Tag Archives: Melanie Lynskey

The Last of Us: Look for the Light & Season 1– TV Review

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TL;DR – In a show about the end of the world, this is the first episode to truly explore the levels of violence that could be found in the ruins of the old world.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Running for safety.

The Last of Us Review –

When I started watching this season a couple of months ago, I came in with some trepidation. To begin with, many video game adaptations had fallen flat because those adapting them didn’t understand the genre or were embarrassed with the course material. Something that had already happened to one of Playstation’s marquee programs. Second, I was just coming off the masterclass of post-apocalyptic fiction with Station Eleven, and I knew I would constantly be comparing the two. But watching this first season, all my fears evaporated in amazement at what I was watching.    


So to set the scene, we open in the woods outside of Boston where a young woman Anna (Ashley Johnson), is running through the trees as screams erupt behind her. She is about to give birth, but the fungus waits for no one, and the walker bursts through a door as the contractions are coming. Fighting the creature off, she gives birth only to see she has been bitten on the leg. She cuts the umbilical cord before contamination could happen and entrusts the little baby Ellie into the care of her best friend Marlene (Merle Dandridge). In the show’s current timeline, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have made it to the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and the end of their journey is near. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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The Last of Us: Endure and Survive – TV Review

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TL;DR – This week, we wallow in the murky grey of a fallen world.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

A child's drawing on the wall.

The Last of Us Review –

One of the strengths of any great post-apocalypse literature is the way it uses the setting to tell human stories. It changes it from exploitative media to one examining the human condition. But that involves a story that steps out of the accessible black-and-white realm of narrative storytelling and into the murky world of grey.   

So to set the scene, it is about ten days before Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) make their way into Kansas City and the city is awash in celebrations and an orgy of violence. The old FEDRA government has been taken down, and across the city, members of FEDRA and their collaborators are being hunted down and exterminated by the new leader Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey). Outside of the QZ, Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his brother Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard) are on the run from Kathleen and are almost out of food when a pickup crashes into a laundromat across the road, and a new opportunity arises. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.

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The Last of Us: Please Hold to My Hand – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is the first almost filler episode, where it exists to set up next week’s episode, but it is still an engaging 45 minutes of tv.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

A collapsed train bridge.

The Last of Us Review –

After last week’s Long Long Time, very emotionally heavy episode, it is good that we can take a step back from that this week. But this is the week where we get more of the vibes of where the show will go and some of the challenges that will be in the way.

So to set the scene, after leaving the relative safety of Bill’s town, Ellie (Pedro Pascal) and Joel (Bella Ramsey) slowly make their way across America, filling up the car every hour or so because the gasoline is not as good as it used to be. But when the way past Kansas City is blocked at a tunnel, Joel risks cutting through the city to get back on the highway, which is where they get ambushed. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.

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