TL;DR – A quiet contemplation of what love is in the face of loss.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this show.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Last of Us Review –

In our exploration through the world of The Last of Us so far, we have had a pretty point-by-point adaptation from the source material. A fact that many, including me, have deeply respected. However, sooner or later, they were going to make a big swerve from the game’s story, and the question is, how would that work? Well, we will find out a little sooner than I expected with today’s episode.

So to set the scene, in When You’re Lost in the Darkness, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Tess (Anna Torv) were charged with taking Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to the Fireflies in the old statehouse. Still, when they arrived in Infected, no one was left alive, and soon Tess had to sacrifice herself to let the others escape. On the road, Joel has few options, bar an old contact Bill (Nick Offerman), who lives in Lincoln, a town near Boston. But it has been a couple of years since he was last there, and Joel does not know if he is still welcome alone. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.

When the episode opened, I was surprised that they didn’t keep the theme of starting with a cold open somewhere in the world before the start of the infection. However, that is because, besides the bookends of this episode, we spend all of our time in the past. This episode almost feels like one of those Doctor-lite episodes that ran during the David Tennent era of Doctor Who, where the main cast would be absent for most of the episode so they could film two episodes at once. Or maybe the feeling of a bottle episode, if you ignored the fact that you usually do a bottle episode to save money and take over an entire town, is not something you can do on the cheap.   

While there is this almost odd vibe going on with this episode, that can’t in any way take from what was a masterclass love story in the middle of the post-apocalypse. Bill has the luck of being a survivalist whose delusions turn out to be confirmed when he becomes the only person left standing after FEDRA clears out his town. He fortifies his town so he can live in peace with all the wine and guns he has stocked up. But it is the last place he expected to find love. Most of this episode rests on you buying the truncated relationship of Bill and Frank (Murray Bartlett), two people who fall in love and grow old together. Thanks to both actors’ commitment, I felt it worked, even if they had to grease the wheels a bit with On the Nature of Daylight.  

Bill and Frank’s story is a significant departure from the story in the game because their relationship is very different from what we get there. They don’t die in each other’s arms. In fact, a whole chapter with Bill in the infected town gets jettisoned for this new exploration of the backstory. However, I think this new narrative works better, at least on an emotional level. You still get the critical parts of the character with the safe house, booby traps, and debates about how best to survive in these times. The only major thing we lose with this new direction is that we miss the first introduction of the Bloater. There will be a lot of discussion in and around how the show explored suicide and assisted dying, but I am not qualified to dive into them. If there is one weakness this week, it is the Joel and Ellie bookends, which can’t compare to the emotional heights of the rest of the episode. Even though Ellie being in a car for the first time was a delight.

In the end, do we recommend The Last of Us – Long Long Time? Yes, we do. Each episode is building from strength to strength. I am glad that they are experimenting with the narrative design and the adaptation so there will be something here for both new viewers and those coming from the game.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen The Last of Us yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.   
 
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Last of Us
Directed by – Peter Hoar
Written by – Craig Mazin
Created by – Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann
Based On – The Last of Us by Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog
Production/Distribution Companies – Naughty Dog, PlayStation Productions, Sony Pictures Television, The Mighty Mint, Word Games, HBO & Binge
Starring – Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey with Anna Torv, Nick Offerman & Murray Bartlett and Kevin Sateri, Marcus Aurelio & Rumbie Muzofa