The Last of Us - 2x6 - FULL LENGTH Reaction
Added 2025-05-23 00:39:34 +0000 UTCFULL LENGTH VERSION of The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6!
Sorry for the delay on this one, had some scheduling conflicts because of Molly's graduation! But, Molly and I are planning to be in person Sunday night to film the finale (with Courtney on Zoom)! So, the 2x7 full length will be out ether Monday or Tuesday.
Comments
Did you see Anime Awards? Solo Leveling slayed most of them but ofc Attack On Titan won something. You should take a look on Crunchyroll Smile. Best drama for Frieren, best opening and best anime song for Dan Da Dan YIPPEE
David Jørgensen
2025-05-25 22:47:22 +0000 UTCaint nobody reading all this dog wtf
Kay
2025-05-25 16:40:56 +0000 UTCThey mashup 2 flashbacks of the game in 1 episode so good 😭
Joaquin garcia
2025-05-24 20:01:10 +0000 UTCJust wanted to say, don't apologize for a long comment! I always love people who are enthusiastic about something, even if I may disagree with some of it. Plus I like to hear other people's perspectives. -To touch on Ellie's response, while I can't speak for everybody, but I didn't think people thought of Ellie as misunderstood. I know from game and show, she definitely has some maturity issues (more so a tone issue from the show. Some people still found her SLIGHLTY bratty in-game) but I thought many felt overall she was valid in her feelings. You do make great facts about survivors guilt and also Joel did lie to her. I thought for many, and myself, what upset me more was how Joel never stood up for himself. And I understand that does not make up for Joel lying. One of the biggest things I felt and I think fair/valid few point, as "evil, immoral, selfish decision" Joel made to save Ellie. There are two things 1)There actually is no guarantee that a cure or vaccine could be made. And from the game, you can find tapes in the hospital that say they think they found other immune people, but no luck of a cure. Meaning Ellie's could sacrifice her life for nothing 2)But even more importantly, how evil and immoral is it to kill someone, but not even give them a choice? If anything, it makes the Fireflies just as evil, if not more immoral than Joel. Ellie should have been given the choice to end her life, for a possible hope of a cure. They never gave her the chance or her right. Not to mention, even though it's post apocalyptic world, do we even give kids that choice when they aren't of age? I feel like it's something some people often overlook. So while Joel didn't give her a choice, neither did the Fireflies, so who is the real "villain?" Joel never once points this out. We can't take back his lie, we understand it as an audience and while it doesn't justify his decision, it's still a fair and valid point he can bring up. The tension can still be there and valid perspectives can be brought up between Joel and Ellie. And since we are going to include a therapist in the show (unethical therapist, even though she is interesting character) and have an more emotional Joel, why doesn't he address that her life has more meaning than just dying? I understand he states that I love you and could be implied by that, since he literally states it. But it adds more depth and reflection for Ellie to think about for herself. You can take or leave that last part vs. the :show, don't tell method." -And personally, I found this episode a little manipulative with it's writing about Eugune. In this week's podcast, Neil mentions verbatim "Joel did the right thing. Jackson has a rule that you cannot bring someone back to, or near the town if they are infected." The fact this isn't elaborated on more in this episode, is a little manipulative. I understand Joel is not a saint. I can assume Joel over his 20 years has lied bunch of times besides countless other awful things. And If you tell me "I don't understand their message or goal." I do, as someone once said "just because something is explained, doesn't always make it good." I get they are trying to portray Joel as a compulsive liar with a savior complex, but it wasn't necessary to tear down his character anymore. Just like implying Joel is homophobic. I do not care if Joel is from Texas, 80s and that it would make logical sense. It is never implied in the game, in the time Joel and Ellie have bonded, that Joel would not be open to Ellie fooling around with girls. He quite literally seems like a man that would support Ellie with whatever choices she makes, especially in a post apocalyptic world and the journey they have been on. I know this is a hot take, will piss a lot of people off, but I feel like it is ironic. I am about representation, but was it necessary to tear down our characters anymore to proof some points? If anything, it does a disservice to representation, openness which they nailed extremely better in-game. And this applies to Ellie too, they've made her a incompetent teenage buffoon vs. someone who has lived and learned from Joel and Tommy in the 5 years they have lived in Jackson. Do I want a ninja assassin Ellie? No, that wouldn't make total sense, but she as character, and female protagonist, was treated with much more respect in the game, the show has done an injustice to her character. And look even as I type this last bit, I have loved some changes to the show, but other changes have ruined the core essence of the game themes and characters. They quite literally have managed to make the game story so much better and I didn't think that was possible, even with it's flaws. The fact they are going to try to squeeze two more seasons out of Part 2 game, is kind of sad. If anything, Part 1 game should've received 3-4 seasons and this could've received 1 or 2. It doesn't help they did 7 episodes, they easily could've done two seasons of 12, 14. I do hope they shoot the last two seasons back-to-back just so we don't have to wait until 2029 for tv viewers. Maybe they can pull it back together with the finale, once we get Abby's story in season 3 and if they wrap it up the game in season 4. I guess then we can have a fair assessment obviously. I know there's some "heated comments or statements in there." but it does come from a place of disappointment and much love for this series that I have gained for Part 2 game overtime. I understand we don't want a 1-to-1 retelling of the same exact story, but it's just been a rocky road this season and I feel like it didn't have to be. Outside of Eugune for me and other stuff I mentioned, I thought the porch scene was done well, even though it was much earlier than in-game.
