Episode 1: When You're Lost in the Darkness

HBO's The Last of Us is an adaptation of the award-winning video game from 2013 that allowed the players to explore an infection-ravaged United States while playing as the two leads Joel and Ellie who are tasked with getting Ellie to the safe zone as she may carry the key to their survival.

Join The Kulturecast's Chris Stachiw and Game of Bros' Yashar Pirasteh as they talk all about episode one "When You're Lost in the Darkness". They dive into the backstory surrounding the show's creation, talk about the video game source material, and whether or not the show may be breaking "bad video game movie" stereotype.

For more episodes of Of Mushrooms & Men along with many more podcasts that are guaranteed to be your new favorite audio obsession, check out Weirding Way Media at weirdingwaymedia.com.

Episode Transcript

(00:20):
Hello everyone, and welcome to ofMushrooms and Men, a last of us
podcast here on the weirding Way MediaNetwork. I am one of your hosts,
hosts of the Culture Cast, Chrisdash You, and I'm joined by
my good friend. He and Ijust spent oh what ten twelve weeks talking
about hot Dragons with Hot Dragons six, my good friend, one of the
hosts of the Game of Rose,a hot D podcast. You sure love

(00:44):
me that hot D. How youdoing, Chris? There's there's some D
in this, but it's less hotand more disgusting to to prep for today's
session, I have done I don'tknow about ten kilo's worth of US psilocybin.
Yeah, I'm prepared. God Ilive in England now, so I
use kilos. I actually have noidea what that is. Oh metric,

(01:07):
very cool. So on this episodewe are going to be talking a little
bit about the first episode of thefirst A little bit. What are we
talking about? Yeah, a lotof it, frankly, but the words
he's talking about the new sale onZara and maybe you know, we'll throw
in some Pedro Pascal, right,But then we're gonna be talking about the
first episode of the first season ofHBO's latest show, their first show premiering

(01:30):
this year, The Last of Us. So the show is based off of
a video game of the same name, which is something that I feel like
we can't overlook enough that this isa video game property that is not being
butchered somehow. It's again, it'stwenty twenty three, folks, All bets
are off. But the show doesstar one Pedro Pascal, the Mandalorian himself

(01:53):
and Bella Ramsey. They play Joeland Ellie, who, again, if
you're familiar with the source material,I don't have to explain this to you.
If you're not more or less likemyself. Joel and Ellie are on
the road to do something there willnot Yeah, that's what I was expecting.
I mean. Bella Ramsay's in agrogu esque way she has. She

(02:17):
has a Game of Thrones connection too, which which I do appreciate. But
so um not to give too muchaway, we will be talking spoilers.
But at the top here I havenot played The Last of Us all the
way through. I may play alongwith the show because I think the show.
I'm sure you might agree. Theshow is kind of moving obviously,

(02:38):
through the game, and it's clearlyalso making it clear to people who have
played the game that things from thegame are going to be big pieces of
the show. I mean, theyshow the skyscrapers, which is as far
as I made it in the firstgame, and they show that at the
end of the episode for this.But before we talk about the show,
let's talk a little bit about theLast of Us the property, because it's

(02:58):
been around for two games, yeah, almost a decade, two games at
this point, and I think we'realso to the point now with the twenty
thirteen game and then the sequel whichcame out in twenty twenty. The twenty
thirteen game is almost Skyrim levels ofremaster where it's been remastered like eight million
times. It was. It wasremaster for PS four, and then they

(03:20):
did a remake for the PS fiveand like the PS three game looks pretty
good. In PS four version looksgood, but apparently it's it's good.
The remaster is good. But earlierI have the I have the remake that
is what I had played. Ihad the PS four remake, and I
may play some of it while we'reyou know, while we're continuing to watch
the show. But that is theextent of my experience with the Last of

(03:40):
Us is I played the first gameabout maybe the first act of the game,
not even probably, But I knowyou have a little bit more experience
with the game, so and Iknow you're a fan as well. Yeah,
I've played the first game twice,which is a lot in these days
to play a game than once ifit's like a twenty hour game. And

(04:01):
then I played the second one once, but I was like came out a
year ago. They're both like superbrutal experiences. I think the second one
is actually a little like gnarlier thanthe first one as far as emotionally.
Um, obviously won't really get intothat one, but yeah, from what
I can tell, if the firstepisode in an indication, it's following the
game like pretty closely, which isfine because the game. One of the

(04:21):
things the game was praised for onlike the gameplay stuff, was like that
it was pretty well written, likeit was very narrative. And Neil Druckman,
who's the who's actually like the cocreator of the show. He comes
from a video game background. Hewas one of naughty dogs like top writers
creators, and he like in chargeof the Uncharted games, which also I
know you might had had a prettybig adaptation earlier this year as well or

(04:45):
last year, I guess now atthis point, and another adaptation that had
been like sticking had been like sittingaround. Well, the thing is,
I'm Charted came out in oh seven. Last of Us came out almost seven
years after eight came out in twentythirteen. Uncharted is the game that I
have a lot more experience with.But they're very similar games in a lot

(05:05):
of ways. Like they're built onthe same platform, right like play play
platform, they're running on the sameengine. They do a lot of the
same things, but the tone andthe expectations are wildly and drastically different.
I mean, Uncharted is definitely muchmore like almost like yeah action action,
yeah, like two Raider Indian andJays Yeah, and then like and Lassos

(05:29):
is very much more like everything feelsheavy, like you never have enough.
And yeah, they're both like verylike I think, well written stories with
great characters and a lot of indepth kind of really getting that like emotional
piece Lassos more so than Uncharted.But yeah, they're they're very like disparate
things like ultimately, Uncharted tends tobe a bit more optimistic and the last

(05:49):
of us I don't want to see. It's more realistic, but it's definitely
like grittier and grimier, and it'sit's hard, too hard to stick with.
But yeah, Neil Druckman is actuallydirect episodes, he's a co producer
on the show, and I meanhis fingerprints are all over this, so
and that's good because like he obviouslyis his baby, and he created something
that was already pretty cinematic. SoI don't think I'm not saying it was

(06:13):
easy, but I think as faras an adaptation goes, maybe this is
something that, as far as justfrom a pure writing perspective, was maybe
a little less difficult to adapt thana lot of other previous video game properties,
which I think tend to maybe focusa little bit less on story and
are a bit like more abstract andyou have to sort of make it palatable
for a TV viewer, whereas likethis is if you've played the games,
you'd be like, yeah, likethis is a video game, but I

(06:35):
could definitely see something like this beingtranslated on a big screen and yeah,
well and that's and that is thething that you're completely right about and that
is the other thing that I appreciateabout, you know, and about what
they're adapting here. And that's whyI mentioned, like, we can't forget
that this is a video game thing, because there is a huge thing that
we kind of have to unpack hereat the top, which is things made

(06:57):
based off of video games tend tounequivocally across the board, for the most
part, suck, and not justsuck, but suck fucking hard in a
way that you know, we're talkingBlood Rain, We're talking Assassin's Creed movie,
We're talking plenty of movies that youand I and so many other people
got hyped for, got excited forbecause the games that we loved were being

(07:21):
turned into movies. Jesus Christ,the Halo TV show, ooh boy,
what is there to see it?It's one of those things that's been you
know, they talk about it foreverand then it finally happens, and nobody
cares because we still have the gamesto go back to, and the games
are a much deeper, much morepersonal, much more engaging experience for us.

