The show has established from the start that it's going to tell smaller stories within its world as well as Joel/Ellie's "main story".

Yet it still manages to give us backstory about Joel, about surviving the past 20 years, about surviving in a bubble without any health services, it gives us a lot of context to appreciate/fear the world and makes us care about people we just met. It also revealed the source of the radio music from the first episode, making us think back to that. There was a lot that ties back to our main characters, albeit indirectly. Worldbuilding is not filler in my eyes.

After reading The Count of Monte Cristo, I now fully embrace spine cracking. I'll do it on a novella if you give me the chance.

In public, once my ear zeros in on a stray conversation, I am done for.

This is a blast from the past. It was almost like social media for music taste and I actually met up with some people to go to shows because of it. Back in 2008, we would sync up our MP3 players but I'm sure now it can just track your spotify listening.

The context of his playing the Star Spangled Banner is what makes it truly legendary.

He didn't go on until 9am Monday, most of the crowd had gone back to their daily lives at that point after 4 days of Armageddon that was Woodstock, apparently the band did not know he was going to play it hence the sporadic accompaniment, then there's the Vietnam fuckin' war...

All the chaos that he includes is no accident and is a stark political statement. Those are the whistles of bombs dropping, people's cries, alarms sounding. He also throws Taps in. He tells a whole story via an instrumental.

This thread reminds me of High Fidelity: "I will now sell five copies of "The Three EPs" by The Beta Band."