Author: dannystewart99

Return of the Crazy Eye Doctor Lady

Evil comes in many forms…

I believe this is the first time I’ve ever written a sequel.

People are always quick to judge sequels. Can they truly be better than the original? How have our characters grown or changed since last time? Can the villain outpace the original frightening appearance?

For those wondering, this is a sequel blog to this blog about a routine vision prescription update appointment and how it turned into an absolute nightmare that ended up costing me time, money, and sanity.

To give a brief overview of the situation: I was told that I had either nothing or cancer by an eye doctor. She held my prescription hostage until I got eyedrops and saw a specialist. I sat in the specialist’s waiting room for an hour only to be let go within 3 minutes of seeing the specialist who told me I was fine. I was then billed for my 3 minute visit and that infuriated me.

Caught up? Great. Let’s get into my trip back to the eye doctor from the other day…

It’s been two years since my nightmare trip to that eye doctor. Since then, I’ve had no issues with my eyes and the contacts that I switched to following that endeavor are monthly wears that have truly helped my eye health tremendously over daily/bi-weekly contacts.

In the year since, I changed the location of my eye appointments so I never had to go through that endeavor again. My 2024 appointment went on without a hitch at this new location which made me believe my 2025 one would be just as smooth.

So when I entered this location the other day, checked in, braved the puff of air in my eyes, and began to browse the wall of glasses, I wasn’t expecting any surprises at all.

Just then, a familiar presence rounded the corner and called my name…

Instantly, Boss Music started playing in my head and I felt like I was in the midst of a video game’s final level:

It was her. Of course it was. I go to a chain vision doctor, of course they rotate her around. My life was just a little too happy lately, so something had to knock me down a peg.

She asks how I’ve been.

I say “Great!”

She says “No issues? No flashes of white? Anything?”

I say “Nope, absolutely nothing.”

She says “That’s beautiful, thank you Jesus!”

The last time this woman was saying prayers for me, I was quite scared, so I, too, thanked Jesus for no issues for her to look even further into.

She pulls up the alphabet chart, she checks both of my eyes, comments on my beautiful Irish blues, and then, she sends me home with my prescription and a pair of contacts for free.

Truly, that simple. As simple as any other eye doctor visit ever has been. No ladies frames, just a prescription and a smile.

But, if only that is where our story ended….

As things go, I couldn’t go the week without some sort of health ailment.

The Crazy Eye Doctor Lady had to be an omen for something, but what could it be? I went to sleep that night thinking about how much had happened in life since that encounter.

Plenty of blogs here on this site. A couple of moves. Plenty of work. Plenty of beer. Plenty of laughs. A couple of tears. But hey, my eyes and I made it out alive on the other side, so what could possibly go wrong?

I woke up with a pain in my jaw.

It felt like I had gotten punched in the face and the pain stretched from my lower left jaw to my sinuses. I was curious if it was an allergy related ailment, but no. I was surprisingly breathing well through my nose.

I felt like this, but with a wicked headache:

I went to the mirror and looked inside my mouth. My impacted wisdom tooth on the bottom left side of my mouth was quite visible and my gums were bleeding. My breath tasted horrid and I had this metallic feeling in my mouth.

I’ve ignored the idea of getting my wisdom teeth removed for several years. It’s a risk I was willing to take because some people can live with them if they’re aligned correctly.

Well, mine aren’t aligned correctly. They’re clearly fucked up. And despite the strange joy I had felt after leaving the Crazy Eye Doctor Lady with no extracurriculars, something had to be afoot. It was this. It was time to get my wisdom teeth out.

I went to a dentist who took X-Rays. That dentist then referred me to an extraction specialist. Mind you, these two doctors are in separate offices a couple of miles away from each other.

And yes, I called them doctors. I’m no anti-dentite.

I was in the first dentist’s office for maybe 15 minutes because it was clear that I needed to get my wisdom teeth out. The extraction specialist, however, couldn’t see me until several days later at a different office.

Fine. I’ve gone a while with these impacted wisdom teeth. Religious ibuprofen will do the trick.

That brings us to my visit with the extraction specialist. I will mention that walking 20 minutes from the nearest train stop to this different office during midsummer in Chicago made me sweat like a whore in church, but that was the least of mine or the extraction specialist’s worries.

