WEBVTT - HBO's The Last of Us Ep 2 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.280 Warning This podcast dates spoilers for the second episode of 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:22.400 the Last of Us on HBO Max. Hello, my name 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.239 is Jason Concepcion and I'm Rosy Night, and welcome the 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:27.479 next revision of the Crooked Media podcast, where we dive 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.720 deep in your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.360 In this episode, in the Airlock, we're digging deep into 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.800 the Last of Us episode Don't Eat the Bread, Don't 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.280 Eat It, No Cake, and in nerd Out, we're doing 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:46.600 a very relevant theory from Brandon. Let's go Brandon and 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.960 if you want to supportive of the theories, if you 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.160 want to jump around, as always, just check the show 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:56.520 notes for the time stamps. 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:09.160 Coming up the air lock, We're stepping out of the 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:14.440 airlock into the overgrown and ruined halls of a colonial 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.119 museum in Back Bay, Boston for the Last of Us 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:18.280 Episode two. 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:21.560 Titled Infected. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:27.160 Titled Infected show of course created by Craig Mason and 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.320 Neil Druckman, creative director of the game for Naughty Dog 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.840 Epeed by Mason, and of course this episode directed by 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.640 game creative director Neil Druckman. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.640 Perfect timing as well, because Neil's about to introduce the 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.039 big Bat, the Big Bat, the Big Boss, the big Boss, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:47.199 and he does it well. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:53.200 We open in Jakarta, Indonesia, September twenty third, two thousand 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.840 and three, a place where Joel at this time was 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.880 confused about its location, didn't exactly know where it was. 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.360 A military man enters a restaurant, interrupting the lunch of 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.160 a woman who is dining there. Her name is Ibu Ratna. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.600 She is a professor at the University of Indonesia specializing 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.320 in mycology aka the study of fungi. The man takes 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:17.600 her to the secure wing of a hospital and shows 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:23.320 her some specimen under a microscope, and doctor Ratna is like, oh, 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:28.079 that's a op field cordy steps and dun dun dum, 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.960 which is a fungus noted for its ability to take 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:38.560 over and control ants. And she's like, where'd you get this? 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.239 And he's like it came off of a human specimen. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.560 She's like, no, it didn't. That's an absolutely it didn't. 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:50.680 That's impossible. Cut too a even more secure part of 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.280 the secure wing of the secure hospital. Doctor Rata, now 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:59.560 in full biohazard gear, is walking in to inspect the 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:03.400 victim that this specimen was taken from the general very 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.680 helpfully tells her, get what you need and get the 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:08.400 fuck out of their. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.200 Don't go close, don't do it. It's just don't do it. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.959 That talk should come before I suit up. I feel 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:20.640 like they're not ever fully transparent to the good doctor. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:22.919 They rub her out of lunch, they take us somewhere. 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.000 She thinks she's being arrested. Then they're giving her, you know, 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.079 a little bit of breadcrumb's news until she gets into 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.400 this room and learns the true horror. 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:33.320 And the horror is that there is a young woman 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.320 lying on the slab there. Doctor Ratna goes up, inspects 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.000 the victim, finds a what is apparently a human bitemark 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.200 on her ankle, cuts it open with a scalpel. There's 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:49.119 a spongy, fungal mushroom material in there. This is shocking. 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.760 Doctor Ratna then reaches into the woman's mouth and pulls 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:56.160 out a site we're all familiar with by now. Those 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:58.160 all those wriggling worms, kind. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.280 Of tentacle fung guy poked their way out creepily, and 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:03.360 she just freaks out. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.400 She's out, She's out, all my way out. Later on, 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:11.360 she debriefs with the General. He tells her the victim 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.880 was infected thirty hours ago in or around a factory 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:20.080 that processes flour and grain. She says, oh, flour and grain. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.320 That's the perfect incubator for this fun guy. Now let's 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:23.800 stop here. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.320 Okay, let's pause, because we're about to get to the big. 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:28.719 The big theory there is. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:33.120 There has been a theory out there that obviously, this 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.839 is this infection spread by bites, we've seen that, but 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.320 how did it explode across the world at once? And 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.160 one of the theories was bread. Yeah, it got into 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:46.320 the flower supply and all these flower products that went 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.880 out across the world carried it and that's how everybody 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.040 got sick at once. On top of that, there is 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:53.920 the cake theory. 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.560 I love this because this is so in the game 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:58.279 a lot of people like is the same as the 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.160 game is. In the game, there's a mention of kind 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.600 of infected crops, and that's really about as far as 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.120 it goes. But the cake theory is great, and you 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:06.440 are the one who introduced this to me. And the 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.320 cake theory is if you remember, in that kind of 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.279 heartbreaking cold open Joel forgets to bring a cake back 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.560 for the birthday. Celebration with Sarah, and the cake theory 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.000 expounding on the bread and wheat theory is that the 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:22.520 reason Joel and Sarah didn't get infected is because they 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.680 didn't get a cake, and this also does some Really 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.400 it's so good our Discord brought this to our attention, 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.039 and so thank you. I was going to say shout 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.960 out because the Jakarta choice is really really intentional because 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.520 in the first episode we hear Joel and Tommy trying 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.440 to work out like Jakatis, so we realized this is 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.200 happening so close, and it happened so quickly. But as 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.599 one of our incredible Discord users pointed out, Indonesia is 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:53.440 actually home and Jakarta to the biggest flower processing factory 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.840 on Earth, So it's like a perfect place for this 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.560 to have spread and for the wheat and flour theory 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.800 faction to really kind of get a little bit of 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.200 what seems like a confirmation, especially as like you said, Jason, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.400 the doctor basically confirms that that would be a great 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:10.320 way for it to spread. 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.880 You know what's funny is in episode one, Joel jokingly 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.640 tells the Adlers that he's on atkins, meaning he's just 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.080 eating meat, no carbs, and everybody on Atkins made it, 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.480 and day. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:25.760 We made it. You were just way. I just had 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.120 a light I had a light. I had a light 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.440 bulb moment. Just then when we meet the Adlers, the 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:38.320 Sun is feeding his mother biscuits, and Sarah didn't meet 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.200 the cook reason exactly, and then she was the first 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.840 person that we saw who was infected. So I think 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.640 the bread theory is really important, and as we will 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.720 get to momentarily when we start to get in the 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.920 rest of the episode, I think that it expands. He 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:56.360 goes to a dark pas. