For me, 2013’s The Last of Us did something special because of Ashley Johnson and some of the storytelling leading up to that ending. Played almost passively, you can/will look past the issues of character that is the end of Joel’s story, especially when drawn in to care for Ellie. After a childhood filled with cartoon characters, including Gretchen Grundler, I subconsciously connected the two voices as played by Johnson and immediately cared for Ellie. Though for me the entire franchise ends on that ridge when he lies. I can see why many are disappointed about an hour before that point.

I’ve stated many times that a good story in a game is only good because it is a game, and a film or TV show only works because it is made for that medium. HBO’s The Last of Us did a lot right while retaining the core that the game still has. The beats might be different but the central theme of awful people just trying to survive is maintained. Make no mistake, The Last of Us is about awful-unlikable people, a specialty that Naughty Dog has made its entire ethos for the company. Fetus Holland can’t even give Nathan Drake any charm.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, on the other hand, are nothing short of perfect in the casting. I can’t think of another two that could capture the energy of the sources while creating their own chemistry. One of the strongest elements throughout the nine episodes was these two giving just the right look, just the right line, and just the right beat for each moment. Though I have my issues with Neil Druckmann, it is a credit to both him and Craig Mazin who is best known for the extremely depressing and well-done Chernobyl.

If you were to look at the show primarily from a viewing perspective, some might say that the adaptation worked so well because it stayed so close to the game. I don’t think that’s the case. The reason it works comes from what was creatively changed while maintaining the elements of the source material. Shifting those beats just a little from where they were in the game to make them work for TV is what makes The Last of Us become an outlier to the game adaptation curse. Not all of it worked, but what worked made the show accessible to share even with those that don’t know the game.

HBO’s show does heavily change three significant moments throughout the game, one for the betterment of not only the franchise but all of TV, and the other I’d rather do without if I’m honest. Bury your gays is something I’ve spoken about in passing and we’ve covered in great detail the harm it does. Knowing the details about Bill and Frank going in I was prepared to be greatly disappointed. My only experience with Nick Offerman is my disdain for Parks and Recreation and thinking he was okay in We’re the Millers (a really meh movie). I wasn’t prepared to love him so deeply.

There are several main castings (and one additional) that I think are perfect. Joel and Ellie are included, but going into every episode I almost had a hint of apprehension over someone. Nick was one of them, though I was highly critical when he was announced based on my prior knowledge. Nico Parker’s Sarah was another I was uncertain about initially as Sarah is the first “I really care about you” moment, but she blows it out of the park. Then of course the other big uncertainty following Bill and Frank was Keivonn Woodard’s Sam and Lamar Johnson’s Henry, two critical characters that needed to be done well.

Credit to Craig and Neil in writing as well as both alongside Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, and Ali Abbasi’s direction, the big moments felt big. When Ellie is revealed to be infected outside the QZ, this is the third change, and for the better. It showcases that Joel isn’t a good person from the outset. Where that strong storytelling fell apart for me especially was the point we get to Kansas City and Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen. For better or worse, Kathleen was just another Gregory, Jadis, Simon, and so on in that new season of The Walking Dead vein, she was a supervillain without the bark to back up the bite.

The only villain that had bark and bite was Scott Shepherd’s David, a genuinely creepy and well-written villain that did enough to deserve the end he gets both in the game and in the show. “When We Are in Need” spends the time and energy to make you hate David on almost every level, unlike Kathleen who feels like someone just giving orders and is propelled by off-screen nonsense we don’t know or care about. For David, the beats of it being his men at the university, the cannibalism, the abusive power trip, and the hebephilia are correctly on show. Kathleen only has the hunt for Sam and Henry.

Long before we get there, the opening scene with John Hannah as Dr. Neuman/the most depressing Scottish man in an opening scene does exactly that. It works due to the scene setting the pacing and the reality of the show, grounding the possibility of such a serious fungal infection spreading to humans by pointing to something we know: climate change. It is a wonderful scene greatly enhanced by Hannah holding just a little bit of his accent back, almost sounding smug in his correctness before we see the world turn inside out 50 years later. It is a fantastic tone-setting scene.

