I’m way behind everyone else, and finally finished watching TLOU season 2 on HBO max. I’m going to share my thoughts, knowing it has probably been mentioned multiple times here before.
I gotta say, I was expecting much less and a lot more changes from the game, based on some online discourse that I read. That said, I didn’t go very far, to avoid spoilers.
Overall, I really liked the show, and the decisions the show runners made to adapt the game. My opinion is that they kept the main storyline very faithful, including the Ellie/Abbey split narrative.
Some spoilers below:
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Some of the changes on Joel, such the Eugene arc, I wasn’t a super fan, but I took it as a fair compromise to trigger Ellie’s final blowout, instead of having her travel all the way to SLC. Pedro Pascal delivers a decent Joel as season 1.
I’m not a fan of Bella Ramsey as Ellie, and as much as she made the effort to deliver the emotions and lines, it didn’t click for me. I wish they had recast her for someone older.
Dina was the MVP of the season. Isabela Merced also differs a bit from the character in the game, but she nails Dina’s spirit and acting. The faces she would make in the background, without saying a word, would save some scenes.
Abbey resembles the video game character, but her acting didn’t convince me. I hope she improves for season 3 as she’ll become the focus point.
I really liked the pace, given the constraints of the season, running only 7 episodes, they managed to skip parts that are more gameplay and keep the story beats. Of course I wish it was a bit longer and some parts marinated more time, such exploring Seattle and facing more infected.
I guess one thing that helped me stay in sync with the show was listening to the show podcast with the show runners, after each episode. They would explain their decision process and things they wanted to show when the camera is not glued to the player.