(07:44):
And it was never about the movie. It was about us as gamers
interacting. And that is why Icompletely agree that The Last of Us is
a perfect thing to adapt because it'sa movie as it is, you were
playing a movie when you're playing thegame. It's such a cinematic I mean
the narrative, sure, but it'ssuch a cinematic experience the game alone that

(08:05):
it's presented in such a way thatit feels like you're playing a movie.
Like, of course, it's justturn it into a movie, just or
a TV show. I mean,obviously a TV show. I think the
better way to do this. Imean that I think just out of the
gate, the fact that they werelike, let's do a show, not
a movie, was the smartest thingthey did to begin with, because that
shows, in my mind, acommitment to taking this seriously as an adaptation.

(08:28):
And I think it originally was pitchedas a movie but did move to
show. And yeah, to yourpoint, like the game is like the
first games like fifteen hours or somethinglike that, and so you know the
first season is gonna be about tenhours, and obviously it's not like an
exact one to one, but youcan see like it lets it breathe,
gives you time with the characters,and from the things I've read, the

(08:48):
key differences aren't so much any ofthe story beats will be simularly with the
game. It's just they have alittle bit more time. It's been some
of the side characters whom we mayhave not seen as much in the game,
you know, they were more oflike a mean city end and so
I think it lets the world breathea little bit and be a bit more
realistic. But then it also there'san interesting question, and it's like who
is this four? And I don'tmean that cynically, but I'm one hundred

(09:09):
percent with you because I was thinkingthe same thing as I was watching it.
Yeah, because I mean it's inthe way of the fans. You
know, if you do like aone basically one to one adaptation, is
that really what they want? LikeI think people want like the main things
to be like the same. Peoplelike that, But then do you want
to be exactly the same, becausethen you're like, well, it's just

(09:30):
like kind of like a remake,Like it's like a remake of something I've
I've already experienced, probably in amore on adulterated form. And then there's
the other people who've like maybe heardof it. Because less Us is a
very big cultural touchstone, Like peopledon't have an essay played it, but
most people have heard of it.It's obviously one of the most popular PlayStation
games of all time, and it'sjust people like zombies and shit like that,

(09:50):
and so like it plays as apiece of ip that could bring in
people that have you know, heardof it, maybe experienced it a little
bit like yourself, or it justit looks like something cool and can't help
but feel like it's probably if Ihad to choose one audience, probably more
for them, and that actually allowsthem not to try to like spice things
up in a way so much tolike say, oh, there's this whole

(10:11):
like different thing because the game isso similar and saying that, no,
it's it's a good story. Let'sjust like execute this in a very competent
way. And if it is notsuper different than than just playing the game,
like that isn't like is that isthat a negative criticism? I don't
know, like part of the thingslike actually if maybe not. It's like
adapting a book, like people wantlike a you know, like the like

(10:33):
the accurate book retelling, So maybeit's the same type of thing. But
yeah, we don't ask the questionabout the book, because the book is
not a visual medium, right,it's because video and that's visualist and I
think that realistically, we almost needto forget that it is a visual medium
and just understand that is still astory that can be adapted into the film
medium, because yeah, it isthe visual medium, but you and I

(10:54):
see it that way. I feellike people that are not gamers end or
into gaming see it as just watchinga movie, and they forget the interactive
part. And so again we're focusingon the interactive part, and they're forgetting
the interactive part, but they wantto see real people, because you and

(11:15):
I think that's a completely valid point. I think to your question, I
was kind of grappling with that two'swatching this because this is so good,
it's so well made that you justsit and wonder to yourself, like,
this isn't for me, because Ialready liked the like I already like video
games. Again, I didn't playthe game because I really wasn't interested in

(11:35):
playing a game where I spend thebulk majority of it feeling depressed and heavy
every time I have to kill anenemy. That's just not an experience I'm
personally interested In that being said,I'm not opposed to sitting down and playing
it, and I very well may. But there are gonna be plenty of
people like my parents who are notgonna play it, but would totally watch
this show. And I think thatis. I think that's also the audience

(11:56):
is people who are interested in seeinga story like this that would never sit
down and watch someone play it orplay it themselves. And that's a lot
of people. That is. It'sa huge amount of people. Yeah,
clearly they made this show. They'redoing more research than we are to know
that there is an audience for this. It's just like you said, whether
or not they're able to successfully executeon it. And I'm going to tell

(12:18):
you something. Seeing John Hannah's facein the first two seconds of the talking
about last week, and I waslike, it's like they they fucking built
this show for Chris. I was. I was like, it's fate and
he's there and he's doing he's doingthe thing that he was essentially doing in
a touch of cloth, but he'sserious here and it works. And but

(12:41):
but again it's it's a scene thatalmost has to exist for this show to
work right because the show the wayit is, and the game the way
it is doesn't spend a lot oftime explaining anything. Correct. Yeah,
so I would say like one ofthe big differences, but all their game.
But like's you know, since I'veplayed the games, I can talk

(13:03):
about a few of the key differences. I would say most of the story
beats were identical. Like this isbasically the opening act of the game,
um like with the daughter and herdying, and that's like very very crucial
in the game. We spend alittle bit more time with the daughter.
But another thing is you get likeit's it's not like, oh I don't
understand what's going on with the infection, but it's like you get like very
high level the explanation of it,and you kind of just say, Okay,

(13:26):
it's not really relevant. The showdoes give a little bit more time
to the exposition, which I thinkis fine, Like I said, especially
for an audience who, while it'sprobably comprised of a decent portion of gamers,
probably most people aren't gamers or haven'tplayed the games, So it's good
to give them a little bit ofcontext, especially when you have these like
zombie type shows. I think peoplelike that backstory. So even though it's

(13:46):
not necessary. I don't think,yeah, it's done it, but I
think I think it's I think moreor less, and I think you would
probably agree. It may even comedown to expectation of the audience. I
think Western audiences expect a certain levelof like things to be explained and not
a lot of open I know thatthis is a stereotype for American audiences,
but I think it's an apt one. American audiences hate open ended storytelling sopranos.

