Summary: The zombie apocalypse happens and Joel’s daughter dies in the chaos. 20 years later, Joel is a smuggler working with Tess, his partner. They are given Ellie, a girl who is immune, and tasked with bringing her across the country by the Fireflies, a terrorist group fighting military control. Joel and Tess leave Boston with Ellie but Tess is bitten and dies soon after. Joel and Ellie slowly grow closer as they travel together. They meet Henry and Sam in Kansas and help them escape, but both of them die. Joel and Ellie go to Wyoming where Joel finds his brother Tommy in a new settlement. Joel and Ellie leave to a Firefly hideout but they have left and Joel gets injured. Ellie nurses him back to health through the winter and has a close call with another group of survivors. Joel and Ellie make it to the Fireflies and Joel learns they have to kill Ellie to make a cure. Not willing to let this happen, Joel kills everyone and takes Ellie out, lying to her about what happened.
The Good: Zombies have developed something of a bad reputation in the media in recent decades. Overexposure to formulaic zombie games, the longevity of “The Walking Dead” and its many spin-offs, and the release of dozens of zombie movies in the early 2000s has made the concept of zombies feel as unoriginal and overdone as your average teenage drama show. But contrary to the norm, “The Last of Us” shines because of its unique spin on a post-apocalyptic TV show. Zombies have been done before, but never like this. This show manages to make the outbreak feel so real and terrifying in a way that most other forms of media fail to. Most striking is the fact that we’re given a very plausible reasoning behind the outbreak, with fungus taking over the bodies of humans resulting in a fast-spreading disease that can’t be cured. So many excellent scenes early in the show make this feel absolutely terrifying. The first scene of the show establishes the concept in a creative and engaging way, and the first scene of the second episode shows how futile resistance is and how screwed humanity is in the face of this fungus. These scenes together also nicely show how humanity had the capacity to anticipate this problem, but it was ignored and now we pay the price for it. These two scenes captivate through showing how man is often at the mercy of powers beyond our control, and the way these ideas are communicated is reminiscent of “Chernobyl”, which is very high praise to give to a zombie show. As good as the premise might be, we need a strong emotional core and a compelling story to make it worth investing in this world. Thankfully, the show immediately understands this and focuses on giving us that emotional core from the very first episode. There is a terrific sequence in the first episode that shows the sheer chaos that comes about from the zombie apocalypse, but everything that we see is from the perspective of Joel and Sarah. The first few scenes in this time period are fixated on the bond these two have, while we subtly realize what’s going on in the background, and that is far more terrifying as we can do nothing but hope that these characters realize what’s happening and get out okay. The fantastic outbreak sequence works so well because we are invested in Joel, Sarah, and Tommy and seeing them gradually give in to fear and the primal need for survival in the face of such horrors is absolutely engaging. By the end of the sequence, Sarah is dead and Joel is in tears, and the show has successfully emotionally invested us into the narrative before the real story even begins. This is masterful storytelling and is a textbook example of how to hook an audience to get the most out of the story you are telling. The emotional core doesn’t end there either. The best thing about this show is that the premise of a zombie apocalypse never takes over the show, and it certainly never distracts from the emotional core. And that core is the relationship between Joel and Ellie. At its heart, this show is never about the zombies or about how the world ended. It’s about a man who rediscovers his humanity by connecting with a loveable young girl that reminds him of his deceased daughter. This is such a beautiful idea for a story, and there is loads of emotional impact within these 9 episodes. Joel and Ellie are well-written characters beautifully realized by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. These characters feel real in their mannerisms, behaviour, and their interactions with one another. Because of this, it’s easy to invest and care about them, elevating every single episode of the show because I’m so interested in seeing how they develop. Joel is a hardened survivor who does what’s necessary, which is always refreshing in a post-apocalyptic show. But he’s not static, and throughout the season he learns what it’s like to have somebody to care about again and to love someone again, a sweet human story to tell with a character who looked like he lost his humanity decades ago. Meanwhile Ellie is a really well-written teenager who is smart and sarcastic, while also still being unaware of the realities of the world around her in certain ways. She is able to ground Joel through her wacky interactions with him, while Joel is able to teach Ellie what she needs to know in order to survive. Their relationship is natural, develops beautifully throughout the seasons, and culminates with such a fascinating change following Joel’s decision to murder all of the Fireflies in the season finale. Every episode offers something new to this relationship, and I was thoroughly entertained following these two for all nine episodes. Another constant delight throughout this first season was the world-building. The visuals in this show look absolutely incredible, and they sell this post-apocalyptic world to me, making it feel more real than what would be possible in a lower budget show. Every episode offered some new visuals and locations, and I was consistently amused by Ellie’s reactions to sights that she has never seen before. But even more than the visuals, I looked forward to seeing the new people that Joel and Ellie would encounter in every episode. So much of the allure of this world came from seeing what kinds of different societies existed in this world and what kinds of people populate it. Nearly every episode showed us new groups of people and told us new stories that were engaging and intriguing to follow. Some stories