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.880 Okay, So we learn again from the from the gen 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.880 that an employee at this flower processing plant became violent 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:09.280 or attacking her coworkers, bit several of them, one of 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.920 whom is this dead woman here on the slab, and 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:18.080 that at current time, fourteen workers are missing from refactory. 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.760 Doctor Ratna is shook. She's horrified, she's horrified, she's on 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:27.840 word by this. The general is like, Okay, so obviously 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.440 we came to you as one of them. How do 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.520 we fix it as one of the most foremost you know, 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.880 experts in mycology in the world. We need a vaccine, 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:36.480 We need a medicine. We need something to stop it. 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:38.120 And the doctor's like, I got you. 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:38.840 Here's what you do. 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.640 You call up you're in the military, call up your 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.680 fighter wing and just fucking bomb the city. 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.200 Yep, she said what she said my whole life. I've 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.520 worked on this, my whole life. There's no cure. We 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.920 can't do anything. There's no study. Come on, there's nothing. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.120 And you know what, it's a really brilliant reflection of 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.560 the first Cold Open, where the scientists sat on that 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.840 stage of the talk late night talk show and said, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:04.680 if this happens, we lose. I hate a quitter. But 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:06.560 it turns out she was right. Yeah. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:08.880 She then tearfully says, hey, can I get a ride 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:12.960 home just to spend the final moments here in Civilization 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.520 with my family. We go back to twenty twenty three. 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.840 Ellie wakes up in a patch of sunlight and this 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.760 beautiful kind of like idyllic patch of grass in the 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.800 middle of this former It's wonderful. 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.880 So it feels so unfless perfect mix of bleakness and beauty. Yes, 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.080 story does so well. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:35.559 Joel and Tess are watching her like hawks. Joel has 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.880 this right, right way to do it. He's like, show 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.920 us your arm. Ellie does no change. Joel and Tests 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.520 have never ever seen anything like this. But they're not 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.360 all the way there to believing that Ellie is actually immune, 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:54.000 and Joel is further away certainly than Test is. Ellie 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.160 is like, hey, so we got this far. We're all 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.120 the infected. I heard that they're just swarming out of 0:08:59.120 --> 0:08:59.840 here New city. 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:02.040 You can't leave the quarantines out because you'll just die. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.560 And Joe was like, yeah, don't worry about that, which 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.320 is Ellie rightly says, well, I'm gonna actually worry about 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.200 it because it seems like a big deal. Test then 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:17.559 is continuously pressuring Ellie to tell her what Marlene's plans were. 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:21.680 What did Marlene want with you? Ellie says that Marlene 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.880 found her after she was bitten, and then, rather than 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.000 kill her, which is usually what you do, she and 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.920 the fireflies watch her. They ran tests on her, you know. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:32.640 Test is like what tests? And she's like, yeah, I 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.240 held up my arm. I counted a ten except but 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.760 mostly the thing that really impressed them was I didn't 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:39.040 turn into a fucking monster. 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.800 Bella Ramsey is just killing it, okay, and let's stop here. 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:44.800 As well, because this leads to another theory, right that 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:49.120 we spoke about briefly. Why didn't Marlene shoot Ellie? Now, 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.160 this has to be directly tied to the fact that 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:55.480 the first episode, Marlene tells Ellie that she was the 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.480 one she played feder Military School when she was a baby. 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.560 So that hints to me that there may be more 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.679 than one kid who they were watching for this purpose, 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:08.760 which would be very different from the way it is 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.520 in what we know of the first of the Last 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.120 of Us A game. But yeah, I think that's very interesting. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.760 And the fact that Marlene didn't like Marlene's brutal the 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:19.959 fireflies are brutal, that's the point. The fact that she 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.960 didn't just shoot an infected person in the head means 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.760 she who she knew who she was, right, she says 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.640 she knew her real name. She tells Ellie that in 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.960 the first episode. So this is definitely a thread to 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:30.480 keep watching. At the very. 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.920 Least, it lets us know that this is not Marlene's 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.280 first rodeo with seeing if someone was immune. Like she's 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.920 done this, they had a system in place for exactly. 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.120 They had a testing system. X ray Vision will be back. 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.120 And we're back so Ellie goes off uh to do 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.240 what one does when they wake up in the morning, 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.599 and Testing and Joel have a little conversation. Test is 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.400 trying to convince Joel that this could be real. What 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:08.000 Ellie's Ellie's immunity, that might be a legit, and that 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.920 they should just go forward with dropping her to the 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:16.079 Fireflies and getting the truck from them so they can 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.000 go find Tommy. This is probably their best shot at 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.679 doing that. Joel is like, I don't know, this is 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:24.720 like more than we bargained for when we drop her 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.640 back at the QZ, and Testa's like, if she goes 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.200 back to the QZ, she'll get tested at some point, 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.080 she'll come up infected and then she'll get killed and 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:33.920 then we get nothing, so we might as well do this. 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:37.840 There's a funny moment that follows, which is actually pretty 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:42.679 meaningful considering our cold open, where it's breakfast time. Tests 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:49.400 and Joel are eating the most rancid looking jerky unknown 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:50.160 meat source. 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:53.319 It's so hot it's like cheering on a rulers, and 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.240 they're really generous that like, oh, you know, you can 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.760 have some of oz, and Ellie's like, don't worry about 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.120 it and pulls out this like huge chicken salad sandwich 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.720 on its massive bread. Let's talk about the bread. 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:09.800 Okay, So there's two There's kind of like two variables here. 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.600 First option one, nobody knows that it was bread and 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.160 flowers exactly. 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:16.880 So they're just eating it, and they're just eating it. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:17.439 I guess like. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.600 Additionally to that would be the possibility that they know 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.040 it's bread and flour but they figured it out. Yeah, 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:26.880 they figured out how to fix it, which I don't 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:27.440 buy all. