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Just finished watching Episode 1.3 of The Last of Us - the Last of Us kind of reminds me of Station Eleven at times, or what would happen if someone melded Station Eleven with the Walking Dead or Zombieland or The Passage?
Still sticking closely to the trope - the old guy, young girl traveling through an apocalyptic landscape, and the nutty people they run across along the way. I don't know how many of you are familiar with this particular trope? I've run across it a lot - it's very popular in dystopian fiction, horror, and well comic books. Very popular in comic books. The film Logan kind of did it, and Wolverine comics do it a lot.
Last of Us, the way it's set up, is very similar to the comic version of The Watchmen, also Citizen Kane, and Station Eleven (also the television series Lost), in which little short self-contained short stories are kind of told within the main thematic arc. It's not an anthology style, the short story pertains to the actual through thread not just the theme, and lends itself to the plot and character arcs. You could legitmately watch it on its own, but it really works better with the whole series. Station Eleven, Game of Thrones and Lost played with this narrative style as well. To date - I found Station Eleven to be the most interesting and innovative regarding it - Station Eleven feels like a puzzle box or like opening one of those Russian Doll sets.
As the critic Alan Sepinwall pointed out to me, when I had no idea what everyone was talking about in regards to Episode 3, this is an old narrative style or gimmick. He's right it is. I've seen it a lot too.
If you loved Episode 3? You really should go watch Station Eleven. (Although I guess it depends on why you loved Episode 3?) I'm guessing Episode 3 surprised a lot of folks who thought they were going to get something more in line with the Walking Dead or a video game? I wasn't surprised, but that's because this reminds me more of Station Eleven in how its narratively constructed and less like the Walking Dead. The focus here really isn't on the diseased or infected, its on those who survived (hence the title The Last of Us, while the focus in The Walking Dead, World War Z, Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later was well on the zombies or dead menace and trying to avoid joining them.) And they've been doing little flashback stories about various people along the way, with Elle and Joel as the connector. It may have helped that I watched Station Eleven first? Also have seen The Passage, which tried a similar set up and failed at it miserably - but it was also on network television, this is on HBO.
Plus all those comic books - which do this a lot. And well, Lost.
It's hard to shock or surprise me. I'm a jaded culture junkie.
( spoilers because it's hard to discuss this in any real depth without them )
****
Ah, blood sugar has balanced out finally. I no longer feel woozy. Note to self - be careful with the sugar intake.
Other Television Shows
1. Company You Keep
The second episode was even better than the first, mainly because we saw more of the supporting characters. ( Read more... )
[Television still has the annoying wave, which I often forget about if I get engrossed in the show - I forgot about it in The Last of Us for example]
2 Picard S3 Episode 3 - Eh, it works and it doesn't work. ( spoilers )
3. True Lies
It's okay. I like the female lead, and her role. The guy is kind of just there and fairly bland. ( Read more... )
(CBS on Wed's - I think).
4. Astrid - PBS (this is a French Detective Series made in partnership with the BBC).
Astrid is an autistic woman who gets involved with a police detective (commander) and helps her solve crimes. They have an off-beat friendship, and the mysteries are interesting. As is Astrid - who can figure things out logically.
Okay, off to bed.
Still sticking closely to the trope - the old guy, young girl traveling through an apocalyptic landscape, and the nutty people they run across along the way. I don't know how many of you are familiar with this particular trope? I've run across it a lot - it's very popular in dystopian fiction, horror, and well comic books. Very popular in comic books. The film Logan kind of did it, and Wolverine comics do it a lot.
Last of Us, the way it's set up, is very similar to the comic version of The Watchmen, also Citizen Kane, and Station Eleven (also the television series Lost), in which little short self-contained short stories are kind of told within the main thematic arc. It's not an anthology style, the short story pertains to the actual through thread not just the theme, and lends itself to the plot and character arcs. You could legitmately watch it on its own, but it really works better with the whole series. Station Eleven, Game of Thrones and Lost played with this narrative style as well. To date - I found Station Eleven to be the most interesting and innovative regarding it - Station Eleven feels like a puzzle box or like opening one of those Russian Doll sets.
As the critic Alan Sepinwall pointed out to me, when I had no idea what everyone was talking about in regards to Episode 3, this is an old narrative style or gimmick. He's right it is. I've seen it a lot too.
If you loved Episode 3? You really should go watch Station Eleven. (Although I guess it depends on why you loved Episode 3?) I'm guessing Episode 3 surprised a lot of folks who thought they were going to get something more in line with the Walking Dead or a video game? I wasn't surprised, but that's because this reminds me more of Station Eleven in how its narratively constructed and less like the Walking Dead. The focus here really isn't on the diseased or infected, its on those who survived (hence the title The Last of Us, while the focus in The Walking Dead, World War Z, Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later was well on the zombies or dead menace and trying to avoid joining them.) And they've been doing little flashback stories about various people along the way, with Elle and Joel as the connector. It may have helped that I watched Station Eleven first? Also have seen The Passage, which tried a similar set up and failed at it miserably - but it was also on network television, this is on HBO.
Plus all those comic books - which do this a lot. And well, Lost.
It's hard to shock or surprise me. I'm a jaded culture junkie.
( spoilers because it's hard to discuss this in any real depth without them )
****
Ah, blood sugar has balanced out finally. I no longer feel woozy. Note to self - be careful with the sugar intake.
Other Television Shows
1. Company You Keep
The second episode was even better than the first, mainly because we saw more of the supporting characters. ( Read more... )
[Television still has the annoying wave, which I often forget about if I get engrossed in the show - I forgot about it in The Last of Us for example]
2 Picard S3 Episode 3 - Eh, it works and it doesn't work. ( spoilers )
3. True Lies
It's okay. I like the female lead, and her role. The guy is kind of just there and fairly bland. ( Read more... )
(CBS on Wed's - I think).
4. Astrid - PBS (this is a French Detective Series made in partnership with the BBC).
Astrid is an autistic woman who gets involved with a police detective (commander) and helps her solve crimes. They have an off-beat friendship, and the mysteries are interesting. As is Astrid - who can figure things out logically.
Okay, off to bed.