Poll: Was The Last of Us - Episode 6's Reunion Worth the Wait?

Spoiler alert. Geez I came for the games. Usually watch this the next day...

This show continues to be incredibly excellent. I am so glad both game and show exist.

Yes it was worth every second of it and the next 3 episodes are the best story sections of the game. It's only going to get better

Every episode has been great can't wait to see the awards it wins

@SlySnake0407 nah still would've been bored just would've atleast had a female to look at lol I'm not being nasty & saying gay people don't deserve to exist or anything just that I'm not personally interested it , I'm sure Neil druckmann himself would say 'if you don't like it don't watch it' which is exactly what I did (I knew bill was gay anyway btw I've played the game I just wasn't interested in seeing a whole episode about their relationship when it really doesn't matter at all to the plot & is just the definition of filler

@SlySnake0407 yeah just shove it down people's throats until they agree with you... That'll work!

Another fantastic episode. Amazes me to this day, 10 years after the game came out, and now six episodes in people still don't realize the show/game is about people and their connections. It's not some brainless zombie show. There's plenty of those around.

@tselliot Same, you'd think this site would realize by now many of their readers are UK based.

I thought it was average at best. This episode was proof that this season needed an extra episode to make the story breathe a lot more. There's way too much crammed into this episode for its runtime, and the editing and pacing are kind of terrible in the last 15 minutes because of that. Also, THAT is how Joel gets his critical injury in this? Seriously? Laaaame.

Also, I always liked how the arrival of winter in the game reflected a bleak and scary part of the story for Ellie, but they threw that bit of visual storytelling and ambiance out the window in this show.

My second least favorite episode, so far.

Guess I know what happens in this episode then. Haha. Not the end of the world, and I know a lot of people don’t care, but please don’t turn into IGN with spoilers in the main image and the titles.

I wouldn’t have normally clicked on the article, as I don’t want to know what happens before I’ve watched the episode, but just wanted to comment on the title and image.

@RBMango
Joel surviving this injury is alot more realistic then falling through an entire rebar that goes straight through his abdomen. You don't survive that, much less from being cared for by only a 14 year old with no medical experience. So I'm glad they made it somewhat more believable.

@PegasusActual93 Fair enough, but it's presented in such a flat and unexciting way in the show that I would have greatly preferred how it goes in the game.

@RBMango I actually thought it was paced pretty well and a very good adaptation (rather than playing out like a game). The stuff they cut out such as Ellie running off on a horse and the clickers/boater section of the university weren't really necessary to move the plot along.

@Loftimus That is pretty much what today's media is all about; aggressively trying to force something on people that they didn't want.

That, and I always relate defensive responses to this kinda material to religious pressure. For example, if this show was created by religious fundamentalists who were pushing their ideals, I am sure the people crying foul at criticism would be quick to criticize it. The only difference is how this is THEIR ideals, so they want everyone to conform to it.

@SlySnake0407 you're conflating racism with just not being interested by watching two guys kissing alot the first 2 episodes as far as I can remember there was no PDA but I saw on twitter when the episode aired in the US screenshots of the episode & decided not to watch it because it looked to me like the entire episode was basically bill & the other guy making out & I just don't have any interest in that 🤷‍♂️

@RemembersGems I believe it would be called pandering. I mean I'm gay so I would be the last person to hold gay romance against anything, but this just felt like they were blatantly trying to pander as opposed to it feeling natural.

Im sorry but i really dont like the changes they keep making the story was done better in the games cutscenes

Enough about this tv show! Jeez. Gaming site, not a tv review site.

as the rest of the show has been, this was a really interesting alternate take on the story. it cut down on the parts of the story that i've always felt were unnecessary and killed the pacing a bit (the attack on jackson specifically has always felt unnecessary). the acting has been consistent as always, pascal and ramsey continue to impress me with their takes on the characters quite a lot, they're both unique and recognizable and i think thats the perfect direction. as to that one part at the end (embarrassingly idk how to mark a spoiler on here so i'll be vague), i thought it was less exciting but fit the show's style a lot more than an accurate version would be.

also idk why anyone would even be posting in these comments if they "dropped the show for shoving gay people's mere existence in their face", if you dropped the show you shouldn't be shoving that in my face.