Micarl1208
2025-05-23 06:48:15 +0000 UTCIf I may share some things about Neil Druckman though. Firstly, The Last of Us idea was his original idea, back when he was in college. His arts class actually were working on a presentation for a new movie concept for the creator of “Night of the dead.” It was a simple concept of two people traveling across a post-apocalyptic world together. Each student had to make their own pitch and his was not picked up. While in school he reached out to Naughty Dog CEO at various times sending him various portfolios of his work and eventually the CEO recruited him one day when they had a job opening somewhere in the late 90s early 2000s. Fast forward to early 2009, the other pivotal person who helped round out The Last of Us was “Bruce Straley.” He actually and legitimately helped keep Neil in check and flesh out the story of Part 1. Neil is on the record saying “he views his stories as very dark.” Bruce is the one who had way more levity and light hearted moments to Part 1 story. Now obviously there is whole team and studio involved but together they managed to flesh out the whole Part 1 story. Now some controversial things, obviously this is just the internet and we all don't have the stories. Neil comes off very light hearted, nice person, all the good things. But there's plenty of stories about him that have been leaked from prior employees from saying he is very egotistical, narcissist, controlling, and quite mean. It's highly highly reported he managed to kick out Amy Hennig, who by the way was and is a pioneer in the gaming industry. She has paved the way for many female workers in the industry and especially within Naughty Dog and after they were acquired by Sony, she helped improve work life and recruiting for many of their studios such as Santa Monica (aka God of War franchise) Insomniac studios (Spiderman 2018 and onwards accomplishments) and etc. Of others. She also was key to the success of Uncharted series until she was pushed out during development of Uncharted 4. She had spent 8 months on crafting and developing the story and then abruptly left the studio due to “creative differences.” Then Neil and Bruce re-did everything in like 1-2 month span. Then after the success of The Last of Us, Neil skyrocketed to fame and success in Naughty Dog. He managed to push out Bruce Straley who also left due to “creative differences” and just last year Evan Wells left the studio after like 30 years. He was co-president of the studio. And while Neil may not be responsible for this, Naughty Dog is known for being quite a grueling employer, EVEN in the video game space. Majority of people of people don't last from each game release, they got in legal trouble during development of the last of us and very awful work enforcements. The worst part, is a lot of it came from Whistle blowers and post workers who wanted/have to stay private because they are known for contract work and typically have to sign NDA's. In many ways it does track because Neil had nobody to hold him in check when making the second game and exactly makes sense why it was so dark, literally the story. Also in-case you didn't know, both the Scars and WLF are basically undertone for Israel vs Palestine, I have absolutely no stake in that talk or rhetoric, I just know he received a lot of hate also for that since he was born in Israel. And even the writer he brought in, Halley Gross, was practically a yes person to all his ideas. (In her defense, I understand she is their to do a job and doesn't want to lose the opportunity, but I will credit her that she seemed to bring more romance) but it's widely reported he was held in check by many people when making the first game. I also tell you, I do have a few friends at some Sony circles, aka Naughty Dog and Santa Monica studios. You can take this with a grain of salt, but behind the scenes, both Craig Mazin and Neil have been butting heads this season. Neil was heavily involved in season 1 and lots of control. But HBO has given most of the power and full reigns to Craig in season 2. Neil has not been happy with some changes from the game to the show., but hasn't been able to control majority of the script and character development. You won't see this with any of the behind scenes stuff, podcast, etc. But it fully makes sense to me why the second season seems so off from the game, even with it being an adaptation. Now even with everything I just typed, not to have cognitive dissonance. I would highly recommend in your free time watching “Grounded - Making of the Last of us part 1 & 2” Docu series. You don't have to react to it, but it is cool to see a lot of the behind scenes. I also recommend this for Courtney since she didn't know who Ashley Johnson is, gotta put some respect to that womens acting skills!! FYI Ashley Johnson also made an appearance in the show if you didn't know, she is Ellie's mom from epiode 9 opening. Symbolism of Ashley bringing Ellie into this world, just how she brought her to life in the gane. Lol I also thought they did amazing marketing trailers for Part 2 game.
