You have to be almost willfully blind to the themes and character beats of the first three episodes to think this was filler. This entire story was an encapsulation of Joel’s struggle and what could be possible if he lets himself grow. Bill only survived at all because he let Frank in, Frank being willing to reach out to others and finding Joel and Tess directly led to Bill being equipped to repel those raiders, to Frank having the medication to live as long as he did, and to them both managing to live full-filled lives with each other. despite the world around them it was a willingness to be vulnerable and risk human connection that let these two men to not just survive, but to live. The mechanical plot points of “this gets them the battery or the truck” are the least important ways this episode ties to and informs the story of Joel and Ellie. Every episode does this, using the character stories and character pairings seen in each episode to reflect on and examine the leads. Even when Joel and Ellie aren’t front and center on screen, the show never stops being about them or their relationship.
@@pennybleta2300 Like Troika said, willfully blind and disconnected from the story i might add. I played the game more than a couple of times. This is so important to move Joel´s character development forward. But you go ahead, stay ignorant. Woke, are you f-ing kidding. Get educated on the meaning of the word before you try to use it. No offense but... Edit; If the story were called "a letter to Joel". Would that help your close minded head?
@@pennybleta2300 wow. You sound like a bigot (derisive use of "woke content"), and a bit of a conspiracy theorist. Lots of people who played and loved the games don't find this a filler. Bill is a strong parallel to Joel, and his words to save those you love actually outweigh Tess's save who you can save. I agree completely with troikas.
Bill didn’t take cover during the raiding because he needs to be the visible target. If the raiders are focused on him, that means that less chances of people shooting anywhere near the house where Frank is, and more chances of keeping Frank safe.
Good guy Bill, always thinking of Frank. Even when he's bleeding out on the table he's giving Frank the necessary info to keep him alive. Beautiful story.
I think that was also done to show Bill getting wounded and telling Frank to call Joel. Even though Bill writes that he never lied Joel, this established the trust and respect Bill has for Joel’s competence.
... this is an amazing episode, and emphasizes the concepts of "surviving" vs. "living". Bill is a survivalist... survival is his whole purpose until Frank comes into his life. Then, for maybe the very first time, he has a reason to START LIVING... and he then has a purpose to PROTECT that reason for living. He mentions this in the letter he writes to Joel. Watch Joel's face when Ellie is reading the part about Bill saving Frank, and then protecting Frank, and that both Bill and Joel are alive because they have a job to do. Joel suddenly realizes just what Bill is talking about.. he lost Tess, but now he has a new purpose... to save Ellie... and to protect Ellie. And perhaps he would not have come to this realization if the note had not been written... which would not have happened if Frank had never stumbled into Bill's life. Even though some people consider this episode as "filler", the whole episode is connected... from start to finish. It serves a purpose. Bill's life with Frank is what makes Joel realize that he cannot just abandon Ellie, which he could have easily done... he could have left her at Bill & Frank's house, took the truck, and then went searching for Tommy. But instead, he decides to take Ellie with him... knowing full well that by doing so, he is now going to have to protect her along the way. Ellie's safety is now Joel's purpose.... just as Frank's safety was Bill's purpose. And while Frank also taught Bill how to "live" vs. just surviving, it is apparent that having Ellie with him is slowly giving Joel a reason to "live" instead of just surviving. As they are driving off, and Ellie says "It's better than nothing", we see Joel give a big smile... something that we don't usually see from him. To be honest, I could watch an entire season of "The Life of Bill & Frank" and be very, very happy. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett played their parts to the hilt. Their interaction with each other on screen could be used as a textbook for teaching acting classes or even a book on how to successfully write for TV. I'm fully expecting the writers, directors, producers, and actors of this episode to win some Emmy awards. If not, I will be very disappointed.
I would also like to add that this episode resonates with Tess's last words "Save who you can save". Sure they did not have to show the whole love story and just get to the point with the note to Joel, but the whole story is for us, the viewers to feel and understand the gravity of that note Bill left for Joel.
I love how they showed Bill's growth. "I have been talking to a nice woman on the radio." "You What?!" "I traded your gun for a packet of seeds." "Which one?" "A Small one" and its he moves past it.
This is my favorite episode of the season because of the character depth. It may have been small for story progression but it mattered a lot for progression.
This show angered the infamous Ben Shapiro.. lol I wonder why 😂people acting like the game didn't have the exact same story.. if you guys haven't played the game, you definitely should after you watch the series!