Ffs come on..not everyone can watch it at 3am.
At least wait until after people in the UK this is a UK site isn't it!?) have had a chance to watch it before spoiling it.

Spoiler! I haven’t seen it yet but I guess I know it’s coming now.

@SlySnake0407 @Would_you_kindly and this is why productive civil debate is dead, congrats for flaming and taking the bait.

Anyways, I love how the show represents communism applied correctly, but things like that seem to get ignored in the usual left/right bickering.

SPOILED. Jay zeus cries!

@SlySnake0407 can yall stop dragging black people into every controversial socioeconomic disparity

its exploitive at this point

@Jammsbro
This is a Playstation site, it's a tv adaptation of a Playstation game. They also review movies based on Playstation games too like they did when the Uncharted movie came out. So yes they will talk about each episode when it airs. If you don't like it then it's very easy to just ignore.

@PegasusActual93

I agree and commented the same elsewhere. 50ft fall onto metal railing... get on the horse Joel!

The podcast pretty much confirms, with a laugh as to maintain some doubt I suppose, that the girl is Dina.

I loved how she, and Jackson in particular are being introduced 'early'.

Saying again as thats what internet folks do but approx 50% through the series and only 25% through the game tells me its at least 2 series to get through the first game.

I assume thats been confirmed many times and I'm just not listening

Is PushSquare going to spoil every episode before it is shown in this country (UK) ?

I’ll keep watching but I don’t think they’ve captured the ‘long journey’ aspect of the game very well at all. It’s been fun watching the episodes week by week and seeing how they compare to the game but I have no desire to rewatch the show (the sign of a great series). I just don’t feel connected to the actors or the story like I did in the game.

I know critics raved about the quality of this show but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as good as they (or it) think it is. It’s just ok.

I watched it this morning, am still enjoying it and kinda glad what there doing with the story which keeps it interesting for someone like me who's played the games multiple times.

@lindos Season 1 covers the entire first game. The series creators are on record multiple times stating the same.

@SlySnake0407 my momma always told me when someone is "bothered" by something it's because they are struggling with it, or have an interest in it, and the easiest way to "throw off the scent" is to denounce, or complain or scream about it. I don't like NASCAR or GOLF , you won't ever hear me on social media saying " that disgusting sport of GOLF!!!"

No one really cares about whether we like or don"t like something, just move on. I think the issue with that other dude, is he hasn't been around any "gay " people and see they are 99% like everyone else, albeit their sexuality, which makes up a SMALL facet of who that person is. I can see how a straight normal guy feels about it, but what about the gay person that has seen thousands of straight people kissing in a movie or making out? I have never been in a theatre and some gay or lesbian stood up and shouted "OH GAWD IM TIRED OF SEEING THIS S@$T!" Lets keep it in perspective people....

Good so far, kinda lost some steam past couple of episodes, but you'll have to agree some "creative decisions" are just easy representation points, picking the low hanging fruit... its actually making the show kinda predictable, like I just just knew they race-swapped Maria before Tommy even revealed her identity. Like ok, Sarah is mixed now, all of the sudden, now Maria is bonafide Jada with a full set of hair for no reason.

It feels like they are just crossing off some kind of representation checklist.

Still, good show, but little details like these are distracting in the sense that you can't help but feel that they are unauthentic and just pandering to the crowd. Wouldn't expect any less from Neil Druckman tbh lol.

@Would_you_kindly

Consider being blocked by a few folks already.

Pretty bad spoiler for the thumbnail

@TJ81 Yeah, at least bury the lead.

@RBMango Yeah, the show feels incredibly rushed, which is weird, since the game isn't that much longer in terms of runtime, and you have many ''slow'' gameplay sections in between the story bits that were never going to be in the show.

I do find that the infected are very underrepresented. So many cool and tense sections were left out of the show for no reason at all. The sewers with Sam and Henry for example. The whole university section felt rushed too. I think another episode or two could've really helped the pacing of it all.

I thought that the four episodes left were enough for the dam, the university, the winter episode and the finale, but apparently the next one is going to be Left Behind. Which kinda explains why the university was crammed into episode 6.

