I did not play the game.

I gotta say there is a lot going right in this show. Pedro Pascal is great as Joel and most of the other characters are well written and acted. The sets are really well done, and the cinematography is adept at framing each scene.

The first two episodes were really great, and I had hope it would get better.

The third episode, while touching, leaned a little heavily into the male on male action. Just not really something I wanted to see in a horror/zombie show. THEN I find out the director, who's gay went online to brag about how he tricked everyone into watching a gay romance. That's just obnoxious, agenda driven and kinda takes away from the fact it was a well directed episode. Nick Offermans dedication really helped. Still had little to do with the main storyline.

Then we get to episode 4 and this is where I finally had enough of Ellie. I'm not sure if it's Bella Ramsey, or the writing but she is not believable at all. I had tolerated it the first few episodes because everything else was good. I mean she's supposed to be a teenager in a zombie apocalypse. I get she grew up in it, but she still seems to lack any emotion besides snarky whip smart kid. She takes me out of scenes where she would realistically be afraid. She talks to Joel in an obnoxious to that just doesn't fit the tone of scene. It just becomes more apparent as the episode progresses and I just started doing housework and other things. So I can't say I watched much of episodes 4 and 5...

My other gripe is its just not scary. The monsters just feel too cgi. I don't know I just felt the clickers didn't do it for me.

Might give it another shot, but damn I feel like Ellie was badly written and miscast. She takes me out of an otherwise well made show.