I think it was interesting. I mean, I think it's maybe a little heavy handed, but again, like but I don't I think for the sake of the audience, it's best to be a little heavy handed here, because for people that aren't game players, they really need to make it clear as to what's going on and kind of beat you over the head with it, because if you're a video game player, and if you've played the Last of Us, it's not going to come as a surprise, how you as the gamer should feel about Fedra and how you should feel conflicted in this scene. But they need to show you as an audience member that Ellie is conflicted, and by her being conflicted, you as the audience should be conflicted as well as opposed to a video gamer just knowing you know, Fedra is pretty bad, but that's informed by a lot of things that you see while playing the game.

I mean, we've seen Fedra in the show, but the Fedra that we've seen, the Boston Fedra seemed like the best Fedra best, you know, relative through Kansas City, and you know, but Kansas City is really the only other one we've really seen. So but even the Terry, he's been another a lot of other stuff, like a House of Cards like that. I liked his performance because he even says, you know, I know, if we're not here, people are either going to starve or like kill each other. And we have seen the what happens, you know, when Feder's not there, And you could say, maybe he's rationalizing things, and you know, is he just like almost trying to put like propaganda on Ellie? Maybe a bit, but I think he does believe that, and like, somewhere deep down, this is a guy that probably generally is trying to do the right thing or what he thinks it's the right thing, and it's it's like a trade off.

I think you have to making a society like this, and I'm happy, like we're not in a place where we have to think, like which one you'd rather have? But we see the Fireflies are a bit wild and les like, oh, I would never bomb you know, near you, But the fact that she has to say like she has to do it means like the fireflies probably would and like is that cost enough to not deal with Fedra? We haven't this. We've seen the Fireflight people working together and it seems like that works. So we haven't really seen them like running entire cities or like people that aren't in the cause, Like what does that look like?

Well? And they kind of they talk more about that in the game, right, And that's the incompetency of the Fireflies ends up kind of playing more into where this show or I guess where the game ends up going. The show, the direction the show is going seems a lot more focused on love and the choices we make because of love and I'm not saying that the game isn't that, but the game has a different component to it that is also kind of you understanding that the world around you is kind of fucked like, and everything is kind of fucked and even the people that are trying to do good like maybe necessarily can't. And that's not particularly clear in the show, and I'm not sure that it needs to be. Maybe they'll wheel that out in the next two episodes, because again, I mean, we're going to see more of that.

But the best I can tell from the preview for the next episode, it's going to be some sort of Troy Baker led David is some sort of annibals, I'm or some shit, I'm sure, But Troy Baker is there, that's all I know, and he just they keep showing him over and over again. All I can think is if I didn't play David, I know he's playing some like some like a like a lackey of him. But they kept showing him over and over again. I was like, Hey, that's the guy who plays Joel over and over again. It's like most people would not know who that is.

Who are watching the show, I feel like they recognize his voice but yeah you would. I'm not even sure he's not even doing the Joel voice, like I mean, it is kind of his voice, but yeah, what is he like san Antonio wised I think is yeah, he's Southern for sure. Yeah, yeah, No, It's like I like this. The show hasn't really taken a clear stance, like a moral stance on pedro fireflies. It's more of just like, here's an information about both.

Neither of them is probably totally right either, it's probably totally wrong. There's definitely things that are wrong. Um, and I think Ellie kind of brings him out to light with Riley, and Riley does to Ellie. And it's just one of those things that I don't need an answer on. But it's nice to just keep keep alive in the back of our heads to understand, like this is more than it's not like Walking Dead where it's just like people in zombies, like there's there is some societal functioning going on, and like there are there's some tension about what that should look like.

Well, and I wonder you know again, because the way the narrative is being presented, we do see kind of, like you said, not a stance being taken on Fedra or the Fireflies. I do wonder if in the next two episodes we'll see that. I mean the next episode probably not, but the last episode, I feel like they've got to get into it somehow, given where where they're going with the gotta take Ellie somewhere storyline. Yeah, but I don't I mean even in the game finale, like I don't really think I had a strong feeling like how it felt about like the Fireflies, and I don't know, and like generally the mission that's the Fireflies at least that the Gates portraying just around you know, using Ellie for a cure, right, that's like the whole premise is getting her for a cure, Like who wouldn't support that?

