Last of US HBO

[Old Man Grey]

I will concede that this episode looked really good compared to the cheap looking pilot. But substitute zombies for the infected and you have a typical "Walking Dead" episode. Three things had me shaking my head. What human being would let a grotesque monster slowly walk up and give them a French kiss? How come our hero didn't pick up some of those grenades (or ammo) before he took off?  They might come in handy latter. Why do TV/movie lighters take 20 flicks to light? Oh, and a constantly cussing 14-year-old isn't as charming as the writers think.

[perc2100]

I will concede that this episode looked really good compared to the cheap looking pilot. But substitute zombies for the infected and you have a typical "Walking Dead" episode. Three things had me shaking my head. What human being would let a grotesque monster slowly walk up and give them a French kiss? How come our hero didn't pick up some of those grenades (or ammo) before he took off?  They might come in handy latter. Why do TV/movie lighters take 20 flicks to light? Oh, and a constantly cussing 14-year-old isn't as charming as the writers think.

IDK, in a post-apocalypse where lighter fluid may be hard to come by I can imagine a lighter taking quite a few flicks.  Hell, I know someone who was smoking w/an old bic lighter recently that was near the end of its lifespan and it took quite a long time to get it lit.

As for Tess, she knew she was dead and her moments were numbered so she was likely trying to be unprovocative in order to not attract the infected & get ripped to shreds so she can light the fuse.

I don't be to be a grand defender of this (or anything I personally have nothing to do with), and obviously tastes will very.  Heck, I think through two episodes this is already far better than the bulk of The Walking Dead's run, and knowing the game there is a good chance this show will be far more consistent than TWD ever was (even the all-Frank Darabont first season was wildly inconsistent quality and character wise: again, see T-Dog as one easy example) but I can see how, especially through only two episodes, this is a zombie-adjacent series.  And to me, that's not a big deal (as stated in a previous thread, my love of zombie media runs deep, and I often will even appreciate mediocre or bad zombie movies if they have interesting 'gags'/gory kills    ).  I stopped watching TWD awhile ago so I'm personally not burned-out by zombie stuff if it's good quality, and so far The Last of Us is above-average quality (though I suspect even if I stuck with TWD for its duration, I still wouldn't be burned out on zombie stuff of good quality).

[perc2100]

Holy cow did Episode 3 hit it out of the park: what an incredible 80ish mins of television!!!  It feels bold of the creatives to spend the bulk of an episode on two side-characters, heretofore mostly unknown to us.  While most folks would approach "Joel needs a vehicle" with minimal efforts, here we get massive backstory on Joel (and Tess)'s scavenging partner.  While I had a slight understanding of how things would turn out for Bill & Frank, I wasn't quite prepared for the creatives to decide "how about an entire episode of the beginning sequence of UP?" 
I'm a fan of Nick Offerman, and he was out-freaking-standing here: as was his partner, Murray Bartlett.  They really did make a cute couple, and

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

I thought this episode was incredibly satisfying: a top-tier television episode!
 
A couple of really quick side-notes:
* this was NOT a bottle-neck episode, as some online have proclaimed: a bottle-neck episode is when a studio/network decide to save money and include an entire episode (or season, coughWalkingDeadFarmcough) in one location.  This is a dopey nitpick (kind of?!) on my part, I know, but I feel it needs to be said :-P
* based on the game, if this episode emotionally wrecked you, as it seemed to wreck MANY online, brace yourselves for Sam: likely in the next few weeks, depending on how long the creatives draw out the Pittsburgh stuff
* there was a bit of fun via the show-obviously-filmed-in-Canada making proclamations like "10 miles west of Boston," but who cares, am I right?!  There's a long history of quality TV series or films (and even more not-so-quality) that take place in one city but are obviously filmed elsewhere.  I have no down MA residents got a lol at that card, and even I (a SoCA resident from OH) chuckled at that, but whatareyagonnado. 

[debster]

I'm really enjoying the series. I have only a basic knowledge of the video game so I have no idea what's going to happen. I know we are probably in for some more heartbreak...

[alyssa]

I'm really enjoying the series. I have only a basic knowledge of the video game so I have no idea what's going to happen. I know we are probably in for some more heartbreak...

i'm with u on this. Not a clue what's coming up but I really enjoy the depth of the writing. It takes guts to devote an entire ep to the back story of how they get a truck. It was really satisfying to see a complete lifelong arc instead of the usual fight & die and then leave it all(truck) to the protagonist.

[TardisMom]

That was one of the best episodes of television I've seen! Incredible acting!