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.600 The other option is that the fireflies know about the 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.360 bread and they're feeding it to Ellie to check that 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.080 she doesn't get infected or to build up a unity dum, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.040 which is incredibly bleak, but I also think very fitting. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.280 And I think it's really interesting because after that cold open, 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:46.920 like the big chat in our discord was like why 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:48.880 would they show her eating bread? So and you know, 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.520 nothing in this show is unintentional, so I'm really interested 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.360 to see where that goes. But I kind of love 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.880 how we have that dramatic irony of us knowing that 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.240 that bread is probably a death sentence if testing all 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.360 eat it, but they're just that's all they want in 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:03.920 the world, is just to eat this bread and they're 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.400 eating then nasty little jerky and they want to eat that, 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.800 and they're like, is that chicken? Like everything is so 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:13.240 but that in itself is just completely wild, especially and 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.600 it highlights on a base economy level how important she 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.120 is to the fireflies, because this is clearly Joel and 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.400 test the smugglers. They're out every single day's smuggling and 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.040 they're like, where'd you get chicken? And she's like, from smugglers, 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:28.440 but obviously like not you lot. 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:33.320 I think that I think what is probably going on 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.960 here is that there are certain people in the know 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:41.120 who understand that bread and flour were the thing that 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:45.400 sparked this, and maybe it's not widely known. And I 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.080 think the fact that somebody can still make bread and 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.200 get flour and stuff suggests again that there is, to 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.960 your point, a kind of system in place to test people, 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.920 because you're not going to fucking find wheat and make 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.560 bread for one person like they're going to do it 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.720 if there is a whole system going on of testing 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:12.000 and finding out if people are immune. Test wants to 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:16.520 know why Marlene found Ellie so important, and she says, 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.160 you know, like and you better by the way, you 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.520 better actually tell us or we're going to bring you back. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.400 Ellie shoots back, well then when you won't get your 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:26.200 car battery, and Tests is like, oh, oh you heard that, 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:28.960 then you must have heard that he wants to shoot you, 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.560 and she looks at Jolan knows that it's true. Yeah, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.360 I'll shoot you right now. And it's a really really 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.360 chilling moment. And then we get this from Test where 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:41.880 she says Joel and I we aren't good people, so 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:42.840 answer my question. 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:43.680 Here's so. 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.360 Playing the game and watching the show, the game kind 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.680 of goes into this more. But the the I started 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.960 realized playing the game again that Joel and Tests were 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:58.600 on their way to being. 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.400 Robbered like they will. They were Robert was like their competitor. 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.200 They were like moving up the ladder of like criminal 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:07.920 kingpins in the QZ. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.760 If they didn't kill so many people, they would have 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.160 had an army, but they killed everyone army because they 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:18.120 kept killing everyone. But no, no, definitely, like I think 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:21.280 that this episode and this series honestly just over these 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:25.480 two episodes, like it's done so much to expand on Tests, 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.120 who was essentially just like an outrageous like death dealer, 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:33.320 kind of like serial total psycho and like, you know what, 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.680 that's fine because in the game it serves a purpose. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.360 But even in such an emotional game, that's definitely one 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.680 of those things where in the show you're just like, Wow, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.200 this is someone who, no matter what they've done, suddenly 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.600 feels hope and suddenly wants to imagine something a bit better. 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:49.680 And you kind of don't really get to see that 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.240 with tests in the game until her last last moments, 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:57.840 but here she's really she's tired, and even. 0:15:57.680 --> 0:15:59.840 That in her last last moments in the game feels 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.320 more out of desperation and like let's just like finish 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:05.120 it and actual feud. 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.280 And also realizing how valuable Ellie is. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.720 Yeah, Ellie tells them that what she knows is that 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.880 there's apparently a firefly base camp somewhere out west where 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:18.120 doctors are working on a cure, and Joel finishes her 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.840 sense is whatever, he's heard all this shit before. The 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.920 key to finding the vaccine is me, and he's like, 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.120 come on, this is the test you're gonna this is 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:28.760 what you're gonna buy. How many times have we heard this. 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:30.920 There's no vaccine, there's no medicine, there's nothing we can do. 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.040 He still wants to shoot her, but Test really is like, hey, 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.320 listen again, the fireflies believe it, so let's just do it. 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.920 Yeah, exactly. And also, I will say this is really 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.160 where you start to get from this scene. You will 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:48.400 getting now dialogue just directly lifted from the game. The 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.160 first was more of a loose adaptation that brought things 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.480 from the game. This episode is so close really, so 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.720 what you see it's actually quite wild. Like I was 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.240 playing the game, then I was watching it, then I 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.200 was playing the game, and I was like, well, well, 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:02.600 I'm really just seeing stuff being directly pulled, and this 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.919 conversation is one of them, and kind of where the 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.720 episode goes to these terrifying, nightmarish places that is just 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:10.080 so brilliantly adapted. 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.720 One of the lines that is ripped straight from the 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:14.960 game is Ellie saying, hey, can I have a gun, 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.080 which she asks about one hundred times in the game. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.919 They say no, because who wants to get shot in 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.680 the back by a panicky like fourteen year old Yeah, 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:30.200 and she's like, well, I'll just I guess I'll just 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.760 throw my sandwich at the infected, which I think they'll 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:35.960 like it because it's, you know, part of their history. 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.720 They then head off into the kind of like sunlit 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.920 wreckage of Boston. They're passing bomb craters. Chess is telling 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.000 Ellie that, as doctor Rottna. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.880 Suggested, they just bombed the city. 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.680 The American government at least came came to the realization 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:53.639 that their best course of action was just bomb the 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.280 fuck out of cities. And it didn't work everywhere, but 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.320 it appeared to work in Boston, where they managed to 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.480 set up the quarantines. Now they come to like a 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.480 place where a building is partially collapsed across the street. 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:07.920 So this is the direct past path to the old 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.639 State House. So what's left is the short path and 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.439 the long path. And apparently the short path is like 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:15.440 you will get killed. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.840 Yeah, it's it's it's the long path. Oh that you die. 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.920 Papy's like, I think I'll just yeah, long path. 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.720 So they go through this hotel, and here's a very 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.520 telling moment that kind of dovetails nicely with what you 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.439 were saying before about tests, the difference between game tests 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.600 and and show tests, in the way that this test 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:44.200 there's almost something vaguely parental about her and the way 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.119 she talks to Ellie. Notice that Ellie walks next to 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.359 her this whole time. Doesn't walk next Joel. 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:49.919 You know. 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.680 Joel did say like I will kill you, but he 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.560 is walking next to Ellie this whole time, and there, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.800 you know. And then Ellie Tests is being very generous 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:04.080 about telling her about the dangers of the open city. 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.040 She asks how Ellie got bit. Ellie's like, oh, I 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:09.720 went into the mall and the QZ that's blocked off 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.520 and I got bit. Tess X, Did you go in 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:17.879 there alone, Ellie, I think lies and says yes, I 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.600 think she was in there with someone else, who we're 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.760 going to find out was the person who was her 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:24.160 significant other. 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:26.200 And Test is impressed. 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:31.119 And you can tell that Ellie is really feels she 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.359 really feels good any compliments. She feels good about the 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:35.440 fact that someone is. 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.320 Like and I think where she sees in Test, that's 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:40.359 someone that she would want to be like, you know, 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:42.800 someone who can survive this for twenty years, who can 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.840 kind of thinks it's bad ass to go into an 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:47.920 empty mall and get bit just for the sake of it, 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.200 like very chaoke behavior, but really it's a chaotic world. 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:53.720 And yeah, I love to see that with tests, and 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.679 also again they do a really good job while you 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:57.720 get those moments in the game, but here there's a 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:02.400 lot more kind of quiet time for them to walk 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.480 and we get this really fun conversation about like the 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.000 different kinds of zombies and like the threats that like, 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.760 because all all Ellie's ever heard is rumors. 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.479 So that's a really wonderful part of this scene because 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.760 you know, Ellie is like looking at this, I mean, 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:21.800 the city's in ruins, but it's beautiful, and she's like, 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.840 what the she was She's almost disappointed that it's not 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:26.240 as dangerous as everybody says. 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.359 Where's the whole idea is they keep you in the 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:30.640 quarantine zone by telling you the moment you get out, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.320 it's like it's like walking dead walkers. They're coming to 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.760 the fences, they're gonna eat you. But when you get 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:38.560 out there, it's beautiful. It's overgrown. Nature has kind of 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.240 found its way, and so far she hasn't seen a 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:44.560 single zombie, so she goes affected. 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.199 So there aren't the ones with the split up and 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.639 heads that's see in the dark, like bats and Tessandol 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:50.000 are like. 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.520 They don't they look at each other and They're like, I. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:58.160 Guess we came out at which point you hear the 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:03.399 the trademark screen each yeah and infected, and Joel is 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.080 just like, Okay, let's just keep moving and let's go. 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.440 They come to the flooded lobby of a hotel, which 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:15.040 Ellie recognizes because she reads books. She is really having fun, 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.440 like she's turning this into an adventure. It's obviously very dangerous, 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.120 but she's never again been outside before and she goes 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:22.880 to the front desk, rings the bell. There's this whole 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.520 little scene about checking into the hotel. 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:28.120 And Joel's like, you are weird kid. He's like, you 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.400 are true weirdo. But you know, it's really nice because 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.919 in the game, Ellie's always she's like always singing and 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:35.919 like being trying to teach us about to whistle and 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.280 do in like weird shit because to her like little 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.040 laughs when because it's not like she's getting to explore 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:43.720 this world, but the horrors of the world and the 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:45.719 fact that's broken down are not new to her, like 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.400 that's all she's ever known. So that, yeah, I love 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:50.919 that scene and Bella they just sell it so well. 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.520 They're like kind of talking and checking in and Joel's 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:54.680 just like, what is wrong with you? 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.400 Eventually, Joel and Ellie get their first moment alone when 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:02.399 Tess has to find in an alternate path through another 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:07.959 part of the building that's collapsed and Joel compliments Elie's 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:14.439 switchblade killed with it. She asks where he's from. He 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:17.000 says Texas she is. She asks where Tests is from. 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.520 She says Detroit, which is in Michigan, and Ellie's like, 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.439 I know that because I went to school. The parallels 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.399 with Sarah and geography are right there. She then asks 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.399 how Joel Tests and Tests know each other and how 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:32.040 Joel got to Boston. Joel's like, no, we're not talking 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.320 about me. No more questions about me. She then asks 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:38.080 how long do you think infected live and he says 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.000 a few months, but some have been around since this 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.040 all started, since you know, twenty years ago. 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.760 Yeah, those are the ones you don't want to meet. 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:48.720 Yeah, And she asks if he's ever killed any and 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:51.560 he says, yeah, a lot. And she asks is it 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:54.160 hard knowing they were people once? And he says sometimes 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:57.320 it was, And then she asks him, you know, how 0:22:57.320 --> 0:22:59.720 hard was it to kill that soldier? You know when 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.120 he had that flashback? To the night on the riverbank 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:06.240 with Sarah in his arms, and before he can answer, 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:09.600 Test returns and she's got bad news that Hey, so 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:13.120 the way we have to go it's just all infected. 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:15.359 It's an infected party. You know, the long way that 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:16.960 was supposed to be the safe way and now the 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.280 long way is also the dead way, and there's just 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.439 like infected everywhere, and it's it's all bad. But we 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:25.600 do learn something very interesting here. This is a cool 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:27.760 episode if you want to know about the cordyceps virus 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:30.040 and that infected because we kind of get to learn 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:32.000 through Ellie's eyes a little bit more about them. 