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‘The Last of Us’ Ratings Declined During Season 2. But Why? (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

I think the issue is the underlying content.

The first season/game is about people forming bonds and trying to survive. People do bad things, but their motives are understandable.

The second season/game is just depressing. Maybe it's a good story, but you're really not rooting for anyone and it takes a lot more effort to watch/play.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

For TV, I think it would have been better for that thing to happen at the end of S1... Although I'm not sure it can fit in S1.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah it wouldn't make sense in season 1 due to the time skip.

Personally, I stopped the second game part way through and just looked up the story cause I knew it was going to be a drag. I don't mind games that are sad, but it just felt like it went out of its way to be depressing. Figure that's the same issue with the show.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They are correct in a few points, the end of one of the main characters was a let-down. But a show can live on from that, sadly, the turnaround for me wasn't so palatable. They did point out that the end of season one, when they got to a "safe space," felt story ending. It did, but then instead of that micro focus on the two characters, it went straight into macro character development with many characters. It was a sludge-fest, a soap opera melodrama, less about the infected (not even shown in the last ep of season 2, sigh.) I have no plans of watching season 3.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

The same thing always happens in zombie stories: its never about the zombies. Good authors understand this, bad ones don't.

If you make a zombie story about the zombies, you'll quickly find out that zombies are crappy antagonists. TLOU got it right originally, it's about people. But then they completely forgot what they were doing.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Exactly. Unfold the mystery of the infected, their hierarchy, all that is exciting ...and scary. Nope, they, and I am looking at Walking Dead also, always pivot to drawn out character drama, most of which is unnecessary, basically low effort screen writing.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

It depends on the type of zombies depicted. The zombies in TWD are very straight-forward and there isn't much depth to them.

In other shows like Kingdom? A bit different.

Do you like post-apocalyptic settings generally that aren't zombie, out of interest?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Zombies get a lot more scary when you don't have guns or fast communication like in Kingdom.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

And when the zombies are fast and the infection process is quick

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I love these kind, a complete horror.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's Kingdom, and All of us are Dead.

The reality is that if shambling zombies actually existed, like in TWD, they wouldn't be a civilisation ending threat. And the idea that there's enough of them after 10+ years like in TWD to be able to horde up is preposterous.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Any post-apocalyptic subject matter, tbh. I agree, the TWD zombies were kind of wooden and had little to no progression built in, but still, the over-the-top melodrama existed.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Well wouldn't most other post-apocalyptic settings without as third-party force such as extraterrestrials or zombies be always melodramatic?

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

There is drama, backstories and character development, and then there is long-drawn out dramatic dwelling into a character or characters. We started to see this with the love triangle in S02 with Ellie/Dina/Jessie...ZZZzzzzzzzZZZzzzzz. Guaranteed, if this series continues, they will switch up the love interest over and over, much like TWD and much like a soap opera.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I don't see this being like The Walking Dead. I'm fairly sure they will only be adapting the story from the games and stopping, unless there's been some news I've missed.

The plot of the games is easily readable online, the story isn't really about the zombies at all. I did find the second season weaker than the first personally, but still didn't mind it. There's a lot of unwarranted hate online for the show, particularly around Bella Ramsey, but the same thing happened when they released part 2 of the game. The voice actor for Abby even received death threats online after the second game released.

this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
24 points (96.2% liked)

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