วีดีโอ

The divide really goes back to 2014 and the EU reboot. The Last Jedi made it clear that Disney did not respect or understand the franchise. Acolyte is just the newest battle in that divide as it epitomized the problems with Disney Star Wars. And the lead actress directly antagonized the fans (insulting them as a group before she had started getting criticism, and then reacted to criticism by releasing a diss track.) while the director gave some very unsettling interviews that stirred things up before the show even came out. I though the pre-release hate/criticism for that show was weird until I saw the cast/director interviews and what people were reacting to. (Not saying every criticism/reaction was valid, but they definitely stirred the pot). I think part of the issue with Acolyte is people are using the term "woke" in very different ways. Most people using that term as media criticism are completely cool with characters of any race or gender. What they're griping about is really post-modernism or "performative corporate wokeness" which is when companies make a show of supporting causes or highlight a demographic while in action undermining that cause/demographic. With Acolyte, Leslie Headland very openly tried to make a parallel between the Sith and being gay, because she identifies with the Sith. But her interviews make it clear that she either does not understand the Sith or just has an extremely twisted sense of morality. The Sith are unequivocally evil. If you're trying to be inclusive of LGBT+, then it's insulting and troubling to try to associate them with the Sith. Disney pushing black women into Sith roles is another rather troubling trend, and you get two of those in the Acolyte and another in the Kenobi series. I do think the bigger issue is there really is a fight for the soul of Star Wars. George Lucas made a story for young/family audiences about the conflict between good and evil both externally and internally. To pretend that the Jedi and Sith are just two side of the same coin, completely undermines the whole point of the story. Andor does a better job writing wise of tackling moral complexity, but it's still eroding what made the Rebellion the good guys in the first place. Morality is not limited to the Jedi and rebel leaders should not be giving villain monologues. I'm hoping season 2 will see the Rebellion claiming it's moral center, but at the moment, you have a well written story that doesn't quite feel like Star Wars. There was something magical about Mandalorian Season 1, because it was about personal connections and confronting moral questions. The optimism of seeing the New Republic becoming established and Luke not wallowing in depression had us in tears. It wasn't about showing off his Force skills; it was about seeing him proactive and doing something. To be fair fandoms will always critique new material. If that kills the fun, it's good to step away for a bit.

I was a huge Star Wars fan my entire life. These new people came in after Lucas sold the franchise, with their ignorance and arrogance towards the fans, and just messed up the entire lore and continuity of it. Honestly, it will probably go down as the simple most destructive act in the history of entertainment. It's just that bad.

Truth is tbe blame lies with the fans. Theyve allowed right wing barratives to terrorize the fandom. And now its embarrassing to even call yourslwf a fan because you might get lumped in with the send deaththreats to every non white actor crowd.

Having played this game a thousand times having Ellie’s tattoo along with other things related to tlou watching this video I teared up around the end with how much I can relate to Ellie’s pain. My father passed the year this game came out. And I never got over it which is kind of part of the reason I got Ellie’s tattoo. And I honor everything she fights for as if she actually existed lol one time my brother told me i reminded him of her and it was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received…. what an amazing character

People who defend joel while basterdising abby are hypocrites

People who quit on abby from the start are what is wrong with the industry

Great video! You opened my mind more on Abby, this game could have worked if they had just switched the stories to tell them together instead of the A B method

The Batman 2 hype bouta be insane

I laughed at ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

What people don’t understand about Ellie is her revenge on Abby isn’t just- “you killed Joel so I kill your friends in retaliation.” It’s a lot deeper than that. Ellie hates Abby not just because she killed Joel, but because she killed him before Ellie had a chance to forgive him and reconcile their relationship. Abby, in her quest to kill Joel, had alienated all of her friends to the point where some start straight up ignoring her. She broke all her relationships. Hell, Mel’s last words to Abby are “you’re a piece of shit.” Abby has a chance to reconcile with them and wants to, but then Ellie kills them all. She inflicts Abby with the same pain she felt when Abby killed Joel. That’s why I don’t understand when people say Ellie didn’t properly avenge Joel by sparing Abby. Abby didn’t care much about death. Her life had no meaning to her after she killed Joel, before she found Lev. Abby did, however, care for her friends and wanted to repair her relationships with them when she recognized her mistakes. And Ellie took that away from her. If that’s not vengeance, i don’t know what is. Much worse than simply killing Abby.

Halfway done!

Great point about this show having a showrunner who's a woman! I really haven't heard that anywhere till now and I genuinely find that insane. The narrative pushing is more evident everyday

When you need to force yourself to like or relate to a character - this is a poorly written, flat character. Joel was a proper cunt, but he was relatable or even likable. Abby is complete opposite. She evokes only disgust regardless of the rest of her arc

I wonder how they're gonna treat the ambush scene...apart from people hating the fact that joel died, THE WAY he died was also viewed as character assassination for him and Tommy.