Micarl1208
2025-05-23 06:07:16 +0000 UTCMy favorite episode of the season. This episode was co-written by Neil and Halley (The writers of the 2nd game) which shows because this is the best written and directed episode of the season 😭The performances were great, especially Pedro, easily his career best performance and deserves an emmy for the porch scene alone. This episode I thought was pretty strong for Bella too compared to the rest of the season. Their ability to capture the wonder/innocence of a 15 year old and showcase growing up into a 19 year old was interesting to see. It did give me a bit of whiplash though because the 19-year old version in this episode seemed so much different (in a good way) than the version in previous episodes, but I think thats because the writers of the second game worked on this one. Just to touch on Ellie’s reactions a bit, I think she is one of the most misunderstood characters (this goes for both the game and show versions). Ellie believes her whole life’s purpose was to be a cure for humanity, which is why she wrote “You have a greater purpose”. Ellie also suffers from the ultimate survivors guilt. Since she is alive, there is no cure and millions of people die (assuming that it would work). She also did not have a say in the matter, but I think it is pretty clear that she would’ve wanted to sacrifice herself. A lot of viewers/gamers overlook this and are mad at Ellie because of the way she treats Joel. I think her feelings are valid because she definitely should’ve had a choice but Joel took that from her. Joel was in fact being selfish but he loves her, so he did what any parent would do, but I don’t think that invalidates Ellie’s feelings in any way. Sorry for the long comment😅 loved the reaction and discussion
ksg
2025-05-23 05:36:11 +0000 UTCCongrats on graduating Molly! Man I have so much to say about this episode, both good and bad, but it would be a 5 page essay. What I will say here is that I loved y'all reaction and was looking forward to it! I do want to drop one long thought about the porch scene, it does include some spoilers for any non-players of the Part 2 game. But really I would love to see all 3 of you do a playthrough of Part 2, to compare what you do and don't like from either the game story, or tv adaptation. SPOILER(S) below, lots of spaces incoming but mostly referenced about the Porch scene. I was not a big fan of the second game from a story perspective. But I felt like having the porch scene had a bigger impact being at the end. I know it's cliche as hell, but even on my own first playthrough, it recontextualizes so much of the game, story, Ellie's reasoning and journey. The point of the final flashback to Joel is to kinda recontextualize all of Ellie's journey. She didn't go after Abby just for revenge. It was also about the fact that she took away her chance to mend her relationship with Joel. Her quest wasn't fueled just by revenge, it also included a mix of guilt, anger, grief, and a feeling of losing her agency. She was also very mad at herself because she felt that she wasted a lot of the time she had with Joel being angry at him and resentful of him (although a lot of that is valid), she feels that a chance to make things better between them was just robbed from her. (for those who do read and didn't play the game, while we do get a few flash backs sprinkled throughout the game, it definitely is implied they have been more distant than just a few months or days, but more so years. Also the reveal of what happened is different, she goes to the Salt Lake Hospital and Joel reveals the truth to her there) And as tragic as the final flashback is it also kind of calming. Because Joel and Ellie's last words weren't of anger. They didn't fight. They tried to make things right. Joel got to tell Ellie how much she means to him and how there is value in her life (that's the subtext of the line, "I would do it all over again". Joel def regrets lying to Ellie for years, but he does NOT regret saving Ellie). And Ellie got to tell Joel that she is willing to try and forgive him. That is literally all he needed to hear. Even in the moment Joel is pinned against the window pane, with his right knee shot out... He has no regrets about what he did. All that matters to him is that Ellie is safe and willing to forgive him. He doesn't care about whatever happens next. Santa Barbara is not about revenge. It is all about Ellie's inability to live with the guilt and PTSD she feels. So she decides to basically go on a suicide mission and fix it, one way or another (incorrectly believing that killing Abby will solve these issues). She tells Abby that she "CAN'T let you leave." Can't. Not "won't". I don't think that Ellie forgives Abby at the end. She just lets her go. In the moment when Ellie has basically won (when Abby cannot fight back) she knows that she doesn't feel better in the slightest. So she chooses to let Abby go. Also the first time Ellie kills someone, she saved Joel who was being drowned. Abby also carries Lev in her arms in the exact same way Joel carried Ellie out of the hospital. Abby needed Lev to stop her from crossing the point of no return (killing Dina in utter cold blood and killing Ellie). Killing Ellie and Dina there would've damaged the meaningful relationship she was building with Lev and all the work she did to get better would've been in vain. Ellie managed to not cross that point on her own (with a little help from Joel).
Micarl1208
2025-05-23 03:35:37 +0000 UTClol
Micarl1208
2025-05-23 03:31:12 +0000 UTCThis would have been the perfect episode to wear that 'Daddy of Us' shirt Molly 😂 Also congrats on graduating
Leandro
2025-05-23 03:24:00 +0000 UTC
