Discuss The Last of Us
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The dumb of us
posted by D-magicSTAFFMOD on February 20, 2023 at 11:27 AM
I try to avoid judging new shows before significant part of the season is over, sometimes it's hard to know what direction the show may take eventually. So I will be a bit careful here, but after half a season I must admit this show is a disappointment. I never played the games and I don't know the full story and where it will go eventually. But so far, if I review only the show, I just don't think it's any good.
For start, Joel seems too dumb to survive so far. I mean, the show tries to picture him as some sort of experienced, seen-all tough guy, capable to handle all dangerous situations he can find himself in while roaming both outside and in the safe zone. Cynical and rough, he accepts the reality around him and tries to do his best to navigate it. On the paper it sounds very good and giving such person a mission to protect someone like Ellie can really show his other side and the depth of his character. But so far in the show he just makes dumb decisions constantly. I mean, if you drive in the car over post-apocalyptic land, knowing all the dangers that can wait you around the corner, and you see a blocked road under a bridge, clearly done intentionally, with lots of abandoned cars around it, it would be a dumb idea to drive right to that block and start inspecting it up close. Seriously. You need to stop far from it, approach it carefully while hiding and wait to see movement, or anything unusual until you decide it's safe to come close. And Joel just drives through all these cars right to it, like it's nothing. Not to mention that the initial intentions should be avoiding large cities in the first place. There are no other roads that go around the city? Come on. And then he just "ah, screw it. I'll just drive through unknown city like I am on parade".
And his dumb decisions just keep piling up after that. He is constantly finds himself in dangerous situations that he caused himself by not paying attention and not thinking logically. And then he has no way out of them, it's just blind luck that he is not getting killed. Ellie shots that guy that attacks him in the city and it's just too convenient. If Joel would give Ellie the gun before that and say to her to cover his back if he is attacked, and then she does exactly that, well that could've been part of his backup plan and a smart move. But he is not even aware she has a gun at that point, what was he hoping for when he was telling her to hide. That scene was just so dumb.
Ellie's character is also not written very well. All that snarky and reckless behavior is just so unnatural in the world of this show. You cannot survive in such place with that attitude. The chemistry between them is not bad, so we will see where it goes. The writing of the show is weak, the situations are too cliche for post-apocalyptic genre, the random characters we meet are superficial stereotypes. A man protecting his deaf brother, a woman that leads a rebellion of militant group, it's just so tiresome. Speaking of that Kathleen, that was huge miscast. There was nothing charismatic about her to be believable that she leads a rebellion and commands army of militants. And that forced cruelty is just too random, psychopathic. Seems like killing lots of people in the world that already lost most of its population seems like a huge waste of work force and genetical diversity, there is no planning ahead. And one she kills is a Doctor, ffs, you don't kill doctors in apocalypse. Really weak writing for the sake of showing something cruel and shocking without any logical reason behind to justify it. These people were trying to survive in a dangerous world, there should be no judging here.
Regarding the infected, the concept is nice, much more based on science than all kinds of walking dead that unclear how do they work. But, if it's based on science and the infected should be realistic, controlled by fungus, then it is not clear to me why was there this huge infected monster in episode 5 that comes out of the ground and all buffed up and behaves like he is some Nemesis from Resident Evil. Seems completely unrelated and inconsistent with the depiction of the source of the infection.
This show is full with such problems, even though the intentions are good. I don't know where the story goes and if it can improve, but as of now this show is disappointing and used only to pass some time in front of a TV.
Reply by movie_nazi
on June 3, 2023 at 3:09 AM
You do realize that, people * GASP * lie? The Nazis were as far from socialism as possible yet their official name was National Socialist German Workers' Party . China is called People's Republic of China but it is anything but a republic. It's quite naïve to believe something is just because someone says it is. People bullshit all the time. Check out North Korea's official name for a real laugh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea .
Reply by Ask Me Anything
on June 4, 2023 at 1:07 PM
Sure people lie, but these aren't people we're talking about, it's government. Wasn't this exactly what 1984 taught us? That these communist governments say the opposite all the time? War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength? That's what commies do, they change the meaning of words to fit their current political view, aka gaslighting. "That wasn't real communism!"
And today is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre which modern day CCP refuses to acknowledge and censor from its citizens, straight down the memory hole just like communists do. And saying socialism and communism aren't the same thing is like saying a bicycle and a motorcycle aren't the same thing, which is true, but they are very similar. One just takes a little longer to get where it's going than the other, but they're both heading in the same direction.
Many of the same tactics the Nazis used, the communists used as well. A concentration camp is not a gulag, but they're very similar.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on June 5, 2023 at 6:22 AM
Governments lie all the time! Here in the UK, we have have a conservative government (closest to Republican). They lied to get us out of the European Union: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-brexit-vote-leave-bus-nhs-b2336951.html. They've had the media cover up errors by the then leader during the lead-up to the last election: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-boris-johnson-brexit-wreath-laying-cenotaph-footage-wrong-old-tory-bias-a9198521.html. When it seemed as if the then-socialist opposition party might get into power, a concerted attack against their then leader brandishing the undefeatable weapon of Anti-Semitism accusations got rid of him and transformed the party into a "lite" version of their supposed opposite.
