8 Comments
User's avatar
Janet Howe's avatar

Perhaps in a video game the death of Joel is less of a gut punch than it was watching this TV show. Pedro Pascal has done such a great job of creating this character who lost his daughter and then gains a daughter in Ellie. Bella Ramsay is a fine actress, and perhaps the interaction between her and the Abby character will become interesting enough to compensate for the loss of Joel's story line. I'm just not sure.

Expand full comment
Aurelie Chazal's avatar

I played the game and it's my favorite game ever. The death of Joel was a huge gut punch for me. Especially that, if I remember correctly from the game, we don't know what Abby is looking for Joel until she brings him back to the chalet. All that being said, I kind of forgot about Joel's death after a bit and got really into the Abby vs Ellie POV from the game. I hope the show manages the same.

Expand full comment
Rebekah Spicuglia's avatar

I am not a connoisseur of zombie shows, so I can’t speak to the disappointment in repeated storylines, but I was disappointed. It was shocking to me, and honestly I didn’t even really believe it til the last shot of him being dragged back to town. It is so early in the season that it feels like we’ve been cheated, frankly, and I clicked through to read your post in order to process my annoyance, wondering if I’m ever going to watch it anymore. So far, though this season has been action-packed, it hasn’t felt very deep, and though well-acted, not enough character development to give a shit about all the new folks onscreen (especially Abby, and even Dina)… The best scene so far was the therapist’s, brilliant. I had hoped for more of that. I agree with you on needing to expand the world.

Expand full comment
Frank R.'s avatar

Highly disappointed with that ending, although the gamers already knew. I don’t think I care about Abby or her arc. I liked Ellie, but with Joel. I may just read recaps before I decide to maybe binge at the end of the season.

Expand full comment
CAROL's avatar

#1 ~ bad things really seem to happen to Pedro Pascal's face...

That's it for me. As the gratuitous murder of Glen was enough for me in WD.

Pedro Pascal was the main reason I was watching. Am I, a more "mature" woman the target demographic -- no.

With things in the real world going to hell in a hangbag, I just don't need it in my entertainment.

Have they dropped the new Ted Lasso yet??

Expand full comment
Switching Codes w/Eric Deggans's avatar

Lol. They haven’t even started filming that yet! But hang in there - we see a bit more of Pedro later in the series…

Expand full comment
CAROL's avatar

Promises, promises.

Pedro was the draw for me. Do I want to watch 2 basically teen girls duke it out with a post-apocalyptic backdrop? No. Got enough of that teaching public high school.

Pat will probably want to see where it's going to go.

Expand full comment
Dionne Dumitru's avatar

Thanks for this; you’ve saved me from watching next week.

I won’t continue watching the series; the first season’s odyssey framework gave them a canvas for creating episodic masterpieces. I was concerned last week that this season would be more formulaic, but Joel’s scene with his therapist gave me hope. Now that the only main character with complexity is gone, what’s the point? They haven’t created layered characters in Ellie and other Jackson Hole characters and Abby is a stock character. I’m done. I’m neither a gamer nor a fan of zombie movies.

Expand full comment