# The Last of Us - tv show discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [January 16, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314 "2023-01-16T16:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/82 "2023-01-26T03:40:29Z")
Fair enough. I didn’t take that as an actual statement as to the actual cause, but as speculation coming. 40 years in advance of the outbreak. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/83 "2023-01-26T03:44:20Z")
The point of that was to say “We’ll be fine, it can’t happen - unless something wild like the Earth’s temperatures increased, then it might, but how likely is that? Ha ha ha…” _Dramatic chords_ Caption: **40 Years Later…** ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/84 "2023-01-26T06:00:53Z")
No real point to this. I just thought it was funny (if you played the game): [![](https://i.redd.it/0n1p0kqjmcea1.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/0n1p0kqjmcea1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/85 "2023-01-26T18:12:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > In a nutshell: My friend researched cordyceps, and concluded that the TV series is crap because cordyceps don’t work that way. I haven’t seen the show yet, although I did play the game… but this sort of “critcism” always bugs me. Yeah, cordyceps doesn’t work that way, which we know, because we’re not currently in the midst of a fungus zombie uprising. The whole point to speculative fiction is to take something that hasn’t happened or couldn’t happen, and saying, “Yeah… but what if it _did_?” ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/86 "2023-01-26T18:18:48Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Me, I’m especially pulled out of suspension of disbelief for shows wondering how people are farming food, refining petroleum, and shipping it around. That’s too bad, they went to a great deal of trouble to make it look real. Ellie escapes from a FEDRA military school and there are manufacturing concerns in Atlanta, so there’s some sort of infrastructure. As for food…dunno. We were fed military rations in that restaurant, the window boxes all had herbs and lesser crops growing in them, maybe there are greenhouses in Atlanta or garden plots somewhere in the QZ they don’t bother to show. Maybe they grow mushrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/87 "2023-01-26T18:25:37Z")
Zombie shows/movies abound, and I’m wondering if there is anything about this one that makes it stand out from “Walking Dead” and the others. The “hugely positive reviews” are based on what, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/88 "2023-01-26T18:26:46Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The “hugely positive reviews” are based on what, exactly? Have you tried reading the reviews to find out? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/89 "2023-01-26T18:28:08Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Have you tried reading the reviews to find out? I’m not a big fan of media critics. My preferred view is that of the consumer. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/90 "2023-01-26T18:39:05Z")
I tried watching “Walking Dead” and could not enjoy it. It seemed more gross than not and I felt the writing and acting was closer to soap level. This feel like a quality program that just happened to involve Zombies as a plot device. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/91 "2023-01-26T18:45:13Z")
The main difference with “Walking Dead” is that in this one the characters demonstrate _some_ brain activity. I couldn’t get past the second episode of “Walking Dead”, I realized the characters were so dumb I was rooting for the zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/92 "2023-01-26T18:52:57Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > This feel like a quality program that just happened to involve Zombies as a plot device. I find this comment very interesting because, for a long time, it seemed like the goal of each new zombie movie was to out-gross and out-terrify its predecessors. The only exception I can think of is “Zombieland”, which introduced humor into the mix. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/93 "2023-01-26T19:03:17Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I find this comment very interesting because, for a long time, it seemed like the goal of each new zombie movie was to out-gross and out-terrify its predecessors. The only exception I can think of is “Zombieland”, which introduced humor into the mix. There are lots of zombie movies of varying quality that don’t rely on gross-out or terror. _28 Days Later_ had vomiting but no other gross-out aspects to it. I’d describe it as incredibly suspenseful, not terror. _World War Z_ had nothing overly gross and wasn’t scary at all. What quality zombie movies/shows have is zombies as props to help tell the story of human interactions. _28 Days Later_, a great movie, did this well. _World War Z_, a bad movie, was all about solving the zombie problem, and not about the people in it. The _Last of Us_, a great show, is all about the people. _The Walking Dead_, in my opinion a good but not great show for the first few seasons, was definitely character driven. But it had other flaws like the afore-mentioned soap opera feel and people doing dumb things, so I can understand why some don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/94 "2023-01-26T19:04:38Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The only exception I can think of is “Zombieland”, which introduced humor into the mix. The “zombie comedy” has been its own subgenre since at least 1985, when Dan O’Bannon wrote and directed _Return of the Living Dead_. Shaun of the Dead and Peter Jackson’s Braindead (released as Dead Alive in the US) are both prominent examples that predate _Zombieland_ by several years. Arguably, a big part of the cachet of _The Walking Dead_ was that it was taking zombies seriously again, after a long stretch of them mainly serving as punchlines. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/95 "2023-01-26T19:37:06Z")
