Review: The Last of Us (TV)

A Masterwork in Apocalypse Exploring What it Means to Love

Video game adaptations have not had the best history in the TV and movie space. From the repulsive Halo and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, even going back to the bizarre Super Mario Bros movie from 1993, countless attempts to cross the video game-to-movie/TV barrier have crashed and burned. However, recent projects have hit a lucky streak, with Sonic the Hedgehog proving to be a charming and fun series with their two most recent movie installations, while Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. Movie shows promise on the horizon. However, HBO’s The Last of Us has accomplished something which sets it apart from a long line of failed attempts; a beautiful, heart-wrenching, and painfully human adaptation of the critically acclaimed video game which was released nearly 10 years ago.

The Last of Us manages to deliver a complete, riveting, and engaging series over 9 episodes, each one being around 40 minutes. This success was accomplished under the direction of Craig Mazin, who directed the massively popular Chernobyl series. HBO also brought on Neil Druckmann as another director, the co-president of Naughty Dog, the studio behind The Last of Us video game. Druckmann also co-created the original The Last of Us, giving him expertise that many other adaptations lacked. This, along with a crew of fans dedicated to producing the show with love and faith in the source material, made each episode feel whole.

The story begins in 2003 with the breakout of a global Cordyceps pandemic, a parasitic fungus that mutated to infect humans. In the following years, all order has fallen away, with societal institutions and infrastructure failing. Scrambling to find some sense of law, the fascistic FEDRA establishes Quarantine Zones (or QZs) in various locations. Within these zones, humans are kept inside walled cities and monitored to ensure order. Even after decades, there has been no sign of a cure for the cordyceps infection, and the swarms of Infected prowl the earth.

The main plot follows two protagonists, twenty years after the breakout: Joel Miller (played by Pedro Pascal, seen in Narcos, Game of Thrones, and The Mandalorian), a hardened and emotionally detached survivor who lived before the pandemic started, and Ellie Williams (played by Bella Ramsey, seen in Game of Thrones, Hilda and His Dark Materials), a young girl born into the broken world. Together, these two cross the United States in the hopes of finding Joel’s younger brother, Tommy (played by Gabriel Luna, seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Hala). While fighting off Infected and Raiders, we see Joel and Ellie’s relationship evolve and change.

Despite the ever-present fungal pandemic and ruthless Infected, the story often focuses more on the human element. Druckmann and Mazin state that one of the main themes of the story is love, and how it’s more of a double-edged sword than it often seems. In The Last of Us, we see the healing, joyful, and kind aspects of love, yet at the same time the fearful, protective, vicious, and violent consequences of loving. At the end of it all, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin pose a question to the viewer: how far are you willing to go for the people you love?

While the main duo shines in each episode, the side characters introduced along the journey are remarkable. Each character introduced adds a new perspective to the idea of love, from young to old, brotherly to violent. However, out of each character introduced, there were none who moved me like Bill (played by Nick Offerman, seen in Parks and Recreation, 21 Jump Street, and The Good Place) and Frank (played by Murray Bartlett, seen in The White Lotus, Looking and Welcome to Chippendales). Their relationship, shown in a short, hour-long episode, shook me to the core. In episode 3, titled “Long, Long Time” after the Linda Ronstadt song of the same name, we witness how Bill and Frank grow together, from conflict to affection. This episode depicted such a first-rate love story to the point where I feel it is the best romance I have seen depicted in fiction. This story is seamlessly weaved into the main plot, leaving you feeling in some limbo of joy, sorrow, and contentment that I can only describe as sublime.

Beyond characters and performance, The Last of Us delivers in terms of soundtrack as well. Taking the original soundtrack from the game, orchestrated by the excellent Gustavo Santaolalla, an acoustic guitar drives the majority of the show, conveying moments of respite, peace, tragedy, rage, and optimism. With one simple instrument, the soundtrack conveys emotion with cutting precision, leaving the audience to sit with each individual note as it rings throughout the scene.

Important to note is the execution of the Infected within the show. Rather than use special effects, the directors instead opted for practical effects to show the terror of the infected. For this, they utilized various masks, makeup, and prosthetics to show the growing and invasive nature of the infection as it takes over the body of a human being, resulting in a contorted, disfigured, and repugnant creature. These monsters also appear far less frequently in the show, which the directors chose to do in order to deliver a sense of urgency and danger with only one or two infected rather than the constant hordes you’d have to contend with in the game. Therefore, anytime the groans and squeals of a Clicker, an Infected which uses echolocation to find its nearest prey, are heard, they’re sure to send the viewer into a state of tension and anticipation.

Conclusions

HBO’s The Last of Us has swept the world as a story unlike any other, giving casual viewers a refreshing and new take on the zombie genre, while delivering a faithful and fulfilling experience to dedicated fans, all while delving into the complexities of love and the human condition. The marvelous direction from Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, as well as the brilliant performances of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, have managed to harness the same spark which made the original game so captivating, leaving old fans and new on the edge of their seat for the already greenlit season 2. In the meantime, I and many others will continue to endure and survive each agonizing Sunday without a new episode.

(Author’s Note: Joel did nothing wrong! -A)