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:38.280 Yeah, you see the sun kind of moving across the landscape, 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.760 you know, as clouds kind of go across the face 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:44.720 of the sun, and as this sunbeam moves across these 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:50.600 kind of this lolling hundred crowd. Yeah, they all react 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:53.560 to it in Unison, and Ellie's like, oh my god, 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:56.000 they're connected, and Tessa's more than you know, and she 0:23:56.160 --> 0:24:01.800 tells them that those fungal tentacles they grow underground too, 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:04.840 and they're like a fungal web, like an internet for 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:07.440 the ya. It creates like a hive mind yeah, and 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:11.359 if you step on a patch of those tentacles, it 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:14.879 can send a message miles away and murder alert the 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:16.040 hores and here they come. 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:18.000 And I believe that is new as well. That is 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:18.879 very new. 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:23.120 Yeah, that is very new and very terrifying. And Tess 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:25.800 again is being very warm in the way she's delivering this. 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:28.680 She's she's she even says something to the effect of listen, 0:24:28.680 --> 0:24:30.280 I'm not telling you this to scary. I'm telling us 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:32.480 because you need to know. Yeah, because you're immune, but 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:34.600 but you're not immune to getting ripped apart. 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:36.680 I love that line. She's like, yeah, you're immune to 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:38.760 getting bitmed, but you're not immune to like a zombie 0:24:38.800 --> 0:24:41.240 coming and like tearing your limbs off, Like sorry, babe, 0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:43.840 but and then bad news. The short way is the 0:24:43.920 --> 0:24:46.000 only way now, baby, Through the museum. 0:24:46.160 --> 0:24:49.520 Through the museum a beautiful red brick colonial covered in 0:24:49.640 --> 0:24:50.520 fungal tentacles. 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:52.920 The door is literally like lock hut. 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:57.159 Joel goes over, touches one of the big tentacles it is. 0:24:57.800 --> 0:24:58.720 It's bone dry, and he. 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:02.160 Says, well, you know, maybe feel positive. 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:04.720 So they get ready to head in flashlights come out 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:09.120 tests and Ellie, you know, have another talk. Test is like, listen, 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:11.000 you just stay behind us. We're gonna move very slow. 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:14.520 If anything happens, you get between me and Joel. And 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:17.240 then the guns come out, and this is an interesting moment. 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:25.040 So Test uses that alternating flashlight pistol overhand grip restore 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:28.800 the wrist, and then later in the episode says at 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:31.240 the very end, says to Joel, save who you can save, 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:36.960 which is a very nine to eleven era first responder 0:25:37.440 --> 0:25:41.680 to say, and it makes me think Test was a cop. 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:44.680 Yeah, definitely some kind of first responder kind of situation. 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:47.640 And also it fits in with what we know of Test, 0:25:47.680 --> 0:25:49.560 which in the game, the little things that we get 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:51.760 to see about, she's usually the one who's giving Joel 0:25:51.840 --> 0:25:54.639 stuff to fix his wounds and wrap it up, and 0:25:54.680 --> 0:25:56.840 they do a nice inversion of that in this episode. 0:25:57.080 --> 0:25:58.840 But yeah, I thought that was a really great catch 0:25:58.920 --> 0:26:02.840 from you. And again, you know, Ellie just wants a gun. Yes, 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:05.080 she's give me a gun. She's like, I've got and 0:26:05.200 --> 0:26:07.439 Joel's like, good for you. You know, hey, we're going 0:26:07.480 --> 0:26:09.560 to a dark building. Can I have a gun? I 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:12.320 mean this is like, if you've played the game, never 0:26:12.359 --> 0:26:14.359 shot a gun, but can I have one. I mean, 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:16.119 sure they won't they teaching you that they fed you 0:26:16.560 --> 0:26:18.720 military school, though I feel like they should. They probably 0:26:18.720 --> 0:26:20.480 didn't want the kids to have done so they could escape, 0:26:20.520 --> 0:26:22.280 but still I feel like that would have been probably 0:26:22.280 --> 0:26:25.800 a good idea in the context of this. So in 0:26:25.960 --> 0:26:30.640 here is where we get our first view of the clickers. 0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:34.840 Now, Joel and Tess are initially feeling pretty good. They 0:26:34.920 --> 0:26:39.240 find this like this group of dried up and dead infected, 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:42.640 so they know good they're dead. But then flashlight pan 0:26:42.760 --> 0:26:44.560 over to the side and there's like a body that's 0:26:44.600 --> 0:26:46.880 been dead like two hours. 0:26:46.600 --> 0:26:49.240 And it's like it's like ripped apart, like it's throat 0:26:49.280 --> 0:26:51.880 stripped off. Ellie's freaked out because Ellie's like, I've been 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:55.639 bitten and that's not some It couldn't have done that 0:26:55.760 --> 0:26:58.639 to me, Like this, what is this? And Tess's face, 0:26:59.440 --> 0:27:03.000 the fear on their on their faces is so good. Yeah, 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:06.560 the way she's like, maybe maybe he died outside and 0:27:06.720 --> 0:27:09.800 maybe he goes outside and and you know they know 0:27:10.040 --> 0:27:11.720 that that's not true. They don't want to see it. 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:13.680 They don't want to, they don't want it. And it 0:27:13.800 --> 0:27:19.600 tells you if two badasses like this who have killed 0:27:19.640 --> 0:27:23.320 lots of efects and survived like twenty years. Yeah, are scared. 0:27:23.480 --> 0:27:24.560 Then this is serious. 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:30.160 Joel then tells Ellie, Okay, listen from this point forward, silence, silence. 0:27:30.400 --> 0:27:30.680 Okay. 0:27:31.200 --> 0:27:34.200 Have you seen that movie with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt? 0:27:34.480 --> 0:27:36.280 All right, you see that one, But no, that didn't 0:27:36.280 --> 0:27:36.760 come out yet. 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:40.119 It didn't come out. Ye never came out. Okay, but 0:27:40.240 --> 0:27:44.640 it's like that. Yeah, not quiet, silent side, no quips, 0:27:44.800 --> 0:27:47.560 no like strange bits about being in a hotel. Just 0:27:47.840 --> 0:27:49.880 fucking do it and don't say shit. 0:27:50.600 --> 0:27:52.600 So they go forward and they're you know, they creep 0:27:52.640 --> 0:27:55.200 their way forward, and at one point, Ellie steps on 0:27:55.240 --> 0:27:57.119 a dried vine and they're just like, oh ship. And 0:27:57.160 --> 0:27:59.359 then there's like a building collapse on the stairs and 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:03.480 they're like, oh shit. They eventually get into kind of 0:28:03.520 --> 0:28:07.240 one of the display halls and behind them as they 0:28:07.320 --> 0:28:11.320 go up, the staircase collapses behind them, which draws the 0:28:11.400 --> 0:28:14.280 attention of a clicker. You hear it screech first, and 0:28:14.320 --> 0:28:16.840 then you hear the as it's searching, you know, with 0:28:17.000 --> 0:28:17.879 it's audio waves. 0:28:17.920 --> 0:28:19.320 It comes up and. 0:28:21.160 --> 0:28:24.240 Ellie is crazy with her you can see it on 0:28:24.320 --> 0:28:27.640 her face. How absolutely terrified she is. And then there's 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:29.640 another screech, and now it looks like, oh shit, there's 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:33.080 two of them. Joel gestures to Ellie. He says, like, 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:36.840 you know, saying essentially, hey, they're blind, but they can hear, 0:28:37.240 --> 0:28:41.240 they can hear. Such she's freaking out. The monster is 0:28:41.280 --> 0:28:44.200 coming close, coming closer, coming closer, and then when it 0:28:44.400 --> 0:28:49.320 turns to them, we get this incredible view of really, 0:28:49.400 --> 0:28:53.520 how what a great job they did on the creature design, 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:56.760 like aporting the design over from the game, but then 0:28:56.880 --> 0:28:59.840 obviously the detailing, the scariness, the way it looks like 0:29:00.320 --> 0:29:01.960 something out of a Gearmann del Toro. 0:29:02.360 --> 0:29:04.680 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's so good. Like I was just 0:29:05.040 --> 0:29:07.400 saying this to Vascilla's before, like our super sound guys 0:29:07.480 --> 0:29:10.760 like that. When you play the game, you see the 0:29:11.040 --> 0:29:14.040 yellow outline, you see the implication of a fungus, but 0:29:14.080 --> 0:29:16.200 you're so busy trying to kill it and it's scary, 0:29:16.280 --> 0:29:17.800 and a lot of times you see them outside though, 0:29:17.840 --> 0:29:19.880 I have to say the Museum they adapted it perfectly. 0:29:19.960 --> 0:29:21.400 This was the first time when I played the game 0:29:21.440 --> 0:29:23.680 that I got scared and they really translated this is 0:29:23.760 --> 0:29:27.320 directly from this is directly and it's that moment where 0:29:27.640 --> 0:29:30.440 you go more into that classic horror video game style. 0:29:30.600 --> 0:29:33.160 You're in a dark space, you're lighting it with a flashlight. 0:29:33.200 --> 0:29:36.200 You gotta be stealthy. But I didn't expect them to 0:29:36.240 --> 0:29:37.959 be able to pull off the clickers and make them 0:29:38.040 --> 0:29:41.520 something so horrific, Like Giamo del Toro is a great pole. 0:29:41.600 --> 0:29:44.320 It's very resident evil. The kind of only sign of 0:29:44.360 --> 0:29:47.680 their humanity is just like gaping more with broken teeth, 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:49.480 and then on top of their heads are these like 0:29:50.000 --> 0:29:52.680 it's fungus, but it's also you pointed out, it's like plating. 0:29:52.760 --> 0:29:55.680 It's almost like a dinosaur, like a triceratops, but like 0:29:55.800 --> 0:30:00.160 with fungus growing on top. It's truly horrific stuff. Even 0:30:00.200 --> 0:30:02.400 though I have to say pretty much everyone that I've 0:30:02.400 --> 0:30:04.640 seen loves this show. But if you were waiting for 0:30:04.720 --> 0:30:07.520 the episode where it becomes like a scary zombie show, 0:30:07.760 --> 0:30:08.800 this is the episode. 