(14:11):
A lot of TV shows have openended narratives in the way they end,
and people I'm still trying to speakof HBO still trying to Yeah,
still trying to solve the ending.It's like there's nothing to solve, Like
you were given exactly what it isand you can leave it up to interpretation.
But solving is different than interpreting.I feel like if they hadn't given

(14:31):
us a scene like this where theyessentially lay out what is about to happen,
but in the way that narratives tendto, where it's like, well,
this could happen if we don't keepan eye on it, like,
which is obviously just a very cheekyway of the narrative being like, hands
off, we're not going to tellyou, but we are. I like
that because it does just it justkind of you know, random talk show

(14:52):
in nineteen sixty eight in this universehas two people who happen to just talk
about the way the world ends.I mean that there's this quote I saw
last year and it was like,on a piece of paper somewhere in the
world, someone has written down howthe world will end and they just don't
even know it. Like someone's predictedhow the world's gonna end and they just

(15:13):
happen to be right. But howmany other people are protecting how the world's
gonna end? People do it allthe time, nuclear war and this,
that and something else. And innineteen sixty eight, two dudes on a
talk show just happened to hit oncored aceps. And he doesn't even say
it's cored aceps specifically. He justrattles off. You know, it's fun
guy, da da dada. Andif you're a fan of this, and
you know cored aceps are the thetransmission, the kind of the infection point,

(15:39):
I guess, so yeah, Iappreciate that. I get what I
mean, I agree with you,like the game obviously doesn't need it,
but I think this did. Yeah, And something to consider is this zombie
infection is a little is a bitdifferent than like the traditional one where it's
it's like a fungal infection, andso it's visible in how the people transform

(16:02):
too. So I think maybe giventhat context helps and like just for context,
like Court of Steps is essentially youmay have heard of those like ants
that are essentially brain controlled by themushrooms to like bring them food, and
it infects them and basically takes overtheir motor systems. That's what this does,
but like on a much wider scale, and it can actually infect humans
only because the earth has been heatingup and it got too warm and they

(16:26):
adapted to the warmth. And yeah, because the point he's like, well,
this can't exist in humans because ourbifimperature is too high. Well what
if the world gets hotter? AndI was like, you got a little
climate change in there. Nice thatthat's not in the game. And I
want to point this out, andthis is I think that this is something
that is brought to the table bythe person whose name we haven't mentioned,

(16:48):
but I want to mention him becausewell obviously he's the showrunner Craig Mason.
Man, Holy cow, what acareer. I mean, he wrote rocket
Man, the Harlan Williams movie inthe Night in that weird Disney movie where
Harlan Williams plays an astronaut, andand then he wrote my favorite scary movie,
Scary Movie three. And then hedirected Superhero Movie, which you know

(17:10):
neither here nor there, but hecreated He created Chernobyl, and that I
mean, Jesus H. Christ,I don't I don't know if you've seen
Chernobyl. I'm assuming you have.Oh yeah, I love Chernobyl, but
I'll tell you I wouldn't have itany other way than the guy who was
the creator of Chernobyl working on andcreating this show because they share a very

(17:33):
similar DNA, like definitely like asimilar visual style, right, and like
this like feeling of failure from uptop, I think it permeates. Chernobyl
was a bit more about like theintellectual kind of like how did these systems
not work? Right? And thenthis is a bit more about, Okay,
everything's broken, let's look at thepeople, right, bet, how

(17:56):
did the systems continue to fail?Even yeah? Yea, and yeah,
I mean Chernobyl was amazing and alsokind oppressient, because like all those things,
a lot of those things that werehighlighted in the USSR failings became evident
in COVID, which happened like afew months after Chernobyl came out, and
you saw it like a lot ofgovernments responded, and so the I think

(18:17):
there's like a there's like a senseof realism even though it's like an unrealistic
scenario that Craig Mazin kind of heatabused in his works and I'm talking about
like Superior movies and his recent things, and it's very clear here, and
I think it works really well tobuy you into the into the situation that
these characters find themselves in. Youknow Pedro Pascal, you have Gabriel Luna.

(18:41):
You know, I'm still waiting onthe canceled Ghostwriters show to start.
I think he'll be waiting for awhile. Yeah, yeah, so I
think he's on this show now,as they would say, so, yeah,
he's It took me actually a whileto click, Like I was like,
I know that guy that got placeTommy, his brother, Petro Pescal's
brother in the show, And Iwas like, and I was like,

(19:02):
oh shit, this is fucking ghostI'm a big agency shield guy, so
I'm like, this is ghostwriter.So it's good to see him getting checks
well. And I was about tosay, you know, let's just talk
about the casting right at the top. How do you feel about casting Pedro
Pascal? I mean, the biggestTV actor right now? Is it on
the nose? It feels a littleon the nose. Uh, He's He's

(19:23):
in everything. I mean literally,That's why I'm asking, like he is
in everything. It's funny that adda Game of Thrones. He somehow became
the biggest star for not that otherI haven't had big careers, but I
think he has had the most menableLike he's been a Narcos, the Mandalorian,
he's an wonder woman. He's beenin a ton of movies like and

(19:44):
he's a great actor. And youknow, because Mandalorian requires him to be
on set for like five minutes aseason because it's just a body double there.
I think for a lot of itit's he has time to kill and
show his face as Joel and anduh, he has he has the look
for it and he has this likequiet intensity which Joel has um in The
Games. I was reading an articleabout how they said they stoppedened him up

(20:07):
in the show as a relative tothe Games, because he's quite like harsh.
I mean, not that you sawhe's harsh in this, but I
think to make it more pattible forpeople, you need someone who is a
bit more relatable, um to likeroot for, right, And he obviously
has a good relationship with HBO.So I mean, is it cliche in
the centime he's in everything? Sure, but like is it a bad casting?
No? I think he killed itand he had like he you could

(20:32):
even see in some of the thingshe did before the time jump, there's
like this simmering kind of darkness inhim. Right. Troy Baker plays the
character right, and the character modelis not based off of Troy Baker the
person, right, you know,it's kind of similar ish. I mean,
he's like a white guy in thein the in the Games. Uh,

(20:52):
and obviously he's like Hispanic now,which it's not really a big like,
No, it doesn't, it doesnot, it's it's it's just a
yeah, it's like his racest arbitry. I feel like my only concern with
casting Pedro Pascal in this role is. I'm having a hard time seeing it
as anything other than just Pedro Pascal. And there's nothing wrong with that,

(21:15):
But I think to your point,Pedro Pascal has kind of he's become more
than any of his roles. It'slike he is a part of the pop
culture quote work of twenty twenty,of the twenty twenties in a big way,
just being the Mandalorian. Obviously,like you said, all jokes aside
about whether or not he's actually doinganything on set or if it's just somebody

(21:37):
else in the suit. You youwalk down the street and your Pedro Pascal.
People are gonna go the Mandalorian,doesn't matter who's in the suit,
right, Yeah. I wonder ifthat's gonna be the reaction for something like
this. It's gonna be, oh, your Joel in the Last of Us
because again, the character that he'splaying, softening him up, I think
works only because they can't have himbe the character he is for the video

(21:59):
game, because I think it's somuch reliant on how you're playing. Is
that character in the video game,Yeah, because you're taking ownership of the
actions. You're like, oh,this is shitty, but like I'm doing
it and still I'm sure he's goingto do shitty things in the game,
and you've already seen him do someshitty things in the show, but nothing
that's unjustifiable. Like I haven't seenhim do anything in the show yet where
I'm like, I don't understand whyyou did that. You know that he

(22:21):
may have killed that cop. Itwas unclear if he killed him or just
knocked him out, which was savagelythe one at the end. You're pretty
sure that guy, Yeah, dude, I don't know that guy got punched.
That's my point. Like, youcouldn't have him go as far as
Tony Soprano does in the college episodewhere you have him choking a guy out.
I don't think you could go thatfar with the Joel character the way

(22:42):
that they did it in that show, because you would lose any amount of
sympathy that he's going to be gettingfrom the non video game players, right,
like you said, the people whoare watching the show that don't know
what he does in the video game, which again, I know the beats
of the story at least. Ijust don't think many people that the show
is being geared towards would get onboard with the character going that far,

