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The Last of Us – Season 1

HBO’s The Last of Us is a hit that rarely misses.

In 2013 the game studio Naughty Dog released The Last of Us. The game was a departure from the studio’s jovial action-adventure Uncharted series. Unlike Uncharted, The Last of Us was carried with dark undertones, horror, and survival elements. As time goes by the esteem this game garners has only grown, and today has solidified itself as a landmark game that is still stylised by PlayStation first party titles. A sequel was released in 2020 taking place after the events of the first game. Lastly a remake of the first game was released last year bringing the game up to scuff with modern gameplay and graphics in anticipation for the HBO show.

Since the launch of the game The Last of Us had been in the process of being developed into a feature film with Sam Raimi at the helm. Many video game properties were stuck in development hell finding it difficult to take an interactive property into a passive form of entertainment. The floodgates seem to be opening for video game adaptations now that HBO’s The Last of Us has given a workable blueprint to exploring an adaptation. Through standalone episodes and expanding on the world’s mythology HBO has made The Last of Us a unique television event that no longer belongs with gamers, but to everyone.

The Last of Us starts off with an interview from 1968 with a scientist talking about how he believes fungi is potentially much more worse than a virus or flu if there was to ever be a pandemic. The story then cuts to the day of the outbreak in 2003. Joel (Pedro Pascal), brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Joel’s daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), experience their last normal day letting us get a glimpse into their life. The day unfolds with things happening in the background that show things are not right, much like how Shaun of the Dead reveals the zombies to the audience unbeknownst to protagonist Shaun. Once nightfall hits everyone is consumed by the chaos. Joel, Tommy, and Sarah leave their homes immediately for an escape as they experience the terror of this “zombie” outbreak. Not everyone survives the night as (Redacted) dies in a shocking scene that is also a revelation of how gone society is.

Twenty years later and we’re in 2023. The world didn’t recover, it’s barely surviving. The government is corrupt, and fighting with a resistance group called the Fireflies. Joel is changed, his humour is gone, and his occupation is smuggling. Between the infighting Joel has made a steady living for government rations. After a smuggling deal goes wrong Joel finds himself forced to smuggle the teen girl Ellie (Bella Ramsey) for the Fireflies to another town. The episode ends with another reveal that will answer what Ellie’s importance is to the Fireflies. The two will journey across the country over the span of a year to smuggle Ellie to her destination, between raiders and zombies this will not be easy. This is just the beginning of the journey and what an adventure it will be.

The high point of the season comes from the stand alone story of Bill and Frank found in episode three. Joel and Ellie bookend the episode to fit the story into the overarching narrative. The episode chronicles Bill (Nick Offerman), a conspiracy and survivalist hermit, and Frank (Murray Bartlett) who finds haven in Bill’s Town come to live in this world post outbreak. It is one of the most moving episodes of television that will bring tears to your eyes. It’s an episode that shows us why these people choose to live in a world filled with fear and destruction. The answer is love, and the fact that these two can share that for twenty years is why life is worth fighting for. If there was an episode you wanted to show off to someone uninterested in the show, put this episode on and this will have them invested.

HBO has always been particularly good with standalone episodes. By using them in The Last of Us reveals how we can learn more about the world and leave the confines of the game in favour of new material. After the reception to the Bill and Frank episode I’m sure HBO is looking into a spin-off show that can look at new characters and stories in the world. The thing about Joel and Ellie is it’s just one small story in this world, and there are so many more that can be explored in other characters if they can find an interesting narrative thread worthy of a spin-off.

The greatest weakness of The Last of Us is that we don’t get to spend enough time with Joel and Ellie together. The game has one of the greatest bonds and as Joel we would do anything for these two characters because we share so much time together. In HBO’s The Last of Us we spend small bursts with the two characters together. Two episodes of the nine are stand alone episodes, one has Joel out of commission, the first episode barely has Ellie in it. Overall, there are like five episodes where there is any time for the two characters to bond, but I don’t know if that’s enough time to earn the emotional payoff to come in the next season.