So I don't know, we'll see, we'll see if they're if they're populism, you know sticks. But I do like that we get to finally see a FEDRA agent interact with someone in a less aggressive and abrasive way, because up until this point it's just been you know, the one FEDRA agent that Joel was kind of selling drugs too, but also then killed to death with his bare fucking hands. You can't convince me he didn't kill that guy, Like, yeah, my guess is that dude's probably not alive. As Joel Kerry, he's never going back to Boston U. And then obviously we've seen like we've heard about what the feder people in Cancer.

They sided like a not great bunch, right, But yeah, so it's interesting and I think I also wanted on the on the Riley piece, like it was a bit unclear, like did Fedra anything with her parents' death or like they're maybe unrelated, but because she's lost that like she doesn't. I don't know Fedra makes her feel uncomfortable, like what pushed her towards the fireflies And it could have just been like an ideological like Pedro keeps us safe. But I don't like the parameters of like we can't go out at night and like you know, we have to listen to them and they hang people who you know, they've said of committed crimes just kind of barbarous. But you know, I don't know, Well, they kept calling they keep calling them fascists, but like, yeah, we don't see a lot of the fascism that they talk about.

We haven't seen it yet, Like, well, all we've seen the best I can tell. What we've seen is like them trying to keep the people in the Quzi safe. Yeah, I mean to go back to the pretty much everyone from the Cake Kansas City Went's saying like they were literally great being killing and murdering, and so I believe that. But yeah, we haven't seen it, but it does seem like they assign you your work, because Riley says, you know, she gets assigned to guard you, but she's actually in FEDRA, but guard duty for like the stalls and basically like shit holes. But it also seems like Fedra's probably the if you're going to get any job in the Quzi, probably still the best job to have.

And like we're all of these recruits all orphans or were some of them volunteers, some of them wanted to do it. I don't really need those answers, but it's interesting world building. Well, it's interesting that there's like a school where they're running around with electricity, Like it was weird and interesting to see that because again, like in a lot of ways, that is a typical of a And again I mentioned it on last show. I mentioned it here. You've already mentioned The Walking Dead, a zombie show.

Unquote like you just don't see that, and I like that there are these slower moments. Look, I mean, the entire setup of this episode only goes in one direction, one end or both of them have to get bit in this scenario, because Ellie is immune, she has to get bit. But in another narrative, it would have been the two of them together and then Riley gets bit and Ellie doesn't. Right, I mean it's that that would have been the way that this had been told, because that's essentially right, right, right, because again they kind of told that with Joel's character, right, you know, she doesn't get infected, but she dies anyways, you know, one of them survives. It's just Ellie has to be bitten.

Because the entire premise of the show the game is oh, she's immune, but this is where we find out that she's immune. That that setup is so boiler plate. I'm glad that they landed it by having those quieter moments of them playing Mortal Kombat two, which I know is a change from the video game where they game the Turning. I think, yeah, Mortal Kombat two is better, Like people know that one better. I don't know what the Turning is well and I and I and they have the Mortal Kombat two poster in her room, which I think was a kind of an interesting callback where it's like this thing you've never played and then you're finally able to play it for real in real life.

Like I think that was. I know that was. That was nice, kind of like a nice little callback within the episode itself. And you know what, though, they did look like they were playing Mortal Kombat too, Um you know what I mean. Yeah, no, I think they were playing Mortal Komba.

No no, no, no, like no, no, Like it actually looked like they were playing Mortal Kombat too, because like in in TV shows about where characters are playing video games, it's always like click any clack, click any clack, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, well, I mean they were, and I want I've been there, like I remember being like that in this right, But like even then, when they looked like they didn't know what they were doing, it was believable and like that is something that for someone like myself, for someone like you who plays video games fairly regularly, like it's something that I always notice. It's like when a characters at a computer and they're typing, and it's like these really exaggerated hand motions, like nobody uses a computer.

