I'm not a big gamer so this may hit differently for others who may have played this game. Series coming to HBO starting this Sunday. Everything I have read has been positive thus far. More end of the world and zombies type action apparently. I'm definitely in for something new after putting The Walking Dead to rest late last year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/arts ... eview.html

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I've been watching the second half of the last season of The Walking Dead, even though I was perfectly comfortable just leaving the show where I was. Is it worth the effort? I feel like I'm watching just to complete the task rather than out of joy

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I was in the same boat, figuring I had come this far and that I needed to finish it. My opinion is that you will be disappointed you wasted your time on it. It was pure hate watching on my part and couldn't wait until it was over.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Trailer...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLtkt8BonwM

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

its a pretty epic game and story. early indications are they were able to adapt it very well.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

even halfway through 11, there's still a lot of episodes at an hour a pop. I'll probably just leave it alone since the fireworks war didn't do much for me.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I've heard its not going to follow the games so it seems some people are pissed off about that. The showrunner even told the cast not to play the games. I didn't play the games but usually the people that came up with the original IP are much more competent than the people who do the shows so I guess we'll see. It could still be good as a generic zombie show. HBO must be confident as they announced a price hike yesterday and it probably wasn't on the strength of Velma lol.

that's all great to hear. I never played the game or it's sequal, but was tempted to because the show is getting amazing reviews. Glad to hear it's not necessary cause that's a long ass game and it takes me several months to get through any game.

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I think the review I saw were gamers and they might have been nervous because of Halo, Resident Evil, and Witcher Blood Origin. They said they changed the way people become zombies and swapped or created new characters. Its got a budget so no excuses. I couldn't tell from trailer if they were normal or fast zombies. I hate fast zombies...they look ridiculous.

Watched it this morning and wasn't expecting a 90 minute first episode. Very happy they didn't end up breaking it up through. Thought it was a nice start.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I agree about "fast zombies". Old lady that never leaves a wheelchair is suddenly running down the street eating people... However, there is a 20 year jump from them showing the start of the zombies to current day. Not sure where the story goes (never played the game), but I'm hoping the 20 years passing eliminates some of the massive swarms of zombies running everyone down.

Whatever it's worth, I enjoyed the first episode.

The 1st episode was pretty uneven with some great scenes and some pretty bad ones. It seems like there is some conflict going on between where they want the show to go and what was in the game. In game Mandalorian is a gun runner that is not to be messed with and in show he's a janitor. It makes the scenes where people are supposed to be afraid of him not make any sense. The rebel faction looked ridiculous that was terrible casting. Mandalorian goes after them in game because they stole his guns but in show he's looking for a battery and the gun fight already happened. That's a big red flag for rest of series after show runner says they cast Mandalorian because of his sensitivity. That probably means less guns and more talking. A lot of talking I suspect if they already cut out one of the big battles of the game.

I think the first episode was going to be the high point of the season so probably not a great start considering I thought it would be a 9 or 10 and it was maybe a 7.

Were you paying attention to the first episode? Seemed as though he was a contractor or something before the disease hit. He is a laborer type guy 20 years later but definitely sounds like he is regularly going outside the walls to bring in drugs, guns or whatever is needed as his side hustle and the job that really pays. He definitely seems like a dangerous guy. I never read anything where it was supposed to be 100% tied back to the game. Not a big surprise that this show would be a little more heavy on the drama side and not all action like a video game.

Very good ratings for the premiere episode so it will be interesting to see if people stick with it.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I'm watching the cinematics from the game right now, gonna watch the show after.

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That sounds really gay.

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Yeah he was a contractor before outbreak and then afterwards he was cleaning the streets and sewers. Everyone was afraid of him so something beyond cleaning out the sewers and dealing some Oxy on the side was going on. They set something up but didn't pay it off. The battle over the gun shipment was one of the big set pieces in game and that would have paid off Mandalorian being someone not to be messed with. Instead we got a pretty silly and contrived scene with blood trailing out just where they happened to be etc. That's the problem when these shows deviate from the source what they go with instead is almost always worse...usually a lot worse. The one decent touch on the scene was where the rebels don't want them pointing the guns at immune girl...it showed how important she is to whatever is going on.

The scene where guard catches them was also pretty silly. I'm guessing that was a scene that was written backwards and was supposed to show he's an emotional wreck. He's going to be very emotional in this show. Probably to point where the woman has to step in and take over.

It sold almost 40 million copies which is why these studios buy up these IP's and why they always get a big number on 1st episode. The problem is keeping people for more than a few episodes. I think episode 3 is the one that will determine how many people they're going to lose. There are supposed to be some major deviations from game in that one.

I thought it was a good episode 2. Kind of explain where the fungus started and how they try to eliminate it. Pretty slow middle of the episode which I am sure will make some unhappy but really like how they are trying to build the story and some good special effects showing Boston crumbling and getting taken over by plants and the remains of infected. The tension was ratcheted up and we get to see some of the infected up close and personal. Previews for next week look good, looks like we flash back some and meet additional characters that the main characters are trying to reach next.

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Good callback to Jakarta which they mention in 1st episode with radio report. Hopefully they keep doing flashbacks to fill out the story. They might end up being the best parts of the show.

