everybody to Jay the Dead's new horror movie's special The Last of Us, based on the video game The Last of Us, created by Neil Druckmann and the series here, Craig Mattson, although they're both involved in it. And also we have Hayley Wigring-Gross involved in the writing. And I am here with the one, the only, Jay of the Day. Hey, Jay. Hey, Dr. Walking Dead. Thanks for having me back for this. And do you realize that we have waited?
Just over two years for this. Oh my gosh. I did not. And that's what I was going to ask you first. How long has it been since? the last of us part one and it's been a while yeah i can't i couldn't believe it actually and um And I just let me just say. to the listeners and to you i love talking to dr bishop here it's one of my favorite people and i'm going to try not to be too grumpy today
But I've got a lot of ranting and raving. But one thing I'll just say right up front. About the episode or about your life? This, this episode, yes. Okay. I mean, I can rant and rave about my life too, but I'll stick to this for today. But anyways, like this is... We waited for just over two years. And do you know... There are only going to be, there are only seven episodes in season two. Yeah. What is that? What is that about?
Maybe they're longer. I don't know. That bothers me, though, because I don't like a series to have an odd number of episodes because I'm weird. So, yeah, I think we deserved at least eight for numerous reasons. Yeah. And I mean, to your point about like the length. I mean, this first episode, season two, episode one, is one hour, eight minutes and some change. Yeah. So just putting that out there. It's a little longer. It's a wee bit longer. So yeah, we've got...
Season one had nine episodes, and it was masterful television. So right now, right off the gate, if you have not listened to our coverage of season one, you may want to start there. That doesn't mean you can't listen now, but you may want to go start there. But yeah, you are not wrong as always. Seven episodes as opposed to nine. Yeah. A couple other little just tidbits to put out front here before you jump into it. Prior to watching season one,
I had not seen Game of Thrones and now I have seen Game of Thrones. And so I have an extra special appreciation for Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal because they were both characters. in that series. So I love them even more. For that reason. Well, maybe Bella will make it into the Mandalorian and Grogu the movie. Terrible title, but looking forward to it. Okay, maybe, maybe. Yeah, because...
Because with this show, people, we get yet another narrative in which Pedro Pascal is responsible for a young person. It is the role he was born to play, apparently. That's right. And I guess the other little tidbit I'll just throw out there and then I'll stop interfering. I noticed, so on max.com, HBO Max, I noticed that it was titled Future Days, and it said in parentheses with ASL, American Sign Language.
Yeah, that's really nice. So when I hit play, there was a person down in the bottom right-hand corner. for the accessibility to provide american sign language which is really nice and initially i could not figure out how to remove that because um not needing the American Sign Language for myself. It was a little distracting for me personally. So if people encounter this and yours is defaulted there, Kyle, on the main menu screen for Last of Us. There is a link for versions.
I mean, this took me 20 minutes to find all this. And then you can go and click on versions and then just select the version without the ASL. So I just wanted to put that out there as a little PSA. That is super interesting. And I would love a little bit of insight into that because we haven't had ASL. in the past partially because of technology but also partially because
the closed captioning covers that, right? But I guess maybe there's people who know ASL but aren't literate? Yes. I don't mean that rudely. I'm just honestly asking. Yes, and it's the actor, and forgive me, I should have brushed up on this a little more, but there was the Academy Award winning ASL film from within the last couple of years.
Anyway, one of the major performers in that is the one who provides the ASL signing in the bottom right-hand corner of this. So that's kind of a little neat thing. Just putting it out there. Very cool. Thank you very much. Thanks for being informed. Somewhat. For informing us, your listeners. Yeah, absolutely. And participants. That's great. So listeners. Oh no, I always wanted to start somewhere else.
Have you played The Last of Us Part II video game? Does that exist? No, I haven't. All right. Well, let me back up. So I played The Last of Us video game. for a paper that became a book chapter. And I found season one was a remarkable adaptation of a video game because it kept...