Bill's letter to Joel about their shared purpose of taking care of someone else helps cement his decision to carry on with Ellie. He needed that since the real drive to deliver her to the Fireflies was Tess' not his. And the letter would have meant nothing to the viewer if they hadn't illustrated how Frank's relationship with Bill had changed him from the man Joel first met to the man he eventually became.
In addition to troikas comment, this episode also highlights WHY we should save humanity. People forget to consider that question often. Bill and Frank are the only two people you could say are good (Frank especially). Every other character has so much dark in them that they are grey. Not them though. This episode was all about celebrating what makes humanity worthwhile. Love, devotion, loyalty. Art, science, engineering, music, cooking arts. Hard work with self sufficiency. Bill and Frank won the apocalypse. Everywhere else is hell, but they had a slice of heaven comparably. Bill and Frank display many of the accomplishments, skills, and love that make humanity worth while. Is humanity too far gone is a legitimate question in this 'verse. Bill and Frank on the tv show replaced the Ish paperwork you find in the game (Ish represents the good of humanity in the game, but it wouldn't be possible to do their story for the tv show).
The guy on the right failed to see the purpose of the episode. It's not about obtaining a battery and a car - to perceive the story in such a mechanical way is completely missing the point.
in the game , bill is obviously upset about franks suicide , he mentions that they were partners, joel finds a note from frank about how frank mustve hated bill in the end and how frank got infected while trying to find the truck battery and decided to commit suicide rather than turn. he gives the note to bill who is obviously hurt terribly by it and then bill says something like " well fuck him"
As a gay man, this amazing episode felt to me like it was an apology for how in the game they both downplayed Bill's sexuality and also had Bill and Frank ending so bitterly. It was so disappointing for me when I played the game so to see their relationship go a different way was so good! It's just a beautifully written and even more beautifully acted episode.
I didn't play the game, but from what Tom has told me... I am so happy that this was the Bill and Frank that I had the honor of meeting first! Thank you so incredibly much for hanging out with us!!
The one line I never expected was "She's growing on him... like fungus." Okay... that was a bit humorous. Exceptional reaction to an extraordinary episode.
Yes, a cairn! I couldn't think of the word when we were discussing it. I know they are used for trail markers as well as memorials. Makes more sense that he's doing it as a memorial for Tess than marking a path he's most likely not returning down. Thank you! - Kevin
I can't get into the mindset of anyone calling this episode filler. It's basically 80% of all themes of tlou condensed into a single episode. And it culminates in Bill passing on his life lesson to Joel, giving him the push to make him accept his mission fully. And even without all that it would be a great little snapshot of how life could be in this world, and fleshes out bits of the events just after the outbreak. If you just want the most basic story pieces read the wiki.
This episode feels a bit like the Carl & Ellie sequence from Up; it isn't part of the main story, but it gives you a lot of important background. Also it will tear your damn heart out.
Don’t know if you’ll see comments on older videos but I’m sad I missed you guys watching this, I found you when you started BB. But loving your reactions to TLOU. One of my favourite games & stories ever. Adaptations are always difficult to pull off. They had to change some things for the different medium and I like both as they are from the same universe and overall story ❤
not one, not four (you guys) but the entire TLOU community WEEPED AT THIS EPISODE (Myself included). I am so glad HBO decided to go to a different direction than the one used in game. Bill taught Frank how to survive, Frank taught Bill how to live.
While most of the episode is a flashback, there is at least one time in the first two episodes and a third time earlier in this episode when Joel and Tess talk about Bill and Frank in the present, so it gives a clue as to what might develop and how long each or both might survive, instead of just open speculation. Also, it helps to have gaydar. Lol
That's an interesting take and a diagnosis I had not considered! Cancer/stroke/ALS/MS/CHF--- We will all likely be personally, or by proxy, affected by terminal illness at some point in our lives. So, in that sense, I like that they made it more universally relatable by keeping it ambiguous. Thank you for chiming in! I love dissecting good screenwriting/directing!
@@garbagereacts The Last Of Us co-creator Craig Mazin cleared things up on the official podcast for the show. "We didn’t necessarily want to specify [the illness] for the audience, it was either MS or early ALS but it was a degenerative neuromuscular disorder," said Mazin.