(23:06):
and I wonder how how much.I wonder how much complexity they're going to
bring to it if they've already saidwe've softened the character a bit. And
I think it's important because like there'scertain things like if it follows the game,
because some followers for the game,he does some things later on whet
are like pretty hard to h Ithink, not understand, but say like,
oh, that's an okay thing todo. And I think if you

(23:30):
want, if they're gonna follow asimilar trajectory for him, you need to
like really get the audience like engagewith him where we can really understand where
he's coming from and not just belike a disengaged and be like fuck this
guy. So I think that's that'sthe thing. That's I think the path
they're going to go, it's probablyfollows the same story beats, but like
maybe we understand him a little betteror like maybe in like a Walter White

(23:51):
kind of way where he does terriblethings but we still root for him because
we've built that emotional connection because we'veseen enough good at one point where it's
like hard to just disassociate the twothings. Well, and to be fair,
I mean, we know the worldthat they're inhabiting is a unforgiving world,
and we see that post the Man. We just love watching shows with

(24:11):
time jumps, apparently with the posttwenty year time jump. But let's talk
about everything before the time jump,because you kind of mentioned it is more
or less that is the opening ofthe video game. And I think that
the video game's opening for a lotof people, myself included, is well,
I think it's a spectacular way anda really devastating way to open your

(24:33):
video game, at least this kindof game. And I think that the
show captures it. I think thatthe show actually more or less just does
what the video game did. Andthey're almost aping that shot from the game
in a lot of the shots whereyou've got the real essentially looking out of
the rear window and looking through thefront windshield, and it keeps kind of
alternating, and they do that alot in the game, and I you

(24:56):
know, obviously it works in thegame, but I think it works really
well here because it gives you thisjust sense of i don't know, like
a sense of like how just beinguncomfortable, right, and a sense of
claustrophobia. Really well, yeah,and so in the game opens as you
playing as Sarah too, which playingthe game, you obviously people that know

(25:18):
what was happening, So like,I think it was more jarring or jarring
in the same way it as forsomeone who has no context or last of
us coming into the show. Funfact, she's played by Nico Parker,
who is Bandaway Newton's daughter. Ithought, like her face kind of looked
familiar. Uh did you know that? Yeah? No, I I looked
it up after the fact. Youknow, she has that same quality that
her mom does. Yeah, likelike her her cheeks, like like her

(25:41):
facial structures like very striking and similar. And and I was like, she
looks vaguely familiar, but I couldn'tput it. And then I saw it.
I was like, oh, itmakes sense, like because like her
Yeah, her face is not identical, but like once you it's hard to
unsee once you know it, right. But yeah, So the show starts
off following the daughter the differences,we spend a little bit more time with

(26:02):
Sarah because you spend like like aday with her rather than just like when
all the ship goes bad in thein the game and it takes place right
outside of Austin, which is justlike the game. I lived in Austin
for a while, so I likea bit of a soft spot for that,
and I always, I always foundthat interesting because while Austin is a
major city, it's rarely the likethe core of any type of this is

(26:26):
like, this is like the thingI think of when I think of things
that take place in Austin. Ithink of the beginning of the Last of
Us, and it's like unless likeit's a Richard Linklater movie, but like
he's from Austin, so right,right, and Naughty Dog is not from
Austin, Like no, I thinkTroy Baker, Troy Baker grew up in
like San Antonio. I think that'sthat's it. But I don't know if
there's a there's not like seemingly areason to set it in Austin. I

(26:51):
guess Gustavo Santoya's music maybe works betterif it's in the South. Yeah,
yeah, oh, And like wecan talk about the music later, but
the music the game is unbelievable,Like it's very like somber, kind of
like Americana type of vibes, andthe show basically using the exact same soundtrack,
which is perfect. It's like,why there's no real It's like Star
Wars in the context of they usethe same type of music across the game

(27:14):
shows Dostavo Santoya doing the music eitherway. So yes, it's like Michael
Giancino, Like, if you havehim doing the music for your game,
you're not gonna hire somebody else todo the music for your show. It's
like, you have a guy whodoes the voice for Mario in your game,
why would you hire someone else todo the voice for Mario. It's
me, Chris. It's me ChrisPratt. I am playing Mario. This

(27:37):
is the voice Hello. But itworks. But it works here because again,
like you said, the game alreadyfelt like a movie. Is it's
not, it's it's almost This doesn'tfeel like a layup, And by the
end of the show it may feellike a kind of a layup. But
do you know what I mean?Like this may usher in a whole new
age of video game adaptations if thisis successful, because Hollywood and the industry

(28:02):
will finally look at all of thegames that have all these fucking narratives that
they're not telling and just going ohdead Space, dead Space TV show,
Oh you know what I mean,needs one Like yesterday Dead Space is so
good. But that's my point,Like it's that same thing where I think
now and my hope is with somethinglike Last of Us is we will see

(28:23):
people going, Okay, video gamesare a serious medium, and that should
never have been in question, asyou and I both know as people who
spent the better part of our teamsplaying Resident E bel four, one of
the more narratively kind of bizarre videogames, but fun that in and of
itself should be turned into something.We have known this for the longest time,
and I'm hopeful that the bigger worldgets on board with it because we've

(28:47):
been saying this for years. Weas a generation, I've been saying,
like video games are a medium worthlooking at in the mainstream, and like,
in my opinion, like the firsttwenty minutes of this show is a
good indicator of what you can dowhen you actually give a shit about the
thing you're adapting. And it's likeyou're saying about the video games, like
I think companies, streamers, whateverare looking for like IP is king right,

(29:12):
but like there's they're really doing thecomic book thing, and you know,
I think that's generally successful, butI think if this video game thing
works out, we're going to seea lot of that. Like Amazon recently
acquired the rights for God a Warand they're gonna do it on Prime video.
And I think God Awards like anotherlike action oriented narrative game that has,
like especially the last few iterations,have got a lot more serious and

(29:33):
writing focused. So I think we'restarting to see that. And yeah,
I do think the success of thisto your point, who is going to
drive more and more of those acquisitionsand adaptations rather all going to be good?
Probably not, but you know,if they're more good than not,
I think that's that's a that's acool thing to happen. Well, given
how many bad things we've had inthe I think lifetime of adaptations of video

(29:55):
games, which, by the way, as you know, ain't that long.
Video games haven't been around long enoughfor us to be able to say
like, oh no, we can'tlook at the history of video game adaptations.
Oh we can. And it's beenmore or less taking place in our
lifetime. So you know, itstarted with that Super Mario Brothers movie.