The kind of the environment and the spirit of the game and the plot and the character development, all that stuff. The only thing that was removed, obviously, is the interactivity and the long sections where you're just... what the video gamers call grinding, where you're just, you know, fighting.
Fighting against things and making your way through some tedious challenges and obstacles, etc. So when you take that out, plus your many, many, many reloads if you die, which happened to me quite a bit. it still kind of was a very... faithful adaptation of the first game. Now, it was exhausting to me, not because it took so long, but because it's emotionally exhausting. The emotions that you feel from the first season of this show.
are the emotions you get from the video game. The difference is the video game takes many, many, many, many more hours, and you get increasingly or substantially more connected to these two characters. So we have, of course, Ellie.
Bella Ramsey and Joel, Pedro Pascal. Those are our heroes. And you mostly play Joel, but occasionally you do have control of Ellie as your avatar. That all said, when Past of Us 2, the game came out, I did not... choose to play it, partially just because I felt so run down from the first game.
And also because because I had small kids, I had to play the first game after bedtime and it made for some very late nights. So I didn't want to do that again. So I am putting that out there to listeners in the first. season coverage i occasionally talked about the video game and the connections to the video game i will not be doing that
this season, and apparently neither will Jay. I have also heard, anecdotally, but I think it's valid, that the second video game is being adapted as seasons two and three, which is likely why season two is a little shorter, because as much as I like this show... and I like content, we know that the producers of cinematic content increasingly are squeezing the lemon, as it were. So we're getting movies that are adapted into not one movie, but two.
And very rarely three. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Actually, don't thank you. And I think we're getting that a little bit more with TV shows, even though a TV show can be an indeterminate number of episodes. So I don't know why they didn't just have. Season two, part one, season two, part two, which a lot of shows do like Breaking Bad and some others. Anyway, that's where we're at. So we're going to get season two, as you've said, seven episodes. And then who knows, maybe it'll be another two years.
Oh, no. Well, quick question on that, if I may. Do you think and believe me, I'm not trying to defend them at all because it does frustrate me. But. This show looks phenomenal. I mean, I'm not sure what the budget is per episode, but I imagine it's significant. And so...
Part of me wonders if, but probably this isn't the case, but I'm just, you know, part of me wonders if they're going for quality over quantity and especially they're investing their... money wisely into seven highly produced episodes versus you know something that's less
Yeah, well, I think so. And I think we'll see. Maybe this has a little bit bigger scope. Those who have played the video game would be able to comment on that more. I also know that part of the delay was a little bit of the writer's strike. So hopefully the third season will come out a little faster. But let's get into this.
We get a recap if you choose to watch the recap, which I recommend if you haven't seen it yet, because it does kind of bring you up to speed what exactly happened in season one. Yeah. Because season one culminates in a major choice. by joel now we are going to operate under the assumption that listeners have seen season one or don't care about spoilers But I'm trying to remember, Jay, do we go spoilery on these coverages? I can't remember what we did last time. I was –
I was trying to remember that, too. And I believe we have to in order to properly discuss the episodes. So we just encourage people to watch along with us. Right. So we're going to try to get these episodes out pretty quick. So hopefully people have seen episode one. If you haven't, please go watch it. It's on max.
Max is, according to my experience, one of the slightly more expensive streaming services, but I think it's worth it. Max has a lot of great original content and also series that are of high quality, tailored to the adult watching crowd, but not... The adult watching. Right, right. Just to be clear there. All right. So that said, let's get into it. After the recap, Future Days begins exactly where season one ended. Now, here's what happened.
Ellie, well, so Joel has been trying for the entirety of season one to get Ellie to nowhere else, but... salt lake city which is weird to me but cool yes where they think uh they think she is going to be the savior of mankind because ellie is immune to the cordycepsis infection of the the fungus But when they get there, Joel realizes that in order to make this happen, they are going to have to kill Ellie because they have to dissect her and figure out what's going on.