Loved your reactions. I'm new to the channel, so I have ONE question: Who's "Potato"? 😶 Lol As a fan of the game who wasn't very happy with how the "Bill and Frank" situation was handled in the game (understandably since it was released when it wouldn't have been acceptable to be aa overt with Bill's relationship), this episode was so special to me. One interesting thing this episode does that flies over a lot of people's heads is that this is sort of a "choice scenario" like the ones in the game. In the game, Bill refused to open up and refused to allow Frank to have the life he wanted and it ended in tragedy. This episode explores the opposite choice. During that fight 3 years into their relationship, Bill chose to allow Frank to live the life he wanted to live and have friends, resulting in this much happier outcome. So basically this is the "Good ending" of Bill in which he made the right choice. Also, no, this was not filler. It does have thematic important in the overall story, especially the part about "god help any motherf...s who stand in our way", which directly informs the season's ending. THEMATICALLY this is probably one of the most important episodes.
Carlos, thank you for that amazing comment! This is Tom (Guy on the left). I'm the only one who has seen the show previously. I watched it with a good friend of ours who we call Potato...lol One of the reasons I'm so quiet is because I don't want to hint at anything that's coming. Your thoughts on how this is an alternative "good" ending to the one in the game is amazing. I can't believe that didn't occur to me. This is probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, episode of television I've ever seen. And yes, Potato and I were ugly crying😂. Thanks for watching!
3 shows in and I've grown on the lady reactor. Didnt like her in episode 1 react vid but she was fantastic on this one. 👍👍 I thought the bear remark was funny af.😂 I think it was the 2nd from left reactor.
You have to be almost willfully blind to the themes and character beats of the first three episodes to think this was filler. This entire story was an encapsulation of Joel’s struggle and what could be possible if he lets himself grow. Bill only survived at all because he let Frank in, Frank being willing to reach out to others and finding Joel and Tess directly led to Bill being equipped to repel those raiders, to Frank having the medication to live as long as he did, and to them both managing to live full-filled lives with each other. despite the world around them it was a willingness to be vulnerable and risk human connection that let these two men to not just survive, but to live.
The mechanical plot points of “this gets them the battery or the truck” are the least important ways this episode ties to and informs the story of Joel and Ellie. Every episode does this, using the character stories and character pairings seen in each episode to reflect on and examine the leads. Even when Joel and Ellie aren’t front and center on screen, the show never stops being about them or their relationship.
Thanks for your comment. We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the episode!
@@pennybleta2300 Like Troika said, willfully blind and disconnected from the story i might add.
I played the game more than a couple of times.
This is so important to move Joel´s character development forward.
But you go ahead, stay ignorant.
Woke, are you f-ing kidding. Get educated on the meaning of the word before you try to use it. No offense but...
Edit; If the story were called "a letter to Joel". Would that help your close minded head?
@@pennybleta2300 Okay Ron Desantis
@@pennybleta2300 wow. You sound like a bigot (derisive use of "woke content"), and a bit of a conspiracy theorist. Lots of people who played and loved the games don't find this a filler. Bill is a strong parallel to Joel, and his words to save those you love actually outweigh Tess's save who you can save. I agree completely with troikas.
@@pennybleta2300 that's literally the opposite of my own experience and what I've seen all other LoU fans say but go off
Bill didn’t take cover during the raiding because he needs to be the visible target. If the raiders are focused on him, that means that less chances of people shooting anywhere near the house where Frank is, and more chances of keeping Frank safe.
Yes! Thank you for explaining that! Makes so much sense, now!
Good point!
Good guy Bill, always thinking of Frank. Even when he's bleeding out on the table he's giving Frank the necessary info to keep him alive. Beautiful story.
I think that was also done to show Bill getting wounded and telling Frank to call Joel. Even though Bill writes that he never lied Joel, this established the trust and respect Bill has for Joel’s competence.
... this is an amazing episode, and emphasizes the concepts of "surviving" vs. "living". Bill is a survivalist... survival is his whole purpose until Frank comes into his life. Then, for maybe the very first time, he has a reason to START LIVING... and he then has a purpose to PROTECT that reason for living. He mentions this in the letter he writes to Joel. Watch Joel's face when Ellie is reading the part about Bill saving Frank, and then protecting Frank, and that both Bill and Joel are alive because they have a job to do. Joel suddenly realizes just what Bill is talking about.. he lost Tess, but now he has a new purpose... to save Ellie... and to protect Ellie. And perhaps he would not have come to this realization if the note had not been written... which would not have happened if Frank had never stumbled into Bill's life. Even though some people consider this episode as "filler", the whole episode is connected... from start to finish. It serves a purpose. Bill's life with Frank is what makes Joel realize that he cannot just abandon Ellie, which he could have easily done... he could have left her at Bill & Frank's house, took the truck, and then went searching for Tommy. But instead, he decides to take Ellie with him... knowing full well that by doing so, he is now going to have to protect her along the way. Ellie's safety is now Joel's purpose.... just as Frank's safety was Bill's purpose. And while Frank also taught Bill how to "live" vs. just surviving, it is apparent that having Ellie with him is slowly giving Joel a reason to "live" instead of just surviving. As they are driving off, and Ellie says "It's better than nothing", we see Joel give a big smile... something that we don't usually see from him.