You're like, I just I just hacked into the Pentagon. Yeah, it's like you just fucking typed real fast and didn't type anything. Like I appreciate those little touches because it adds to not the just the realism of the show, but it feels like the creators of the show are being conscientious of these things. Yeah, I mean they want you to feel like this, like this could have really happened, or this could have been what like the thing like, these aren't just people going from point at point B. They're living these experiences, and these are experiences that we know a lot of our viewers are familiar with in some way or another, like being in them all cointed an arcade.

I would really like the scene where they go to the cost Him Halloween shop and like they have the mask on and they're both wearing masks, but you can like almost sense Ellie's sadness, like it was it's hard to explain, but like it was her body language and the way she takes it off and she kisses Riley, and I think that moment actually makes the fact that Riley is quite tragic because she gets Riley to say, I'm going to leave and like join the fireflies and bomb shit and do all kinds of things that are probably a seventeen year old shouldn't be doing. And Riley's like, no, I'll stay for you. And like in that moment, Ellie gets and everything she could have possibly wanted, and then she immediately loses it.

But that's this show in a nutshell, right, Like this show juxtaposes those like moments of love with like moments of just like loss and they and they, I mean they did it with Henry and Sam, right, oh we got away and we're all safe, just kidding, just kidding, like and God, God, God him. Yeah, I mean it's the same thing like with Um with oh what tests or bellin for rank or tests, or like most of the characters in this show, they have this moment of kind of triumph and then it's like just kidding, I got bit or just kidding, I want you know, I have an MS or whatever the hell Bill and Frank were dealing with. Like those moments are juxtaposed almost like next to each other, like right on top of one another.

And I appreciate it. The show is not pulling any punches. I mean again, it's not it's like we've never seen this before. It's just done rather well here. Yeah, I think it's nothing in this episode is like whoa, I've never seen the concept of young love or you know.

I mean, I guess the lesbians are just slightly different, but like not really and it's been hinted at an even more Yeah, and it was hinted at. Remember in like episode two or something that someone asked Ellie if she had a boyfriend and she's like she gives like a look where that it's like not even an option. Ellie don't need no man to define her exactly. So uh yeah, but it's I guess though, even you say the last of Us that the individual pieces nothing is totally original, And I don't mean that like disparagingly, but it takes a lot of existing like storytelling infrastructure and like puts it together in a way that I think most people haven't experience it being like such a human centered story in it like a quote unquote zombie apocalypse.

And it's also about like these people who aren't completely morally righteous as well that we're following, but supporting. You know, in two weeks, Ted Lasso Season three comes out right and it is very similar to this show in a lot of ways. It's honest about it is. It's honest about its human emotions in a way that a sports show normally isn't. Just the way this show is pretty honest about human emotions in a way a show like The Walking Dead hasn't been since like the second season, to focus on the characters and their emotional well being and their emotional states of being and saying that's the driving factor, not the action, not the bloaters, not whatever else is happening in the world at the time.

To say that the characters and their interactions and emotions is what's going to drive the narrative is again, that's a newer thing. I mean again, you know, not everybody for the longest time was focused on actual character growth when they were writing a story. They were worried about big action set pieces and whether or not people are going to be entertained by ship being blown up and zombies being shot. And there have been shockingly little zombies or the zombie equivalents in this show killed on screen. This is like the fourth one maybe, And this is the first time we've seen like some real extended close combat action outside of what when Joel killed that clicker in episode yeah and this is episode seven.

Well, no, we got, we got, we got the bloater at that scene. But that wasn't close. That wasn't like hand to hand combat, which is a lot of the game mind You is hand to hand combat and hitting clickers with pipes and ricks and bottles and others shit and stabbing them and like this kind of echoes that. But it's interesting because this show and ted Lasso and some other kind of more well written shows are focusing on the characters and what is driving them within the world and then the scenarios that they're in. It's interesting to see those characters in those scenarios because you understand the fully formed nature of the characters and just I'd never got that with The Walking Dead.

