Holy poop what a great and faithful adaptation, I had the stupidest grin on my face the whole time finally getting to watch scenes virtually played out shot for shot and line for line in many places. I know what's going to happen but I just want more so bad because the casting and script is so good.
Off the top of my head, I wouldn't choose these people to play these roles, either. None of them. But Pedro embodies Joel so well. Gabriel Luna sounds just like Tommy and is a perfect fit next to Pedro Pascal as his brother. I wouldn't have chosen Bella Ramsey to be Ellie either as she doesn't look like Ellie much, but she 100% IS Ellie. She acts the character perfectly and sounds like you'd expect Ellie to act and sound like. Merle Dandridge as Marlene was perfect as she played the character in the game and Anna Torv has been doing great as Tess so far.
This show has so much promise based on how high quality this episode was, I just hope it gets the viewership needed for a renewal (you never know these days with how Zaslav is running things...) and we can at least get Part 1 & Part 2 in TV format at minimum if not more.
This show is appointment television and i'm glad it's at HBO where it actually gets a timed release to literally be appointment television each week. This is what Netflix seems to not get. Why blow your load with Stranger Things (for example) all at once when you could do appointment viewing of the show each week and leave the audience wanting more? For instance, the next season of Wednesday will be released all at once when in reality, it *should* be released weekly. But I digress.
This was me the whole episode:
And Nick Offerman playing Bill. Are you kidding me with that god tier casting? Can't wait. Probably Episode 3 based on where this leaves off.