To be honest, I could watch an entire season of "The Life of Bill & Frank" and be very, very happy. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett played their parts to the hilt. Their interaction with each other on screen could be used as a textbook for teaching acting classes or even a book on how to successfully write for TV. I'm fully expecting the writers, directors, producers, and actors of this episode to win some Emmy awards. If not, I will be very disappointed.
Great recap! Really enjoyed reading that!
I would also like to add that this episode resonates with Tess's last words "Save who you can save". Sure they did not have to show the whole love story and just get to the point with the note to Joel, but the whole story is for us, the viewers to feel and understand the gravity of that note Bill left for Joel.
I love how they showed Bill's growth.
"I have been talking to a nice woman on the radio." "You What?!"
"I traded your gun for a packet of seeds." "Which one?" "A Small one" and its he moves past it.
Bills reaction when he eats the strawberry❤️ seemed so genuine.
This is my favorite episode of the season because of the character depth. It may have been small for story progression but it mattered a lot for progression.
It was very painful, in the best of ways...lol
This show angered the infamous Ben Shapiro.. lol I wonder why 😂people acting like the game didn't have the exact same story.. if you guys haven't played the game, you definitely should after you watch the series!
Bill's letter to Joel about their shared purpose of taking care of someone else helps cement his decision to carry on with Ellie. He needed that since the real drive to deliver her to the Fireflies was Tess' not his. And the letter would have meant nothing to the viewer if they hadn't illustrated how Frank's relationship with Bill had changed him from the man Joel first met to the man he eventually became.
In addition to troikas comment, this episode also highlights WHY we should save humanity. People forget to consider that question often. Bill and Frank are the only two people you could say are good (Frank especially). Every other character has so much dark in them that they are grey. Not them though. This episode was all about celebrating what makes humanity worthwhile. Love, devotion, loyalty. Art, science, engineering, music, cooking arts. Hard work with self sufficiency. Bill and Frank won the apocalypse. Everywhere else is hell, but they had a slice of heaven comparably. Bill and Frank display many of the accomplishments, skills, and love that make humanity worth while.
Is humanity too far gone is a legitimate question in this 'verse. Bill and Frank on the tv show replaced the Ish paperwork you find in the game (Ish represents the good of humanity in the game, but it wouldn't be possible to do their story for the tv show).
Very well said. Couldn't agree more. Such an amazing story, and a great contrast to the hell that surrounds them.
The guy on the right failed to see the purpose of the episode.
It's not about obtaining a battery and a car - to perceive the story in such a mechanical way is completely missing the point.
Thanks for your comment! We appreciate the interaction!
This episode just breaks me everytime I watch it or a reaction on it. A TV masterpiece in my eyes.
Yeah, beautiful episode.
in the game , bill is obviously upset about franks suicide , he mentions that they were partners, joel finds a note from frank about how frank mustve hated bill in the end and how frank got infected while trying to find the truck battery and decided to commit suicide rather than turn. he gives the note to bill who is obviously hurt terribly by it and then bill says something like " well fuck him"
As a gay man, this amazing episode felt to me like it was an apology for how in the game they both downplayed Bill's sexuality and also had Bill and Frank ending so bitterly. It was so disappointing for me when I played the game so to see their relationship go a different way was so good! It's just a beautifully written and even more beautifully acted episode.
Well said, couldn't agree more.
I didn't play the game, but from what Tom has told me... I am so happy that this was the Bill and Frank that I had the honor of meeting first! Thank you so incredibly much for hanging out with us!!
The one line I never expected was "She's growing on him... like fungus." Okay... that was a bit humorous. Exceptional reaction to an extraordinary episode.
The BEST Episode of Television I have ever seen - Bring on all the Awards !!
Yeah, I have a feeling they're gonna win some awards for sure.
Thanks!
The rocks Joel stacks is a cairn. It's a memorial for Tess.
Oh wow, nice. That didn't even occur to us!