This is almost the antithesis of what The Walking Dead was, was and is and has done since the second or third season. I mean, I don't want to think about The Walking Dead. I don't even want to talk about the Walking Dead. That's I mean, that's that. But that's because that show gave up writing interesting characters.

This show has three seasons in it. It's not going to go more than that, not with these characters, and it shouldn't and it shouldn't go more than that. I don't know if they go beyond the games, we'll see, right, but like, if they go on the game's great. But that's like if we all agree that a Last of Us three isn't coming out in the next four years, which I can't equivocally say any more than you can, then the show might have four or five seasons, sure, but right now it's more or less going to be three seasons unless they go past the game. And if they do, great, But I'm still confident that the people who are writing the show understand that it's a character driven show because it has been this whole season.

There has been not enough action to keep people who are expecting a zombie adjacent show where zombies are being killed every episode. There's not enough for them to stick around, I would think, But there's enough if you're into a well written character drama with a post apocalyptic trappings. It's a character piece, and like I think that's would be surprising to some people who have played the game, which is an action game, because there's plenty of it, Like, there's so much of just killing and shooting and strangling, shiving and crafting and everything else, and there's like none of it in this And I'm thankful for that because honestly, a video game adaptation that worries about whether or not only able to show the action on the big screen often overlooks writing believable characters.

And this did the inverse and it totally works. Did you what do you think about? Like, I know there wasn't much of it, but there was some like key Joel stuff in the episode, Like did you like it? Just like it wasn't that memorable? I think obviously more or less And then you would have to correct me on this because I haven't played the DLC.

Is the DLC used to juxtapose the relationship with Ellie and Joel getting stronger to the point of like catalysts catalyzing, Because that's what this episode more or less does, is it shows the side of this that we didn't like. We saw the Joel side of it last episode, and now we see the Ellie side of it this episode. The DLC is used in a different way, correct because the function here makes sense narrative why it comes at this point in the story. It's similar in the sense of Ellie like does some things that saves Joel's life. It's much more action oriented, where like she's literally foraging for supplies to save Joel and she kills like a ton of people, like a ton of like bandits.

So it's much I'm more action focused. Didn't really make obviously that's for the game, right, it's like mission yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, when it's you have the flashbacks and you have like the flashboards. But the core function is she is there in a time when Joel cannot, like she does save Joel's life without her, Joel dies in the game and in the show, and in the show, like Joel's obviously trying to like tell Ellie to leave him because he thinks that's the only way he can protect him. Right, he pushes her away, and you know, when she comes back because she's found some things to so up his wound, he's crying. I wasn't sure.

I think he was crying because like he thought he was gonna lose Ellie. I've heard other interpretations like maybe he was crying because he felt like her last memory of him is going to be or pushing away or whatever. But I don't know what was your take that I thought he was crying because he knew where this is heading, like he knows that he like like, yeah, he's ready to hurt again like that, and and like and that he may have to make a decision in the future that is not going to be an easy one. Like I know, we know he doesn't know what the stakes are for making the vaccine. We know he doesn't know that yet, because I don't think he would continue doing this if he knew, because the decision he ends up making.

But I think it's him realizing that, like, yeah, he's at the point now where he is going to be really hurt should anything happen to her. And it's like it's that moment of him realizing, like it's all over now, like anything that happens from here on out, Like he's making decisions to protect her himself, right, And I think to read it the other way is a perfectly valid way of reading. And I think, look, a lot can be said with no dialogue at all, And I think it's a testament to Pedro Pascal as an actor that you can glean two or three close but not necessarily the same interpretations from him just on the ground crying while she sews up his stomach. Yeah. So, like I said, I know, it's it's a relatively you know, probably less than five minutes or so, six minutes of the episode, but in the context of what it sets up, like she saves his life, their bond gets deeper, like it is going to be important and carry through, I think in the next final two episodes of the season.