This doctor couldn’t have been a nicer guy. But, I did sit in the dentist chair watching a stock video loop of a very clear Finding Nemo ripoff fish tank for a half hour before being seen. I looked into the fake tank, thought about how much I was sweating, and zoned out:

Roku should stick to Roku City as its primary screensaver…

Once the doc came in, he explained to me the process of the surgery. He also explained to me that based on how my lower teeth are growing in, there’s a higher than zero percent chance that my jaw could be permanently numb following the surgery since my wisdom teeth are very close to certain nerves that control feel in my face.

He said it’s a “BIG if,” but, it’s still an “if.” Where’s the Crazy Eye Doctor Lady and her prayers when you need her?

Knowing that it’s the two bottom ones that are causing the most issues, these are the ones that certainly need to come out. My top two grew in straight but the doc said that they might eventually cause issues so I might as well knock out all four in one go.

The doc didn’t charge me for the consultation, which is fantastic. Compared to the last time I had to see a specialist, this was phenomenal news.

But then the estimations for the surgery itself came in. This surgery would need to be conducted at a third location and if I were to get all four teeth removed, it was going to cost me nearly $1700 after insurance. If you were unaware, each tooth costs several hundred dollars to remove.

I nearly vomited. I feel like it would’ve been better and more cost effective had my teeth been knocked out in a vicious piñata accident:

I said to the guy who ran my insurance, “That’s a lot. If I were to get just my bottom two teeth done, which are the real trouble makers, would it be less?”

He says, “Well, the doctor will probably recommend all four be removed at once.”

I said, “I know he will and I expect him to, he’s a doctor. However, my wallet recommends that I can live with the top two for now if it saves me a few bucks.”

He kindly reran it through with just the bottom teeth being considered. This was only going to cost me $800. Much better. Not great, but much better than before.

He says “Ok, so here it is with just the two teeth. I’d still like to confirm with the doctor if he recommends getting all four out or not and then I will follow up with you tomorrow or after the weekend.”

I couldn’t help but say, “I want to lean toward just doing the two. They are my teeth, it’s my choice, right? I know what he’ll recommend but I just paid rent yesterday. I’ve got bachelor parties, and weddings, and kids birthday parties coming up – it never ends! If I can just get the two out and survive on the other end, that would be what I want to do.”

This guy looked at me like I was nuts. I couldn’t believe it. Surely I couldn’t have been the only one that’s ever tried to save $800 at the dentist.

I wasn’t just speaking for me, I was speaking for society:

Anyway, that’s where the story ends for now. I might have to continue my fight against paying ridiculous amounts of money for medical consultations and procedures. But in the end, I will have at least two wisdom teeth out.

Let’s just hope it’s not Tim Whatley doing the procedure:

The sequel to the Crazy Eye Doctor Lady almost turned out to be disappointing. Just like Spider-Man 3 or any of the 20 JAWS sequels.

But just like the greatest sequels of our time, a twist is what carries us through a saga. The hero must lose. A new villain must emerge. Empire Strikes Back. The Dark Knight. Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.

In the end for the Crazy Eye Doctor Lady, she was just the beginning. The real enemy was waiting in the wings, evolving into a new form to try and strike me down.

The evil entity was only acting through the Crazy Eye Doctor Lady and her Specialist. It continued to act through the Tooth Extraction Specialist and his crony at the front desk.

The true enemy has yet to be defeated: The American Medical System Strikes Again.

Insurance is a beautiful thing, but it can’t defeat evil alone. We’ll see what’s in store for me down the line.

Because whether my ailment is nothing, cancer, or a couple of painfully impacted wisdom teeth, the only one who truly suffers is once again: my bank account.

~DS

The Last of Us Season 2 Butchered the Lesson the Game Taught Us

Video games still remain the best way to experience TLOU

The Last of Us Part II is an amazing video game. Though its story choices still remain controversial to this day, the lessons the story teaches are grounded and spectacularly human in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of the United States.

Five years after the game’s initial release, I’ve played through The Last of Us Part II exactly twice. The initial playthrough in 2020 where I experienced the twist and everything that came after for the first gut-wrenching time. The first time I played through it, I respected the game for its choices, liked it but didn’t love it, and didn’t know when the next time I would play it again.