So Joel makes the choice, the difficult choice, to choose Ellie over the rest of humanity, which immediately invokes Spock. From Star Trek 2. Yes. So... Jay, are you a needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few guy? Or when it comes to like loved ones and family, are you in fact needs of the few? outweigh the needs of the many. Well, like any self-loathing hypocrite, Kyle, if it's my family or my kids,
Screw everybody else. But if it's generally speaking, then of course the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Ideally. But we're not talking about the nasty trolley car scenario where if he saves the one, everyone else is dead. It just means we won't have the cure because people are still alive, of course. Clearly a tough moral decision that Joel is going to wrestle with for the rest of his life. Now, what's really cool, and I think it's acted superbly by both of these people.
is Ellie asks him point blank if he's telling her the truth about what happened in the facility. And Joel point blank lies to her face. And you can tell Ellie knows he lied. But I can't tell if Joel knows she knows he lied. Yeah, that's so interesting because I feel the same way, but I believe... That he might think she's skeptical, but I believe he thinks, okay, she's going to go with this. I agree. I think he thinks she bought it and especially how the plot unfolds after that.
he seems a little confused as to why she might be annoyed with him. Right. So we get that and they're heading back to Jackson, Wyoming to meet up with, uh, with Joel's brother, Tommy played by Gabriel Luna. And that's where season one ends. But it's kind of cool because the ending bumper from season one is a little bit longer here. Okay, so then we jump.
after the opening well no sorry before the opening we jump back to the salt lake city facility yes by the way the episode description for future days says five years after the events in salt lake city Which reminds me of my life because I had events in Salt Lake City. And so I could say five years after the events in Salt Lake City, Dr. Walking Dead was a new instructor at Southern Utah University. But that's not what we're talking about.
We're talking about this jump to Jackson, where we will jump ahead. Man, I am non-chronological today, listeners, and I'm sorry. Well, it's not your fault because honestly, Kyle, in the very first, like, what, two, three minutes? You are you're doing the recap. You're doing the where they revisit the end of season one. And then they show you like a couple seconds from like the present where it's like lined up and it picks up immediately.
And then it jumps five years later. So it's not your fault. It's a little confusing. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. Anyway, what's important to recognize is after Joel went full Rambo on the Salt Lake City Research Facility of the Fireflies. The survivors are mourning their dead. Now, this, I thought, was a cool move. We see that even though Joel thinks he was doing what he had to do to save Ellie's life, he killed a bunch of innocent people, people who were immune.
People who weren't doomed to die from infection. And in fact, the scientists who are trying to save the human race. This is the group of people Joel, our hero, has slaughtered. And we see their loved ones and their friends having buried them and mourning their loss. And we introduce the character of Abby Anderson. Played by one of my favorite people, Caitlin Dever.
Yes. Caitlin Dever is perhaps the cutest woman on the planet. Not beautiful, cute. She is a cute. And she's a really great actress. And she's the star of No One Will Save You. Which is one of my favorite movies. Yes, yes. So I had to do a little research into this. Abby is a key figure in the second game and hated by fans of the game. This character is so loathed. that Caitlin Dever, the actress,
had a security detail to protect her from rabid and toxic fans. That's just so crazy when that happens. Yeah. What is wrong with our society? I don't know, but, um, quick question though. So there are like a zillion things that annoyed me about this first episode. But one little tiny tidbit. Was it weird to you, Kyle, that... This group of the Salt Lake City survivors who are standing around mad and mourning. Is it weird to you that they're all like, you know, 20 something? And I'm like.
There are so many things artificial about this episode for me, but that was the first thing that struck me as artificial. Well, okay, this might help. It might not. Okay. I had to go outside. because I think we'll find it out later. The person Abby is mourning is her father.