Having picked up the streaming channel TUBI, which specialises in B movies, before rapidly descends further down the alphabet, I’ve been trying to get through a good sampling of zombie and post-apocalyptic horror movies. Any show in this genre featuring normal TV show production standards levels of competence in writing, acting and filming is already a rarity. Independent weekender and student-grade film makers like the genre because it can be as basic as two talky actors and Uncle Kevin splashed in ketchup chasing them through suburbia. Any show that invests in looking good (and Last of Us certainly does), tries to remain coherent in-world (so far), and brings production competence (in spades) is worth noting. So far, after 2 episodes, its looking excellent. The lesson of _Walking Dead_ is knowing when to stop before it becomes a time-filling exercise where plot lines begin to rely on people being stupid and not learning. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/96 "2023-01-26T20:29:03Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > …The lesson of _Walking Dead_ is knowing when to stop before it becomes a time-filling exercise where plot lines begin to rely on people being stupid and not learning. It went from “The zombies are the Walking Dead.” to “The living people are the Walking Dead!” to “Oh my God…this _show_ is the Walking Dead!” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/97 "2023-01-26T20:32:08Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I’m not a big fan of media critics. My preferred view is that of the consumer. It’s well-acted, well-written, well-directed and has terrific production design. Sometimes, something is better not because of some new idea, but simply by being better. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/98 "2023-01-26T21:38:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The “zombie comedy” has been its own subgenre since at least 1985, when Dan O’Bannon wrote and directed _Return of the Living Dead_. Shaun of the Dead and Peter Jackson’s Braindead (released as Dead Alive in the US) are both prominent examples that predate _Zombieland_ by several years. I thought _Dawn of the Dead_ was more a satire of consumerism than a zombie movie, and it had its comic moments with zombies riding the escalators at the mall. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/99 "2023-01-26T22:06:55Z")
Yeah, there’s definitely a big element of parody in that movie. But I wouldn’t call the film a comedy. There’s a few funny bits, but the overall tone is pretty somber, and the deaths are mostly meant to be shocking or disturbing. The _Return_ movies are much more comedic in tone, and a lot of the deaths are basically slapstick, especially in the later films. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/100 "2023-01-26T23:07:56Z")
And by the end the fans … ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314/101 "2023-01-26T23:23:28Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Zombie shows/movies abound, and I’m wondering if there is anything about this one that makes it stand out from “Walking Dead” and the others. …this is mildly spoilerish in an overall story-direction kinda way, but won’t reveal any specifics. At the heart of the show is a moral dilemma. The seeds of that dilemma have already been planted, so much of the rest of the show will be about building the inevitable tensions to give the conclusion real stakes. I think its a significant difference: but until the relationship between Joel and Ellie plays out a bit more, it could be hard to see where the story is going. > [@Jasmine](#): > > The “hugely positive reviews” are based on what, exactly? I’m not going to quibble over the reviews because I think that they are a fair reflection of the show. I think the production design and especially the acting all knock-it-out-of-the-park. But personally: the whole thing just feels a bit cold. I think its a combination of too much familiarity with the story of the game, and not really being a fan of Craig Mazin’s stuff (including Chernobyl). I recognize I’m an outlier, though. And speaking of zombie shows, I’m currently mid-way through my fourth rewatch of Z Nation: and for me this will always be the _best_ zombie show. It is an utterly ridiculous show. But also? Damn, Z Nation had stakes, had characters that I grew to love, had stories that I got invested in, and never lost sight of the original story it was telling. And this episode here was one of the best episodes of television ever, IMHO. [![](https://i.gifer.com/Bz1j.gif) ](https://i.gifer.com/Bz1j.gif) Its a tragedy that Kellita Smith and Keith Allan haven’t gone onto bigger and better things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-us-tv-show-discussion/978314.md?page=6)