Sacred Symbols+, Episode 459 | The Last of Us (HBO) Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Season 2, Episode 7) (Video)
Added 2025-05-26 22:17:09 +0000 UTCFor your viewing pleasure.
Comments
Everyone is know who really loved the first season has completely bailed. Im not even watching it, I jist prefer the games. But legitimately the 6 people I know who were watching it have all bailed. And from what I read it's loosing a lot of viewers this season.
Jacob Lesperance
2025-05-29 14:30:28 +0000 UTCI agree with this. I like the long intros to Sacred Symbols and I like the nature of Constellation going off on tangents, because it's a conversational podcast. But this was too much for a special SS+ dedicated to a Last of Us spoilercast. They literally spent the first half of it talking about other things. Sometimes podcasters need to remember they aren't just having a conversation with friends, but they are also making a product for an audience. They really should have kept the opening discussions to 5-10 minutes, because it really felt like the discussion was rushed later in the episode because everyone was tired & ready to go.
Matthew Cooper
2025-05-28 15:50:38 +0000 UTCAs someone with Brandon Sanderson tattoos, I MUST issue a stand down to Colin! Micah, thank you for being the voice of reason.
Kingston’s 19 year old girlfriend
2025-05-28 10:40:59 +0000 UTCThat bit had me howling
The Slim Assassin
2025-05-28 10:18:05 +0000 UTCGood wrap-up episode guys. Thanks! Man, this season just wasn’t it for me. I feel that the target demographic was skewed way younger and/or less mature. Massive fan of part II, so it’s tough to be unbiased, but it just felt like this show couldn’t shut up in trying to explain what was happening to the viewer. The scar island moment perfectly encapsulated this issue. “Hey guys, just want to make sure you knew shit was going down here. Oh, and we are gonna go ahead and waste an iconic Abby scene to do so.” I wish this was the only instance of this but the season just felt peppered with fear that its audience didn’t understand what it was watching - a common problem in current tv writing. TLOUII demanded a lot from its audience and that was something I really appreciated about it. It left things unsaid but understood. As for long arching payoffs, I really haven’t been satisfied with the rationale for certain info dumps early on. Game of Thrones was a great example of super long arching payoffs that would happen seasons apart. When you would tune in and see some shit in a recap from a while back and be like damn they are tapping into that?! We can handle it, I promise! Somewhat optimistic about the third season due to what was said about Abby’s casting. I totally agree that the theater scene immediately felt like Abby. Ellie on the other hand… Writing for her has been rough - from deeply angry but equally capable in the game to repeatedly immature and frankly annoying in the show. As a a player I became very weary of Ellie and what I had to commit on her behalf, but I was never annoyed by her. And Bella Ramsay doesn’t get a free pass either. There are moments of pretty clunky acting. Anyhow those are my amateur thoughts. I want stuff made for adults, like TLOUII was. Cheers.
Tyler Treml
2025-05-28 03:46:41 +0000 UTCMika was awesome on the Stephen King thing.
Mario Diosdado
2025-05-28 01:32:22 +0000 UTCSorry, but cant say that I loved this last spoilercast of the season. The first 35 minutes was almost all off-topic on random topics. It felt like a Constellation episode. Would have preferred you made a better effort to say on-topic like you did in the other 6 episodes and other Spoilercast.
Casper Andersen
2025-05-27 20:25:55 +0000 UTCI'm of the exact same mind as you. The first inkling I had that the show was going this way was in season 1 during the Hospital rescue sequence. What should have been this incredibly violent and visceral sequence of Joel murdering everyone was instead played out in silence with emotional music over the top in slow motion. It should have truly shown the horror of what he does but they directed it in a tone I felt watered it down. Then this season has been a lot of tonally off direction and changes to the story telling that make things feel less intense. An example would be introducing the Scars as these travellers walking through the woods who then all get murdered instead of the horrendous butchers that they are. By introducing them like this you remove the WTF moment of the hanging bodies in the TV station. You remove the surprise of all the whistles in the park. As you say, you sand and dull it down.