I wonder if a 1 or 2-episode season 1.5 would've worked for Left Behind. Just like the DLC, something to watch later this year while they're working on season 2.

@PegasusActual93 Just like you could have ignored this, but didn't. See how that works?
Because I am sick of seeing it everywhere like TLAO is the greatest thing ever. Got news, not everyone likes it and wants it plastered all over their main gaming news site. Out of all of my gaming friends, one thinks TALO is a masterpiece, a couple think it is really good, a couple more think it is okay at best and a couple of us think it is pretty poor and overrated. So yeah, when you consider that it is getting tons of coverage on site as if it is universally praised but it really isn't, it gets annoying. Especially when the headlines are "how much did you love episode X" Pretty much just circle jerking and not an acutal review.

@MakersMark I think a lot of men don’t like to think of other men looking at them the same way they look at women. It freaks them out. But I don’t take offence if I see a woman checking me out. Just take it as a compliment. No need to get angry or feel disgusted about it 🤷‍♂️

@arsmolinarc yes we now have Joel with a black woman and Ellie and Tommy. It's like c'mon guys. Don't get me wrong, my wife is one of the lightest women I've been with and she's Mexican lol, so I get the appeal but like it's just getting weird now.

I mostly just laughed at Maria's race-swap though. Definitely not even close to the worst aspect of that episode.

@ItsBritneyB_tch I couldn't agree more. Like when Ellie gave her "everyone except you" line to Joel it felt so unearned. Feels more like they barely just started out together and still barely know each other.

@zupertramp it doesn’t feel like they’ve been through much at all in the show but in the game you really felt that they had gone through the wringer by this point. Now they’ve had a lovely break in Jackson with hot meals and showers and they’ve only encountered two clickers and a handful of raiders lol. Where’s the struggle? I know they had the soccer-mom and the swarm in the previous episode but it never felt like they were in serious danger. Looking back, as much as I enjoyed the third episode it really feels out of place and wasted too much time. The focus should have been on Joel and Ellie because they’re just rushing through the story now and it hasn’t allowed for any genuine chemistry to grow between them. They feel so two-dimensional compared to the characters in the game.

@zupertramp I think the actor who played Maria was also in TWD. She played Michonne’s old friend who shows up at Alexandria and kidnaps Judith. I think it’s her anyway.

@Would_you_kindly no one will miss you.

This episode would have made much more of an impact if I hadn't seen the huge banner on the Pushsquare frontpage with Joel meeting Tommy... including the word 'REUNION'.

Seriously, why would you do this? Be more subtle with spoilers.

First up yeah, agree with everyone else that the banner and title is a significant spoiler and certainly for me took the edge off what should have been an incredibly impactful moment in the episode, please don't turn into Polygon.

I enjoyed this episode and am still enjoying the season, but I agree it is feeling rushed - the first two games could have easily been adapted into four great seasons of TV without harming the pacing. This was really highlighted in the "you're not my daughter, and I sure as hell ain't your dad" line from Joel. This was a true gut punch in the game, after everything they'd been through and how much their relationship had developed, that Joel would say something so hurtful to a vulnerable child was a real character moment, but here it was just fell completely flat because sticking a "3 months later" up on the screen in no way conveys how much their relationship might have developed in that time. Also, I get that Joel being stabbed is a more realistically survivable injury, but that whole last segment lacked the tension and shock value that it should have had, and the reveal of the knife in his stomach was a total damp squib.

The performances still continue to be outstanding, the casting is superb and the nods to the games are still fun to spot, but if the season ends the same way as the first game, I already know it ain't gonna carry the same weight and that's a real shame.

I was wondering about the pace too. The logical part of my brain that's watching it as a show felt it was well paced, but the part of my brain kept reminding me of the game.
I asked my wife after the episode ended how she felt about the pacing of the episode and she didn't notice it being rushed at all.
I think this is one where we just remember how much of the game this episode covers.
At this point you can pretty much guess what each episode is going to be (Next Left Behind, then the Lakeside resort, and then getting to the hospital ending season 1)

@RBMango Definitely have moved the story along so fast this season that I don't know how they don't blow past the story so far in the game. Maybe that's the plan. Finish the story here so they don't need a Part 3 of the game.