The second time I played through this story was just a few months ago in preparation for HBO’s television adaptation The Last Of Us which was set to tell the first part of the second game.

This second playthrough, knowing what happens to the characters and being able to accept it, made me love the second game and appreciate the story that was being told through it even more.

Ellie’s journey for revenge turning into Abby’s story of redemption and survival teaches us that while the more animalistic qualities of humans can surface, our ability to forgive and love are still what we’re greatest at.

I got caught up on the season finale of The Last of Us Season 2 the other day. After watching seven episodes (which is too short of a season, but I digress), it’s safe to say that the way this story is experienced is still best told on gaming consoles rather than on television.

This blog will get into spoiler territory for both the show and the game, so if you want to stay fresh on those, this is your time to escape. You’ve been warned.

One of the biggest issues I had with the show version of The Last of Us Part II was when and how Abby is introduced.

Abby, portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever in the television show, is introduced in the very first episode of the season. While game Abby is also introduced early on, you don’t know who she is, what she’s doing, or how she’s involved in the plot at all.

If you have subtitles on for the early game of TLOU2, Abby and her crew are listed as “Woman” or “Man.”

Despite disagreeing with when Abby was introduced, I wanted to let the season play out to see how they’d balance the two stories the game features: Ellie and Abby.

However, the show continues to follow Ellie’s perspective from the game. Abby gets her moments in the first two episodes, making even players of the game surprised at how the story was experienced differently between game and show:

The above tweet was my reaction to the big moment from both game and show that has divided the fan base for five years: Abby killing Joel less than an hour into the video game and less than two episodes into the second season.

I would argue that the battle in Jackson is cooler than the basic patrols that lead to the brutal moment in the game, however, the death scene itself is still supreme in the game.

Not just because it’s surprisingly less gratuitous with its violence, but also because we had no idea who Abby was or what was going to happen.

Yes, players of the game and the curious folks who couldn’t help themselves knew what was going to happen before the season even started. However, those that didn’t know what was going to happen knew from Episode 1 of this season who Abby was and what she wants to do because, she just says it:

“When we kill him, we will kill him, slowly.”

While this doesn’t take the stakes out of Joel’s death, Joel’s death works much better when you have no idea who the hell Abby is.

You don’t find out that Abby is the daughter of the doctor in the hospital until halfway through the game, when you finally take over Abby’s perspective after making it to the end of Ellie’s Three-Day Seattle journey.

To that point, which was mirrored almost identically in the show, that’s the first time you see Abby since Joel’s death scene. As Ellie hunts her, she becomes much more of a goal rather than a character until you experience her story yourself.

But let’s break down the game and show versions of the final scene:

They occur almost identically, which I applaud the show for doing. The problem is, since we know who Abby is and who her dad was in the show, there’s even more reason to hate her completely than even be at all interested in what happens next.

In the game, when the perspective changes after this moment and you play as Abby, I’ll never forget my reaction the first time I played.

After that scene cuts to black and you continue again moments later as a young Abby, I threw my controller at my desk and said “Fuck this bitch, I don’t want to get to know her!”

What starts off feeling like just a segment of gameplay that will have you back to Ellie shortly, turns into a full adventure through the same 3-day journey in Seattle from Abby’s perspective.

You’re forced to learn her story, who she is, and what the war between the WLFs and the Seraphites actually looks like from the ground level. When Abby meets Lev and Yara, two Seraphite children, her perspective on “Scars” changes and thus, our perspective on Scars changes as well.

This is all how you grow to actually care about Abby and her story. She protects two of her enemy’s children and risks her reputation and life with the WLFs to save them. You learn that she is a redeemable character as well and that once again, despite the animalistic qualities of revenge, these characters grow, change, love, and forgive.

Because the show told us immediately who Abby was and what her goals were, I fear the audience will not be there for Season 3 of the show. Part of what makes Abby’s story great is the mystery of her from Ellie’s perspective before experiencing Abby’s story for yourself.

The show revealed all the wrong things too quickly and it will affect how Abby’s story is told.

Quickly on the Seraphites vs WLF war, I think the show butchered their introduction as well. Ellie’s encounter with the Seraphites happens like this in the game:

Ellie doesn’t get to know that they have children amongst them, she just sees them as nearly faceless enemies that want to live in the world their way, the no-tech Seraphite way. Anyone that uses firearms is the enemy.