Tim
2025-05-27 18:50:36 +0000 UTCThe sanding down and dulling of all the grit and violence and challenging moments from the game really ruined this season for me. It didn't capture the essence of Ellies character journey to me 🤷
Walker Simmons
2025-05-27 15:59:30 +0000 UTCMicah's crashout was pretty good 😆 Personally, I had fun with this season. Which is crazy to say, considering how miserable and dire the atmosphere of The Last of Us II is. Some of the changes to the TV show were a little silly, and Ellie's personality change was also not good. But overall, I enjoyed watching every episode and it reminded me of everything I enjoyed about the game. And next is Abby's part. Oh boy...
JusticeSoulTuna
2025-05-27 11:42:14 +0000 UTCCouldn’t agree more. Even agree with your number grades for the different products
Robbie Agnew
2025-05-27 04:32:15 +0000 UTCThis was a decent episode, probably the best it could be based on the season as a whole. I'd give the season as a whole a 7/10. For comparison, I'd give the first game a 10 and Part 2 a 9 and I'd give Season 1 of the show an 8.5. I understand that as a huge fan of the games (I've played each one 15+ times) I can't really view the show on it's own merits, I will compare it to the game constantly and the ways that it's inferior will really show up to me. Most of the changes or additional scenes in the show don't really bother me and some of them are good or work better for TV. But I will focus in on the ways that it's inferior and those really hold it back for me. First is the increased focus on the young adult romance drama. It's in the game too, for sure (I don't like it there either), but it really felt prominent in the show; like the percentage of game time dedicated to it is way lower than the percentage of show time. Just in this episode, the tension between Ellie and Jessie was so much more pronounced than the game. But this ties into my second, much harsher, criticism. TV show Ellie is all wrong. Props to Dustin for nailing it, especially as someone who only played the game once when it came out, it's even obvious to him. TV show Ellie is just completely wrong. I didn't have a problem with season 1 Ellie or s2 e6 flashback Ellie, but season 2 Ellie has almost none of anger, tenacity, drive of game Ellie. I've mentioned this before on previous episodes, but I don't know how much of it is writing or directing or the acting capabilities of Bella Ramsey. My feel is that it may be 50/50. Take the opening scene of this final episode and compare it to the same scene in the game. Show Ellie is almost like normal at first entering the theater, seeming mostly just concerned about Dina. When Nora comes up, Ellie goes more cold and distant. In the game, Ellie is much more shaken up and disturbed by what her rage has driven her to. This may be some writing/directing, but I feel like this probably falls more on the actor; and Ashley Johnson's performance feels far more human, more natural to me. To be fair, Ashley Johnson's performance as Ellie in Part 2 is outstanding. If I had never played the game, would I be as harsh on TV show Ellie? Probably not, but I don't know. I think Bella Ramsey was a fine casting choice for season 1 Ellie, but it completely backfired for season 2. I think the Abby casting for the show is totally fine, possibly even good. Honestly, when Abby showed up at the theater, she totally stole the show from Ellie for me. Just in that scene, she felt so much more real, more human, more authentically Abby than Ellie has felt in the whole season. I actually have higher hopes for season 3, because of the Abby focus, I think it will be better. One more complaint, just about this episode, is that it contains the worst change from the game so far: Ellie landing on Scar Island. What were they smoking when they came up with that? How she lands there makes almost no sense, it was so far away.... Then she gets immediately abducted and just about to be hanged and gutted, but the horn blows and the scars just let her go? They're that confident Ellie isn't a WLF or a threat they just let her go, WTF? I know Bella Ramsey isn't really selling Ellie as a threatening presence, but damn. Then it's just back to the boat and the aquarium. The scene felt so forced it's totally nuts that it was left in. Maybe there will be some kind of payoff for it next season, but I don't know, feels totally wrong now.
Matthew Cooper
2025-05-27 00:54:22 +0000 UTC