And so I would have to go back and revisit the last episode of the previous season to see if he was like the head doctor, which is probably who he was. So Abby's really pissed off because her father was killed and she vows revenge upon Joel. Now, all she knows is Joel. middle-aged, graying, tall. Handsome. Handsome. That's right. Yes. And handsome. So she's going to go after him. So it is possible, my friend.
that this group of survivors are the children of everyone who was slaughtered, which could account for their youthfulness. Okay. I like that. I can't prove it. But also, what year are we talking then? So this was this was 2024.
when this happened, right? Because five years later is 2029, which is where this picks up, right? Am I right in the timeline? I am not sure, but carry on. Okay, for some reason, I have 2029 in my head. But anyways... it may be another movie i've seen recently kyle i hate when that happens anyway they bleed over it happens So I actually forget where I was even going with that. But so you're talking about the time and the age and the thing. Yeah. So I don't know. It just strikes me that.
I could see carrying out revenge, but part of me just wonders, If it's not as much revenge that is required, it is still tracking down Allie. Yeah. Right? Well, yeah, they still need her. Yeah. To save humanity. But she, Abby in particular, doesn't care about that. She just wants revenge, and she wants it to be slow, she emphasizes, establishing her as the antagonist. Now, apparently in the game, she's kind of a big, tough lady.
I find it hard to take Caitlin, Caitlin Devers seriously as a pissed off antagonist. Now, yeah, that's that's me. That's me. And that's my problem. But she's just so cute. I just don't see her as a big, scary antagonist unless. She brings it later. She is cute. And the other thing that's problematic is her performance. And forgive me, her performance there is very melodramatic. And she's like, help you find him and kill him. And then she's like.
slowly yeah and she's so dramatic about it it's like Oh, you know, wax your, the corners of your mustache. Yes. We'll come back to that. Okay. Okay. So yeah, we jumped. Five years ahead because that's what the game does. And you're right about your timeline. I checked. So that's true. So this is now in the future for us at home. But whatever. And Ellie is now 19 and she is a bratty teenager who wants to be treated as an adult and doesn't want to be treated with the protection that Joel.
naturally feels for her as her father figure but p.s she always was bratty and now she is nearly unbearable for me. Then I was setting this up for you. Sorry. Because I knew one of your complaints was going to be about Ellie. So share with the listeners why you don't like Ellie. Initially, I found her off-putting in season one because she's, you know, she's kind of mouthy.
But she also has an endearing side where she likes to tell those little dumb jokes and all that stuff. But now she is full blown just. teenage 19 year old and see Kyle and I was trying I've thought for the past 12 hours how to tactfully communicate this in a fair way I was raised by women. I was raised by my mom and my grandmother for the most part. I have a daughter myself.
I love women. I love girl power stuff. I like narratives where the girls are strong. But there is something about this episode, and this starts right out with it. Where the girl power stuff is so ham fisted and heavy handed that it feels more. It just feels more like it's just distracting because you've got her. We see her engaged in combat. with this really, this really big dude. And I mean, so it's like, okay, she could be excellent at jujitsu by now. Maybe, maybe Ellie is.
But that's unlikely. But this whole this whole thing continues throughout the whole thing. So not only is she obnoxious. but they're beating this girl power drum and it's like hey yo we get it I mean we know she's a woman we know she's strong you don't need to like underscore it like so obnoxiously I don't know did it strike you that way I mean maybe it's just me
I have some concerns about where they're going to go with this. And I know part of this is predetermined by the video game. But Bella Ramsey, as a person, did not really grow since the first season was shot. And that's, you know, that's not her fault. So Ellie is supposed to be 19, but she's slight, like you say. And maybe that's why so is Abby. So they're on even playing field.
But yeah, they have to really emphasize that even though she's small, she's scrappy and tough. Yeah. Although they do explain it a little bit with the guys take it easy on her and that pisses her off because she doesn't want to be treated differently. She doesn't want to be treated like a kid. She doesn't want to be treated like she's immune. But of course, everybody's going to. So that makes sense to me.
But I do agree that we're laying it on a little thick that she's super tough and capable. I did like to see her fail later in the episode. Mm-hmm. But I'm not sure exactly what's going on with the character of Dina. So Dina is her best friend, and she has a better relationship with Joel than Ellie. And I do relate to that a little bit.
