drtrotuskVIP

6

(543-word review) What an underwhelming, somewhat disappointing first season. And I say "somewhat disappointing" because I wasn't necessarily going in with high hopes, expecting something phenomenal. I never do. I dive into a show or film, feeling how I feel about it by the end. At the very least, there was an expectation that there would be something more decent and competent than the result.

For one, most of the budget must've gone to Pedro Pascal, and the rest went to some of the production design; there were hardly any Infected. Making sure to have a prominent enough focus on them must've been on the back-burner to where, when they remembered and "intended" to get around to doing that, they didn't have enough money left. Or, worst case scenario, they thought putting them on the back-burner in a post-apocalyptic setting was a fantastic idea.

Showcasing the state of the world through that aspect is vital for the premise regarding Ellie and what her existence could bring. And while the fruition of that is questionable, it's the idea: the possibility/hope. Failing to include a sufficient amount of Infected undermines that premise, adding a sense of pointlessness to the whole thing.

Secondly, there was a massive disconnect, from the outside looking in, concerning Joel and Ellie. There's this reality we're supposed to buy into and see; that's the point. We're supposed to feel their connection, subsequently being connected to that connection, these characters, and their relationship. Except to accomplish that, two things need to be present: good writing and good chemistry between the actors. The former was subpar: skipping essential development, and, in their stead, was so-called development far from accomplishing its intent; the latter, contrary to whatever most people saw, wasn't there, which dragged that whole aspect of Joel and Ellie down even further due to the lack of it.

The supposed tension and excitement, things most people talked about, episode by episode, especially the former, regarding their prominence, weren't there for me. I never felt any of this tension throughout the season. Most of the season nearly felt the opposite. No stakes or deep immersion and no significant attachment to any of the characters or the things happening, just a calm stroll through the countryside with the sunset and beautiful horizon, munching sundaes, then going back home to watch football. That's not exciting, either.

Then, there was the third episode, raved about by practically everyone; this across-the-board award-winning love story (according to them) that could've hit the mark with a shorter duration. It wasn't THAT excellent, not to mention it was the second-longest one, with the finale being the shortest one. But it does seem slightly better now, given the gradual decline with each episode to the end.

What did the vast majority watch? I don't know. But what I know is what I did: something that, with the first episode, was at its best. And that still wasn't as phenomenal as how that vast majority consider the whole season, specifically the third episode alone. It was decent at best and borderline mediocre at its worst, and there was more of the former after the first episode to where, by the end, you almost forget that the season was moderately decent in the beginning.