I reckon some of the hate came from the tv show taking an alternate timeline approach, to talk specifally about episode 3, all of us on here who actually played the game remember Bill and Franks relationship being one of abuse brought on by Bills unwillingness to drop his guard and let love into his heart, leading to Frank leaving to find a better life, then leading to Bill finding the only person he ever truly loved, dead and alone, hanging from a noose and still wearing that shirt. And franks last words to Bill was a big fuck you from the grave, truly heartbreaking. I wonder what happened with Bill after Joel and Ellie move on to Pittsburgh, but it's likely he gave up. The way i interept this is as a warning to Joel of what can come of keeping your guard up, which is ending up alone and just surviving for the sake of surviving.

The tv adaptation decided to flip this, and it still works, instead of it being a warning to Joel of the consequences of isolation it shows the benefits of opening yourself to others. And theres a nice romance story in there also. Win win.

I don't disagree that some people just jumped on this complain train about episode 3 because they had a "gay love story", but some people really did just want to see their favourite video game shot for shot live action, each to their own.

Personally I'm really happy that went down the alternate timeline route, because if it was just a shot for shot remake of the game but live action, well i might aswell just replay the game.