So I appreciate them for not completely ignoring that. And I wonder if we're going to return to Riley and Ellie. I don't think so. I don't think there's a point. I think, you know, some people might be interested to see how that plays out, but I don't think you need to see it at the DLC.

Does this show as much as the DLC shows, or does it show I think I think it's similar, where like you don't exactly see how Riley, you know, like they spend their well, they I think they both think it's their final moments together, but I don't really think you see Riley's transition in Yeah, like it's like, okay, yes, do you want to explain everything to the audience. Maybe, but I think it also like we really need to see that from Ellie's perspective, like just know that she had a little bit more time with the person that she loved and like, unfortunately and also fortunately in the context if she's a survivor and his immune she lost that person. I don't really think we see like their last day together or whatever last six hours.

Probably not, But that's very atypical for this kind of narrative to cut it short before you see the conclusion to that part of it. Most of the time it's you have to shoot him. That's not your husband, brother's son, whatever anymore like that. We didn't get any of that, And again I think it's just smart storytelling on the part of once again Neil Druckman, who has a wrangle on not only writing for video games clearly, but also writing for television. I will be shocked if he doesn't write another television show or do something after this.

I mean, yeah, I mean he's well, like not associated with the video games he's worked on, like its own thing entirely, Like I I believe he could do that without a source material of his own to adapt, is what I'm getting at I'm sure he has probably like other scripts and ideas that he's wanted to pitch his games that he might just go straight to, like the screen or you know, someone'll hire him to adapt something they want. But at the same time, like he also like he has he has like look, every video game he's worked on has been massively successful. Everything he's worked on in the last ten years, from what uncharted to last games he was on a at least at least three and four, all of them boards like considered the best one too.

He wrote one, two, four, He didn't write three. That's okay. Three is like the not I think three is the worst of all of them. Three is about his Three is better than the first one, but the second one is my jam for sure. The way the second game opens is just masterful.

The train, the train in the in the Mountains is just I've never played a video game that hooked me as quickly as that game. Bit and like, I after how kind of the first game was, that second game was just like, Yeah, I remember liking that game a lot. I've gone back and played it a couple of times and it still holds up. Especially, I mean, everything there's yet easy. There's Shambala, there's a chase on rooftop with a helicopter.

There's a chase on a train with a helicopter. There's so much stuff in that game. We don't get Nazi zombies in the Uncharted movie now that I'm remembering it, the Nazi zombies were a wild twist, oh from the first game. Yeah, well, hey man, I didn't even see that Uncharted movie. Like it.

It was good, But it's like as a few set pieces from the game, but it's not like the premise is obviously you know, hunter blah blah blah, but the actual story is not particularly similar, obviously because Drake is just so much younger, And well, isn't it like a story told in the Uncharted universe? Is what? It's? What is? Ye happened?

Said? It's not an adaptation of the game, no one. No, there's like set pieces that are from the games, but yeah, overall it's it's yeah, it's like, hey, this could have been another Uncharted thing that Drake did, and but it's And look, I mean the thing that I will say when we talk about adaptations of things, I don't think adapting video games into movies is the way to go. I think I don't even think adapting most things into movies is the way to go. I think it's adapting them into television is the way to go, especially when it's a narrative that's fairly complex, that has some beats to it that you need to let breathe.

Because I can imagine this as a movie or two movies, and it could have been okay. I guess I just felt it would have felt like it would have been rushed and overcrowded, and things would have been certain narrative beats would have been sacrificed. We're probably not getting the whole bill in frank thirty minutes soft the side, no br and we're probably not getting the Left Behind DLC done in its entirety. You probably gain just like the last part or something, or like flashbacks to it or something like something that's a little less nuanced than the show can. And again, the show is showing it's almost the whole thing, but it's doing it in a way where even then if you've seen it before, it feels new and exciting.

And again you're not just sitting and going on, I'm waiting for Riley and Ellie to get bit like there's enough that you as an audience member, I think are given in this episode where it's entertaining, even if you again know where this is going, and even if you don't know where this is going, you know where this is going at this point in the show. I liked it. I think it was a good episode. I don't know. I don't know what the rest.