And they were going for this a little bit on purpose. Sometimes as a parent, your teenage child may not be very respectful, but their friends are. So sometimes there are moments in life. When parents get along better with their kids' friends than they do their kids. And I think that's what they're going for here with Joel because he really cherishes that relationship as well.
And just to be clear to the audience, it doesn't get weird. It's not like, I mean, a different kind of show could make Joel's relationship with Dina weird.
yeah well at least we're not doing that at least um joel is not weird but i i'm still not sure of the vibes from dina because she seems pretty but yeah i mean who knows i don't know what what she's into i mean this is this is what i don't like it's Dina's like okay so Dina has a slightly older boyfriend that she breaks up with and gets back together with all the time but Dina clearly has some kind of hot dad attraction to Joel. Yes.
But then Dina is also going to play with Ellie's lesbian emotions. And I really don't like. that Dina is just kind of like playing around with Ellie. Yeah. Because she knows Ellie's gay. Dina says she's not, but she's going to just, what, tease her, lead her on? So I have a little problem with that. But you're right. We do kind of have this core, super strong, super tough. We don't need rules.
And it didn't bother me yet, but I want to see how it develops. And the reason it didn't bother me yet is because their girl power backfires a little bit. They think they can do whatever they want and they're above the law and they're not going to get in trouble and they're not going to get hurt. And that is not the case. So jumping ahead just a little bit, Ellie and Dina go off, kind of go rogue against their captain's orders, which, by the way, the captain is Ellie's ex-girlfriend.
And I do not think they made that clear in the episode. So they go into this building to take out some clickers. And it's very atmospheric. It's very creepy. It recreates a lot from the video game, allegedly. And there's some scary moments. I did not think Dina was getting out of there alive. I think they were very much setting up this idea that Ellie would get her best friend killed because of her refusal to follow orders and she'll be humbled a little bit and need whatever.
That's not what happened, which is one of the reasons why I'm glad I didn't play the second video game because now I get to be surprised by the play, the play out. Whereas video game players would know Dina doesn't get killed. But I kind of thought that would be good character development instead what we get is these two young women defy orders They almost get killed. They get called before the council for reprimand and they get a slap on the wrist.
And as they're leaving the disciplinary council, they're kind of laughing about how they can do whatever they want. Yeah. And I don't know why all of this got under my skin so much, Kyle. I think it strikes a tone of being artificial because throughout this episode, she is always bucking the system and kind of being, I guess, obnoxiously defiant and trying to prove herself. And then they keep giving in to her.
Especially, and again, I do think, I typically don't rant and rave about this kind of thing, but especially it seems like many of the male characters... are just shut down by her, even if they may or may not. have some degree of authority or say over her. And so and then she continually rebels and messes up and rebels and messes up. And then just over and over, like even in the when you said that they were brought before that tribunal or whatever they are.
One of the males on the board says something and then somebody else reprimands him. It's like, what is this? You know, like, I don't know. Well, my suspicion is from a narrative point of view.
lesson. They're building up that her rebellion is going to come back to her um i thought it would be in the first episode but you know character development let her be rebellious right because theoretically she's completely rejecting joel's uh love and mentorship and protection so i think there's going to come a point where she's going to have to
she's going to need it again. And she's going to have to come to terms with the fact that she can't do everything by herself and she needs Joel and Joel needs her. And I think they're going to reestablish that. But I don't know for sure. Because some of the press about this has talked about how they're estranged for the majority of the season, which was hard on the two actors because they're close in real life.
And so they were separated a lot because they're not in a lot of scenes together. And when they are, it's antagonistic. Well, let's just take a little look at that, though. One of my other favorite film professors, in addition to you, is Dr. Rick Moody, whom I love. Rick Moody, shout out. Yes, he's awesome.
