'The Last of Us' Is Being Review Bombed for a Horrible Reason (SPOILERS)

[RandySF]

The Last of Us Season 2 is the latest victim of review bombing by upset fans of the video game franchise. While some other franchises have been review-bombed in the past for their poor quality, The Last of Us is being targeted for a horrible and upsetting reason. The fans of the games are lashing out against Bella Ramsey's casting as Ellie (who stars alongside Pedro Pascal in the show). But they don't have a problem with Ramsey's performance. Instead, these "fans" are targeting their malice and hatred purely towards Ramsey's appearance.

Fans took to Rotten Tomatoes to share their displeasure at Bella Ramsey's casting as Ellie. Some took the time to write well-meaning and calculated reviews, which genuinely criticize the writing in the second season. But, a few fans who think it's okay to harshly insult people's appearances have overwhelmed social media and the audience review section of Rotten Tomatoes. Thankfully, most of the overtly hateful messages were removed from RT, but a few still persist. "I despise the casting for TV Ellie," wrote one user, with another saying, "terrible casting for Ellie."

Unfortunately, social media is a far more toxic place (who'd have thought?), and The Last of Us fans have made it a cesspit of hateful messages and memes revolving around the actor. Thankfully, the actor knows to stay away from such hateful corners of the internet. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ramsey loosely addressed the online hate towards their character. "I always knew that I’d [deactivate] it one day," they said of their current social media accounts. "It wasn’t like this big, dramatic thing, but I thought with season two coming out, it would be better to just avoid Twitter and Reddit. Now I’m doing that, and everything’s fine."

Along with spiteful fans hurling appearance-based abuse at Bella Ramsey, a large section of the fan base has also turned against the show for its biggest plot twist. But those who played the second game, The Last of Us: Part 2, knew what was going to happen. "Without Joel the series doesn't work... they ruined it," wrote one user. Fans of video games often hate it when the stories are changed for an adaptation, but another user wanted HBO to edit the controversial moment, writing, "There is just no point without Joel. Game lore be dammed."





https://movieweb.com/the-last-of-us-season-2-bella-ramsey-review-bombing/

[Doodley]

1. Haters gotta hate. She was fantastic. She was the best part of the show.

[RandySF]

2. It's Dina for me.

[Pisces]

3. I have not played the game and knew nothing about it. Having watched the first season I can say the

show is missing Pedro Pascal for many reasons. The dynamic between he and Ellie was the driving force behind the show. He is also an amazing actor as proven by the most recent episode. I do not think anyone should be attacking Bella Ramsey for her looks. This is the fault of the writers for also not introducing the new characters to us before it took away the main character. The audience has no connection to this new cast, which leaves a gaping hole. I personally have not liked the episodes missing Pedro, and have very little hope it’s going to get better. Not if the last few episodes are any indication. I’m not a hater just a big fan of season 1 and the Joel/Ellie dynamic.

[RandySF]

4. I'm the complete opposite

I want to adopt Ellie and Dina to be my daughter and daughter in-law.

[Silver Gaia]

5. I stopped watching when they killed off Pedro's character.

Like you, the relationship with Joel and Ellie was WHY I watched the show. I don't care about the zombies or the dystopian futurescape. I cared about Joel and Ellie.

I have nothing whatsoever aganst Bella! I've loved her since she first lit up the screen on Game of Thrones, and Pedro has also long been a favorite (loved his reveal in The Mandalorian!). So those two actors were why I tuned in. I'm sorry to hear that the show is what I expected it would be without Joel. And I'm sorry those idiots are being mean to Bella.

As I see things, you can't adapt a book or a game or a comic to the screen, especially to the small screen as a series, without making some ADAPTATIONS. The Walking Dead learned that after a few missteps, but they did learn it. I was hoping The Last of Us would learn from TWD's mistakes, and their overall success. I guess not.

They killed the show when they killed Joel. It just doesnt work for me as a TV series without that relationship. I need something to care about besides special effects.

[Pisces]

6. I agree 100%. We have no other characters to care about because there has be no character development.

The show should have put off the death until season 3 so that they had time to introduce new characters that we could be invested in. This last episode that was a flash back highlighted how much Joel is needed for the story. I am sad that gamers are attacking Bella Ramsey for her looks. I do think the show will lose some rating with Pedro.

[hlthe2b]

8. Yes. I was saying similarly. Agree...

[bif]

9. Same here. I quit after S2 E2.

Really no reason to keep watching.

[hlthe2b]

7. She was loved on 'Game of Thrones,' so while I don't doubt there are the miserable "haters," is it not the loss of Joel

that is the problem? Admittedly, I know nothing about the game, but I no longer want to watch the show after his departure so early in the season. Now, the show just reminds me of all those "Walking Dead" sequels--most without or at least with few lead characters. I don't find any of those left compelling enough to carry the show--and that takes nothing away from Bella Ramsey. I do admit that they made her character act out really nastily toward Joel as the season began, and it was hard to watch--just very unpleasant facial expressions that they used in the promos and thus "stuck" with the viewer.

Whatever. HBO-Max made a big mistake.

[Silver Gaia]

10. I agree. They blew it. At least the showrunners did,

and HBO let them. There are any number of ways they could have better adapted the storyline to television. They did their best to make Ellie unlikeable in those first two episodes and they succeeded. She needed a redemption arc and a reconcilliation with Joel before he died, not just 5 minutes while we watched him die. Maybe that worked in a fast-paced game, but it did not work for television. I knew he was supposed to die, but I did not expect it to be handled like that. We needed more time. It was shocking, sure, but at what cost? They lost a chunk of their audience.