A Quick Introduction

I’ve played the first Last of Us twice – once when it came out, and then again when it was remastered (for the first time). I never played the second title in the series, because it looked like a relentless fucking downer.

When I heard that The Last of Us was getting a television adaptation, I was a bit concerned, given the generally spotty track record of game-to-tv/movie adaptations. Sure, there are exceptions (Arcane and Castlevania come to mind), but these tend to be of the animated, not live-action variety. My concerns were somewhat assuaged by the fact that the adaptation would be on HBO, home of dragons, titties, graphic violence, and some other stuff. The Last of Us doesn’t have much in the way of dragons or nudity, but it is grim and violent, so HBO felt like a better fit than, say, Paramount Plus. On top of that, the production would be bringing in a great cast and crew; I’ve liked Pedro Pascal ever since before he got his head squished on Game of Thrones; I enjoyed Bella Ramsey’s appearance in the same show as much as everyone else, and was intrigued by the inclusion of Nick Offerman, who isn’t exactly known for playing gritty post-apocalyptic survivalists (just gritty, pre-apocalyptic ones with dry senses of humor).

Story & Characters

We’ve seen the core relationship of this show before, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy watching it being pulled off well. Joel and Ellie’s pseudo father-daughter relationship is a highlight of the story – as it was in the game – although I’m not sure that 9 episodes is enough time to give it the room it deserves to develop (especially if we’re going to spend whole episodes on other characters, as good as those installments might be). Still, with how good the show has been so far, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

The story’s central conceit is that a hardened smuggler (Joel, played by Pedro Pascal) has to guide a rambunctious teenager (Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey) across a post-apocalyptic United States. The aforementioned apocalypse was caused by fungus zombies (just roll with it), and Ellie is mysteriously immune to the fungus among us. The only hospital that can possibly use her condition to develop a cure for the infection is, for reasons, across the continent. As the two venture cross-country, they encounter various characters – some friendly, some not – and dangers ranging from killer zombies to killer people (seriously, there are some bad hombres out there).

The show handles single-episode character arcs better than almost anything else I can think of. Episodes 3 and 5 are particular standouts; I’d rank them each individually as a 9.75/10, which is…pretty damn good. In the interest of avoiding spoilers (and keeping this review reasonably short), I’ll avoid specifics, but the duos of Bill & Frank and Henry & Sam are incredibly captivating to watch. Even relatively minor characters, like the heavily-armed and gloriously-coiffed Perry, are given time to shine before they’re inevitably murdered (this is HBO, remember). The way the show bounces between locations necessitates some flexibility in the villain department; the most prominent baddie in the first half of the season was only in the most recent two episodes. That said, the show makes efficient use of its runtime and fleshes out Kathleen (the aforementioned baddie) into someone with plausible, sympathetic motivations (which don’t excuse the shit she pulls in Episode 5, but still).

Direction & Whatnot

I don’t have any complaints about the way the show’s shot or presented – there aren’t any scenes that are problematically dark (hello, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon), I wasn’t nauseated by a bunch of shaky-cam, etc. I can’t recall any impressive single-take shots (which I’ve been overly partial to ever since I saw Hard Boiled), but you don’t need to flex a single take like True Detective in order to be an engaging show.

I don’t know much about film- (or TV-) making, so I feel like it’s a compliment to say that The Last of Us’ direction is, at the worst, extremely competent. It’s never intrusive, and the camera lingers on important moments just long enough for them to be poignant without getting saccharine.

Sets, Costumes & Effects

I was continually impressed by the show’s presentation of an overgrown, post-apocalyptic United States – sure (as mentioned by numerous people online), there aren’t mountains that close to Boston…but that five-second labeling goof doesn’t outweigh the creepily-silent, overgrown environs that Joel and Ellie traverse, or the rusting ruin of Kansas City, inexorably losing its war against time.

The “normal” infected are nice and creepy (particularly the tendrils in their mouths), and the scenes depicting a horde of them rushing forward like a wave of decaying bodies are suitably horrifying. Even better are the more-advanced infected forms – the Clickers and the Bloater. I’ll start with the Bloater: we don’t see a ton of it, but its gigantic, fungus-armored form is imposing from the get-go, and the way it absolutely eats bullets while slaughtering its way through Kathleen’s troops gives it some real Terminator energy.

Then you’ve got the Clickers: oh, God, the Clickers. They’re just as nightmare-inducing as they were in the game, if not moreso. For the uninitiated, Clickers are essentially super-aggressive zombies who hunt by sound thanks to the massive fungal growths on their heads that render them blind. Their jerky noises and the echoing sounds they make will make you shudder like you just sat down on a toilet made of ice.

Action, Pathos, Humor & Horror

You see the title of this section? The Last of Us has all of those!

The game had a big focus on action (I’m defining “action” pretty loosely here and including stealth gameplay), and, although the show doesn’t emphasize gunplay as much as the game, it generally does a good job of portraying the desperate, almost-clumsy combat the game was known for.

The world of The Last of Us is not a friendly one, but this dreariness is balanced by moments of muted levity, which always earned a smile from me. The developing rapport between Joel and Ellie is a highlight – the contrast between Ellie’s snarkiness and Joel’s tired acceptance of her behavior is a lot of fun.

The Last of Us was never a horror game, but it certainly had horror elements, which are well-adapted here. Episode 2’s museum scene is a particular standout, and perfectly captures the tension of the scene as it was first portrayed in the game.

As far as adaptations go, you can do a hell of a lot worse than The Last of Us – for example, you could watch Halo on Paramount Plus, or get into the works of Uwe Boll[1].

Overall Rating: 9.25/10 (8.25/10 if gay people make you feel icky, which, like…why? Fix that about yourself!)

P.S. – I know this review wasn’t that funny…my bad, I guess. I’ll come back and put in some jokes later on, if any come to mind. Feel free to offer suggestions in the comments section…

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[1] Uwe, if you’re reading this, that last bit was a joke; your films are exponentially better than the Halo TV show. Please don’t hurt me.