0:30:09.920 --> 0:30:14.520 So it's it comes close, it swings its face towards 0:30:14.640 --> 0:30:18.080 them into the beam of the flashlight, which whoever did that? 0:30:18.200 --> 0:30:22.480 Don't do that? And please, and Ellie gasps, and now 0:30:22.760 --> 0:30:25.600 it's fucking on. And one thing we could say about 0:30:25.720 --> 0:30:29.240 this these version of the clickers is they are way 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:33.480 heardier than the video game. The video version, they take 0:30:33.560 --> 0:30:36.320 some gunshots, but if you get like two head shots, 0:30:36.360 --> 0:30:36.959 it's going to go down. 0:30:37.040 --> 0:30:39.480 Yeah. Yeah. The thing that I'm depending on your difficult 0:30:40.320 --> 0:30:42.760 I was gonna say I'm very bad at heeadshots, more 0:30:42.800 --> 0:30:44.360 of a four or five person. But you know what 0:30:44.400 --> 0:30:46.640 I will say, I'm going to be very interested to 0:30:46.760 --> 0:30:50.360 see how the clickers take it later on, because what 0:30:50.520 --> 0:30:53.040 I ended up finding was very easy, and my difficulty 0:30:53.080 --> 0:30:56.200 saying is once you start modeling your melee weapons, you 0:30:56.280 --> 0:30:58.160 can kill them in a couple of swipes. Yeah, I 0:30:58.200 --> 0:31:00.640 wouldn't want to get close to one of the clickers 0:31:00.720 --> 0:31:03.440 to know how that would go. Like Arendus, Yeah, they 0:31:03.840 --> 0:31:06.640 they super charged them and that kind of bizarker mode 0:31:06.680 --> 0:31:09.680 where after you shoot them once and then that is 0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:10.560 just horrific. 0:31:10.760 --> 0:31:16.120 Care So, uh, the fighters on the first clicker, the 0:31:16.240 --> 0:31:17.320 one that's closest to them. 0:31:17.280 --> 0:31:20.800 Takes like four or five like, oh, it's directly the 0:31:20.880 --> 0:31:21.360 tour Zoe. 0:31:21.480 --> 0:31:24.640 No reaction is fighting with Jewel like nothing happened, which 0:31:24.720 --> 0:31:25.880 kind of makes sense you think. 0:31:25.720 --> 0:31:28.040 About it, because if it's if it's just the body 0:31:28.160 --> 0:31:31.160 is essentially a shell. Yeah, that's why would it damage it? 0:31:31.240 --> 0:31:33.200 You know, you have to get to that that cerebral 0:31:33.320 --> 0:31:36.640 cortex or wherever the main fungus is. Shoot ahead like 0:31:36.680 --> 0:31:38.920 everything exactly. Movie. That's the rule. 0:31:39.480 --> 0:31:42.960 Test and Elly run big, big fight. At the end 0:31:43.040 --> 0:31:46.000 of it, they do take down both clickers and Tests 0:31:46.160 --> 0:31:47.160 is okay. 0:31:47.600 --> 0:31:51.560 Except for it twisted. Great, She looks good, fine, she says, 0:31:51.600 --> 0:31:54.600 I'm fine. I twisted my ankle. That's it. Okay, let's 0:31:54.640 --> 0:31:57.560 move on. Ellie got bit again and she's like, well, 0:31:57.560 --> 0:32:00.160 at least it was me if it had to you 0:32:00.200 --> 0:32:00.640 one of us. 0:32:00.920 --> 0:32:03.640 Right, We're fine, and they go out over the roof. 0:32:04.560 --> 0:32:07.720 They get on the roof, Tessa's looking at Joel sadly 0:32:07.880 --> 0:32:08.880 as he's taping her up. 0:32:09.080 --> 0:32:11.760 I love it. You get and you get this like 0:32:11.920 --> 0:32:14.760 these moments. Something that I love about this show that 0:32:14.880 --> 0:32:17.000 it understands about the game is these like moments of 0:32:17.120 --> 0:32:20.400 like empathy and compassion and comfort and these tiny moments 0:32:20.480 --> 0:32:23.240 that people can have together, like when he's wrapping her 0:32:23.320 --> 0:32:25.240 foot and they're kind of talking. And again you go 0:32:25.320 --> 0:32:28.360 from this deep, dark, horrific hauls where you're kind of 0:32:28.680 --> 0:32:32.800 chased by this nightmare monster onto this beautiful, sunlit rooftop 0:32:32.920 --> 0:32:37.240 with this broken down city scape. It's such wonderful juxaposition, 0:32:37.320 --> 0:32:39.600 but it never feels kind of jarring. It's just like 0:32:39.680 --> 0:32:43.000 a really nice, breathing kind of spot. And we get 0:32:43.040 --> 0:32:46.560 another you know, Joel and Tessa have in this moment, 0:32:47.200 --> 0:32:49.800 and then you get this unbelievable shot of Ellie kind 0:32:49.840 --> 0:32:52.200 of as they traverse the piece of Wood, which again 0:32:52.280 --> 0:32:55.160 is one of the most memorable scenes from the from 0:32:55.200 --> 0:32:55.840 the video game. 0:32:55.960 --> 0:32:58.040 Now, there's a there's a small interaction here that I 0:32:58.080 --> 0:33:00.480 think tells you a lot about Joel and Test's Joel 0:33:00.600 --> 0:33:02.720 is like, hey, so you know, maybe we don't know 0:33:02.760 --> 0:33:04.520 what happened with that first bite. Maybe this is the 0:33:04.560 --> 0:33:07.920 bite that's gonna it's gonna get and Test snaps, She's like, 0:33:07.960 --> 0:33:10.040 can you just take the good news, you know, and 0:33:10.120 --> 0:33:13.200 maybe this time we can actually win? And it what 0:33:13.360 --> 0:33:16.360 it suggested to me and I thought this was great writing. 0:33:16.720 --> 0:33:16.920 Is that. 0:33:18.520 --> 0:33:21.520 Contra the game, Test was the more hopeful one. Yeah, 0:33:21.920 --> 0:33:22.880 in their relationship. 0:33:23.080 --> 0:33:26.719 Joel Joel and in the in the game, he's dead inside, 0:33:26.760 --> 0:33:29.760 but it's like he's dead inside and he just follows 0:33:29.800 --> 0:33:32.200 Tests and does whatever she wants. But here he's dead 0:33:32.240 --> 0:33:34.400 inside and that allows him to do the terrible things 0:33:34.440 --> 0:33:37.280 that need to be done, whereas with Tests, Test can 0:33:37.480 --> 0:33:39.760 take it, but she's tired of giving it out. She 0:33:39.880 --> 0:33:41.640 wants that little bit of hope. She doesn't want to 0:33:41.640 --> 0:33:43.760 be killing people. She wants to imagine that this time 0:33:44.160 --> 0:33:45.560 they can actually win. Yeah. 0:33:45.640 --> 0:33:49.240 This this felt like a window into their relationship that 0:33:49.320 --> 0:33:51.440 maybe Tests is the person who's like, oh, maybe it's 0:33:51.480 --> 0:33:53.360 real this time, maybe we can do this, maybe we 0:33:53.400 --> 0:33:55.440 can do that, whereas Joel's like, this is never changing. 0:33:55.520 --> 0:33:56.600 This is what we're doing right now. 0:33:58.600 --> 0:33:59.720 Joel goes over to Ellie. 0:34:00.200 --> 0:34:03.200 Tests stays behind to kind of tape herself up, and 0:34:03.320 --> 0:34:05.760 you can see the State House across the way. It's 0:34:05.840 --> 0:34:10.439 beautiful under the sunlight. And as they move out, there's 0:34:10.480 --> 0:34:13.680 a great moment where Joel glances at his watch and 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:16.600 just like takes one look at the broken watch. They 0:34:16.640 --> 0:34:19.320 get to the state House, firefly convoy is there in 0:34:19.400 --> 0:34:21.800 front of the building. No sign of the firefly themselves. 0:34:22.400 --> 0:34:23.000 Suspicious. 0:34:23.120 --> 0:34:23.759 Yeah, not good. 0:34:23.880 --> 0:34:24.560 Joel goes up. 0:34:24.640 --> 0:34:27.359 He checks the truck gets streaked with blood. There's's dead 0:34:27.440 --> 0:34:32.160 bodies all around, torn apart by infected blood trail that's 0:34:32.280 --> 0:34:35.279 leading up into the State house, and Ellie's like, oh, 0:34:35.320 --> 0:34:39.719 they went inside. Test now grabs Ellie by the arm 0:34:40.000 --> 0:34:43.399 and rushes in because she's ready to like she's done, 0:34:43.560 --> 0:34:45.719 she's ready to find out, like is it real? 0:34:45.800 --> 0:34:46.359 What's next? 0:34:46.760 --> 0:34:51.320 Probably, you know, depending on you know, probably because of 0:34:51.360 --> 0:34:54.799 the reveal it's about to happen, because she is one 0:34:56.000 --> 0:34:59.760 she is inspired by and buoyed by and really deeply 0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:02.680 by like this sliver of hope that she's feeling, and 0:35:02.800 --> 0:35:05.240 also like, hey, if there is a cure. 0:35:05.120 --> 0:35:08.200 But can we cook it up real quick? I maybe 0:35:08.239 --> 0:35:10.279 have it? How's it going? How's it going? 0:35:10.520 --> 0:35:13.480 So they get in there and everybody's dead, and Joel 0:35:13.560 --> 0:35:18.239 reads the situation. One or more of the fireflies got infected. 0:35:18.480 --> 0:35:20.320 There is a fight as the healthy ones fought the 0:35:20.960 --> 0:35:24.359 sick ones, and then everybody lost. In Joel's words. Tests 0:35:24.480 --> 0:35:25.840 is then like okay, well there's got to be a 0:35:25.880 --> 0:35:28.880 fucking map or a radio or some kind of indication 0:35:28.960 --> 0:35:30.120 about where Ellie was supposed to go. 0:35:30.280 --> 0:35:33.200 And Joel's like, okay, we did it done, Yeah, we 0:35:33.640 --> 0:35:34.520 dropped ahead. Let's go. 0:35:34.920 --> 0:35:37.399 Let's go home, he says, and then Test snaps it's 0:35:37.480 --> 0:35:42.279 not my fucking home, which is like a hugely revealing 0:35:42.480 --> 0:35:46.439 comment again from Tests who all the while, you know again, 0:35:46.480 --> 0:35:48.319 it suggests all the while, all the while, all the way, 0:35:48.360 --> 0:35:50.600 Test has been like hoping for a real place, a 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:51.520 real end to this. 0:35:52.400 --> 0:35:52.480 Uh. 0:35:52.719 --> 0:35:54.759 And then she says, you know, my luck had to 0:35:54.840 --> 0:35:56.600 run out, sooner or later, I'm going to stay behind. 0:35:56.640 --> 0:35:58.080 And Ellie gets it Test was bitten. 0:35:58.880 --> 0:36:00.560 Uh. Joel is shaded by this. 0:36:01.280 --> 0:36:04.160 Test shows him the wound which is on her neck 0:36:04.239 --> 0:36:06.320 and it's already like fung this out. 0:36:06.280 --> 0:36:08.680 And she's like, look at Ellie's this is like three 0:36:08.760 --> 0:36:10.719 weeks ago, Like what the fuck is wrong with you? 0:36:10.880 --> 0:36:14.800 This is this is real because look at this exact 0:36:14.840 --> 0:36:17.640 dialogue from the game where she her reaction is like oops, right, 0:36:17.800 --> 0:36:22.920 you know, yeah yeah. Test then begs Joel in an 0:36:23.000 --> 0:36:27.000 increasingly emotional appeal, to take Ellie West to find Tommy 0:36:27.080 --> 0:36:28.560 and his group and. 0:36:28.760 --> 0:36:32.120 To stop this, to cure this. She's like, your brother 0:36:32.320 --> 0:36:34.839 was a fly, firefly, like if anything he knows. 0:36:35.000 --> 0:36:36.719 Joel is like, they won't listen to me. They're not 0:36:36.800 --> 0:36:38.160 going to listen to me, Like I don't I've never 0:36:38.239 --> 0:36:40.400 been a firefly person, and I don't. 0:36:40.239 --> 0:36:42.480 Want to do this, Like I have no investment in this, 0:36:42.600 --> 0:36:43.640 this is like your thing. 0:36:43.600 --> 0:36:46.160 And Tess is like, you can do it because they'll 0:36:46.200 --> 0:36:49.359 listen to you, and you need to keep her alive 0:36:50.120 --> 0:36:53.640 and set everything right, and please say yes, Joel. In 0:36:53.800 --> 0:36:57.719 that moment, an infected corpse you know, shakes to not 0:36:57.960 --> 0:36:59.960 life after life, whatever you call it. Joel walks over 0:37:00.080 --> 0:37:04.680 shoots it. But that corpse happened to be laying in 0:37:05.440 --> 0:37:10.239 a pile of the cordy SIPs fungal net, which transmits 0:37:10.360 --> 0:37:13.200 the signal to a nearby horde, and you can hear 0:37:13.280 --> 0:37:15.919 them screeching, growing louder, and they'll be there in about 0:37:15.960 --> 0:37:19.279 a minute. Test is like, okay, I'm going to stay 0:37:19.280 --> 0:37:21.439 and hold them off. And this is when she says 0:37:21.520 --> 0:37:23.960 to Joel, save who you can save. You know you 0:37:24.080 --> 0:37:27.040 can save her, I can save you, and I'm gonna 0:37:27.040 --> 0:37:30.200 stay here. Joel then races with Ellie out of the bill, 0:37:30.320 --> 0:37:33.760 drags her out. Ellie is like, no, we're not again. 