Review: The Last of Us (HBO)

 Good adaptation, great show.

Adaptation. A dirty word in the world of video game fandom. How many times have fans been promised a television show or movie that would faithfully depict their beloved intellectual property, only to miss the entire soul of the game they love and bring some shoddy representation to a different medium? Book fans know the feeling and have been dealing with the struggle for a while, knowing how infrequently justice is done in depicting the source material. For video games, that struggle is even worse. A few recent exceptions like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Arcane: League of Legends are wonderful additions to the small list of great video game adaptations, and the legendary Pokemon anime is still going strong. But what of successful live-action adaptations? Well, HBO’s The Last of Us may be the best one yet.

As someone who still highly reveres the original The Last of Us title for its engaging, laser-focused narrative and memorable characters, I was instantly interested in the show. I’ve played every iteration of the game multiple times; The Last of Us (PS3), The Last of Us Remastered (PS4), and The Last of Us Part I (PS5). Normally, I would immediately dismiss the relevance of any video game adaptation due to the history that precedes them, but the more information I gleaned, the more interested I became. The perfect storm of Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Playstation, HBO, and a wonderful cast of well-known actors was enough to give a fan hope. Not because The Last of Us needed an adaptation, but because it would be nice to see this world and these characters be brought to a new audience. The Last of Us is a highly cinematic franchise with over five hundred Game of the Year awards (the most for any modern franchise), so it wasn't too difficult to see how this could transition to a passive form of entertainment.

The Last of Us season sne does a lot of things right. The first two episodes are quite similar to the game's opening sequences. The first scene of the first epsiode portrays multiple men on a talk show discussing a potential fungus that could end the world if, god forbid, there was an increase in global temperature. An eerie silence washes over these men as they contemplate the possibilities of such abject destruction of modern society. What seemed a mere talking point becomes a feasible idea, one that makes the viewer and talk show participants pause. A harrowing moment to open the show’s first season, and a fantastic deviation from the source material.

To pull the player into Sarah and Joel’s relationship, they expand Sarah’s role and flesh out her story a bit. This helps create the initial bond needed to pack the show’s first punch. And it is done incredibly well. Considering The Last of Us has one of the best openings in a video game, it was a breath of fresh air to see it carefully recreated for the show. There’s an underlying sense of tension that sticks with the viewer throughout the entire episode, even in the calm moments. An impressive feat, and a reminder to the viewer that no one is ever safe in the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us. Admittedly, there was a ridiculous moment when an infected popped up from the ground in a silly and uncharacteristic way. A momentary break in immersion. However, before the credits rolled on the first episode and Depeche Mode’s Never Let Me Down Again plays to the view of the coming storm, I felt satisfied. Not only was I pleased with the deviations that did right by the source material, but by the show’s faithfulness to it, and to the overall quality. Joel and Tess received their cargo in the form of a fourteen-year-old girl named Ellie, and I was excited to see the next episode.

This feeling of satisfaction continues into the second episode. Again, the introduction of the episode diverges from the show, where we are introduced to a mycology professor (played by the wonderful Christine Hakim) in Jakarta, where the beginning of the outbreak occurred. And just like episode one, this sequence left me with chills. This is also the first episode where the viewer encounters Clickers (the most memorable enemy from the game) for the first time. All I can say is bravo. The costume work, the behaviors, and the sound effects (which are used in the game) work brilliantly and inspire a sense of fear and panic. Not to forget, the underlying tension from the first episode remains here. There’s a heightened fear of being in control of the character who can instantly die from a Clicker. Though a passive media, the show did the confrontation in the museum justice.

As Joel, Tess, and Ellie make their way through the ruins of what was once Boston, the characters unfold before the viewer; their intentions, their mannerisms, and their desire to be doing anything else. The ending of the episode changes from the main characters being surrounded by FEDRA soldiers and instead having a horde of infected come in to finish the job. In doing this, they introduce tendrils; a way for the Cordyceps fungus-infected individuals to communicate over long distances. By killing an infected near a tendril, the protagonists alarm a massive host of infected enemies to their location. There is an odd, rather uncharacteristic, invasive, and bizarre moment with Tess and an infected near the end of the episode that confused me. The scene was certainly horrifying, but also lore-breaking. The overall episode was terrific despite minor missteps and kept me excited for episode three.

Titled “Long, Long Time”, episode three is an interesting case. While the game focuses on Joel, Ellie, and others they meet along the way, the show deviates by taking time away from them to look in on other characters. Episode three is the largest departure from the source material. Instead of having the character Bill reluctantly assist Joel and Ellie on their journey, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann decided to take Bill’s story in another direction. In what is one of the finest hours of television I’ve seen, Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett put on a beautiful performance of a gay couple surviving in the apocalypse. It’s strong, poignant, and reminiscent of the opening of Pixar’s Up. A tale of love, struggle, and acceptance. My issue then is that has nothing to do with what was going on in the previous two episodes. Episode three puts the plot at a standstill for over an hour. And while they eventually tie everything together, those ties aren't strong enough to justify an entire episode away from our protagonists. As a standalone episode, Long, Long Time may bring you to the verge of tears and consider your mortality, but in the overarching view, it’s just a beautiful bump on the road back to our protagonists.

With Joel and Ellie back in the driver’s seat, the show’s plot moves forward with episode four. This episode sees the protagonists sneaking their way through a rebel-infested Kansas City. A few important moments happen in this episode between Joel and Ellie, like the beginning moments of trust budding between them. This episode uses some of its time to show a departure from in-game Joel to Pedro Pascal’s version; he’s growing old and showing vulnerability. He can't hear as well and needs Ellie’s help to escape a hairy situation. He accepts how useful she can be with a gun and shows her how to use one properly. A big moment in the game, though slightly underwhelming in the show. The primary issue with this episode, and episode five for that matter, is the focus on the character Kathleen (played by Melanie Lynskey). The rebel leader that had overthrown the Kansas City QZ has too much time in the limelight. Every time that part of the plot appeared, I simply wanted to get back the main characters. The character was not a convincing leader and I had difficulty sympathizing with her.

As I got to episode five, and more and more time was spent on this Kathleen character, I realized how much time the viewer missed with Henry and Sam (the two newcomers to the show). A lengthy part of the game is spent with these characters, getting to know them, observing their relationship with the brothers, and the friendship that grows between them and the main protagonists. Instead of simply having two brothers trying to survive the apocalypse, the show tries to force the viewer into a sense of sympathy by making the younger brother (Sam) deaf, and eventually revealing that he had Leukemia. It’s a weight that doesn't need to be there. Sam being deaf wasn't much of an issue, but it made it difficult—with the amount of time given—for the viewer to bond with his character. Instead of sympathizing with him as a character, we are merely sympathizing with him for his plight, which I think is much weaker than what is presented in the game. Had less time been spent on Kathleen’s story, I feel like it could have been fleshed out better. That said, Keivon Woodard and Lamar Johnson (Sam and Henry’s actors) put on a great performance. The penultimate scene of this episode puts on a bit more dramatic flair than is necessary and creates a bit of a deus ex machina that is only briefly mentioned in the previous episode. The final scene, however, is spot on.

After a traumatic ending to episode five, episode six sees Joel and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) reunited. This episode again, shows a more vulnerable Joel, speeding up much of his character development to ensure a connection with the viewer. I found this to be one of the weaker moments in the episode. The memorable scene between Joel and Ellie, however, is handled beautifully. It’s well-acted and takes lines from the game, word for word. The final scene leaves a bit to be desired compared the intense escape for survival portrayed in the game, but it leaves the episode on a cliffhanger…

Which isn't continued until episode eight. But before that, there’s episode seven. Which, like episode three, puts the main plot on freeze. Entitled “Left Behind”, episode three is a flashback to when Ellie got attacked by an infected. The episode itself is well done and explores the relationship between Ellie and her best friend Riley, but where the game hovers back and forth between its main narrative and the flashback, the show is wholly focused on the past. Leaving the viewer hungry for more, then dangling the present story in front of them while they tell another is an interesting tactic. Doing it two times in a season that has only nine episodes is rather foolish.

Once we get back to the present, we meet a new character David (Scott Shepherd). A leader of a local settlement who has more to him than is initially revealed. David reveals to Ellie that he is kind, yet violent. That he wants to lead, and he wants her beside him. A man in his fifties, and he's trying to court a fourteen-year-old girl. The entire sequence is unsettling, and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) counters Shepherd’s David perfectly for an entrancing episode. Without a doubt one of the season’s best. A return to form from the first two episodes.

The finale of The Last of Us is, unfortunately, the shortest one. It’s packed full of action and successfully wraps up the story between Joel and Ellie, even if it feels rushed at times. There’s a specific moment in the show where the show writers bludgeon the viewer with their messaging. In the game, Joel’s progress is easily noted in his actions and his shift of tone. He doesn't have to say, “You saved me,” because you feel each action takes the characters to where they are. The show also makes a point of showing that Joel’s decision is more justified in saving Ellie. The bloodbath that occurs close to the end of the episode leaves the viewer with a more solid perspective on Joel and his willingness to kill for what he wants. When the final lines of the show are uttered, they pack less of a punch than they do in the game, but they’re still powerful. Nine episodes spent (well, seven really) building trust between these two characters, all to end on a massive lie. One that needs to be swallowed by Ellie. And both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey finish strong.

Some of the deviations enhance the story of The Last of Us, like the beginnings of episodes one and two, as well as the intro to episode nine, which sees Ashley Johnson (Ellie’s voice actress in the games) play Ellie’s mother. Some deviations, like episode three, bring an interesting perspective that enhances the lore but also damages the pacing. Then there are the bad deviations, like the Kathleen storyline in episodes four and five. Despite all the changes, the core of The Last of Us is here. As an adaptation, it does a great, though imperfect, job of representing the characters I’ve loved so much over the last ten years. As a tv show itself, it's fantastic. One of my favorites in recent years. Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann did a terrific job adapting this project to television. And though I would have liked to have seen more infected encounters throughout the season, the overall character arcs and performances were handled well. Whenever they announce a season two, I eagerly await not only the show itself but the fan response to it. If they do as well with season two as they did with one, viewers are in for quite the spectacle (and quite the debate as well). The Last of Us is never bad, and frequenelty great. It’s weaker than its video game counterpoint at times. In some cases, it outshines the game, and that’s something to be applauded.

The Math

Objective Assessment: 8/10

Bonus: +1 for some clever, lore-buffing deviations. +1 fantastic performances. +1 for creating an underlying sense of dread and tension. +1 for Clickers.

Penalties: -2 for trying to manufacture sympathy. -1 for two pace halting episodes. -1 for Kathleen storyline/character.

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

Posted by: Joe DelFranco - Fiction writer and lover of most things video games. On most days you can find him writing at his favorite spot in the little state of Rhode Island.

Recap: The Last of Us Episode 9 — Look for the Light

Content warning: Spoilers for this episode and the entire season; brief discussion of suicide. 

Short and brutal season finale sees our heroes making impossibly hard choices in the name of love — at the cost of the truth.

Avid fans of The Last of Us have had a week to emotionally prepare for this final episode, all while knowing it was going to be a shockingly brief 43 minutes — the shortest running time of any episode this entire season. 

We See Where Ellie Gets Her Badass-ness

In the opening scene, we’re introduced to Ellie’s mom, Anna, played by Ashley Johnson, who provided motion capture and voice acting in the original 2013 video game. As someone who’s played the game several times, I went absolutely feral when I got to hear new curses and grunts from the voice of Ellie. Having video game-Ellie play TV-show-Ellie’s mom imbues Bella Ramsey’s portrayal with even more gravitas — Ashley created and shaped the character, but Bella is perfecting it. 

The episode opens with a harrowing foot chase as an in-labor Anna eludes shrieking, off-screen Infected through a forest. She enters a farmhouse just as her water breaks, and collapses against a wall as she begins the process of giving birth.

A Post-Apocalyptic Birth Gone Horribly Wrong

In modern-day America, giving birth is one of the most dangerous activities a woman will ever engage in. In a post-apocalyptic hellscape, can you imagine how unlikely it would be to go off without a hitch? No running water, no epidurals, no clean bed. And in this case, no one to even help deliver the baby. 

This episode, we had been promised, was going to be the origin story of why Ellie is immune to the cordyceps virus. Just as Ellie comes out, Anna is bitten by a runner on the thigh. She grabs her switchblade — a visual leitmotif that will run throughout the entire episode — and cuts the umbilical cord to prevent the virus from spreading. 

And there we have it — this is the reason why Ellie can be bitten and not turn. Her immunity is spoken of as an impossible occurrence throughout the season by everyone who learns of it. Does this mean Anna was the only person ever to be bitten just as she gave birth? Is that the only way immunity happens? It also leads to other, weirder thought experiments. Would an infected 5-month pregnant person ever give birth? Would the baby be stuck inside a tiny Infected fetus? What if Anna had chosen to breastfeed the newborn Ellie? Would that have changed her from immune to simply infected? 

Your Legacy Is a Switchblade 

Anna’s involvement with the fireflies is made apparent as Marlene enters the house to find Anna cradling Ellie. Marlene, we find out, has been friends with Anna their entire lives. As a final favor, she asks Marlene to save her daughter— to make sure she knows her name is Ellie, that she finds care, and that she’s given her switchblade. This brief moment hit me in the gut. Imagine a world where your only inheritance is the knife that your mother killed a fungus-infected human just as you were being born. 

Your life is owed to this knife, and you, in turn, will carry it around with you as you grow into a young adult yourself, using it to kill the same creatures that are plaguing humanity. Luke Skywalker has his lightsaber. Indiana Jones has his whip. Ellie has her switchblade. Anna then asks her friend to kill her, a final act of mercy from Marlene now that Ellie has been shepherded away by a soldier. Marlene refuses initially out of love, and for a brief moment, you wonder if she will let her friend become a hideous, twisted version of herself. 

You picture a postpartum Anna doomed to turn into a runner, then wander through the house for years. Would she turn into a clicker? Before you can continue down this depressing thought spiral, Marlene returns and shoots her. This is Ellie’s origin story. Her birthright is a violent act of love. 

Boggle, Giraffes, and a Promise 

We shift to the present, finding Joel and Ellie entering Salt Lake City, where they’ll find their final destination, the Firefly hospital. Joel has recovered from his shiv wound, and Ellie is physically okay after her ordeal with David, but she is definitely not emotionally okay. She is aloof, distant, and sad, despite Joel’s new-found emotional availability. 

He finds a Boggle game so they can play later, and he talks about teaching her guitar. The two have switched roles — he is becoming more emotionally available, and she is shutting down. They are so, so close to completing their goal, and Ellie, it seems, may believe that their future is not set in stone, despite saying that she’ll follow him wherever he goes. (This made me tear up, a la “where you go, I will go” from Fried Green Tomatoes). 

She doubles down when he offers them the choice of just going back to Jackson, with its enticing warm food, electricity, and movie nights. No matter what, she tells him, they have to finish the drill. You can almost picture in Ellie’s head Riley, Henry, Sam, Tess — people whose deaths she wants to make mean something with her immunity. 

Moments after making this solemn and very adult declaration of determination, we see that Ellie is, however, still a child. While crossing through an abandoned building, she discovers a wild horde of giraffes grazing in a baseball field, and gets close enough to feed one. (Shocker — they used a real giraffe! The entire time I watched this scene I kept thinking “Wow, that’s some good CGI!”). This is a tender moment where Ellie gets to experience the childlike awe of a spotted leopard horse with an impossibly long neck. 

Giraffes are wild-looking, even to our modern sensibilities, so imagine a child born after the breakdown of society getting to meet one. Ellie has many firsts in the show, including a first car ride, but meeting a giraffe is incredibly special. 

Choices, and Who Gets to Make Them 

As they approach the hospital, our duo gets overtaken by Fireflies, and Joel wakes up in the hospital. Ellie, he is told by Marlene, is getting prepped for surgery. Joel instantly knows what's up, and says “Not her.” It’s here where the idea of choice comes into play. 

Ellie didn’t know that she was going to undergo surgery, and she definitely didn’t know that she wasn’t going to make it out alive. (The cordyceps virus grows in the brain, so the procedure would necessitate brain surgery she wouldn’t survive). Some argue that Ellie, had she been told, would still have agreed to do it. 

Her devotion to the cause would give her life meaning. But Joel, who has acknowledged his feelings, cannot, will not let this happen to his baby girl. It’s not just love for Ellie driving him. Like Bill, his role and purpose in life has become protector again, and he cannot lose this. The last time he lost his purpose — Sarah — he almost died by suicide. 

Marlene spares his life, gives him Ellie’s switchblade (there it is again) and instructs two soldiers to walk him to the interstate. Joel, as we expect, attacks them and begins making his way to the operating room to save Ellie. This part of the video game is very long, and it requires you to kill dozens of Fireflies. It’s also a tough level, difficulty-wise, and it took me probably a few hours to clear it. 

Who Decides Who Lives or Dies? 

Here’s the fascinating thing, though: It wasn’t until watching this episode that I felt conflicted about all of the deaths Joel rains upon the Fireflies. He is brutal, and ruthless, and methodical. When a soldier puts his hands up asking for mercy, Joel shoots him anyway. By the time he gets to the OR, he has murdered at least a dozen people. 

This is one of the reason why the show is so much more emotionally devastating than the game. Human expressions and gestures will always outperform the uncanny valley of digital renderings. Did I cry and feel moved at the video game? Of course. But the show is next-level emotion with world-class acting. 

The way he walks slowly and changes out weapons and loads in ammo is calm, cool, and collected. He’s on a mission to save his daughter. But I couldn’t help but think about the mass shootings in America today. What’s the difference? One man’s will against a group of people. Of course, victims of mass shootings tends to be innocent bystanders — children, teachers, concertgoers. The Fireflies, on the other hand, are a paramilitary organization.

But are the lives of these soldiers worth less than one little girl? When he opens the door to see Ellie lying anesthetized at the table, the surgeon tries to stop him. Joel kills him. He grabs Ellie from the table and leaves the hospital, having left carnage in his wake. He encounters Marlene in the parking garage, and she tries to stop him, as well. 

She tells him that she alone knows the cost of what she is doing, having promised Ellie’s mother she’d care for her. Joel kills her, too, the final obstacle to their escape. He can't risk anyone coming after them, either.

Wanting to Believe 

Ellie awakes in the back of their stolen car, as they speed away from Salt Lake City back to Jackson. Joel lies to her, saying that they didn’t need her after all, and that the hospital was attacked by raiders. She doesn’t quite understand, but falls back asleep, exhausted. 

Fast forward a few days. The car has broken down, and they have to make the last few miles on foot. At this point, Joel is positively ebullient as he talks openly about Sarah — the most we’ve seen thus far in the show. You can tell how excited he is about the future, about spending time with Ellie in Jackson in a functioning society.

Ellie knows something is up, and on a promontory overlooking the promised land of Jackson, asks him to swear that everything happened as he said it did. She knows he’s lying, but wants desperately to believe him — believe in him. He doesn’t miss a beat, and swears it. After all, he’s done, this short lie is the least of his bad deeds. If the did discuss the truth, she would have said that he took away her choice, her meaning. 

But the Fireflies did the same thing by not telling her she would die. Who trumps? It’s impossible to say, just as it’s impossible to know whether the Fireflies’ surgery would have been successful. Her death, then, would have been all for naught. 

What’s Next? 

The show ends abruptly at this scene, and we can only assume they head to Jackson and start a relatively normal life together. For video game players, we know what happens, but for TV viewers, it’s all up in the air. As someone who’s played both games, I can only say one thing: I really recommend finding a way to play the sequel, if you can. Spoilers abound, and it’s going to be a long two years before the next season, baby girl. 

The Math 

Baseline Score: 8/10 

Bonuses: +1 Ashley Johnson (the original Ellie in the game) is fantastic; real-life giraffes!; incredible readings from Ellie’s joke book; a morally gray but loving choice in the final minutes.

Penalties: -1. Only 43 minutes! This could have been stretched out into a two-parter, for sure.

Nerd Coefficient: 9/10. Video game nerds gets incredible payoff and extra details that add to, not detract, from the original story. 

POSTED BY: Haley Zapal, new NoaF contributor and lawyer-turned-copywriter living in Atlanta, Georgia. A cohost of Hugo-nominated podcast Hugo, Girl!,  she posts on Instagram as @cestlahaley.