And one thing that he would always say about sequels, not that this is a sequel, this is season two, but he said the problem with sequels is they have to go back on the change. Like characters have this arc and development. And then in order to have a sequel, they have to go back and kind of rehash ground that they've developed through before. And I think this is very problematic for this because season one, number one, she did have she did get humbled to some extent.
And they did have this relationship which they developed. And by the end of season one, we were all loving that they were sort of this father-daughter type pair again. And so I think it's... extremely um and maybe this is how the video game is but i think it's a huge misstep to take two characters that we love together and to separate them I'm like, what is this? Well, it's going to... Okay, so let's use Pascal's other show. On Mandalorian, Mando and Baby Yoda are not speaking.
It would kill the show because it's all about that relationship and that dynamic. So I agree with you that I'm concerned about where this is going to go if they don't confront it sooner rather than later. Because people are going to, I think, because this is my personal take and I think it's yours, I think people are going to side with Joel. given the two because Ellie is bratty and disrespectful and maybe it's because
She knows Joel killed all those people to save her life, which you think she might be slightly thankful for. But it's also that she wants to be free and uninhibited and do whatever she wants. I think it's going to come back to bite her. I think it actually did in this first episode. But I think we're going to get more of that as we hopefully do see some character development. Because we got to talk about the zombies. I was a little concerned because this episode.
We've got to reestablish character, like you were saying, retread some ground. We have to meet some new characters. Are we even going to get any zombies? So we did get Ellie shooting some with a scope, which was cool because... I think we agree that blood looks really good on snow. Yes. I like my winter horror. Yes.
Thank you, John Carpenter. That's where I got it from. So we do get that, but then we do get a nice video game style confrontation in this building with two of these really terrifying clickers because the clickers. I'm pretty immune to zombies by now. But the clickers are freaky. Right. They bug me. Now, let me ask you about that, Kyle. Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but in season one, wasn't it established that these zombies in this show are... serious business, extremely
Threatening and powerful. Well... How is it here in season two, already in episode one, you have ridiculousness like What I recall about season one is they would try to avoid them at all costs, and now they're going out and actually hunting them, and not just hunting them, but even going after them with knives when they could use a gun. That just seems insane.
So they've really undercut the monster, in my opinion, as well. I can address this. Okay, thank you. They're not supposed to be engaging. This is a reconnaissance mission. They're just supposed to try to find out. where they are, how many of them there are to make a plan for defense and for dealing with a potential horde. They end up engaging, the two young women engage against orders because it's fun. This is what they do. This is their adrenaline junkie outlet.
So they're not supposed to go in there. They're only supposed to recon and come back and report. They're not supposed to fight them. So that's part of it. Yeah. And that's your Ella problem is making this problem. They're using knives because the clickers hunt by sound, so they don't want to fire any rounds off and get caught in a corner or whatever. But I also think... these two are they're just so cocky and they you can tell they don't take this seriously at all as they're like
trying to hand signal to each other about what to do. They're just kind of joking around and Ellie in particular, she doesn't care. Now, this is interesting to me. On the one hand, Ellie knows she's immune, so she's not really worried about getting bit. Of course. Although that's a secret, ostensibly. Yes. But I think what may come out is because of the survivor guilt she has for everybody who Joe killed, I think she might have a little bit of a death wish.
So I think she's going to be really reckless and not particularly careful about her own safety. Now, maybe not. Maybe I'm just drawn from other narratives. But if I was the writer, I would go that direction a little bit. Interesting. And that's what she does. Now that's a good point. And yeah, it definitely explains certainly the fact that she's immune, why she might not be as intimidated by these things.
But the fact that they are extremely scary, presumably to Dina, and that she's threatening her friend's life as well. I mean... Anyways, but I see what you're saying. I think Dina's got similar issues because she's very loose and with her relationships and her public appearance and her safety. So we'll have to learn more about her. I do want to mention two things about what we've got here. Now, first off, they come across
The remains of a bear versus zombie combat scene. Come on, you had to love that. But it doesn't show the battle. It just shows the aftermath. No, that would have cost too much. But it is kind of cool to see. a dead bear that's ripped open surrounded by zombie parts. Yes. And it leads a lot to, it leaves a lot to the imagination, but it, shows a little bit potential that there is some coordinated group activity. Were these clickers or these zombies of some kind hunting as a group?