0:37:33.840 --> 0:37:39.439 This like naive innocence the child, like why can't we help? 0:37:39.920 --> 0:37:42.719 Kind of feeling the same thing that Sarah displayed on 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:44.680 the night and everything broke out, which is like why 0:37:44.680 --> 0:37:48.400 aren't we stopping for that family behind them? The building 0:37:48.480 --> 0:37:52.120 explodes as Tests with her last strength, ignites her cigarette lighter, 0:37:52.160 --> 0:37:55.200 which sends up barrels of gasoline and loose hand grenades, 0:37:55.760 --> 0:37:59.320 and Joel heads off in the direction they need to go, 0:37:59.400 --> 0:38:02.840 with Ellie just kind of shocked staring at everything. X 0:38:02.960 --> 0:38:15.200 Ray Vision will be back, and we're back without spoiling 0:38:15.239 --> 0:38:17.640 how this is gonna go For people who haven't played 0:38:17.680 --> 0:38:21.399 the game, I think one thing that's important to get 0:38:21.520 --> 0:38:27.479 here is how much everybody but Joel wants to save 0:38:27.600 --> 0:38:28.600 the world and help people. 0:38:28.760 --> 0:38:33.520 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. Joel's relationships are defined 0:38:33.600 --> 0:38:35.440 by the people closest to him. 0:38:35.400 --> 0:38:39.279 That he's he's a selfish guy, but it is cool. 0:38:39.440 --> 0:38:43.560 He's selfish, but in a really an understandable and humane. 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:45.920 In a way that you can relate. It expands almost 0:38:46.080 --> 0:38:49.600 like a like a force field, like an invisible woman 0:38:49.719 --> 0:38:54.000 force field around those he loves. And yes, it's gonna 0:38:54.040 --> 0:38:57.239 be really important and I'm very interested to see where 0:38:57.280 --> 0:39:00.200 this goes. Because so let's talk about test dying. This 0:39:00.480 --> 0:39:05.440 is almost identical to the video game, almost an accept 0:39:05.680 --> 0:39:08.040 in the video game, she's killed by federal soldiers. So 0:39:08.239 --> 0:39:11.239 I love this choice because I think that it's really 0:39:11.360 --> 0:39:14.880 interesting that now we have the two people Joel's loved. 0:39:15.080 --> 0:39:17.280 One was killed by soldiers, one was killed by infected. 0:39:17.400 --> 0:39:21.720 So it adds that and I'm very interested in the game. 0:39:21.960 --> 0:39:24.480 Joel does not take this death well and he and 0:39:24.600 --> 0:39:27.239 he takes it out on Ellie kind of like in 0:39:27.719 --> 0:39:30.320 a way that he sees her as the reason that 0:39:30.400 --> 0:39:34.759 this happened. Ellie apologizes profusely in the moments in the game. Yeah, 0:39:35.040 --> 0:39:37.960 after this happens, and Joel's like, you cannot talk about it. 0:39:38.239 --> 0:39:40.360 Don't talk about Tests. We're not talking about Test anymore. 0:39:40.400 --> 0:39:41.120 Don't say her name. 0:39:41.160 --> 0:39:43.760 I'm interested to see if if they go the exact 0:39:43.800 --> 0:39:47.279 same route, because that's a really it's a really rough, 0:39:47.560 --> 0:39:50.279 like emotional journey for the two of them. I agree, 0:39:50.520 --> 0:39:53.200 But yeah, I'm just like I so many people in 0:39:53.280 --> 0:39:56.880 our discord were just so upset that Test died. Anatov 0:39:57.080 --> 0:39:59.680 is so good, so good that even though I knew 0:39:59.719 --> 0:40:05.719 where was going it, it still kind of shocks you 0:40:05.920 --> 0:40:07.600 because you're just like, she was so good. Didn't you 0:40:07.600 --> 0:40:08.839 want to keep her around, didn't you want to take 0:40:08.840 --> 0:40:11.680 her to Billstown? Didn't you just want to imagine what 0:40:11.880 --> 0:40:15.279 that role would be? But she Billstown? If you watched 0:40:15.320 --> 0:40:18.160 the end you know, if you that that may be 0:40:18.239 --> 0:40:21.520 the name of the next chapter of the game. But yeah, 0:40:21.640 --> 0:40:26.000 I'm I'm very I just think she was just so 0:40:26.320 --> 0:40:29.920 brilliant in this role. And also, now, somebody in our 0:40:29.920 --> 0:40:32.239 discord did say that they think the first season is 0:40:32.239 --> 0:40:34.160 going to be the first game, and that that had 0:40:34.200 --> 0:40:36.640 been confirmed. I have not read it, but I will 0:40:36.719 --> 0:40:40.440 say the speed that this is occurring does make that 0:40:40.560 --> 0:40:42.759 seem like it could be possible. Yeah, I agree, the 0:40:42.840 --> 0:40:46.359 speed that we are going through the events of the game. 0:40:47.239 --> 0:40:51.000 I mean we're already at this point about fifteen levels 0:40:51.080 --> 0:40:53.720 into the game, you know, fifty missions exactly. 0:40:53.440 --> 0:40:56.200 Your this is the end of chapter three, and there's 0:40:56.239 --> 0:41:00.000 twelve chapters in the game. So I'm I'm very interesting. 0:41:00.160 --> 0:41:03.200 Did because I would, I think that would be one 0:41:03.200 --> 0:41:06.520 of the bravest choices that we've seen in TV for 0:41:06.600 --> 0:41:09.360 a long time, to not stretch out to five seasons, 0:41:09.440 --> 0:41:13.600 to just not do that expansive kind of wide world, 0:41:13.800 --> 0:41:16.080 long term storytelling that The Walking Dead did to get 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:19.160 to a point, and to instead understand that that game 0:41:19.239 --> 0:41:21.960 has one of the most heartbreaking storylines and to just 0:41:22.040 --> 0:41:23.640 tell it in one season and what you do after 0:41:23.719 --> 0:41:25.279 that is what you do after that to deal with 0:41:25.320 --> 0:41:25.880 the fallout. 0:41:26.000 --> 0:41:27.960 Now, I think people are surprised at how quickly test 0:41:28.040 --> 0:41:30.759 went out, even though as you mentioned, she does go 0:41:30.920 --> 0:41:34.440 out in the same exact portion of the story the 0:41:34.480 --> 0:41:35.960 game version of the story that she does in the 0:41:36.400 --> 0:41:37.400 television version. 0:41:37.160 --> 0:41:37.560 Of the story. 0:41:37.920 --> 0:41:41.080 But well, first of all, it feels like you spend 0:41:41.080 --> 0:41:43.359 a lot more time with her one because she kills 0:41:43.360 --> 0:41:44.440 about a hundred people, and. 0:41:45.160 --> 0:41:48.239 The predominant experience of tests, and you. 0:41:48.280 --> 0:41:51.000 Know, depending on how good you are at the game, 0:41:51.480 --> 0:41:53.400 you could spend you could have by that time have 0:41:53.480 --> 0:41:57.600 spent anywhere from five from three hours to ten hours. 0:41:57.760 --> 0:41:59.520 Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly. 0:42:00.000 --> 0:42:02.400 Somebody in our discord had a really funny comment that 0:42:03.680 --> 0:42:09.520 that alerting the first clicker, Ellie Gasping, validated his play style, 0:42:09.600 --> 0:42:12.240 which is being bad at stealth. 0:42:13.400 --> 0:42:17.160 No, no, no, I have to do stealth. I've been 0:42:17.239 --> 0:42:19.759 playing the game, and like, if I try and go 0:42:20.000 --> 0:42:22.719 chaos mode, I'm the opposite because if I go chaos mode, 0:42:22.760 --> 0:42:25.800 I lose. I lose every time, whether it's a clicker, 0:42:26.320 --> 0:42:30.479 especially if it's a soldier. But yeah, it's really fun. 0:42:30.560 --> 0:42:34.160 This is just such a good show, and I think 0:42:34.239 --> 0:42:38.400 they're making a lot of really interesting choices. Agree because 0:42:38.400 --> 0:42:40.440 also as well, this is a show where twice now 0:42:40.520 --> 0:42:43.440 within the first two episodes, they faked you out on 0:42:43.480 --> 0:42:45.440 who your main cast is going to be. Because when 0:42:45.480 --> 0:42:47.160 the first episode, you think it's going to be Tommy, 0:42:47.320 --> 0:42:49.479 and you think it's going to be Joel. That's true, 0:42:49.520 --> 0:42:51.439 and you think it's gonna be Sarah that was not true. 0:42:51.880 --> 0:42:55.960 Then you think it's gonna be Tess and Joel and Ellie, 0:42:56.280 --> 0:42:58.680 and again you lose one of them within that episode. 0:42:58.960 --> 0:43:00.480 So I think it's going to be very interesting to 0:43:00.520 --> 0:43:03.479 see how they keep people on the edges of their seat. 0:43:03.680 --> 0:43:06.160 And the best thing is, as someone who's played the game, 0:43:06.600 --> 0:43:09.160 the show is still completely engaging, and it's really fun 0:43:09.200 --> 0:43:12.839 to see how closely they're adapting it. But I've seen, 0:43:13.040 --> 0:43:14.839 and this is my thing that makes most excite. I've 0:43:14.880 --> 0:43:16.680 seen so many people who've never played the game in 0:43:16.760 --> 0:43:22.520 our Discord online reviewers who just are absolutely invested. It's 0:43:22.560 --> 0:43:23.920 really well the two episodes. 0:43:24.120 --> 0:43:25.680 It's really well done in a great story, and I 0:43:25.719 --> 0:43:28.920 think one of the things two episodes in that we 0:43:29.080 --> 0:43:33.800 can kind of count on is how they're going to 0:43:34.040 --> 0:43:36.120 fill in the blanks of the game. I mean, there's 0:43:36.160 --> 0:43:37.399 significant blanks in the game. 0:43:37.440 --> 0:43:37.840 We don't know. 0:43:38.080 --> 0:43:40.200 There's a lot about the fireflies we don't know. There's 0:43:40.200 --> 0:43:41.920 a lot about how federal works that we don't know. 0:43:42.120 --> 0:43:45.880 You know next to nothing about how the fungus spread. 0:43:46.360 --> 0:43:50.759 And the fact that you know, episode one, you get 0:43:50.840 --> 0:43:53.759 all this interesting backstory. You follow Sarah for a lot 0:43:53.840 --> 0:43:56.680 longer than you initially think that, you know, considering how 0:43:56.760 --> 0:44:00.759 long you follow a drole. Episode two, you get how 0:44:01.200 --> 0:44:04.120 the fungus broke out. I think that is going to 0:44:04.200 --> 0:44:06.920 be is going to continue to be how this show 0:44:08.000 --> 0:44:10.520 improves on what is already an excellent story told through 0:44:10.960 --> 0:44:13.880 through video games, which is by filling in all these 0:44:13.920 --> 0:44:18.080 blanks with flashbacks, with all the stuff you didn't see 0:44:18.160 --> 0:44:21.959 in the game, and really keeping the stuff that's ripped 0:44:21.960 --> 0:44:24.320 directly from the game as the more kind of like 0:44:25.080 --> 0:44:28.160 suspenseful yeah yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:44:27.719 --> 0:44:30.120 Stuff, which is what the game does, so replicating those 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:33.480 moments of like real horror. Yeah. I'm very interested as 0:44:33.520 --> 0:44:35.400 well to see if every cold open is going to 0:44:35.440 --> 0:44:37.600 be a different scientist, because they've kind of set that 0:44:37.719 --> 0:44:39.800 up and I'd really love to see maybe how it 0:44:39.880 --> 0:44:42.160 impacted people all over the world, you know, Chernobyl was 0:44:42.280 --> 0:44:45.400 very much about like showing how things break down in 0:44:45.520 --> 0:44:48.400 this kind of human bureaucracy, like slow time, and I 0:44:48.440 --> 0:44:50.880 feel like these cold opens are kind of interesting touches 0:44:50.960 --> 0:44:52.920 of that, so I'm really excited to see what happens 0:44:52.960 --> 0:44:54.600 in the cold open for episode three. 0:44:55.680 --> 0:44:57.840 Later this week, for our Friday episode, we're going to 0:44:57.880 --> 0:45:01.560 be covering the video game and second installment of our 0:45:01.640 --> 0:45:04.080 coverage of the Last of Us video games, so check 0:45:04.160 --> 0:45:05.520 back for that, and of course we're going to be 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:10.400 covering the Last of Us on Hbox every Wednesday. In 0:45:10.480 --> 0:45:12.719 your Headphones Up next nerd Out. 0:45:20.640 --> 0:45:23.000 In today's nerd Out, where you tell us what you love, 0:45:23.120 --> 0:45:26.879 am why, or as you have been doing recently, share 0:45:26.920 --> 0:45:29.800 a theory with us that makes you excited, which is 0:45:29.840 --> 0:45:32.799 obviously we love theories. The tim foil Hattier the better, 0:45:33.200 --> 0:45:35.040 But so far, I have to say we've been getting 0:45:35.080 --> 0:45:38.840 a lot of very sensible theories. And yes, we have 0:45:38.920 --> 0:45:42.440 a new theory from Brandon that is about how a 0:45:42.680 --> 0:45:49.120 real life incident could possibly inspire the way that the 0:45:49.320 --> 0:45:52.640 MCU chooses to introduce mutants. So Jason joinerated the theory. 