Talking of Abby and star wars. I find it funny how people have an issue with how big she is yet don't have an issue with Gina Carano have a well built physique, because they've both spent a portion of their lives dedicating their time and effort to get stronger

Great video, man! I have no idea how HBO and Neil Druckman and the entire team will do to, in the end, convey the feeling that Ellie in the 2nd game mirrored Joel's psychotic behavior at the end of the 1st game and how in the second game Abby practically put Step in Ellie's place since the first part of the 2nd game... So confusing! Honestly, the fact also remains that in the end it is Ellie who, despite seeking revenge and redemption in Joel's name, actually ends up saving Abby and letting Joel die, practically dying along with him, loosing all conection with him and loosing everything... Man, there are many, many layers of mirrors as metaphors of metaphors of metaphors for a series cover. But it will put on a good show. It´s my bet.

Opinions on the mando movie?? also fav star wars movie???

Loving this show so much and I didn't think I would like it!

This is the most pretentious and vile story I have ever had the misfortune of playing.

You’re absolutely correct. Haters are going to hate, and there was a small minority whose views were animated by bigotry, but The Acolyte was objectively awful, and by far the views of the majority of fans and critics had nothing to do with the actors, directors, or producers orientation , gender identity, or ethnicity.

Beautiful game ❤

When i first played tlou2, i sobbed at the ending and told my mom i had wasted all those hours to not (SPOILER!) kill abby, i was so happy when i beat abby up. Each gamplay i played, i realized why abby AND ellie were the way they were. Why they killed this person and that person. Each play, i thought hard about Ellie's game if revenge, and i thought, "Shes a horrible person" she left dina and JJ. Abby left and realized that the WLF wasnt her true home and she got a big sister, little brother duo with Lev (lily) i wish i could play it again for the first time. Edit: I love this video officially 💜

Excited to check this one out, looks complex and captivating!

Great review for sure. I didn't like The Batman but you make me want to go back and try again LOL. Maybe it was just the wrong day for me or something

As a new yorker, im terrified and excited for this lol

Thanks for your thoughts! I was wondering if to bother watching this because spin-off series are so rarely worth watching but you've convinced me to try it out

i was mad at that final fight too lol i did not want to partake in any of it. Just let them get in the boat and leave 😭

I'm so glad when someone rethinks their stance on this game. It's my favorite game of all time. My soul needed The Last of Us Part II. I find it interesting that you point out that Day 1 with Abby is basically Not Much at All. I think I might have needed that when playing. I was in a weird position that most players weren't on wherein I was getting a bit- er- frustrated with Ellie. I understood her and I wanted her to get revenge, but moreover, Priorities. Dina needed to go back, Jesse was trying to talk sense into her, and I just kept thinking- you can't make the travel back and return? Abby was... I was not emotionally connected with her, but I didn't hate her. I was just sad about Joel, but I didn't lnow anything about Abby. Abby's playthrough was the rest I needed after Ellie's revenge quest, and that Day 1 was like a breath of fresh air and some enotional rest, while I got to familiarize myself with Abby's environment. So. Yeah, that's when the game really picked uo for me, after I had been zombified since the moment of Joel's death. Basically what you said at 25:30.

Worked in kitchens for years now and I’m surprised I haven’t started this show yet. Also it’s amazing that the actors learned genuine knife technique.