Yes, a cairn! I couldn't think of the word when we were discussing it. I know they are used for trail markers as well as memorials. Makes more sense that he's doing it as a memorial for Tess than marking a path he's most likely not returning down. Thank you! - Kevin
I can't get into the mindset of anyone calling this episode filler. It's basically 80% of all themes of tlou condensed into a single episode. And it culminates in Bill passing on his life lesson to Joel, giving him the push to make him accept his mission fully. And even without all that it would be a great little snapshot of how life could be in this world, and fleshes out bits of the events just after the outbreak. If you just want the most basic story pieces read the wiki.
Thanks for your input, and thanks for watching!
This episode feels a bit like the Carl & Ellie sequence from Up; it isn't part of the main story, but it gives you a lot of important background. Also it will tear your damn heart out.
Yeah, this episode hurt in a wonderful way🥺
Don’t know if you’ll see comments on older videos but I’m sad I missed you guys watching this, I found you when you started BB. But loving your reactions to TLOU. One of my favourite games & stories ever. Adaptations are always difficult to pull off. They had to change some things for the different medium and I like both as they are from the same universe and overall story ❤
We see you Andy! Season 2 is just around the corner! This was the first thing we reacted to, so it's a little cringe! But we're getting better!
Loved the whole teardrop thing in the young pretty one's eye when the sad bit came .. very sweet 😃
not one, not four (you guys) but the entire TLOU community WEEPED AT THIS EPISODE (Myself included). I am so glad HBO decided to go to a different direction than the one used in game. Bill taught Frank how to survive, Frank taught Bill how to live.
Well said. One of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen.
-Tom
"I was never afraid before you showed up." 💔
Such a beautiful story
While most of the episode is a flashback, there is at least one time in the first two episodes and a third time earlier in this episode when Joel and Tess talk about Bill and Frank in the present, so it gives a clue as to what might develop and how long each or both might survive, instead of just open speculation. Also, it helps to have gaydar. Lol
Didn't really advance the plot much, but it was really sweet, wasn't it? Yup, great episode, love your reactions 😁
I have heard that Frank had ALS or something like that
We were discussing what it was that made him sick. Good point!
That's an interesting take and a diagnosis I had not considered!
Cancer/stroke/ALS/MS/CHF--- We will all likely be personally, or by proxy, affected by terminal illness at some point in our lives. So, in that sense, I like that they made it more universally relatable by keeping it ambiguous.
Thank you for chiming in! I love dissecting good screenwriting/directing!
@@garbagereacts The Last Of Us co-creator Craig Mazin cleared things up on the official podcast for the show.
"We didn’t necessarily want to specify [the illness] for the audience, it was either MS or early ALS but it was a degenerative neuromuscular disorder," said Mazin.
Oh nice! Thanks for the info!
Loved your reactions. I'm new to the channel, so I have ONE question: Who's "Potato"? 😶 Lol
As a fan of the game who wasn't very happy with how the "Bill and Frank" situation was handled in the game (understandably since it was released when it wouldn't have been acceptable to be aa overt with Bill's relationship), this episode was so special to me.
One interesting thing this episode does that flies over a lot of people's heads is that this is sort of a "choice scenario" like the ones in the game. In the game, Bill refused to open up and refused to allow Frank to have the life he wanted and it ended in tragedy. This episode explores the opposite choice. During that fight 3 years into their relationship, Bill chose to allow Frank to live the life he wanted to live and have friends, resulting in this much happier outcome.
So basically this is the "Good ending" of Bill in which he made the right choice.
Also, no, this was not filler. It does have thematic important in the overall story, especially the part about "god help any motherf...s who stand in our way", which directly informs the season's ending.
THEMATICALLY this is probably one of the most important episodes.
Carlos, thank you for that amazing comment! This is Tom (Guy on the left). I'm the only one who has seen the show previously. I watched it with a good friend of ours who we call Potato...lol One of the reasons I'm so quiet is because I don't want to hint at anything that's coming. Your thoughts on how this is an alternative "good" ending to the one in the game is amazing. I can't believe that didn't occur to me. This is probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, episode of television I've ever seen. And yes, Potato and I were ugly crying😂. Thanks for watching!
@@garbagereacts lol no worries, most people ugly cried at this one. Looking forward to watching to the other reactions. I hope Potato is okay 😅
😂😂 potato .. I love your reaction.
3 shows in and I've grown on the lady reactor. Didnt like her in episode 1 react vid but she was fantastic on this one. 👍👍
I thought the bear remark was funny af.😂 I think it was the 2nd from left reactor.
Hahaha grown on you...I see what you did there! And second from the left is Kevin... He's a pretty....
Fungi.....🤣
I love this series!!! Bill deserves a Emmy. Frank has Parkinson’s disease.
Best outro
Fax
😍😍😍
ANIS!