0:45:52.760 --> 0:45:55.400 Sure, Hi, Jason and Rosie, Hi, I've been behind on 0:45:55.480 --> 0:45:57.319 podcasts and catching up and every time you talk about 0:45:57.400 --> 0:46:00.319 mutants needing to be hated and feared, I have thought 0:46:00.400 --> 0:46:02.279 and forget to send it in. I think there's a 0:46:02.360 --> 0:46:04.160 really great and effective way to do it that the 0:46:04.239 --> 0:46:08.040 audience would buy immediately. Make it a pandemic. Agents of 0:46:08.080 --> 0:46:10.640 Shield kind of use this idea with terogenesis during they're 0:46:10.640 --> 0:46:12.279 in Humans ARC, and I think it would work really 0:46:12.320 --> 0:46:14.799 well in our post pandemic time. My two sense things. 0:46:16.120 --> 0:46:20.279 That's a fun, fun theory brain so that agence of 0:46:20.360 --> 0:46:22.840 Shield ARC is ripped from the comics. 0:46:22.920 --> 0:46:26.600 Yeah, in Humans pterogenesis and kind of the way that 0:46:26.800 --> 0:46:28.800 they get their powers, which is you have to go 0:46:28.960 --> 0:46:32.240 through this process where the terodymis brings out your powers. 0:46:32.440 --> 0:46:36.359 There's definitely a way with mutants because terogenesis is very 0:46:36.400 --> 0:46:38.960 similar to like the mutant gene being activated. We know 0:46:39.040 --> 0:46:41.959 that in the Weapon X program, and even if even 0:46:42.000 --> 0:46:44.400 in like the Deadpool movies, which everyone's really familiar with, 0:46:44.600 --> 0:46:46.959 there's this idea that you can activate a mutant gene. 0:46:47.239 --> 0:46:50.320 So they could definitely do something where an illness or 0:46:50.360 --> 0:46:54.000 a global pandemic activated people's mutant genes, so you don't 0:46:54.080 --> 0:46:56.920 have to deal with that kind of analogy of mutation 0:46:57.160 --> 0:47:00.759 is an illness, but you could talk about like how 0:47:00.960 --> 0:47:03.359 it be, how it coming out of an illness could 0:47:03.360 --> 0:47:06.120 affect people, make people scared of it, and also be 0:47:06.200 --> 0:47:08.560 a very interesting way to bring real life into it. 0:47:08.600 --> 0:47:11.239 I think a lot of people are ready to see 0:47:12.280 --> 0:47:17.840 TV and film that actually deals with or talks about 0:47:17.960 --> 0:47:19.839 the pandemic that we have lived through, that we are 0:47:19.880 --> 0:47:22.200 living through, you know. So I think this is really interesting. 0:47:22.960 --> 0:47:25.120 The Marvel comics don't have a great history of doing 0:47:25.239 --> 0:47:28.200 like illness analogies and mutation, but I would love to 0:47:28.239 --> 0:47:30.279 see a thoughtful way. And I do think that there's 0:47:30.320 --> 0:47:32.960 something in that idea of taking inspiration from terror genesis 0:47:33.440 --> 0:47:36.920 and making it something where the mutant gene is actually 0:47:37.600 --> 0:47:41.560 accelerated and then you can have mutations in all different 0:47:41.600 --> 0:47:43.320 ages as well, if they have the mutin gene but 0:47:43.360 --> 0:47:45.480 it hadn't been activated yet. You know. That's what happens 0:47:45.520 --> 0:47:47.440 to DePaul in the movies. They kind of activate the 0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:51.440 gene through this horrible process of like torturing them and stuff. 0:47:51.440 --> 0:47:53.880 So the idea of some kind of pandemic that, rather 0:47:53.960 --> 0:47:57.279 than giving people powers, just activates a mutant gene would 0:47:57.320 --> 0:48:00.040 be I think really interesting and also you know, the 0:48:00.200 --> 0:48:02.719 mc I like the weirdest stuff. Everybody knows that, But 0:48:02.800 --> 0:48:04.880 the MCU has long been grounded in this kind of 0:48:04.960 --> 0:48:10.279 idea of finding real ways to bring And also I 0:48:10.400 --> 0:48:13.760 think that there's something really interesting to talk about about, 0:48:13.800 --> 0:48:16.920 like superheros and disability and superheroes and chronic illness and 0:48:16.960 --> 0:48:18.799 all that kind of stuff, and that's not often really 0:48:18.880 --> 0:48:21.120 deeply explained. So again, if it was through an illness 0:48:21.200 --> 0:48:24.640 or something, there's lots of interesting kind of connotations and 0:48:25.560 --> 0:48:27.719 ripe ground for exploration there. 0:48:27.880 --> 0:48:32.759 Now, fun fact, the Terrogen bomb and Terror Genesis, you know, 0:48:32.840 --> 0:48:36.800 the kind of elevator pitch of that storyline was that 0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:41.759 a bomb filled with terrogen miss was detonated in the atmosphere, 0:48:41.920 --> 0:48:45.640 causing lots of people who have the latent in human 0:48:45.680 --> 0:48:50.759 gene to develop, including Kamalakon, including Kamalicon. Now, fun fact, 0:48:51.760 --> 0:48:57.759 this was done in Marvel Comics pre Disney's acquisition of 0:48:58.000 --> 0:48:59.320 Fox as. 0:48:59.200 --> 0:49:04.920 A way to bring the mutant to the screen with 0:49:07.000 --> 0:49:09.480 because they didn't own the IP at that exactly, so 0:49:09.600 --> 0:49:11.080 at the time there was it was quite hard to 0:49:11.080 --> 0:49:14.239 find a Fantastic Four comic because they didn't own the IP. 0:49:15.040 --> 0:49:17.960 It had been licensed away, and it was very hard 0:49:18.000 --> 0:49:20.080 to find a comic that was solely focused on the 0:49:20.239 --> 0:49:22.280 X Men and the terror gen Bomb and the Cherogian 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:25.359 myst and people like Kamala Khan who was originally pitched 0:49:25.400 --> 0:49:27.680 as a mutant but then became an inhuman. In the 0:49:27.719 --> 0:49:31.719 comics through that it was basically hilarious editorial edicts to 0:49:31.800 --> 0:49:35.759 basically say, look, look we do have them. We got 0:49:36.560 --> 0:49:39.040 this guy who can't talk, voice is too loud. We 0:49:39.120 --> 0:49:44.520 got a cool dog. Everybody loves that. Everybody loves I 0:49:44.560 --> 0:49:46.759 actually would love to see I would love to see 0:49:46.800 --> 0:49:51.359 love during Like in Miss Marvel season two, Petavengers talked 0:49:51.360 --> 0:49:54.520 about it. You know, we have superstars, but you know 0:49:54.600 --> 0:49:56.640 what the real truth is. We all saw how the 0:49:56.719 --> 0:50:00.560 Inhuman's TV show went down like a level of and 0:50:01.080 --> 0:50:02.759 if you even remember that it happened, you can watch 0:50:02.800 --> 0:50:07.239 on Disney Plus. Though, yeah, it's very strange, has unbelievable cast, 0:50:07.360 --> 0:50:11.080 but it didn't badwigs means. Also, they shaved off Medusa's 0:50:11.080 --> 0:50:13.160 hair in the first episode. Her power is literally that 0:50:13.239 --> 0:50:15.200 she has hair, So as soon as they did that, 0:50:15.239 --> 0:50:17.600 you know there was going to be a problem. But yeah, 0:50:17.800 --> 0:50:20.800 I would be very interested. I wanted. A lot of 0:50:20.840 --> 0:50:23.600 people thought that Miss Marvel was going to introduce in humans. 0:50:23.760 --> 0:50:25.800 I was always hoping it was going to be a 0:50:25.920 --> 0:50:29.120 mutant story. But I'm very interested to know if the 0:50:29.239 --> 0:50:31.719 inhumans have a future in the MCU. After we saw 0:50:31.760 --> 0:50:35.520 Ants and Mount again, great casting, come back for that 0:50:35.719 --> 0:50:40.839 really memorable moment in Multiverse of Madness. I'll be very 0:50:40.880 --> 0:50:43.880 interested to see if there's a universe, whether in humans 0:50:44.000 --> 0:50:48.399 are the major heroes, and whether or not that comes 0:50:48.440 --> 0:50:50.520 into play as we get to this kind of inevitable 0:50:50.600 --> 0:50:54.200 secret Wars convergence, kind of like multiple universes in one, 0:50:54.520 --> 0:50:58.719 just no legacy virus type exactly. That's not what we want. 0:50:58.840 --> 0:51:00.560 Yeah, no, thank you, thanks for and if you have 0:51:00.680 --> 0:51:02.560 theories or passions you want to share, hit us up 0:51:02.560 --> 0:51:05.000 at x ray at crooked dot com. Instructions in the 0:51:05.040 --> 0:51:05.520 show notes. 0:51:08.800 --> 0:51:11.440 That's it for us, Rosie. Anything to plug uh. You 0:51:11.600 --> 0:51:14.520 can follow me on Instagram and let the box. That's 0:51:14.560 --> 0:51:19.320 my only social media, Rosie Marx with an X. I 0:51:19.520 --> 0:51:21.319 will be writing a bunch of stuff in the lead 0:51:21.400 --> 0:51:24.800 up to A Man and the Wasp Quantumania, which obviously 0:51:24.960 --> 0:51:27.239 we are very excited about, and we'll be getting more 0:51:27.239 --> 0:51:30.040 excited about In the upcoming weeks. You can check out 0:51:30.080 --> 0:51:33.719 my writing at IGN, Nerdict, Polygon, Den of Geek, all 0:51:33.800 --> 0:51:35.320 kinds of good places. I've got a big Den of 0:51:35.360 --> 0:51:38.520 Geek cover story coming out soon for our currently unannounced 0:51:39.280 --> 0:51:42.680 cool thing. Jason, What about you? Let people find you? 0:51:43.200 --> 0:51:46.360 You can find me in your podcast reet every Wednesday, 0:51:46.440 --> 0:51:50.360 Every Wednesday, right here, right here, mut And that's about 0:51:50.400 --> 0:51:52.880 it right now. I'll watch Primo when it comes out 0:51:52.960 --> 0:51:55.360 on Amazon freebe sometime I don't know, in the spring 0:51:55.560 --> 0:51:59.040 end or summer of twenty twenty three, and we'll catch you. 0:51:59.120 --> 0:52:02.920 On the flip side. Five star reviews, five star ratings. 0:52:03.000 --> 0:52:04.399 We want one. 0:52:04.600 --> 0:52:07.520 No, we want two, No, we want three, no, four, 0:52:08.400 --> 0:52:11.320 keep going five? Yes, perfect, we want five star ratings. 0:52:11.440 --> 0:52:11.960 We want five. 0:52:12.080 --> 0:52:18.000 Five star ratings. On your podcast review rating platform of choice. 0:52:18.000 --> 0:52:22.400 Here is one from Bills Preston. Love this pod, Thank you, 0:52:22.520 --> 0:52:24.640 Bill x Ray is at the top of my list 0:52:24.719 --> 0:52:27.160 of awesome pods. I love listening to Jason and Rosie. 0:52:27.280 --> 0:52:30.040 The depth of their comics and pop culture knowledge. It's amazing, 0:52:30.120 --> 0:52:32.200 super pumped. The show is coming twice a week in 0:52:32.360 --> 0:52:33.200 twenty twenty three. 0:52:33.280 --> 0:52:36.120 That's all right, it is. Let's do it twice a week. 0:52:36.239 --> 0:52:38.759 We're pumped too, And if you want to read a 0:52:38.800 --> 0:52:41.480 transcript of the show something I'm very excited about, they 0:52:41.560 --> 0:52:43.880 are posted beneath the show notes on the Crooked website 0:52:43.920 --> 0:52:46.680 for each episode within a forty eight hours of you 0:52:46.800 --> 0:52:49.200 being able to listen. Says a great way for more 0:52:49.239 --> 0:52:50.759 people to be able to experience the show. 0:52:51.000 --> 0:52:53.239 Catch the next episode on Friday, January twenty seventh, and 0:52:53.280 --> 0:52:55.400 remember we're bringing you two episodes a week, two to 0:52:55.640 --> 0:52:59.240 two two two episodes a week. That's twice the episodes twice, 0:52:59.280 --> 0:53:02.960 the deep dives two times, the everything else. Subscribe to 0:53:03.080 --> 0:53:05.240 us on YouTube, where you can now watch full episodes 0:53:05.280 --> 0:53:09.520 of this show. Plus follow the at XRV pod handle 0:53:09.640 --> 0:53:12.960 on Twitter and check out the discord. Come to the discord, folks. 0:53:13.040 --> 0:53:15.520 It's great, the water's nice. It's a great place to 0:53:15.600 --> 0:53:18.080 meet and hang out with tons of amazing fans and listeners. 0:53:18.120 --> 0:53:20.320 Plus Rosie and I are there. X ray Vision is 0:53:20.320 --> 0:53:22.239 a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Chris 0:53:22.320 --> 0:53:24.800 Lord and Salrubin. The show is executive produced by myself 0:53:25.080 --> 0:53:28.319 and Sandy Rhard are editing in sound designers by Vacillis Phatopoulos. 0:53:28.680 --> 0:53:32.640 Dylon Villanueva and Matt Degroup provide video production support. Alex 0:53:32.680 --> 0:53:35.520 Rellaford handle social media. Thank you Brian Vasquez for o 0:53:35.640 --> 0:53:38.040 theme music by Bye Bello