I hate that people put so much focus on Abby’s dreams there just fucking dreams they don’t mean shit. They are a stupid addition to the game in general. Abby’s mission is for her to get back with Owen that’s why she saves the siblings because she knows in order to get him back she has to do something that he would love and saving Lev and Yara is that action. Her doing for another reason makes no goddanm sense, because they set up her character and then compete heel turn for no reason the only thing that makes sense is she’s doing to get Owen back. Because any other reason doesn’t fit the character at all. No Lev and Abby’s relationship is nothing like Joel and Ellie’s because unlike Joel she’s manipulating him. She doesn’t really give a shit about him or Yara until Yara validates her in day 3 but she knows she has to be nice because it would be terrible for her if Owen found out what her actual intentions were. There is absolutely no reason to sympathize with Abby she’s a monster who likes killing for fun there is absolutely nothing to sympathize with. Except there is literally no fucking bond between them, Maybe Lev believes there is but the truth it’s a manipulation for him to like so he doesn’t tell Owen the truth. The “bond” you speak of is absolutely nothing like Joel and Ellie’s which is built on mutual respect and love. I hate this argument that “Abby and Lev mirror Joel and Ellie” no they fucking don’t the differences is glaring. Ha Abby and empathy and love in the same sentence what a fucking joke two emotions she is literally incapable of her story is about manipulation and selfishness. So Abby manipulating Lev and Yara into liking her made you like the fucking villain of the fucking game? You start to respect the person who manipulated children into liking her and she likes to be liked so she doesn’t want him to die and Issac already believes she went abandoned the WLF when she didn’t so she’s done with Issac altogether and she believes she will be going with Owen to Santa Barbra so that’s why she Denys WLF here not because of any other reason then to leave with Owen. You couldn’t understand why people should set the controller down and let Ellie kill her really? Because she’s a sociopath fucking monster who doesn’t give a shit about human lives and loves killing, and the end of the theater fight proves she hasn’t changed at fucking all when she says “good” proves she is the exact same person. This game isn’t about sympathy at all it’s about “revenge is bad” or what the fuck ever and they completely fail at the revenge part because Abby doesn’t die in the end making the who fucking thing pointless. What fucking progrstion of her character her saying good is proof of absolutely no progrtion at fucking all she only stops because she sees Lev there and she accidentally let her mask slip in front of Lev for a second and she can’t have that. That moment she says good proves her character “arc” is a straight line. She doesn’t choose love in that moment she chooses more manipulation which is her go to when interacting with Lev because she never wants him to see the person she really is. Abby wanting to save Lev doesn’t prove anything she’s weak and she likes being liked she no longer want to fight Ellie because all she cares about is helping her obsession which has transferred to Lev after Owens death. You and Ellie should be on the same page because the whole point was to kill Abby and Abby deserves to die here. Except Ellie had absolutely no reason to kill Lev she wasn’t going to kill him she needed a reason for Abby to want to fight her plus she knew he was going to die anyway after Abby was dead. “The most miserable fight of the game” no it’s fucking not it’s the best fucking part because where are finally going to kill this psychopathic monster this fight was the conclusion people where waiting for the whole fucking game, to fucking bad the end of the fight end with Ellie sparring Abby for no fucking reason. That scene isn’t hard to watch at all you know what is though? Watching Joel be tortured and killed by this monster and watching Ellie get brutalized in the theater those where hard to watch. This scene was it the final confrontation it was time to end this, but she fucking doesn’t. The whole point of the game was to kill Abby letting her go makes the whole rest of the game pointless.

I see so much potential in this game but Druckman took way too many risks & therefore makes the game hard to play & enjoy. I don’t even hate Abby I’m just not given any reason to like her.

Looking back, I feel like the devs and the fans could’ve had a calmer back and forth. At the same time, though, I still think some of the story could’ve been written MUCH better. Overall, though, I actually didn’t hate Abby and having her be spared by Ellie in the end was a good move. Now, if we were going to talk about a couple of particular people from Abby’s GROUP, that’s a very different story.

fk Abby, Ellie could’ve/should’ve ended her the second she got the chance. Never want to play as Abby EVER again. All this over disection.. EVERY character who gets killed has a back story.. if we were to go into each one so we could gain ‘perspective’..😩

Dude, Abby’s weapon arsenal is just better than Ellie’s in my opinion. 4x scope on the crossbow?? Explosive shotgun shells?? Burst fire rifle?? I was fully on board with Abby pretty quickly as soon as I started to upgrade her weapons lol. I didn’t find her difficult to empathize with either. But I was irritated at having to start with a new player from scratch mid way through the game. That’s a big ask, purely from a gameplay perspective.

This game sucks.

I'm so glad word of mouth was able to spread with this show. I also only got through the first two episodes. It was over a year before I watched the whole thing, and I was blown away. And looking back, I wouldn't make any changes together first 2 episodes because so much of the foundation of the story is laid there

Abby's and Owen scene is explained by a youtuber called TLOU explained, it makes so much sense, I really recommend watching her videos

Sol was a cool Jedi

I'm glad you watched it for me since I couldn't get past episode 2 lol. I have watched everything else Disney has done and this was the only one I just couldn't sit thru

1:25 pun intended?!

I've tried so hard to like this game, but I just can't force myself to.

I missed out on the hype of TLOU, I just bought a PS5 and played both basically back to back and I didn’t get the backlash. Through the story I began to adopt the role of Joel, while I was playing as Ellie all I can think about was a girl she may love, a pregnant girl at that she left behind probably scared, alone, in a theater to kill and torture for revenge. I started to feel like we were the villain Abby saw.

This idea of “dividing the fanbase” is just a false assumption and an irrational point. You’re not exactly a fan to begin with if you hate Part 2 to begin with. Those hating this masterpiece projects the person’s own lack of empathy.

I cant take someone too seriously when they say the first two episodes "weren't the best" The first three episodes came out together and that's the most honest way to view and critique them. Three episodes making up a TV film length. That being said people who watch the show now probably won't know that. But it also doesn't change almost everything in episode 1 and 2 help the rest of the season BE AS GOOD AS IT IS!

I know this is way late but Dunkey really liked it

Ngl I cared more about yara! Lev is a moron who did things which took Abby away from Mel and Owen because he’s a stupid child! Tara deserved to stay alive not that dimbqss! But I guess pride ploy armour is stronger and looks better for devs 😂😂

Tlou2 is a masterpiece.

Misery porn, loathsome and uninteresting characters galore, an atrocious new protagonist, paradoxical characterization and immensely questionable decisions. That about sums the game up for me. Everything else aside from these aspects is master-class.