Author: The Prospector

Final episode released on 3/24/23

Rating: 5 Roars

The Last Of Us is a TV show based on a game with the same name, and has recently released its final episode concluding the first season. The show is set in a brutal post-apocalyptic world, where raiders, bandits, and the infected run rampant. Due to the heating of the Earth, the Cordyceps, a fungus that infects bugs with zombie-like symptoms, evolved to be capable of infecting humans. In turn led to a zombie apocalypse. 

The story follows Joel Miller, a gruff old man born before the outbreak, who has lost his daughter, Sarah. The plot kicks off when he receives an offer to transport some important cargo: a young girl who is immune to the effects of the Cordyceps. 

In many cases, the show makes the game look like it missed a lot. Characters who formerly had relatively shallow personality development before they died had a lot more character to them. Episode three is an absolutely beautiful love story that builds on a character who only appears once in the game version, and I am all for it. It strays away from the events of the game at times to express some new ideas, but keeps all the most iconic moments.

If I had to pick just one tiny complaint, it would be the lack of action. It’s sort of rare to get action in the middle of the episode, but it’s always worth it to look forward to, as it can be very, very tense.

The ending of episode eight really got to me. There is an intense scene in a burning diner, with Ellie in a constant state of panic as she takes out what is essentially the antagonist of the episode. Then the scene cuts to the frigid outside, Ellie is a bloodied mess, and likely will not forget what just happened for a while. Joel, seeing this, does something he hasn’t done in 20 years; comfort somebody. “It’s okay, babygirl,” he says–a phrase he had not uttered for twenty years. The two walk away, then credits roll. What possibly makes this scene even more powerful is the shot outside was inserted before the shot in the diner, bringing some perspective in.

As I was watching this, I wondered at times, “Why couldn’t the game adaptation for [insert game] be like this?” But a question like that has a rather simple answer; the game creator is a director. Rather than just handing it off to some random company to be transformed into a film or show, Neil Druckmann (the creator) found a crew who actually liked the game. Most of the time, movies for video games are directed by people who only see the money in a project; they don’t care if the product is good or bad or accurately depicts the vision of the game. They just want to be involved in its production because it is tied to a popular game which indicates money.

By getting the original creator on board, HBO was able to produce a masterful retelling of an unforgettable story.