Was this a collective effort? We don't know yet, but we get some questions raised because in the basement, Ellie encounters. A stalker, which is a type of zombie from the video game universe. which is a one that hasn't been, it's not a clicker yet because the growth has not blinded it yet by covering its head. But it also shows higher order thinking, maybe because it's a fresher zombie. So it can move quietly. It can run and hide. It can strategize to a certain extent.
So this is obviously super, super scary and has a lot of really terrifying potential. I love the character design and I love how the zombie functions. I do have a little bit of an issue. The apocalypse has been, what, like 25 years in the past? And if this is an early stage zombie before the clicker, how have they never encountered it before? Because this is not an evolution. This is not what happens to clickers.
After 20 years, this is what happens before they become clickers. So where have they been?
Why weren't they familiar with these from the early days of the outbreak? So I have a little bit of problem with the logic there, and maybe they'll develop it more and give me some more logic behind it. But as far as increasing the variety of... of monsters i like that and i like that it's going to mix up uh the the zombies and the nature of the zombies and the combat and all that kind of stuff yeah could it yeah and maybe this is a little too um But could it be that they had just not?
encountered a zombie at that stage it is previously it is also possible that they're so dangerous no one has lived to tell the tale oh i would also partially accept that i love that it's got the uh the um the fungal growths that look almost like a crown. Yes. And then it's got mycelia growing, actively growing out of its nose.
Yes. It's a really cool creature design. So I like that. Okay, a couple more things because we're kind of running out of time. We want to keep these relatively short for people. episode introduces us to Joel's therapist. I love Catherine O'Hara. Yeah. And I love seeing her in a more dramatic role. It does smack a wee bit of like the Sopranos. Yes. What did you think about Gail?
Yeah, I was a little concerned about that Sopranos angle as well. And I'm like, this series already feels deliberately paced. And I don't really need this either. I was... I was basically in a really bad mood as this was unfolding. Kyle, I'm sorry to say. It's fine. But go ahead. Well, so we learn, this is interesting. So Catherine O'Hare is masterful at this. I want to learn a lot more about her character.
She is feeling a lot of rage because she had a husband named Eugene and Joel apparently killed him within the last year. So that took place in the gap. So we don't know what happened. I'm assuming Eugene was infected and Joel killed him. I can't imagine Joel just murdered the guy and they're sitting here having a conversation. But there's clearly a lot of backstory we need to learn.
And apparently Eugene is in the video game, so it's kind of an Easter egg. I don't know. There's something for fans. But I like her. I like their relationship. I like how she treats Joel. And the good advice she does give. So I'm interested in her. I like her and I want to see where we go with her. The council that kind of leads this community. And by the way, the Jackson.
Town, they built the whole thing. And the storefronts are actually everybody's green rooms, their dressing rooms and their trailers. I think that's really clever. It's all built into the town. So that's cool. But did you get, and I know the can I'm opening here, with that council, did you get any vibes of the village?
Yeah, a little bit. I sure did. I was even wondering about Salem, Massachusetts to some extent. So I'm wondering, does the council have secrets that they're keeping from the community? Is there going to be some kind of reveal or something going on there? So I don't know. We're still seeing. And then the last thing is they're trying to get this town up and running because refugees and survivors keep showing up and there's not enough room.
You know, definitely smacks of The Walking Dead here where we have to keep building more walls and more dwellings, et cetera, et cetera. But early on in the episode, they noticed that one of the. main sewage pipes is ceramic and breaking because it's full of roots. Now that really happens, especially it would happen over so many years of neglect. They crack open this pipe and it's full of all these organic.
biological tendrils i am immediately thinking well that's not good yeah right but these people who've been living with mycological zombies for 25 years don't seem worried at all so the the little stinger for next week the cliffhanger is we find out Some of those roots are, in fact, fungal mycelia. And it's supposed to be this big reveal. And I'm thinking, well... Right. How do you guys trust any plant life in this world?