They seem to like making Joel look like a moron. He's either standing there looking confused or he's spraying zombies in the gut even though he's been killing them for 20 years. I didn't like the ending...didn't either of these 2 moron showrunners watch Aliens? What a lame way for her to go out. She should have went out like Vasquez. That ending reminded me of World War Z where the theater I was in burst out laughing. I was just starting to warm up to her character so I was actually pissed. Oh and Joel will show no emotion. He also didn't grab an ammo box on way out so nice going pal.

The first 2 episodes have been fine. The show isn't boring even though for me its been frustrating in places. The next episode is supposed to be a major deviation as they introduce new characters which they've changed for the show.

Yeah I haven't been real overwhelmed with the Joel character. They aren't asking him to do much thus far. I thought for sure some of those infected would have gotten out before the building went up but whatever, I'm certain they are going to run into a bunch more. I was also surprised he didn't take some of those grenades or stocked up on some ammo, he can't have a lot of it.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I think Joel is in for a rough ride because one of the showrunners didn't like the character. He was producer on the game but he didn't write him and he and the woman who did had a lot of disagreements about him. He did 2nd game by himself and "solved" the Joel problem in his mind.

It looks like a lot of people were upset by way Tess went out. That was garbage. I don't even want to hear their explanation for it because that will make it even more stupid. She went out guns blazing like a boss in game. Whenever these shows deviate its always worse...usually way worse.

well, when they changed it from FEDRA to the infected pursuing them and she was already infected/fucked, it altered how it should play out. Since FEDRA hasnt been a main antagonist at this point, no sense in them chasing after them all of a sudden and her blasting away. Helps build the world with the infected and how they function.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

My issue was the way they had her off to the side flicking her bean then a zombie comes over and starts kissing on her. Thankfully it wasn't her bean it was a lighter but the way they shot it I wouldn't have been surprised if it was. I'm sure they have some excuse for it but we've already seen that they bite their victims. Is there some zombie fetish demo I'm not aware of because it looked like that scene was for them.

The room was full of guns, ammo, grenades, and fuel. She tells Joel and immune girl to go out back and she'll hold them off knowing she's dead anyway. She holds them off as long as possible then blows the whole place up with a grenade. Scene. Also I would give her a decent explosion that one looked like they only had $3 left in the cgi budget.

A runner spots Tess and instead of violently charging her as we've seen infected do before, it calmly walks over and gives her an open-mouthed kiss to allow tendrils of the evolved cordyceps fungi to pass into her.

"These things don't have to get violent unless you're fighting them from spreading [the infection] further," Druckmann, who also created the Last of Us game, explains to EW. "That is realized in this beautiful, yet horrific way with Anna."

Anna is the actress who played Tess. Calling that scene "beautiful" is disturbing. That scene was so important to them they changed the character for it...that was the horrific part. Also I think Bobby Knight said something similar to this and got in a lot of trouble.

this is being made into a bigger deal than it really should be

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

I figure the "zombie kiss" was some artsy fartsy moment that got shoe-horned into the episode to juxtapose the horror and beauty of the fungus taking over the world. It fell flat because we've only ever been shown the walkers being violent. Shit, they laid that out pretty clearly in the prologue to the episode. A very odd and stupid choice.

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It did seem strange because it was unlike anything we had seen from the infected thus far including all of the others dashing inside. I am sure a big part of it was to ramp up the tension when she was trying to get that Zippo lit.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

As if the kiss wasn't bad enough about 20 of them ran by her when she was messing with the lighter instead of just pulling the pin on a grenade. Technically Joel and immune girl should of been eaten and her sacrifice in vain. It should of been the best scene in the show so far so disappointing they botched it so badly.

In that interview he said they're trying to get as far away from a zombie as they can for the show. People seemed satisfied with how they behaved in game so I don't see why they need to change it up. If it gets too weird I'm out.

from my understanding of it and what the showrunners have said answering questions about this (still dont know why its such a big deal) is that they know Tess is infected. The one that notices her, goes to her to spread the fungus tendrils, i dunno, advance the infection. The whole point of the cordyceps is to survive, so obtaining another host keeps it thriving.

That maybe and its a creepy visual.

And for all the bitching about the game version of that scene, she dies off screen.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

That's the problem when people are into the show they notice when things aren't right so its a double edged sword. If it was a pos like Rings of Power or Blood Origin nobody would even care. A lot of people had an issue with it from comments on twitter and youtube. I think Spiral explained it well it was an idea that was shoehorned where there was already more than enough going on. I was surprised I liked the character so much...usually a woman with a dopey dude is automatically a girl boss but she was actually believable. She seemed like she had survived in an apocalypse for 20 years unlike Joel who didn't even know where to shoot a zombie. It even had the brain outside of the skull and he still shot it in the gut and started rasslin' with it. I blame Joel for Tess getting bit.

They better introduce some good characters next episode as 2 of the only good ones are gone now. The only 2 good characters so far were brother and Tess. People don't like immune girl but I think most of that is the script. Whoever is writing her isn't doing her any favors.

Her sass is along the lines of Game Ellie, but even in the game that wears thin quickly.

Id imagine next ep is going to be mainly focused on Bill and the other guy, their Pre Outbreak story to current - where Joel is heading. Probably wont see much of Joel and Ellie until the end of the episode, then the week after maybe we'll see the rest of their journey to get there.

Thats my guess from the preview they showed.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.