At the start of the series, we learn it has been 20 years since a deadly fungus wiped out much of society and resulted in violence and anarchy. The remaining survivors have been relegated to “quarantine zones” run by the government agency FEDRA. Among the survivors is Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal, the internet’s “daddy”), who has been tasked with safely transporting 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) from their quarantine zone in Boston all the way to Wyoming, largely by foot. Ellie may hold the key to humanity’s survival: She was bitten by the fungus, but somehow is immune to infection.
Gruff and taciturn Joel, who lost his daughter in the ensuing violence at the start of the pandemic, reluctantly becomes a father figure to cheeky and sassy Ellie. As they move through bleak, apocalyptic wastelands and encounter obstacle after obstacle, they gradually warm to each other, like at the end of Episode 3, when they finally share a moment of laughter.
It’s also the episode that marked a huge turning point for the series itself, and proved it was so much more than it seemed on the surface. The primary portion of the episode, titled “Long, Long Time,” tells the story of Joel’s friends Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), rewinding back to when they first met earlier in the pandemic. Bill takes in Frank, and the two fall in love. Together, they find moments of joy and build a little piece of heaven in the abandoned town where they live. Over the years, they grow old together. And in the episode’s climactic scene, which left many viewers emotionally wrecked, they die together.
After being a bit skeptical of the first two episodes, I finally understood the hype surrounding the show. However, because it was a standalone episode that departed from the show’s main plot, I worried whether the rest of the show would live up to the high bar it had now set.
But the show returns again and again to identifying human moments and focusing on its characters, major or minor. Episode 4 introduces a two-episode arc featuring the brilliant Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, the leader of the resistance group against FEDRA. Any time Lynskey shows up in anything, you know it’s time to pay attention. And in the show’s latest episode, “Endure and Survive,” we once again meet some new characters: Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his younger brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard), who is deaf.
Toward the end of the episode, they make plans for Henry and Sam to join Joel and Ellie’s westward journey. But by the next morning, Sam has become infected. In the ensuing conflict, Henry accidentally shoots Sam. Devastated, Henry then turns the gun on himself. Cue more emotional wreckage.
It may seem simple and obvious: Of course a great show needs character development and moments away from the action. These give the story added stakes. By spending time with individual characters (and the great actors who portray them), we feel emotionally invested, even in characters who make brief appearances. It’s why it’s impossible not to feel moved by Bill and Frank and Sam and Henry’s devastating storylines; and to feel some empathy for Kathleen, even though she’s caused so much destruction.
However, it’s undeniable that these deviations from the game have made the show better. An adaptation generally succeeds when it retains core principles of the original material, while also adding something new and giving newcomers an entry point into the material. The richly developed characters and more understated emotional scenes on “The Last of Us” do exactly that.
This content was originally published here.