(30:15):
It's not a surprise. In twentytwenty three, we're getting another Super Mario
Brothers movie. Finally, it finallytook all this time to get back here.
But yeah, I think we're goingto see the way they did with
comic books. I think video gamesin the next ten to fifteen years are
really going to be hit hard inthe adaptation world. And you know what,
I for one, I'm kind ofthankful because, like you said,

(30:36):
are they all gonna be good?No? But I think something like this
sets the tone for what you cando with the medium. And the first
thirty minutes of this, even ifthis isn't based off of the video game,
the first thirty minutes of this area compelling zombie adjacent TV show,
more so than fucking Walking Dead everwas. Yeah, but I will say

(31:00):
the early episodes of The Walking Deadhad a very similar vibe, and I
think that was when Waldo was thestrongest, and like, like the first
like third of this episode actually doeskind of echo that like lived in like
this is society before it all goesto shit, and it was very strong,
and I think it could be jarringfor some people to see, like
Sarah die like that in Joel's arms, but we don't really see the Joel

(31:22):
Ellie relationship, which is very coreto the games. I mean, that's
obviously going to be coming up,but I think and one of the things
that I kind of didn't like wasthey really beat into your head about like
him losing Sarah like they did inthe flashback, even though it just happened
like twenty minutes prior when he attacksthe cop. But that is very very
core to some of the like decisionsthat Joel makes in the show in the

(31:45):
game, because it's like, obviouslyEllie is a surrogate for his lost daughter,
and it explains why he would dosome of the things that he does.
So I am interested to see howthat relationship plays out. I think
they relaship between him and Sarah PedroPascal, Joel and Sarah and in the
show and just a relatively brief amountof time, like we saw that that
like that love and care he hadfor her and how she was, you

(32:07):
know, a bit independent and talkedback much like Ellie uh Bella Ramsey.
So that's going to I think bethem more so than the really nice looking
set pieces and brutal zombies and theylook gross and we haven't really even seen
a clicker yet, which is whatkind of they turn into but with the
fucking grandma with the mushroom mouth washorrifying. But I think the most thing

(32:30):
that's gonna be most core for thisis is how that relationship dynamic between Joel
and Ellie plays out. And Ithink based on the early parts of the
episode, it's going to be donewell well. And I think also to
your point, you know, becausewe kind of really haven't even mentioned her
other than saying, well, shewas in Game of Thrones too, Yeah,
Bella Ramsey is nineteen years old.Yeah, well, like Macy Williams

(32:52):
was like ninth, like, youknow, thirty by the end of the
game. I know, but manlike Bella Ramsey, Uh kind of feel
bad for her in away because shelooks like a child. She Like what's
funny is she's nineteen and somehow shelooks too young to be Ellie, do
you know what I mean. It'slike, I don't know, like something
about her facial features, Like I'mlooking forward to seeing them really doing something

(33:15):
with her character. Interesting because Ithink Bella Ramsey's a fantastic actress, the
worst witch notwithstanding, um I wonderbecause Pedro Pasco makes sense Bella Ramsey always
she feels like a little bit ofa harder cell and we haven't seen enough
of her really to know. Yeah, but it's just her her addition and
her being in this is I don'tknow, she she has a bigger mountain

(33:40):
to climb in my mind of thetwo actors of the two leads, right
well, she's not. She's notas proven right like, right like,
And that's my point. She's Gameof Thrones and the worst witch. That's
it. Yeah, And like shewas, she was funny Game of Thrones
and cocky and like like that.But that's not the same as that character
as Ellie isn't. And for context, Ellie Naidock never admitted to it was,

(34:02):
but it was like, well notElliott Page, but at the time
Ellen Page like was essentially looked justit looked just like Elliott Page. And
actually this was you know, beforeElliott made their transition. Like people were
saying, well, if they everdo a movie or like, it's just
obvious to casts. Obviously that's that'snot viable today, but just to give

(34:24):
contexts with people that don't know thegame, that's who the character kind of
looked like acted like. And soyeah, so it was interesting when the
cast were like, Okay, whoare thinking the cast because the obvious person
is not available. So I thinkit seems like HBO has a relationship with
her, right because like they werethe thing cut similar to Petro Pascal.

(34:45):
They were the thing that gave herher big break. So you know,
they probably were like, we havethis, this relationship with this internal talent
she's shown Brightley did. This isher chance to like really go to the
next step. I think if she'ssuccessful in the show, we're going to
see her in a lot of stuff. And yeah, I mean she was
in it probably like ten minutes total. Her perforce was fine, Like she

(35:05):
portrayed the character pretty similarly to thegame well, but she didn't have a
whole lot to do yet other thanbe kind of spunky. Uh So I'm
interested to see where her character goes. We obviously spent a lot more time
with Joel and even Sarah in thisepisode than we did with Ellie, and
I like that the show is makingit clear to the audience because again,
I mean, as someone who playedthe game, I kind of know how
the first you know, act ofthe episode plays at long episode two hour

(35:29):
and a half moved at a niceclip. It was like a feature linked
film essentially. Yeah, I likethat the show is reinforcing to the audience
that it's not just the clickers thatare the problem. It's not just the
court decepts in infection that's the problem, because Joel's daughter doesn't die from the
infection. She dies from the People. And again, you know, we

(35:50):
always joke about the Walking Dead.The People are the Walking Dead. It
is the same ship. But like, for whatever reason, this just feels
more compelling right now. It feelsfresh, it feels new that a year
from now, when we're talking aboutthe end of the show and the next
season coming out in a year fromthen, it might not. It may

(36:12):
just feel like it like another WalkingDead. But here's the thing. This
show has what two seasons, threeseasons, So they said the first season
is going to be the first game, which makes sense based on like what
we've seen so far. I thinkthe second game you could maybe split into
two seasons because of how that notto get supposed, But the game is
kind of split like from two veryspecific perspectives, right, and then there's

(36:35):
no third game. I don't know, but like, let's just assume it's
just lots of US one and twoand there's no third one. Yeah,
it probably like two or three seasons. Right, Walking Dead has been going
forever, and I think that youwould make the case, as I'm sure
many people myself included, who werewatching the show when it first came out,
this show was good and then itreally takes a turn and then it
falls off. I don't think wehave to worry about that with this show.

(36:58):
This show may just not get getgreat after the first half of the
first season or the second season,maybe a stumbling block compared to the first
season, but I don't think wehave to worry about this narrative going on
forever, which is reassuring as anaudience member. And this first season has
a very like specific story that it'sgoing to tell, um like with a
start and an end. I thinkpeople will like it. And I like

(37:21):
that they're they're not trying to extractas much hours as possible, which you
could see, Like I could seea show in which they you know,
spend five or six episodes or evena whole season going in you know,
between Sarah's death and when Joel meetsEllie, Like I could see that,
oh, like the lashbacking to thatday, not even flashbacking, but just
like the whole season is leading upto, like the twenty is, the

(37:42):
whole season is bridging that twenty yeargap. I could see that happening,
um and and maybe maybe that's ipthey do later on, like we want
to do a prequel series. Iwas about to say, like, bro,
you they've they've got it. They'veI'm sure someone's bitch if you're you're
over at HBO and I'm an HBO, and somebody's going, what can we
do with this last of us propertythat will make us somebody Like Yeah,

(38:04):
I'm gonna make a show in thattwenty year gap because this one year is
a long time. Twenty years iseven longer. And yeah, and I
mean I would watch it too,Like, let me be honest, but
I am happy they didn't go thatroute with this show at least, like
they're they're being saying, like wewant to we have a very like specific
story you want to tell, andwe're not going to do the typical adaptation

(38:24):
thing where we just extract every poundof flesh that we can to make you
our like customer for as long aswe can. So I like that they're
that they're just saying, let's tella good story, made well and doesn't
have to last forever well and andlike anything else, I mean this,
this show is going to be thecrown jewel in their crown that they're making

