Paff

Props to HBO for putting it out on physical media. There's so many shows I want to see, but I don't subscribe to the particular service and don't plan to. I'd totally check them out on Blu, if they would only freaking make them! But no, they prefer more subscribers.

Dan

Knowing the creators intend for this to be a limited series, this is probably worth picking up. May wait for a complete series set in five to ten years though

Osiris3657

I can't believe Bella Ramsey is 19. I was going to say she needs to be recast for season 2 when Ellie is an adult, but I guess that doesn't make sense now

Maxflier

Paff

Ah, sort of a "lightning in a bottle" interpretation, as in it's not simply get infected-give birth-cut the cord, voila, immune baby. If the timing of those events isn't perfect, you end up with regular baby (succeptible to the infection), or an already infected and attacking baby. OK, sure, I'll buy that. I was kind of going more with the umbilical cord acting as sort of a filter, where it passes the infection on to the child but without them becoming rabid. Sort of like how flu vaccines are basically the flu, but in a dormant state so that you don't get sick, you just develop the antibodies to fight it.

And also, this is a fictional program, not a real sickness, so whatever explanation the showrunners want to go with, that's the truth.

TomOpus

Ellie and Joel find a yellow brick road?

Xander

The other thing that didn't bother me about the Joel vs. Fireflys firefight is that they've spent the entire season telling us AND showing us what a badass Joel is. He was NOT a nice guy these last 20 years. Marlene says he's the one guy she didn't want to see. Bill says something about him being the one guy who could protect someone. We've seen him coldly cut down people standing in his way. It made it perfectly plausible to me that he could efficiently take out a dozen soldiers who were comfortably in one of their bases not expecting internal resistance.

Decker

Man does Ashley Johnson look plausibly like Bella Ramsey's mother. I didn't really appreciate it in the episode (was too freaked out at the scene), but wow, what fortuitous casting, considering they wanted her to appear in the show anyways.

movieguru

It would also depend on when she became immune to the bites. We assume she was immune since birth, but it also could have been something that kicked in when she reached puberty or some other point during her growth.

I'm surprised The Walking Dead never touched on what happens if a woman is bitten while pregnant or giving birth. That question has always floated around message boards for years, but it's never happened in any story in the comics or tv series.

Giantrobo

Not TWD but it was addressed in the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake...

Draven

Well the issue with The Walking Dead is that everyone is already infected and it's just death that turns them into zombies. So any child born isn't going to be immune - they have the same infection their parents do.

Toddarino

I’m glad they stuck with that ending. I would have been pretty bummed if they changed it up.
My only real complaint is that there wasn’t one more episode to explore the university or to flesh out the David character.
All and all though I really enjoyed it.
I loved that scene when Joel is being led out of the hospital and that asshole keeps shoving him. I just kept thinking, man I can’t wait for this fucker to die.

Rob V

Excellent, excellent episode and series. This is a top 3 limited series for me.

Decker

Technically a Drama Series, not a Limited Series. Though it is somewhat limited.

chowderhead

Joel was saved by a fungus in the last episode so in this one, he returns the favor

Mike86

Good finale, good show. I’d say one of the best video game adaptations but I haven’t played the games yet. Still sounds like it does a good job of adapting the source material and all the episodes were solid.

It does seem somewhat obvious what the conflict of season two (and the second game) will be. I heard the sequel game had some divisive opinions and I kind of expect something similar from the show.

Abob Teff

What if ... just what if ... Anna was immune. That it was something else in her genetics that she passed along.

How many immune people took a bullet to the brain over the last 20 years without knowing it? This is something that bothers me in many "zombie" stories.

(I know they had her do a slight twitch or gurgle or something. I wish they hadn't.)

MrX

Druckmann was on a podcast and said that wasn't her

DJariya

Here is the reason why The Last of Us will probably take 2+ years to return. There is a huge shortage of VFX artists with the massive workload that’s out there. Sounds pretty dire.

From Vulture. Interview with Craig Mazin.


And this is industry wide. Not just affecting this show. Marvel is also struggling to keep up.

The Questyen

Finally wrapped the season up. I hated the ending so much when I played the game that it completely turned me off playing the sequel. But I think I was fine with it for the show because in the game you spend 90% of the game playing as Joel so when he makes a decision that is so stupid and unlike what my choice would have been it just feels wrong. For the show you are just watching a story and not playing as Joel so his terrible decisions aren't yours if that makes any sense. But on it's own it was a fantastic season with Bella Ramsey and Anna Torv stealing the show in my opinion and I'm looking forward to going into season 2 blind.

Toddarino

I was the opposite. I liked the ending to the game and show. I felt the decision he made was the right one.

You should check out the second game. I never played it upon release and my brother just lent it to me. I’m a few chapters in. I don’t like where it’s going.

RichC2

This is actually why I don't think BioShock's twist would work on a TV show. I mean it would, but it wouldn't have the same impact (and Funny Games kind of already had the movie equivalent of it).

The Questyen

If you think murdering a bunch of people who are trying to cure humanity including the doctor who might be the only human alive capable of producing a cure is the right choice then ok. I also found the gameplay in The Last of Us fairly mediocre so I have zero interest in ever playing the second game. Like I said I'll just check out the story through the show.

kefrank

I can't speak to the game so anything I say here is based solely on the show. What makes the ending at least interesting is that it can inspire this kind of debate with reasonable people falling on either side of it. In the show, all we know about the doctor is what Marlene says, which isn't much. He's just as likely to be "the only human alive capable of producing a cure" as he is to be someone with just a modicum of medical expertise willing to gamble a young girl's life for the minuscule chance it might produce a cure. He may be motivated by altruism, or he may be motivated by the potential for personal accolades, or he may be motivated by desperation, or he may be motivated by outrageous bravado, or some combination of all of those things. We simply don't know. We do know what motivates Joel: a father's love. And that motivation understandably isn't willing to swallow the notion of Ellie being sacrificed for something that is very very far from a sure thing. Yes, the Fireflies and that doctor were trying to save humanity, but were they going about it the right way? Was their gamble reasonable? Did it balance compassion with ambition? Remember, the soldier that shot Sarah in the beginning was also doing so as part of an effort to save humanity...

This is all why I personally like the ending - not necessarily because I can say with immediate certainty I agree with Joel's choice, but rather because there's so many layers within it to consider.

dstrauss

I'm assuming you are not a parent.