I've heard that the last two episodes of the show kind of slowed down a lot. Yeah, some of the some of the reviews I read were the last two episodes kind of dragged a little bit with people who have seen the entire show. Yeah, up ahead and ahead of time. Yeah, so that's interesting just based on like, I know the overarching story points, and I was like, they're both like seem a bit more actionally from my recollection. So I'm interested to see what it looks like.

And they have said the end of the first season is coincide at the end of the first game, so it's not like there's gonna be a cliffhanger or something like that. Right, Well, there might be a cliffhanger, but I think we'll know. I don't know. They have to do something to like leave the audience wanting, wanting to with something to chew on. Yeah, but I meant like cliffhangers in, like, oh, we didn't finish the narrative at the first game.

I don't know. Maybe I don't know. I mean they might like maybe they maybe they lied to us. And season two is just like the last you know, two hours of the game. We'll see.

That would be insanity. I don't think they would do that though, And crazy things have happened attack when I'm Titan. The final season has three separate parts, so well, that's fair. Look, I think that the show is in an interesting position now because I would think and you might agree, that we're clearly in the in the scope of this being Ellie's show now, like Joel has taken a little bit of a back seat, he may be taking a back seat in the next episode as well, And I'm I'm super excited to see what that means for the show and also for how it sets up the final episode of the show. So yeah, because now we're here, we're at the end of the show effectively with two episodes from the end.

Yeah, No, I'm I'm interested see where it goes. Like I think this episode was really good. Probably not quote unquote necessary, but I liked it, and I think it the show's better for it. Yeah, I will say that of the episodes we've seen so far, this might be the one way you can kind of take it out. I'm not saying it's bad, and I don't think you are either.

But nature of the story is it wasn't core to the narrative like in the game either, right, it was DLC for a reason. It was just more to contextualize the character of Ellie. And again, it's smart to put it in here because hey, you've got nine episodes to phil, this should be one of them. It's going to be interesting visually, it's going to be a showcase for the actors involved. But yeah, I mean it's it's not necessary to the narrative overall, but you know, hey, an hour long diversion with these two characters is fine.

I will go back to what I said before. Or it maybe doesn't hit as hard because we've already seen a better love story with a better conclusion that didn't feel as wrote as this one kind of did earlier in the season. So that might be the unintended consequence of the Bill and Frank episode, is it kind of diminishes the emotional impact that this episode might have had otherwise. And again, like we were commenting on that episode, like isn't it surprising that these two characters have a happy ending in a post apocalyptic show, and like, yeah, it is surprising, And then we come to this episode and it's like and here is how it always ends, and it's like, I didn't don't know if I needed to see this, because like, I get that this is what happened, but there was no other way to do it other than to give it in a full episode to breathe, and I'm glad that.

I am glad that they gave it a full episode and they didn't try to like because the other way to do this is like Pepper the flashbacks in throughout the season, and you have the flashbacks playing concurrently with the narrative, and then when you get towards the end of the season, you know, Westworld style, you have that reveal of this is how Ellie got bit. But like, I just I think that this, you know, this is the path of least resistance if you're going to tell the narrative the way they've been telling it, which is more or less, you know, narratively chronologically straightforward. It's something this show has shown that it can do well, and that the more time we give these characters, I think it's for the it's the better for it.

And I think it was a nice little rest bit. And I'm really interested in last episodes take us like as someone who I think I know what's going to happen, I'm still really interested to see, like how it's going to translate. Same. So on that note, on the next episode of this you'll be hearing us talking about the eighth and penultimate episode of the first season and last of us. That episode is titled When We Are in Need.

Until then, you can find you Shar and I over at weirdingwaymedia dot com, which is a repository and suppository for all audio things that you should be sticking in your ear, not in your butt. As for this show, yeah, whoa, you can't listen to your asshole, but maybe you can. I don't know. Maybe you have your shar has ears on his butt. Maybe I don't know.

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