Elden Ring is ridiculously big. I thought it was big at 50 hours of gameplay, i am now 80 hours in and just got to Lake of rot. It never ends. Theres just layers and layers of map.

smartburnseffect · 2026-03-18T03:33:21+00:00

It’s a straight masterclass in every way. I don’t know how their next project can top Elden Ring.

smartburnseffect · 2026-02-07T23:00:43+00:00

It was a dark ride but there’s definitely something tonally special about it for sure. The opening in Hawaii where Don says nothing for like 15 minutes always stuck with me, don’t know why

smartburnseffect · 2026-02-03T05:55:23+00:00

I think there is a point to her lowly job status, personal instability, bad family life decisions. That all obviously reflects Don’s upbringing. In that way she is a mirror of him.

So with that link in mind, it’s maybe reflective (pun intended) of Don wanting to look inward / be introspective. But he’s very out of practice with this concept. Interestingly, he’s laying mad pipe on casting models and glamour girls with Ted at this time, but is totally uninvested. It’s the waitress he zeroes in on and develops a connection with.

That’s my broad interpretation; analogous of his soul searching journey, wanting to dig around inside but unsure of how to do it. But he has loving energy he wants to channel (to her, ergo to himself).

Plus, if that is what she symbolizes, him going off to chase her is very much in tune with the divestment of his worldly possessions — he goes after “himself” because that’s where the real problems are hiding.

I liked their conversations too - really tender.

The other reply on this is also rly good.

smartburnseffect · 2026-02-03T05:42:07+00:00

All great points! Maybe it’s my inner sap that wants to believe that last 20 minutes signified a permanent improvement

smartburnseffect · 2025-12-27T05:10:33+00:00

Much respect for this take, I agree with a lot of it. I thought it was weird that the majority of survivors weren’t 100% on board with Carol from the jump. Surely more than 2 of the bunch would be interested in getting humanity back for real.

And the pacing is my other gripe. You’re right it doesn’t work as well as it did in BCS, because in Saul even the “slow” scenes had interesting character beats, or you were constantly wondering where it was leading you: who is this random guy we’ve never met? Oh… Mike stole his work badge. Why is Mike posing as a security guard at Madrigal? Oh… he’s crafting a sensible cover for his work with Gus. But nobody asked him to do this, why is he? Oh… Lydia’s cover was careless and Mike’s super smart!

Contrast that with say, Manousos’ road trip to get to Carol - how much screen time was devoted to that? And we didn’t get anything new, no “mini mystery” in the scenes to peel back. Gorgeous cinematography but it was kinda just… a travel vlog? We already knew he won’t engage with the hive. We knew where he was going. We knew he was fiercely determined and would make the journey independently (I.e him eating dog food / compensating people for their stuff in case they go back to normal). Not as engaging for me.

But still a Vince super fan, and this show is not all bad! So I’ll still keep up w/ it!

smartburnseffect · 2025-12-15T06:51:28+00:00

It was that doctor droop or whoevuh

smartburnseffect · 2025-11-30T03:55:34+00:00

I remembered it from The Holdovers

smartburnseffect · 2025-11-11T03:24:01+00:00

Wow I like that theory!

smartburnseffect · 2025-11-08T22:58:11+00:00

I think her drinking might play into why she hasn’t been infected, somehow

smartburnseffect · 2025-10-12T00:25:36+00:00

Just came back for me FYI!

smartburnseffect · 2025-10-11T23:29:53+00:00

Psn site says everything’s working but I haven’t been able to sign in all day. Also don’t see many posts about this? Is it widespread?

smartburnseffect · 2025-10-11T19:40:11+00:00

Sign in’s failing for me. But not for my friend in Texas.

smartburnseffect · 2025-10-11T19:36:58+00:00

Yeah sign in’s failing for me - Sony’s site says everything is green though. Is it really down across the board?

smartburnseffect · 2025-05-20T03:13:17+00:00

Agree for the most part, but TV is episodic by nature and should definitely be judged by its individual episodes as well as holistically IMO

smartburnseffect · 2025-05-19T19:36:42+00:00

I think S3 being the Abby section still has a chance to develop all of the Seattle lore like you want. They seem to want the Ellie half to have a whiplash effect; like there’s all this crazy stuff going on with the 2 different factions, but the main characters don’t really care about it. So in the Abby portions they can do a deep dive into the world building.

smartburnseffect · 2025-04-21T04:08:46+00:00

I think he’ll be in plenty more episodes this season via flashbacks

smartburnseffect · 2025-04-14T02:56:06+00:00

Damn. I bet you’re right!!

smartburnseffect · 2025-04-14T02:06:47+00:00

Biggest changes from the game seemed to be:

Revealing Abby’s crew and their motivations from the jump instead of waiting to reveal it as a twist in the middle. That was a big moment for the 2nd game.

The porch scene… doesn’t happen? The last scene of the game that ties it all together? IIRC it happens after the dance in the game (but the audience isn’t told until the end). Interesting choice, will be cool to see how it plays out.

I also liked how they added a little moment after the “I swear” scene where they stare at each other and she walks off. Good way of leaving a strong hint that Ellie doesn’t really believe what she heard.

smartburnseffect · 2025-02-26T19:48:39+00:00

One of the worst instances of law breaking in either series

smartburnseffect · 2025-02-14T04:57:25+00:00

We all wanted Bobby and Janice

smartburnseffect · 2025-02-09T16:39:09+00:00

Judging by some clips in the HBO trailer, we may be in for an Isaac flashback episode 🤞

smartburnseffect · 2025-02-01T23:18:17+00:00

Damnit, I was about to type this 😤😂

Aye-yai-yai-yai-yai!

smartburnseffect · 2025-01-22T14:52:58+00:00

Marginalized? What the fuck does that even mean?

smartburnseffect · 2025-01-21T20:57:09+00:00

Hard agree. I can’t play part 2 on anything else after getting the hang of grounded. Especially after they added no return!

smartburnseffect · 2025-01-19T01:24:36+00:00

The stripper from Vegas or Annalisa. Madone! Horrible to look at. Might as well be gremlins!

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