On January 10th, MySeries got the opportunity to preview the first episode of the new HBO series The Last of Us. Zombies are not new, post-apocalypse stories are not new, and even adaptations of games are not new. Yet, it seems that HBO does have something new here. The first episode of their brand-new show The Last of Us is a captivating first chapter of what can be an amazing first season of a new HBO hit.
First things first. The show is based on the 2013 video game of the same name. The premise is simple yet terrifying: what if fungi evolve in such a way that they can infect humans? This is not-so-subtly foreshadowed at the very beginning of the episode. We watch a 1960s TV interview in which a scientist explains this frighting possibility. Of course, the remainder of the episode shows that this indeed becomes reality.
The first part is set in 2003. Our main character, Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal, The Mandalorian), is introduced as we see his pre-apocalypse life in a small town in Texas. We meet his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker, Dumbo) and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as they go about their life. When watching, you know what will happen, but this does not make it boring. On the contrary; you slowly watch the characters realize that they are in significant trouble. It is quite clear where the story is going for us, but the characters are painfully unaware until it is too late. This part is filmed and performed in such a way that it is captivating even though you know exactly what is going to happen before it does. The end of the first part is, like the start of the game, gut-wrenching.
The second part of the episode is set in the present. Joel has become a smuggler in Boston, which has turned into a safe haven for those that managed to stay uninfected. Or, at least, that is what is propagated by the military group that governs it. Not everyone believes this military group is doing such a good job; the rebel group the Fireflies believe the military dictatorship needs to end and fight to ensure its demise. We quickly find out in this second part that the Fireflies have captured a girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Game of Thrones) and that they want to get her out of the city. Once everything goes sideways, Joel and his partner Tess (Anna Torv, Mindhunter) get involved and are tasked with getting her out of the city. And so the story commences.
The story itself is not necessarily that innovative, so what makes the show so good? First of all, the acting is phenomenal. The emotions (or perhaps, suppression thereof in Joel’s case) are brought to the screen very well by both Pascal (first and second part) and Parker (first part). Ramsey manages to bring an Ellie to the screen that is both a brat, intrigued by what’s out there, and scared, sometimes all at the same time. My only critique would be that the brat is sometimes a bit over-the-top, but this is a minor point of criticism.
It shows how our very normal, everyday world can turn into a disaster
Besides that, the world-building that takes place shows how our very normal, everyday world can turn into a disaster. The show emphasizes (sometimes literally) that the scariest thing out there is not necessarily the fungus; it is what people are capable of in a disaster like this. And it is what you see; we see how everyone tries to survive, by fighting, by being in the military, by smuggling, or sometimes just by doing crappy jobs such as burning the bodies of those infected for a little bit of money. In this sense, the show is terrifying in its seemingly realistic depiction of what life would be like after the apocalypse: if you were to survive, you will have lost your loved ones and you will end up in poverty, cleaning the sewers or burning the bodies of children.
The real question now is whether the creators of the show (which are, by the way, the same creators as those of Chernobyl) can keep up the quality throughout the rest of the season and any seasons that may come. This first chapter is promising, at least.
The Last of Us will air starting on January 15th on HBO Max.
About the writer, Nienke de Boode
She started with watching NCIS, CSI and Bones, but over time her passion for TV shows has grown to what it is today, with dozens of shows that need to be watched. You can always wake her up for a good crime show, but she is also open to different things. Comedy and fantasy are on her list of favourites as well. Since October 2014, she also writes for MySeries to combine her love for TV shows and writing.
Oh how incredibly cool that you have already seen the pilot! I have already read many American reviews, which made me even more enthusiastic. Can't wait for the 15th!
I never played the video game, but I too was extremely impressed with the first episode. It reminded me of the early episodes of The Walking Dead, when everything was still raw and unpredictable and the emotion and action were extremely well balanced. Let's hope The Last of Us doesn't go down the path of The Walking Dead.
I don't have a Playstation, so it's a shame that I was never able to play The Last of Us. Now I can't watch the series because I don't have HBO... Oh well... we can come up with something for the latter.
