Sacred Symbols+, Episode 272 | The Last of Us (HBO) Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Season 1, Episode 7)

The only thing more unbelievable than this outbreak is that Riley knows those mortal kombat fatality moves without having written them down.

Surge!

The show would have been much better served if Riley had done the fatality and Ellie had just kicked her shin.

Greg Hommel

It seems so unnecessary.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, there is a lack of consistency here.

Colin Moriarty

I agree it could be longer.

Colin Moriarty

Also, disappointed “brick. Fucking. MASTER!!” Didn’t make an appearance. RIP

SnipaMasta

CG blood is the worst by far. I watched this on my phone so the rooftop and the mall didn’t look particularly bad but the CG blood is a big no-no. Takes me out of every single scene always. It looks so awful and it’s frustrating because it’s like really they don’t have blood on-hand?

SnipaMasta

I'm glad y'all brought up the rooftop because it was very jarring. The thing that bothered me the most was the music. It didn't feel like Gustavo Santaolalla and sounded very bad. The 2nd half of the episode I really liked, and felt the emotional beats were strong. Also Colin said that a show like Breaking Bad would never have something looking this bad and I will counter with a scene involving a character named Gus. To avoid spoilers it's at the end of season 4 and is in a hospital. That shot of his character is infinitely worse than any of the stuff in this show. It was also extremely corny and ruined the climax of that season for me.

Brannon H

This show is more focused on love stories within this world rather than the actual horror, suspense and struggle to survive. Especially from Elie and Joel’s perspective. - This show needed to be 12 episodes.

Vanzant

One I'll never forget

Lou & Rei Loper

I meant the episode of TLOU, not your episode. That was great as always :)

Gareth Handa

I do, she's being dramatic.

Colin Moriarty

Love it.

Colin Moriarty

I can see that.

Colin Moriarty

We shall see. =)

Colin Moriarty

Sounds like a nice moment. =)

Colin Moriarty

We're all scared of strange things, I suppose.

Colin Moriarty

Nice.

Colin Moriarty

=\

Colin Moriarty

Sorry.

Colin Moriarty

I don't like pedantic comments.

Colin Moriarty

That's a bummer.

Colin Moriarty

Agreed.

Colin Moriarty

Not mistakes that matter.

Colin Moriarty

I didn't mind her.

Colin Moriarty

Agreed.

Colin Moriarty

It does happen very quickly.

Colin Moriarty

Yes.

Colin Moriarty

They have plenty of time to learn, should they have the appropriate teaching tools.

Colin Moriarty

Seemed a little on the nose.

Colin Moriarty

Glad you enjoyed it. =)

Colin Moriarty

I feel like my normal self.

Colin Moriarty

I liked it, too, but I think it was the weakest in the run so far.

Colin Moriarty

Who didn't?

Colin Moriarty

LOL.

Colin Moriarty

I agree, it was the weakest episode.

Colin Moriarty

I liked it a lot, but wish it went in a purely non-violent direction.

Colin Moriarty

For real. =)

Colin Moriarty

We will know in just a couple of short weeks!

Colin Moriarty

Colin, you gotta clean up the dinner.

Noah Friscopp

"THAT KID IS BACK ON THE ESCALATOR AGAIN!" - Brodie

Chris Adams

I have to say not showing what happens with Riley is one of the best things the game did and I am so glad they didn't show how it went down.

Ravjeet B

I wonder if In the hospital a certain doctors daughter will be there ? 😉

Michael Mashpotato

I'm really sad I opened the comments today to post something because in doing so, I saw this post. Can you hide this or anything so it doesn't spoil it for anyone else who doesn't like to know beforehand? I know you didn't do it on purpose but it is a huge bummer for some of us. :(

Lou & Rei Loper

An aside to the episode, the arcade scene for me really hit me hard. When Rei and I were on our honeymoon 4 years ago we were on a little road trip and ended up at a random town in Maine. They had a Sears (who was out of business already) and next door was this bowling place that I told her we should just go check out the inside for shits and giggles. When we got to the top of the very tall staircase.....I literally almost cried. I was standing in front of a real arcade, not a shitty ticket machine arcade, a real arcade with tons of real games, driving, shooting, fighting, etc etc etc. I just stood there listening to the attract sounds (remember those?!) and after I gathered myself I told her that I don't need to play anything but I need to walk through and just stand in the middle of the floor and take in the noise for a while. It was a very very emotional moment for me, she knew I was very hardcore into the arcade life and missed it so damn much. I ended up playing a few games (all fighting because that's my jam, and they didn't have Raiden Fighters haha). It was the best moment of our trip for me because it's something I thought I'd never experience again, and to find it in a random place in a place that wasn't even on our road trip schedule. I was 39 at that point and it had been soooooooooooo many years since I'd had any local arcades. What a moment. I wanted to cry when I saw the same view for Ellie as well, or it was very dusty in the house....... (It was in South Portland, Maine)

Lou & Rei Loper

I thought this was another solid ep and the performances carried it. Agree with them showing the infected though, totally unnecessary and didn’t look good. Dagan nailed it by saying this show is missing the kinda gore/off factor to make the infected look more menacing at times. For Micah and 30 FPS: What first got me to notice 30 vs 60 was Insomniac’s Spider-Man. Have Micah run down the street in 30, then switch it to 60 and she should get it right away. Micah being scared of escalators is super funny to me. 😅 Dustin’s meathead voice lol

NeO JD

Having played the DLC I really liked the fact that they showed the infected beforehand because in the DLC you walk in this dollstore in the timeline where Ellie is searching for medication, in the dollstore you then find an infected in the same corner as they showed in the show, small but nice easter egg in my opinion. In general I really liked this episode and how they “remixed” those icon moments from the DLC

Nathan Migom

Joe B

Micah, you have to look up the Rosslyn Metro station escalator. It is one of the worlds longest. I am not afraid of escalators or heights... but I will take the elevator every time going forward.