This has empowered them to clamp down on protests: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/04/un-human-rights-chief-urges-uk-reverse-deeply-troubling-public-order-bill
It even seems that they may make 1984 come true in time for the 40th anniversary by installing a "Thought Police" to make sure opposing views cannot be formed or considered: https://deadline.com/2023/05/netflix-threatens-delete-uk-shows-media-bill-1235382495/
BTW, Orwell was a socialist.
Reply by movie_nazi
on June 5, 2023 at 4:11 PM
Governments, people. Tomatoe, tomata. Same shit. Its not just communist governments its authoritarian governments. It doesn't really matter if the ideology is far right (Nazis) or far left (USSR), what matters is if they run the government at the point of a gun or do people actually have a say in what happens. People can say the current US government is a farce but we do retain at least some semblance of a democracy although it has quickly eroded to a disgusting oligarchy.
Anywho, the point I would like anyone to take from my posts is that never take blanket generalization statements to heart especially when it comes from people who clearly are either A) being manipulated or B) have an agenda. Just because governments called themselves one thing doesn't mean that is evidence that thing is evil. Its much more complex than that.
Reply by Ask Me Anything
on June 10, 2023 at 11:12 AM
You're right, but notice that authoritarian communist countries are either allowed to exist undisturbed or are even supported/admired by elected politicians. Meanwhile, anyone who even hits at supporting a fascist/nazi ideal is immediately torn down for doing so, which they should, but so should the communist sympathizers. You can be a communist and not be kicked off of social media or have your political career destroyed because you have the hammer & sickle icon on your profile when it's essentially just as bad if not worse of an ideology as what the swastika represents.
Right now in the United States, Canada, UK and most western countries, the people in power angling to take away people's rights, their ability to arm themselves, or their free speech so that they can be imprisoned/penalized for "wrong think" or questioning/not endorsing intersectionality, are using communist ideals to do so. They are in government, in education and in entertainment so that we are fed communist doctrine under the guise of progressivism or "woke" and those who aren't on board are basically put through a struggle session or are banned/censored until they get their mind right.
Both nazis and communists are bad, but one has significantly more power/influence in modern day than the other.
Well, like movie_nazi said, just because someone says they're something doesn't mean that is evidence that they are that thing. Orwell has done more to expose the future horrors of socialism/communism than any other modern author I can think of. Thomas Sowell used to be a socialist, it's why he's so good at seeing through their lies and exposing their ideology.
Reply by rubenkemp
on October 1, 2023 at 5:02 AM
I don't really understand the hatred for this minute scene where Joels brother is corrected by his wife, pointing out they do indeed live in a commune. How some go to such bootlicking from this small scene is beyond me.
Orwell was more than a socialist: he went to Spain to fight off Fascists, by joining a communist faction. He wrote political essays and letters from that time in his life. It's been plenty documented.
To me, animal farm and carries the values of socialism or even communism, whereas 1984 ridicules authoritarian regimes, specifically the USSR, which, like others have said, was not communist in its execution. Certainly not after Lenin died.
I liked the show but it has little rewatch-value. Some character decisions were dumb, but that serves the plot, which also weakens it. The justification at the end seemed weak, but that's meant to show us Joel simultaneously cared about her and is egotistic in not wanting to lose his replacement daughter too.
Reply by Ask Me Anything
on October 20, 2023 at 2:47 PM
Orwell's feelings aside, communism is a bad ideology that has resulted in more deaths than the Nazis killed, and yet it's socially acceptable for Hollywood and certain politicians to openly advocate for it in an attempt to sway stupid people who don't know any better into thinking communism is okay. It's just another example of Hollywood showing its true colors (there was a similar push for communism in Ant-Man 3). Imagine if Hollywood made a dozen shows/movies that makes fascism look cool.
And sure, did the communists and the fascists fight each other? Yes. That doesn't mean either of them are good. If a child molester and a rapist fight each other that doesn't mean I should root for one of them to live, I'd root for both of them to kill each other. Anyone actively rooting for communism is not smart enough to know why that makes them a villain. Go talk to someone who actually survived living in a communist country and see how they liked it.
Reply by rubenkemp
on October 20, 2023 at 3:11 PM
You seem to mistake communism for totalitarianism. In the soviet union, after 1924, led by an oligarchical elite under Stalin, communism was not tried. If you do think so, read more. The communism that was supposedly at the base of the soviet union was not what Marx or Lenin advocated. Quite the opposite, in fact. Stalin (and to some extent the leaders after him) adhered to a totalitarionist/totalitarian modus operandi that applied socialist theory in addition to terror, neither of which are communist.
Following your advice for looking for anecdotal evidence, I think the responses will be mixed. Some think it was better, going off of YouTube videos, some think it was worse. They're still poor, they're even more plucked than they were under Soviet rule, due to systems created under Stalin that look a lot like capitalist hierarchy structures, suppressing the poor.