(38:45):
of this franchise. Like you saidtwenty that twenty years, there could be
a show there, but this showis always going to be the show that
has the most narrative importance to theworld as a whole. Again, knowing
where the story ends up going notto oil it. This story has larger
ramifications for the world. But thoseother stories, that doesn't mean they're not

(39:06):
worth telling. They matter to theworld of those people. But I'm with
you. I like that this storyis being given the time that it clearly
is going to need, but alsonot wasting our time, which is what
they would be doing otherwise. AndI think we kind of saw some of
that with Game of Thrones. Itfelt like at times they were kind of
spinning their wheels a little bit,like, we don't need to see another

(39:27):
another pre time jump thing for youto not give us post time jump stuff
that we want, like that they'renot trying to do that here. It
seems very obvious that, like,they know where they're going and what they
want to do, and the videogame is such a good guide, but
it doesn't have to be the roadmap. How many failed birth scenes are
we expecting in a season of mushroombirth scenes. Yes, we make it

(39:52):
one of those, but yeah,so I guess, how did you feel
about the act of the performance ingeneral? I think Joel and Tests probably
had the most to do. Tommyhe's not really in it a lot,
but he's obviously a big driving forceof why Joel is doing what he's doing.
Tommy, Joel's brother's lost and Joelwants to go find him. And
the difference in this in Walking Deadis there is a there is like a

(40:14):
societal construct, like there's Fedroh,which is like the government still exists,
but it's a bit I don't wantto say oppressive isn't really the right word,
but it's definitely much more restricted inwhat you can do. You're in
these like small enclaves. It's nota great life. It's better than like
the Walking Dead head but and thenthere's these rebels called the Fireflies who kind
of think like the government's overstepping andpeople should have more freedom. It's a

(40:35):
shitty situation. I don't know whatthe right answer is, but it is
an instruct dynamic. And Joel wantsto go get his brother who went on
like a supply run or something,and he needs a way to get out
because these people really aren't allowed toleave. We do see like the people
that tried to leave their encampment werehung. And you see that even the
first boy that comes in that he'sinfected is killed and you know, burnt,

(40:57):
which makes sense in the context ofyou can't have an infect person coming
because they would do that. Butyou see it. It is like a
harsh existence. It's not easy,right well, And and that's the thing
that I appreciate with something like thisversus Walking Dead. Walking Dead feels kind
of so pastoral at this point,with like oh and everything broke down and
that's it, and there's nothing likereally like, yeah, the zombies are

(41:17):
a threat, but like even theCourt accepts are a threat here, but
society doesn't fall apart completely, likethe Court aceps. Infection is a big
deal. It's a big problem.It's clearly driving the society to be what
it is and to adapt in theway that it's adapted, but society still
exists, like people. You seeJoel walking the streets at one point of

(41:39):
Boston. Yes it's in the quarantinezone, but you would never see anything
like that and walking dead. You'dnever see groups of people like that doing
anything out in the open together.Well you would. And then Joel or
not Joel, and then what's themain guy, Rick Rick shows up and
then for some reason everyone's dead.Yeah, those little mini society goes into

(42:00):
shit. Well, and that's whatI appreciate about this show, just like
the way it's telling, the narrativeand the narrative that it decided to adapt.
It's not just your everyday apocalyptic storywhere it's just Ellie and Joel walking
the waste land like they're they're goingto be going to do something to try
and benefit society as a whole,obviously unbeknownst to them or not. But

(42:22):
there is a society still worth savingthat they can look around and see is
still there, which is not thecase in almost any other post apocalyptic zombie
style story, like where the wherethis show starts is where a lot of
like these zombie things would end.Like Joel is, It's not the best,
but it's like a relatively safe placehe can live a life till he's

(42:45):
old and die, you know,die. But he's actually leaving it for
a reason, and initially to findhis brother, but obviously, like his
wacion with Ellie will become more important. But yeah, so that's different because
it's he's he's leaving actually safety inthis it's not perfect, it's you know,
maybe even a little oppressive, buthe's leaving a thing that allows him

(43:06):
to exist, which usually when we'rewatching these movies, it's like, oh,
we're going even if it's like ashitty society, that's better than just
you know, hoofing it on yourown. When like you have like like
they even say, like you haveraiders, and you have like gangs like
the court aceps and the infected area problem, but at least those are
predictable. It's the people that havevery different incentives that you have to worry

(43:29):
about because you know, if youjust kill everyone you come across, like
who's on your side? Who justwants to take from you? These are
all questions you have to worry aboutoutside of the quarantine. So I would
not want to die to the humansin this world. I would rather just
die to the Court deceps because thenI know I'm dead. Yeah, like
you could be turned into like likebecause they say slavers and all kinds of
stuff. Yeah yeah, slavers.Yeah like that and that for me like

(43:52):
that. You know, that's thething about the Walking Dead, like that
joke of oh the walking Dead orthe people, then do something with that,
because all that ever is is likepeople who don't want to share their
supplies, all right, But there'smore complexities to that, and I don't
know if the show is going toget into them in this universe. But

(44:12):
the fact that there is already kindof like a framework and a structure of
this universe, and it's not justdisparate groups of people roaming the lands,
like that's not what's going on here. There is a people are being put
to death by the government in this, So there is some semblance of control
going on. And you know,you know, credit to Neil Druckman in
the creation of the game to injectsomething like the Fireflies in. But that's

(44:35):
the thing that makes this better thansomething that's maybe a comic book or something
similar, because it's a video game. There's things that you had to do
in the game that were introduced asplot points that you had to interact within
the game and do, and becausethey're now in the show, it increases
the complexity of the show in adirection that feels unique and different and less

(44:58):
likely just people roaming around, youknow, fighting zombies and running away from
the next zombie thing to the nextzombie thing and we got to find food
and it's like, how many timeshave we seen this? And actually,
like, speaking of the game,they actually the actress that plays Marlene plays
Marline in the game Marl Dandridge andthe fire and she's the head of the
Fireflies. She's a kind of thisrebel group who, as I mentioned before,

(45:21):
like they don't like I guess howmuch power it seems the government has.
It's also a bit unclear like whatthey want before this. But obviously
we find out Ellie is immune tothe virus, so what does that mean
the Fireflies want to take her somewherefor something Like I'm gonna try even though
I know where it's going hot becauseI know it's actually following the game quite

(45:42):
closely, not going to go intospoilers, but obviously it's around the fact
that Ellie is immune and what doesthat mean and can they leverage that to
potentially do something for humanity? Joeljust you know, she's a means to
an end for him right now.We'll see if that maintains. My guess
is probably not. And but yeah, and the reason Joel even knows Marlene

(46:02):
is it's kind of implied that hisbrother is involved with the Fireflies to some
extent. I don't know if he'sa true believer or he just does jobs
for them, but that is theconnection he has to them, and he's
not really he's an opportunist, aswe see, like he's willing to get
rough go outside the law, likewe see him selling drugs to a guard

(46:22):
and yeah, he's doing it toget machinery to help his brother, to
get a car, to help hisbrother. But like Joel will do whatever
he thinks he needs to do toget what he wants. And that's key
to Joel, right is like he'snot as good allow just like you know,
split your throat right in front ofyou. But he's also willing to

(46:42):
blur the lines of what's good andbad if he thinks, if he thinks
what he's doing is justified and we'regetting hints of that. And I like
that they also introduce the character ofTests, because I obviously she's a She's
a huge part of the story,at least in the first game. Yeah,
and I like that they don't,you know, I'm glad that it's
ANATURV. You know, Annie Worshingis an actress. She's fantastic in Bosh.