The Last of Us season one is a show well executed. I wouldn’t say it is one of the greatest shows ever, not even close, but it’s fun event television. The show will not replace my enjoyment or my continued replays of the game in the future. It’s nice knowing that the story and characters are breaking outside the sphere of gaming and into the greater pop culture. I fear the wait for season two will be a couple of years away, so you have time to experience the two games in the mean time. If you are yet to experience it, The Last of Us is a must watch.

Robert Ring

Check out my review for The Last of Us: Part 1 HERE

HBO to Renew ‘The Last of Us’

With record breaking numbers HBO should be renewing The Last of Us for a second season imminently.

Streaming has changed how we look at numbers for film and television, we no longer rely on just the premiere numbers. With that in mind only two episodes of HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ have aired with the second episode breaking records. The first episode premiered with 4.7 Million views, and after the first week that count was at 18 Million. Episode two premiered with 5.7 Million marking the platform’s largest second episode viewership for their original dramas. With that amount of growth it is also likely to surpass the 18 Million views after a week.

Budget wise you are looking at roughly $10 Million per episode this season, and it doesn’t seem like a show that needs to up that budget in production costs like Game of Thrones. HBO’s The Last of Us may tow the line closer to Westworld, yet unlike it people will continue to watch this show. House of the Dragon was trying to stay under $20 Million per episode so there is no doubt HBO will be happy to run this show alongside it.

If I was to speculate further, there will be a two year delay between season one and two, as they have some work to do in deciding season 2. If they don’t choose to make a new story in-between the events of the first and second game they are going to have to decide how to crack the dual narrative of the game’s sequel.

It will be interesting to see what the finale numbers will be for this season of The Last of Us as everyone will be tuning in to see if they change the ending, as they’ve made minor adjustments so far. Are you excited for more of HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’?

Robert Ring

The Last of Us – TV Show

A story now not only for gamers, but for people from all walks of life.

The Last of Us originated as a game from 2013, while it was not ahead of its time it set a new benchmark in narrative storytelling for gaming. Ten years later and the story is more fitting today than it was back then. The story starts off with an interview from 1968 with a scientist talking about how he believes fungi is potentially much more worse than a virus or flu if there was to ever be a pandemic. The story then cuts to the day of the outbreak in 2003. Joel (Pedro Pascal), brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Joel’s daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), experience their last normal day letting us get a glimpse into their life. The day unfolds with things happening in the background that show things are not right, much like how Shaun of the Dead reveals the zombies to the audience unbeknownst to protagonist Shaun. Once nightfall hits everyone is consumed by the chaos. Joel, Tommy, and Sarah leave their homes immediately for an escape as they experience the terror of this “zombie” outbreak. Not everyone survives the night as (Redacted) dies in a shocking scene that is also a revelation of how gone society is.

Twenty years later and we’re in 2023. The world didn’t recover, it’s barely surviving. The government is corrupt, and fighting with a resistance group called the Fireflies. Joel is changed, his humour is gone, and his occupation is smuggling. Between the infighting Joel has made a steady living for government rations. After a smuggling deal goes wrong Joel finds himself forced to smuggle the young girl Ellie (Bella Ramsey) for the Fireflies to another town. The episode ends with another reveal that will answer what Ellie’s importance is to the Fireflies. This is just the beginning of the journey and what an adventure it will be.

HBO did a phenomenal job at recreating the world seen in the original game. Unlike The Walking Dead the tone is near perfect. They didn’t artificially colourise the show to look gritty or dull. One of the beauties of The Last of Us is the beautiful new growth that has come out through all the cracks and crevices. The characters of Joel, and Sarah were given more characteristics. We see Joel is a hard worker trying to support his daughter by pulling double shifts. I like the way we get into Sarah’s psyche, she’s having a mental breakdown as we all probably would after seeing the world falling apart in an instant. The beginning prelude was a daring scene to start off with because if it felt the slightest bit campy you’ve made the world building feel campy. Surprisingly it worked to sell the realism, by subtitling hinting it was global warming that led to the fungi evolving to the outbreak. The thing that surprised me the most was how much I enjoyed watching the parts that weren’t in the game, in fact I rather them for the new experiences to the world I love so much.

