Overall I thought it was decent enough but nothing special. Probably a 7/10 for me. I thought the “moody Joel” and “sassy Ellie” dialogue got a bit tiresome after a few episodes. They kept ramming it down your throat that Joel kills innocent people too. Obviously they were setting up what was to come at the end, but it came across as too on the nose. The last episode was a bit disappointing too. Only 43 minutes long and it seemed rushed.
This won’t go down well but I’m still not entirely convinced by the casting for Ellie. Her performances were a bit hit and miss for me. In fact, it might just have been the writing in some cases, but something felt off to me. It’ll be interesting to see if she can carry the show going forward.
I thought Kathleen was an awful character. Some of her dialogue was so bad that I was face-palming. Before I get accused of having a problem with female characters, I thought the actresses for Sarah, Tess and Marlene all put in good performances.
I think I’d probably have enjoyed this more if I hadn’t played the game, which anecdotally seems to be the case from people I’ve spoken to. I haven’t played the second game because I got spoiled just before it released, so I’ll be interested to see how it plays out.