were expanded on greatly, with Bill and Frank’s relationship being an enormous highlight, as was Henry and Sam’s story. But even other smaller characters were fun to meet, like the old couple in the cabin. Every new episode offered a fun new group and a fun new story. I mentioned Bill and Frank already, and I found their arc to be one of the most beautiful and compelling parts of the show. Kathleen’s settlement had issues (see: The Bad), but I was gripped by Henry and Sam’s story as these two poor kids try to evade a literal manhunt. Tommy’s successful communist settlement was unique, and it was nice to see a successful and peaceful group instead of sheer brutality for once. Lastly, I quite enjoyed the time we spent with David’s settlement, and the cannibalism twist was very affecting. The Bad: I praised the way this show handled the zombie apocalypse, and I stand by that. But I have to ask, where the hell are all of the infected? They have a presence in the first couple episodes, but as the show goes on they seem to be mysteriously absent. I get that the show may have wanted to reduce the needless action sequences from the game, but I find it hard to believe that the infected have such a limited presence in this world. It raises the question of why FEDRA can’t take back the world, because it seems like the infected are hardly even around anymore. Furthermore, this show has such great world-building, but I need to see the infected roaming the abandoned areas to buy into this world being uninhabitable and the show does not give us that. Zombies are good in small doses and can provide thrilling action sequences, but the show never lives up to the potential that a zombie apocalypse can provide, especially with zombies as ruthless, fast, and terrifying as the ones presented in this show. I really wish that this season had been longer, maybe 13 episodes or so. What makes TV stand out compared to movies is its longevity. We invest so much time with the characters in a TV show, and that longevity allows us to grow to care for these characters so much more than in a movie because we spend so much time with them and grow attached. This show had such compelling characters in Joel and Ellie, but I never felt like I cared about them as much as I should have because I didn’t get that sense of attachment through longevity with them. This hurt the show later in its run especially as some of the more emotional moments didn’t hit as hard as they otherwise could have. Additionally, several episodes in this show spent long periods of time away from Joel and Ellie (“Long, Long Time”, “Endure and Survive”, “Left Behind”), giving us an even smaller amount of time with them. Because of that, I wish the show had been longer so that we could spend more time growing attached to these characters and the bond that they have. There’s certainly potential to tell more stories in this world and to create more problems for Joel and Ellie to solve, so the show feeling stretched out surely would not be an issue. Budget may be a factor, but this show was always going to be a hit, so having some extra episodes would not have hurt. Perhaps I am being a bit greedy here, but this show could have gone from great to amazing if we had a little bit more time to grow attached with Joel and Ellie in between the huge story moments that we got in every episode. A few specific storylines didn’t work too well for me. Ellie’s flashback with Riley was executed well and told a nice story, but its lackadaisical pacing, predictable outcome, and lack of suspense hurt it badly. The Kansas City settlement was the weakest and least compelling group of people, and I couldn’t quite buy into the idea of it. Kathleen was miscast and poorly executed, and I never bought into her as a leader that inspires her followers to commit the volatile deeds that they did. Best Episodes: E01 When You’re Lost in the Darkness: An instantly engaging pilot episode that’s particularly helped by its exceptional 30 minute opening sequence that tells a compelling story surrounding the outbreak with Sarah’s death being an enormous gut punch to cap it off. E03 Long, Long Time: The best episode of the show. This episode is primarily focused on the story of Bill and Frank and develops their relationship with beautiful realism, before concluding it in a heartbreaking and powerful way. Add on some quality scenes with Joel and Ellie, and this episode is a huge winner. E05 Endure and Survive: This one wasn’t without its flaws, but the story of Henry and Sam was engaging and memorable, concluding with the devastating deaths of both characters. Worst Episodes: E07 Left Behind: There isn’t a bad episode in this show, but this one is the weakest and most flawed of the bunch. It tells a decent story with good acting and writing, but the episode drags on without any suspense, testing my patience at numerous points. Conclusion: “The Last of Us” had a great first season. Yes, I have my quibbles because I’m mean, but looking beyond those, the experience of this first season was nearly magical. This is a story that understands the value of immersion into a world, and emotional investment into its characters, two essential aspects of a great TV show that often get overlooked by many TV shows out there. This dedication to storytelling values ensures that every episode has me invested, every character beat is interesting to follow, and every suspenseful scene has me at the edge of my seat. This show works very well and will provide entertainment to everyone. I also have to address that this show is an adaptation of a video game. As an adaptation, this is absolutely as good as it gets. And for people who question the purpose of this adaptation, I have to bring up how the existence of this show has allowed people who have never picked up a video game to experience the beautiful story of “The Last of Us” while providing another version of this story for existing fans of the game. This first season is a great standalone season for everyone, and while it isn’t perfect, it’s a show that I can comfortably recommend to just about anyone. Now, the challenge will be to continue this story in a compelling way. "The Walking Dead" was another zombie show with an excellent first season that fell off almost immediately. Hopefully this show remains compelling as it continues.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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