(47:06):
She could have played the role justBiden, I think. I mean
again, I don't maybe she's busy. I don't have any idea why they
cast anaturv love anatourv infringe. SoI'm always happy to see her in things,
especially opposite Pedro Pascal. But youknow, like you said, ultimately
this is really the Pedro Pascoal andBella Ramsey hour, and I think it's
probably going to be more or lessthe entire show because the game is Yeah.

(47:30):
So yeah, you know a lotmore tests earlier on in the games,
and it seems like we got alot more test. We got a
lot of tests in this episode,I would say tests and Joel like post
time skip where the two core charactersand you kind of get like Test is
a badass and she's like level headedand like people don't want to fuck with
her. But she's also like whereJoel is almost like a dog off his
leash, She's like, even intimes where she's getting the shippy out of

(47:52):
her, like, can maintain hercool and is a bit more calculated and
rational. And I think that's whyher and Joel worked well together, and
they have a history. The gamekind of has that too, where it's
like they maybe had some sort ofromantic thing, but it's like not super
formal, but really their partners,like their work like work partners, and

(48:13):
they do sketchy smuggling shit together basically. Yeah, and that's what they're doing
now. And I think that,you know, ultimately, this first episode
didn't really have to do anything otherthan introduce us to the main players.
You know, Padroscoll and Bella Ramseyand again anatur V and Gabriel Lunar are
there in small doses, but itdidn't have to do anything other than introduce

(48:36):
us to them and really give usa sense of the world that these characters
are inhabiting and doing a lot ofworld building. And I think if we
look at the first episode primarily asworld building and introducing us to the characters,
which is realistically all it's being askedto do in this first episode.
I think this first episode is reallysuccessful. And I think even if it

(48:59):
is a little heavy handed with youknow, trying to tell a story that
you could watch this first episode andtheoretically be done right, this first episode
tells a self contained story. Ithink the way this episode opens with you
know, obviously this kind of settingup of the court asps to then Joel's
intro and his twenty years prior,and then you kind of have it all

(49:21):
come back when they get stopped bythis you know, feder agent right at
the end and he sees this flashbackof his daughter and that sets him on
this path to finally standing up.I feel like they do a pretty decent
job in a way that again,like I can tell you, the best
success of this show is that Iforget it's based off of a video game.
That's when the show is being themost successful, is I forget that

(49:43):
this is a video game show.Because ultimately, again as bad as most
video game things have been that we'veseen, if I can forget that it's
based off of the video game,that's a massive success. Like I knew
almost exactly how the citrusis Sarah wasgonna play out because, like I said,
it plays very similar to the game, and I was still like shit,
Like I still felt like nervous andanxious, and even like certain scenes

(50:06):
like from the back of the car, from her perspective and you follow her
and you see the house on fireand you see the Austin skyline, like
I've seen all of that, andI was still like, damn, what's
gonna happen? Like and even therewas like a part of me it's like
is she going to survive this?Or like how how is she gonna die?
And I still like the dramatic tensionwas still there. So I'm like,
you know, even though I knowwhat's going to happen, I was
still completely engaged. And there's somethingto be said for that. Well that

(50:29):
again, I think that just speaksto the that speaks to the exact same
thing I'm saying, like when weforget what this is being based off of
a video game that I know thestory beats of, or a video game
that you love that you've played,that you're invested in the narrative partially because
of how much you love the game, but you can just get engaged like
that. That's not easy, andthat's crossing two bridges at the same time

(50:52):
that most creators and showrunners or directorsand screenwriters have a hard time doing just
one of those things. Again,we can name all the bad video game
things, and there are so fewgood video game things, to the point
where I'm not sure we still reallyhave had any amazing video game things.

(51:12):
I think it's just people saying like, well, it's not completely trash,
like the original Mortal Kombat's not completelyterrible. It's fun. I will I
will not stand for the Sonic theHedgehog slander. I like Sonic the Hedgehog,
but it's the exception that proves therule. Man, it really is
like it in a lot of ways, Like it was surprising Sonic was good.

(51:34):
Nobody was like, man, thatSonic movie was just as good as
the first one. They're like,no, no, this is a good
video game movie. You guys shouldgo see it. Like I had to
convince people to go see Sonic becausethey were assuming it was just going to
be a complete train rank. Yeah, the second one obviously people like,
but people like the first or thefirst one. Actually, people were like,
I mean, I mean we werenot gonna get it the first one.
Actually it was it seems to havea lot stacked against it, so

(51:57):
it was sonic teeth and all.Yeah, but it does seem and you
know, Uncharted critically had mixed reviews, but was commercially quite successful, but
again doing the thing that everybody elsehas done, which is telling in Indiana
Jones Adventure. So yeah, ButI guess my point is, like the
last few years have seen it doesseem like the at least the public sphere

(52:19):
has shifted on these video games transperLike people are are more open and like
actually enjoying them well, and itfeels like they look at the game and
instead of saying, well, howcan we make this the easiest and quickest
way so that the people who likeit will continue to like it, they're
actually caring about putting the effort forward. Like that would be the thing that
I feel like you could say aboutmovies based off of video games, the

(52:42):
same thing you could say about videogames based off of movies. Nobody is
actually putting in effort. They're justassuming that you're going to engage with this
product because of the name, notorietyalone. Be it mortal Kombat the movie
or Iron Man the video game.Like the expectations of why you're engaging with
those products may seem different, butthey're eerily similar. You know, the
IP and that's why you're engaging.And that used to be, at least

(53:07):
in many people's minds who were makingthe stuff, that was enough. And
I'm glad that we seem to bein a time now where that is not
only not enough, but that's noteven where I'm coming into this, as
I just want to make something forthe fans of the show, no or
those game. I want to makesomething that people who aren't already fans of
this will be interested and engaged by, and that is something that I think,

(53:30):
like you just said, maybe we'refinally in a time and place where
that is something people care about withvideo games. They've cared about it for
forever with books and then comic books. Maybe video games are finally going to
get their due in a different mediumfrom the one that they've been in.
Not saying we need an Elden Ringmovie or a Borderlands movie for that matter,

(53:52):
because again, those things are alreadytelling a story, but there are
plenty I know with a screen Ibuy Craig Mason of all people. So
again I'm not complaining, but I'malso glad that we seem to be in
a time where the people that aremaking these things actually seem to care about
the things to begin with, notjust people showing up because they know what

(54:14):
it is, which is super cynicalto say, but that's what it was
for the longest time. I'm alsogonna be interested to see if after this,
because I'm i mean, maybe theseason sucks, I'm gonna go out
gone on a limit, say betweenthe early reviews and like that what we've
seen in no way it's it's it'sgonna be at least like well received.
It may not be like the bestthing all everybody's going to be generally well

(54:34):
receive. If we're gonna like it, it's not gonna it may not reinvent
the wheel, but it doesn't necessarilyhave to. But I'm gonna see if
I wonder if that opens more doorsfor like Neil Drugman to do like more
television movies, and then if thatleads to other creatives in the video game
space making that transition, and likeI'm specifically thinking of like Hideo Kojima,
l rog Yeah, yeah, andhe's been because like these people have been