So, yeah, I think we're going to see Jackson fall pretty quick rather than later. Yeah, well, it suits me just fine, Kyle. I'll say that, but I will say. One other little tidbit, since you're giving all the meaningful stuff and I'm giving the superfluous stuff. Yeah, no, but Randall Way, what else? No, no, I was just going to say for people like Macula who might be interested in this.
They do have a New Year's Eve in this episode. This is where it goes from 28. 2028 to 2029 and so people in the future if you want to watch this on new year's eve i guess especially that new year's eve because it's coming up um and there you go Oh, that's nice. I'm just throwing that out. Well, what else bothered you? Because I think if we're going to do a little good cop, bad cop, let's hear a little bit more of your...
Grumpy perspective. Yeah. Well, let's see. So I understand that there are jerks everywhere and people who engage in hate speech and so forth. But for whatever reason, it also did not strike me as believable or authentic or something. when they're at this New Year's Eve dance Let's see, Ellie and Dina kiss, and one of the people there calls them a slur and is extremely rude to them. And again, like I said, I know there are jerks and I know there are people who say terrible things to other people.
But for whatever reason, Kyle, I don't know, that didn't strike me as something that they would do in this community, especially in 2029. And I'm like, okay, why are we doing this? And then it also bugged me. Cause when Joel steps in, cause there's about to be a physical altercation with Ellie and this older dude, Joel steps in immediately. And then she berates. and emasculates him in front of everyone. Maybe not emasculate. It might be a strong word.
But she berates him in front of everyone, and he just kind of mousily takes it. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, so many things in this just rub me the wrong way. So that was another couple of things there for you. Well, yeah. And I mean, it's it's low hanging fruit, right? We have to have some tension in the. community and we have to give Joel a reason to step in and annoy Ellie with his love. Right. But it's.
it's like she's been living in the community for five years. Yeah. And this old timer is just still ticked off that she's gay. I don't know. Yeah. I was ticked off. at dina like i've already said i think she's playing games and it's not cool Yeah. But yeah, I think it was, I don't know, it's so mean to say lazy, but I think it was just easy. And, yeah, Joel is kind of the wounded puppy dog. Oh, no. I kind of want him to take her aside and give her a talking to. Yeah.
she's definitely running the show and he's very passive so I'd like to see that end sooner rather than later and in season one he is kind of a brute of sorts you know like I mean that's So yeah, it just, it's not checking out. It's not adding up for me. So this first episode of season two, Kyle, I'm sorry to report, but if I were to rate this, it's a three out of 10. for me yeah avoid wow well but you can't avoid it because then the rest of the season won't make sense that's true
I am going to cut it a little slack because it's the opening of a new season and they're trying to establish a lot. So there's a ton of exposition. I also have some annoyances, but I also was pleasantly pleased by stuff. So I'm going to give it a nice mediocre eight. Eight. And that's out of 10, right? No, it's out of eight. No, it's eight.
It's 8 out of 10. Just checking. Just checking. We can't always agree. No, that's fine. I'm not mad. I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing a macula. You're like 8 out of 100. I don't. I only... No, I am not doing that. This is an 8 out of 10, but it's a tentative 8 out of 10. It's a... giving it um giving it a chance eight out of ten so we'll see okay okay great
So, yeah, tune in next week. Watch episode two and come back and hear me defend it and Joel berate it. I'm Joel. Jay berate it. Sorry, Joel. Oh, yeah. The character's name is Joel. That's right. And we have a Joel in our community. And we have a Joel and I'm apparently an old man. So Jay is going to make fun of it and I will explain why it's not.
dumb okay i want to love it i do i want to love it because i pretty much loved the first season yeah it's gonna it's gonna turn around man you'll see okay good