Jessica Stelter

Thanks! Yeah I had a feeling this was the case. Never had a problem playing games but that’s always past 5pm. However, I’ve watched every episode I’ve watched midday and we have a skylight in our living room! Just not been a problem any other episode (probably because none have had such darkly graded scenes, as you say).

Cai

Really didn't like this episode at all. I've loved every other one but this was pretty boring. It went on way too long for me. It's a shame as I actually enjoyed Left Behind DLC.

Gareth Handa

It's either your TV or the light level of your viewing environment. I watched in a dimly lit room and all the detail was there. It was a darkly graded scene and needed to be viewed in a low light environment for your eyes to make it out. Or it could be that your TV's settings need tweaking

Matthew Cooper

Knife nerd correction: Ellie’s knife is an Italian stiletto switchblade, not a butterfly knife.

Gabriel Baker

Pretty sure it's been revealed the finale is less than 50 minutes long unfortunately

Luke Trewarne

Last two episodes have been sort of a nosedive in my opinion. When you compare this episode as a vignette to the Bill ep, it’s a steep drop off.

Kickstand

Make that four cents. I completely agree.

Dave Carsley

To Colin’s point about it being below Nolan and interstellar. Druckman would be the equivalent to the guy Nolan hired making sure the lore and everything added/changed works. The complaints about wrong screens, cars, isn’t too comparable because Nolan movies such as interstellar has similar mistakes. Such as things changing shot to shot in supposedly the same scene. Boom mics appearing in shots, the gear in the truck gets pushed the wrong way for what that model is supposed to be. So for me they seem on the same level. Those kind of mistakes are in both.

Tyler Floyd

Definitely the weakest episode of the season so far. Riley's actress was obviously outclassed by Bella, she seemed like an amateur in comparison. She did well, but Bella is just excellent in every scene.

Ember's Arcade

That 4th episode didn't need to be a thing. Karen or whatever the fuck her name is story didn't need two episodes at the expense of Jackson or David. Just my two cents.

Piston Pants

While I did dig how they foreshadowed the infected in the mall (it felt very Alfred Hitchcock to me), but I definitely feel like the moment when Ellie and Riley were attacked would've been more heartbreaking if the viewers didn't even know there was any sort of danger in the mall with them, IMO.

Josh Gamez

They had magazines with the fatalities in them and memorized them.

Angel DeJesus

This episode took me out a bit, mostly because I'm supposed to buy how much has happened to Riley in 3 weeks. She joins the fireflies, learns how to make bombs, stationed at this mall by herself, the mall isn't completely swept to make sure there are no infected, and she never alerted this infected before now. As for is if there's enough left of the show to cover everything, David next episode and hospital in the finale. I don't see why it wouldn't be covered.

Angel DeJesus

Bad looking effects drove my cray in Kenobi last year. It’s Disney and it’s Star Wars this shouldn’t be looking budgeted.

Jeremy Shook

I cry at any and everything in general but I broke down when "take on me" played over Riley and Ellie on the escalator, it recontextualises what the song means to Ellie in part two, "I'll be gone in a day or two"... Also how the fuck does Riley know how to do an MK2 fatality?

Sam Torstenbo

Agreed about Ellie pulling off the MK II fatalities. That’s nonsense. BUT I do appreciate that the button inputs Riley told Ellie for Baraka’s fatality was in fact accurate.

Bogey Zero

In regards to them showing the infected beforehand, I will say from my wife’s perspective who’s never seen the game, she was flipping out for the rest of the episode. She said it really added a sense of dread for her since she knew there was an infected walking around the mall while they’re making all this noise. It raised the tension like crazy.

Bogey Zero

Maybe it was my TV but it was too dark. Like that shot from the street looking up as they ran across might as well have been a black screen.

Cai

Dude I dunno what it is about a time skip that fucks with their heads😂 Just something about it that makes them forget every rule of storytelling. Also my Dad was paying so little attention during episode 3 he didn’t realise Bill and Frank were gay. Although I think he was sleeping through parts tbf.

Cai

I LOVED this episode! The only part that took me out a bit was when they were running on the rooftops. Otherwise, the acting was so good and I loved the set-pieces.

king_ryan_james

Colin’s very performative when Micah’s on the show.

MarkGrouch

Although far from the strongest, I still liked this episode, though can acknowledge how some people aren't really high on it. I imagine for people who never played the game, this was a big dud for them (that's the impression I've gotten anyway) Still though I'm betting next week will be a return to form, that should be action and drama packed. Not to mention the finale. I think the softening of Joel's character up to now, is so these last couple of episodes hit even harder.

Deemac

You know hideo kojima enjoyed seeing the Sony Walkman there. He loves that thing

Kenneth Oms

A part of the game that is not one of Micah's favorites 😱😱😱

Micah Locke

This was actually the weakest episode for me. It was too similar to the game with little to no surprises. Also, wasn't a big fan of Riley's actress

Ryan Zimm

Isn’t that the worst

Noah Friscopp

Easily my least favorite episode so far. It was fine, but I was never a huge fan of the DLC to begin with

Grahamer Naughtsi

My Mum didn’t know this was a flashback so rang me after saying “how did she get there, how did Joel not die in that time”. This is what happens when you keep looking at your phone!

Cai

First! I really enjoyed this episode, but I could tell that it might not resonate with many viewers for the lack of action and suspense with Joel. Two episodes left, it’s gonna be interesting to see how they adapt the rest of the show. Feels like two episodes might not be enough, but we’ll see!

Mateusz Kuklinski