Though if we’re going to talk about the fantastic and near-perfect, we have to talk about “Long, Long Time.” Named after and heavily featuring Linda Ronstadt’s song of the same name, the canonical backstory of how Bill and Frank met is brilliant, and arguably a better love story than the hatred in the game. Tutting the aforementioned bury your gays with the assisted suicide aside because it was an inevitability, this was an incredible love story. Not because they were gay but because it was an honest love story about two people and didn’t make it about them being gay.

As a result of “Long, Long Time” showcasing Bill and Frank as individuals that have honest arguments over little things like using paint with the survivalist looking at it as a resource, they feel like a couple and not just a performance. The chemistry between Nick and Murray arrests any hesitation I had over Nick’s past performances to the point I want to see him in more serious roles. It was an episode punctuated beautifully by the effect Tess had on both Joel and Bill’s lives with that letter. However, I think it would have been more effective if it weren’t for a change to the cordyceps mythos for the show.

I wouldn’t mind the change from the spores to the tendrilly mouth things if it weren’t for one scene that feels entirely unnecessary. Tess’ death is an inevitability that was always going to end in that state house, even if some of those beats slightly change for the betterment of the overall show. Though passing off her last moment as a hero’s last hurrah with that tendril tonsil tennis doesn’t sit well for a number of reasons. She’s already earmarked for death, why are we being redundant and why is it a hero moment?

Anna Torv was great in her role as Joel’s partner, but possibly due to the writing, I felt she did more in death than she did in life for the story. Similarly, Gabriel Luna’s brilliantly performed Tommy felt like he did more as Joel’s MacGuffin than as a character to care about on his own. That’s actually a similar problem in the game if I’m entirely honest. Merle Dandridge is brilliant in reprising her role as Marlene. Though I think for Marlene to still be the main villain of the show for that finale, I needed some other beats or something more to make her someone to root against.

Those 14 hours of playing as Joel and Ellie almost benefit that ending more than passively watching the story does. As I’ve said, though I know it doesn’t excuse what Joel does: A good story in a game works because it is a game and not a TV show or a film. This isn’t a conversation of “was it right for Joel to be selfish” or whatever you read from the ending of both iterations of The Last of Us. My point is that with that interaction and connection, you almost excuse the lack of definition on whether Ellie’s death would have saved the world, yet passively watching a show makes it difficult to do so.

The game benefited most when you could superimpose yourself into Joel and feel responsibility for Ellie with that almost parental supervision. Some moments highlight that and try to do the same magic, but because it is a show you’re sitting back to watch and the effect of the trick doesn’t entirely work all the time. When Ellie watches Joel beat the QZ guard after the flashback to the moment with Sarah, you feel that moment. When Joel finally says “it’s okay baby girl” after she’s killed David, you feel that moment. The joy with the Giraffe, the smiles with Sam, and the happiness with Riley are moments you feel.

That said, the finale felt rushed like we just needed to get through it rather than make it mean anything. The charm and overall excitement of seeing those scenes from the game transposed to big-budget TV fell away, and we were left with cynicism and depression. The chemistry of Pascal and Ramsey, the charm of The Last of Us to that point, and the writing quality paved over that cynical tone that is present throughout but didn’t sustain long enough when it mattered. The curse of game adaptation was staved off long enough to make this exemplary but understandably didn’t stick the landing.

Ultimately, HBO’s The Last of Us hit all the right beats, did the work to stand out, and had magnificent chemistry between many of its stars. However, when it needed the time to hold its position and retain the acclaim across the board, it stumbled on the dismount. It wavered at moments when our main two weren’t the focus (outside of Bill and Frank), making The Last of Us far from perfect. Though when taking into account that I had a lot of apprehensions and came out loving a majority of it, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s The Last of Us was great. With that said, I won’t be watching season 2.

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The Last of Us Season 1

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• The chemistry between Pedro and Bella.
• Brilliant casting up and down the board.
• A great adaptation that changed what it needed for the medium to work.
• "Long, Long Time" is a highlight of the season.

Cons

• Kathleen felt like just another Walking Dead filler villain of mid-season TV.
• That finale felt rushed, getting it over with rather than making it mean anything.