The biggest difference here is George RR Martin’s source material. Any show based on books will likely have a much better plot and character development than anything strictly made for TV (with the exception of Wheel of Time, but that’s a whole different can of worms). This is showcased best in GoT itself. Season 7&8 didn’t have any pre-existing story to anchor the plot and it went off the rails in a spectacular way. Joel’s death in LoU felt more like Littlefinger’s death in GoT. It was needed for the show, so they dealt with it in an easy way to help get the other characters moving.
Well, particularly when the book has such a well-crafted story. And the fact that The Last of Us is based on a game, where story operates differently, is another reason why my comparison is unfair. But as you say, great stories from books can be massacred by TV adaptations. And I'd argue that there's plenty of shows out there, written originally for TV, that are fantastic (such as The Wire and The Sopranos from that HBO golden age)... regardless of the medium, a good story's a good story?
The biggest difference here is George RR Martin’s source material. Any show based on books will likely have a much better plot and character development than anything strictly made for TV (with the exception of Wheel of Time, but that’s a whole different can of worms). This is showcased best in GoT itself. Season 7&8 didn’t have any pre-existing story to anchor the plot and it went off the rails in a spectacular way. Joel’s death in LoU felt more like Littlefinger’s death in GoT. It was needed for the show, so they dealt with it in an easy way to help get the other characters moving.
Well, particularly when the book has such a well-crafted story. And the fact that The Last of Us is based on a game, where story operates differently, is another reason why my comparison is unfair. But as you say, great stories from books can be massacred by TV adaptations. And I'd argue that there's plenty of shows out there, written originally for TV, that are fantastic (such as The Wire and The Sopranos from that HBO golden age)... regardless of the medium, a good story's a good story?