(54:57):
rumored, and sometimes these video gamecreators are involved in the adaptations and things
like that, but like Neil Dreckmanactually directing episodes, it's like quite hands
on, and I don't know howmuch different directing a game because using actors
versus a movie is or TV show, But it's obviously not something that's commonly
done. So that's just a randomquirk that could come out of this that

(55:19):
could be interesting to follow well.And and again I'm I'm totally with you.
You know, anytime something like thishappens where it kind of shakes the
tenets of expectation with a genre thateverybody feels like they already know what they're
going to be getting with video gamestuff is terrible and nobody is going to
watch it, and why should wecare the fact that something comes out like
this and people are like, ohno, this is good and we're all

(55:40):
on board and we want to watchthe next episode. Yeah, people are
going to take notice, and itwill not, like you said, God
of War and everything else is notgoing to take long before we've got Christopher
Judge playing Credos for real, youknow, what I mean, Like it's
it's not We're not far away fromthat anymore. And I think that's a
that's promising. Again. I hopethat this show lands it and all the

(56:01):
reviews more or less upset it will. It doesn't have to do anything other
than tell the story of the firstgame, like come on, yeah,
like yeah, I mean, Imean, it's it's a layup, Like
that's I'm saying, like they don'thave to try that hard. They don't
have to. If they really didn'twant to do they wouldn't have to.
Drugman's done the work and he's craftedlike a really good foundation, Like he
already took the risk and said,here's a story that works, and that's

(56:23):
really just you know, can weytake that from one medium to another,
change some things, but keep thespirit of it. And I think they
will and I'm yeah, I'm lookingforward to see more of the Joel Ellie.
That's the one thing I leaved islike I want to see more of
the Joel Elie dynamic and what doesthat look like? And that's gonna grow
throughout the season. I think that'sprobably the one thing that the first episode

(56:45):
doesn't really give us a lot offeeling for but it sets the foundation for
what that's for why Joel would beattracted and I mean attracted in a sense
of like a paternal way towards acharacter like Ellie, right, And I'm
completely with you, you know thatis the thing that you know, we've
kind of been mentioning is going tobe what drives the success or failure of

(57:05):
the show moving forward is how wellthey playoff of one another. And I'm
excited, you know, I'm excitedto see where the show goes, and
I'm excited to see if by theend of the season, I'm just as
excited for more video game adaptations asI am now because watching this, like
by the end of it, Iwas like, this is just an HBO
show. I don't even care ifthis is based off of a video game.

(57:27):
And that for me was maybe anotherthing that Mason and Druckman were thinking
about when they were writing this,is can we get you invested in this
without having video game knowledge or anyeven investment in that video game. And
I think if you're watching this andyou don't know the last of us,
you're watching this fresh and all youknow is what you've seen, I think

(57:47):
by the end of it, Iwould be interested to see what's in that
skyscraper, what are they going towards? And you know what, I,
as someone who knows, can't wait. And I'm assuming if you don't know
where this is going, you're moreexcited. So yeah, HBO's got another
success on their hands. What asurprise, I will say. And for

(58:07):
the for like the purpose of thispodcast, I'll avoid, I guess,
trying to say, like what doI think will happen next? Because at
least this season, I feel likeI know what's gonna happen right more or
less, so I will try tokeep that stuff off the plate when we
talk about it. But like whenthere's things that haven't happened in the game,
I think I can kind of deepdive that a bit more. But

(58:29):
I just feel like it may notbe that fun for I assume probably most
people that listen to this are,you know, like a gamer type of
crowd, but I don't. Imean again, like it's a good enough
show that necessarily you don't have tobe a gamer to enjoy this show.
You don't have to be a gamerto enjoy my show. I mean that
probably to our podcast, guess,I don't know. I have no idea.

(58:50):
Again, I would assume that Iwould have played the game, but
yet I have true Yeah, that'strue. My point is I will try
to avoid going too far, youknow, saying like, well, this
is what I think happens, becauseI know what happens. Yeah you think
huh you're thinking real hard on thatone. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
so but yeah, the next timewe do one of these, we're gonna
be talking about the second episode ofthe first season, which is, like

(59:13):
you had mentioned, directed by NeilDruckman, and it is titled Infected and
maybe I get the feeling we mightbe seeing a clicker in this second episode.
Yeah, that was We didn't seethe clickers, which is like the
full form of the zombie. Basically, we kind of saw one hinted at
it in the wall, but yeah, we haven't seen what they look like.
So that'll be interesting to see howhow that all plays. Actually,

(59:35):
one last thing we didn't talk about. The opening credits was kind of like
Game of the Game of Thrones.Oh, it was so gushrooms, it
was so good, and it's sogood. It was so good, and
then the music was just like thetheme of the game So going back to
your point about the music, Idid, like really like the opening credits,
and I mean they fucking cracked openingcredits, Like just have shit pop
out of the wall and it kindof looks like pulsating and weird and city

(59:58):
is it and we're just gonna allof our shows and you know what,
your sons of bitches, you gotme, That's what I'm saying, Like
this doesn't feel like a half courtshot. This feels like a layup,
like you're adapting The Last of Us. Wow, Like and you know what,
there's something to be said about executing, like a fucking like like reinventing,
and like just execute well. AndHBO executes. And sometimes I want

(01:00:22):
to go to a restaurant that's fusion, and sometimes I just want to eat
a really good hamburger or hot dog. And there is something to be said
for, like you said, executing, just I've got a great thing and
I just have to do it,do it again just as well as someone
else did, like and it's winwin. I think for people that don't
know The Last of Us, itis giving them that like, Wow,

(01:00:43):
I'm having a fucking thirty star MichelinMeal or whatever. And then for like
people like me, they're just executingand so like who which to the point
I was saying, who is thissport? Like, maybe it's for everyone
and we get different things, butit's all good. Agreed, Agreed.
I'm I'm excited to see where thisgoes. HBO. Yeah, man,
they hit it out of the parklast year with hot D. I mean,

(01:01:05):
I think we were both surprised,and yeah, I'm not surprised this
is good. I'm really not.I'm just surprised at how good of a
job it's doing already taking a stepmaybe maybe not like a complete step to
the right, but like a fortyfive degree step from the from the video
game and kind of doing its ownthing and really planting its own flag as

(01:01:28):
opposed to just saying, look atthe flag over here, we're on its
flag pole. It's like we're goingto do our own thing, even if
it is what they've already done.So so until then, you can find
you shar and I over at weirdingwaymediadot com, which is the link link
Tree, which is the homepage forall of the shows over the weirding Way
Media network, including this one.We did a game of Throne show last

(01:01:49):
year if you want to listen toour thoughts on that. And yeah,
we're doing this for the foreseeable future, for the next what ten weeks,
thirteen weeks, whatever it is,however this long this show is, so
you can always find that, alongwith this show and everything else over at
weirdingwaymedia dot com. And yeah,we'll be back to talk about the second
episode next week. You know,like, share like the podcast, Share
the podcast with your friends of mushroomsand men. You know, we'll last

(01:02:12):
this podcast, So here you go, sport. We appreciate it, and
we'll catch you on the next episode.