Overall, The Last of Us is in good hands. Knowing where the story goes is one thing, however seeing what they do to expand the story is going to be the fun part.

For my review of The Last of Us: Part 1 click HERE

Robert Ring

The Last of Us: Part 1

A revision of the remake won’t be found here, and I’m ok with that. Actually, it’s my preference in a game like this. The Last of Us is primarily about the narrative. While it did change the standard for gameplay in third person action games, it will eventually become dated. So a refinement of the stellar gameplay while keeping everything as it was is just how I want to see titles like this preserved in the future.

From my perspective as a lover of film, we’ve been through all this before. There has been the famous George Lucas edits that have him replace characters with CGI some twenty years later, to directors cuts which can completely change the narrative (Donnie Darko) and don’t always make for a better film. There was a considerable amount of films being transferred to high definition with the noise and grain removed, thus making them seem oddly flat. It takes time and care to bring movies that were pre high def to high def. Games age out much faster than films, mainly by their gameplay mechanics, as we’ve finally hit a plateau for graphics. Every remake needs to be catered for separately. For something like Mega Man it is entirely possible to make additions, say further content. It just needs to be modernised, and that’s not to say 3D. For games like this it’s nice how they are collected with multiple games in the series. Usually you can swap between the original, which is always nice to have.

The story begins with one of the best openings in gaming history. We start off playing as Sarah, daughter of later protagonist Joel, as she is awaken in her suburban home to explosions. Sarah searches the house for her father Joel, when she finally sees him abruptly run into the house locking the door in a panic. A neighbour runs through the glass, resembling a human only by shape, and Joel shoots him dead as he lunges. They leave the house immediately with Joel’s brother Tommy and see that this is happening all over. You see terror everywhere; people running, houses on fire, and ZOMBIES. What follows is shocking and I won’t spoil it, but we then pick up years later to a much older and rugged Joel. The world has not recovered. People are living in shambles on day to day rations. Outside of any safe perimeter are Clickers, look they are zombies that are aesthetically cooler than any zombies we’ve seen in the medium. No cure has been found. There are factions that fight each other. So Joel in a trade for weapons is tasked with transporting a girl, Elle. A weird task, until they learn that she had been bit and didn’t turn. Elle is potentially a study for a cure to those who are turned after being bitten. The plot as told is fantastic, similarly like Children of Men, without zombies. For myself and most people it’s the relationship of Joel and Elle that we enjoy watching. All the little things add up and it’s the most rewarding relationship I’ve ever seen in a video game as journey through good and bad times with her by your side.

The Last of Us: Part 1 continues to show what a perfect game is and has the potential to be. Unless you have shot for shot comparisons in front of you, you won’t notice the difference, nor should you. This is a perfect way for newcomers to experience this masterpiece, and will be the preferred way to play it once people experience HBO’s live action The Last of Us tv show. To the point of the show it is starting to feel like the IP is getting oversaturated. Surprising for an IP with only two games to date. HBO’s series is looking like a winner, and the question of where it’s success will go once the first season is out remains to be seen. A season or two taking place between Part 1 and Part 2 has a lot of potential. However, Part 2 is a dramatic change in direction so for my curiosity I want to see where the show runners run with it.

This remake is controversial for being remade already as it came out originally back in 2013 and was remastered in 2014. Sure, the point can be made that it is unnecessary at this time, but I’m glad we have it for the PlayStation 5. The price point is expensive, so perhaps wait for a sale if you’ve already played it. Eventually it will end up in the PlayStation Plus Catalogue of games which is where it will remain, so the choice is yours to wait or buy.

Robert Ring