As you play as Ellie, they’re horrifying. You hear them whistle, they barely need light to see, and you can get sniped by a crossbow bolt from anywhere in the dark woods.

You don’t learn more about who they are or that they have children in their ranks until Abby meets Lev and Yara. That’s what makes the Seraphites more interesting. It allows you to see the other side of the fear you experienced when you encountered them as Ellie. You grow to care for them as Abby. It’s a nice duality to the story.

In the show, you’re immediately sympathetic toward the Seraphites. The first scene they’re in shows the massacre of a group of them that includes a child. Ellie and Dina pretty much side with them against the WLFs very quickly because they know the WLF group is the one that kills Joel.

Rather than fear them, you sympathize for them through Ellie’s TV story. This makes Abby’s narrative already weaker heading into the show’s third season. The Seraphite/WLF war is much better through the eyes of Abby rather than Ellie.

So much so, they added in this scene where Ellie nearly gets killed on the Seraphite island right before Isaac’s attack. This moment doesn’t happen in the game. While the writers used it as a tool to show Ellie’s obsessive sense of revenge to get to the aquarium, we didn’t need it. There’s a reason it got cut from the game, it doesn’t really make sense.

I’m not the only one that feels this way.

The island attack is entirely covered in Abby’s side of the story because that’s the climactic conclusion of that storyline before the convergence moment happens and our two characters’ stories come to a head in the theater lobby.

I guess we’ll wait and see how they do Abby’s story in Season 3, but it’s already off to a disjointed and confusing start. While Abby is a controversial character, the strongest aspect to her story is getting to actually care for her.

Because they’ve changed how we view/interpret the WLF and Seraphite war, as well as how Abby is introduced, Abby is already playing from behind further than she already was from her game’s counterpart.

The last thing I’ll talk about is the Joel porch scene:

Game Version
TV Version

While the scene plays out perfectly and nearly identically across both mediums, the timing of it is completely and totally wrong. I guess I can understand from a writing standpoint why you wanted to have this closure moment with Joel before the end of this season because next season will primarily be Abby.

BUT: what makes it work is that this scene is the very last scene in the game. This scene tells us that Joel, even in death, was a figure for Ellie to understand forgiveness. She forgave Joel despite him doing what he did to save her. The third act of the game shows Ellie sacrifice everything, including her fingers and her relationship with Dina, to continue her pursuit of Abby.

This climactic fight between these two comes after playing through Abby’s story. This comes after realizing that Ellie is being extremely stupid in the face of revenge. While yes, we love Joel and part of us still wants Ellie to exact her revenge, Abby is a character we care for and it makes the final conversation with Joel following this fight stick that much more.

Ellie looks back upon this conversation after failing to play the guitar with her now mutilated hand and realizes that despite Joel being taken from her, she herself regrets pursuing Abby. Forgiveness and love outweigh revenge and hate, even in the world of The Last of Us.

Now that Joel’s conversation with Ellie is in the middle of the show, how is that final lesson going to be taught? Ellie is still the main character of TLOU. While we learn Abby’s back story and her reason for fighting, Ellie’s story is the core of the games and show.

Putting this moment where they did hurts the overall payoff of Ellie’s plot and Abby’s plot combined. The Santa Barbara part of the story alone doesn’t deserve a full season because by that point in the game, it goes by quickly because we get what the main lesson is.

However, the conclusion of the game is still strong because of that Joel scene.

Now? They’re going to have to land a potential 4 season show without one of the best scenes both the game and the TV series has offered so far in their arsenal as a final moral.

When Season 3 inevitably premieres on HBO, I will be there on Day 1.

I love the game series and the story too much even if I have to be disappointed with how the television show has allowed it to play out.

If Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are able to pull this out of a nosedive, I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong.

However, as of now after two seasons of the show, it’s clear now more than ever that video games are very much a theatrical medium for storytelling.

Even if you nailed season one of this show as an adaptation to the first game, the overall sentiment in my mind is that The Last of Us is better experienced played vs. watched.

~DS

P.S.

To close out this blog, always listen to Gustavo Santaolalla’s music from this series to calm your nerves: