The Last of Us – When You’re Lost in the Darkness

Before I get into the review of the premiere of The Last of Us, some housekeeping notes. If you listened to our recent Pop Culture Maniacs podcast on video game adaptations, you might know that I am not a gamer. I don’t play video games (outside of the occasional Mario Kart race) and I don’t follow the ins and outs of the gaming industry all that closely. So, while I know the basics surrounding The Last of Us (most of which were covered in this first episode), I don’t know the story. So, these weekly reviews will be focused on the series rather than the game – and I won’t be able to link things from the game to the show, hint at what might be coming in future episodes, and I definitely won’t be spoiling anything for those who, like me, aren’t fluent in the game storyline. With that said, I will, at times, offer speculation and guesses at where a story might be heading or thoughts on what I might like to see coming in the future. I might get it right, I might not. But I want these reviews to be focused on the television series and not the source material. So, if you’re looking for someone who wants to dive into the comparisons or speculate on what will be adapted moving forward, this isn’t the review for you. Now, on with the review.

Nina Metz, the Chicago Tribune television critic, said that The Last of Us is a combination of The Walking Dead and Station Eleven, and I think she pretty much hit the nail on the head. After just a single episode, the series has managed to – without relying too heavily on buckets of exposition and hitting us over the head with the severity of life in this post-apocalyptic world – thoroughly grounded its story in a clear reality. The excellent use of the initial television debate from 1968 let us know just what we’re dealing with in terms of a disease (unlike on The Walking Dead where the virus was just . . . a virus, here we have a fungus that manages to take over the central nervous system for a time before fully destroying its host). The 2003 vignette gave us a clear understanding of who one of our protagonists is along with the tragic backstory that will let him slowly build a father-daughter relationship with Ellie in the present (and, personally, I was shocked to learn that the apocalypse happened on my 18^th birthday – glad to know that Joel and I share a birthday, albeit 18 years apart). And the present-day piece introduced us to the other key characters for this initial season – Ellie (an excellent spunky Bella Ramsey), Tess (Anna Torv, steady as always), and Marlene (Merle Dandridge, doing a lot with a little screen time) – while also allowing us to better understand the way this new world functions. While I suspect there will be a good amount of overlap with the moralistic elements of something like The Walking Dead (where the infected are dangerous but the living turn out to be truly deadly), I can already tell the more streamlined storytelling elements of a series like this one – where we get bursts of supporting characters but continue to follow a select few characters throughout the story – should serve this particular type of tale better than a sprawling cast and a stationary season arc.

All of that is to say that I really, really enjoyed this episode. From the video game-esque cinematography during the car escape in the 2003 storyline (seriously, it felt like I was in the middle of the game play throughout that sequence and it was incredible) to the set design of the Boston Quarantine Zone that highlighted just how dark and depressing this new world is (and how the residents are truly trapped under martial law – although I definitely don’t think the Fireflies and their revolutionary tactics are the right answer either), the series has the look and feel of something special. Add to that the stark but important dialogue (I always appreciate a series that is able to say what it needs to say without leaning too heavily on telling us when it can just as easily show us – and The Last of Us certainly trusts its audience to make connections on their own without having their hand held the whole way) and the sensational casting (Pedro Pascal as Joel is just a master stroke of casting – he’s truly become to go-to actor for emotionally complex heroes in the last few years, with good reason) and I think HBO has another great adaptation hit on its hands.

And, as someone with no real familiarity with this particular world, I absolutely felt like I understood what was happening, who the key people were, and what it means for our intrepid trio to be venturing out beyond the wall. The dangers they might face while they attempt to complete their immediate mission (which, I’m sure, will run into a major snag at a key moment and lead to them having to go somewhere else and do something else – this isn’t my first rodeo, I know there’s a long road ahead for these guys as the story unfurls) are clear, Joel’s main objective is as well (just how he and Tommy ended up so far apart is something I’m sure we’ll find out as the season goes on – I certainly want to know what happened during the 20 years we didn’t see). And while it looks like Ellie might just be some sort of miracle cure, I’m betting there’s something more complicated happening with her as well. Either way, she’s definitely a valuable piece on the series game board that I’m betting Joel will go to great lengths to protect at all costs.

This is a heck of a start – sure, focused, and well-produced – and I cannot wait to see what the series has in store for us throughout the rest of season one. This is going to be one heck of a ride.