I haven’t played Last of Us 2 and God willing I never will, but isn’t Lev not actually trans? As in, she doesn’t have gender disphoria but is from a religious cult where the men are all hunters and the women get fucked and impregnated by the cult leaders? And she says ‘well I don’t want to get fucked so I guess I’m a boy now’?
That hardly seems like ‘trans representation’ to me, but I’m not nearly as stunning or brave as Dr Uckmann so maybe I just can’t grasp the scope of his genius.
Pretty sure Lev was an actual female passing off as a boy so she wouldn't get raped. Which is understandable for that scenario. However, they went with 'I am ACTUALLY a man' vs 'I am a woman pretending to be a man so I won't get raped.' That was the scenario with Jack in Pitch Black. She would be retconned as trans today.
The latest episode passed over so much stuff in the university. They missed the point of them actually going there in the first place - to figure out what the Fireflies learned and where they went. They only got the second part. The university had the infected monkeys and the clues that the biologist - who slashed his wrists open to bleed to death - had decided to free them and got bit by one. They skipped over that, when like the 'They didn't suffer' part would have offered so much more gravity.
Oh, the race swapping is getting on my nerves, too. Maria is blonde in the game, as is Sarah. Both were blacked. Tommy in this one, alone with Joel, is more 'Hispanic' than most, but you'd be hard pressed to find a genuine beaner who'd fuck a basketball American. They hate them.
Ellie was also unnecessarily a bitch to Maria when in the games she bonded with her. It was Maria who told Ellie about Joel's daughter Sarah - which was skipped over in the show. Ellie is sarcastic, yes, but she honestly wants to find friendship. The sarcasm in the show goes overboard sometimes, even when Ellie should be thankful.
Even shit like Boston being firebombed in the city centre was a huge literary device. It showed you how desperate the military was. My guess is that they didn't want to copy TWD, as there's a pivotal scene in the second season that does just that.
The university episode should've been two episodes or extended. Joel and Ellie running into Hunters who magically aren't carrying guns is suspicious as fuck - EVERYONE would be strapped in real life with shit they'd scavenge. And as they're from David's group, they'd all be armed.