The Last of Us - Setting The Bar High For Adaptations

By: Jeffery

When it was announced, I may have rolled my eyes. ANOTHER form of The Last of Us? There's already two games, one of which has been remastered and remade twice. As a gamer, all you ever hear is how TLoU is the best game ever and the story will never be topped. Now there will be a show? Yeesh

Full admission, I never played the games. I couldn't bring myself to. After hearing how great they were for so long, it killed my interest. Plus, it didn't look all that exciting. I did finally try the first one a few months before the show. Meh. stopped playing after about 2 hours. I thought it was boring

Fast Forward to January 2023. The show is getting close and we decide to check it out. My wife is a huge Game of Thrones fan so it's an easy sell. Two actors from GoT? sign her up. Especially world famous Game of Thrones actor Pedro Pascal. Oh, and remember Chernobyl? Well that, guy is creating/writing this. Craig Mazin, absolute genius

I settle down for that first episode and wow. Joel and Sarah have me crying. Maybe it's because it's real people and not video game characters? Not that has stopped me before. Plenty of videogames have gotten me teary eyed. I'm really digging this Joel guy tho. I think Pascal does a fantastic job with the character

Episode 3 - Long,Long Time was absolutely beautiful and Nick Offerman couldn't of played it any better. For me tho, my awakening was Episode 4 - Please Hold My Hand

At the very end, Joel and Ellie share a moment and you see Joel starting to let his guard down. He laughs at one of her puns after telling her how stupid it was. As I watched that, I had the same reaction. I said that was so stupid as I laughed out loud with Joel and Ellie. In that moment, I felt a weird connection with these characters, more so Joel. It almost felt like we were laughing together. A very surreal moment for me. I immediately started a new playthrough of the game. 

I'm a few hours in now and loving it by the way.

I love this show. To me, it is absolute perfection. Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal knock it out of the park. I honestly couldn't imagine better casting. The human connection is so real. I feel for Joel. Is he the hero? A villain? Is it because I'm a father to a little girl? Is anything real?

The Last of Us isn't about the Cordyceps. It's not even about the settlements and cannibal gangs roaming about. It's about love and how it makes you see the world. It's impossible to see the world the same when you care for something more than that world. Black, White, Grey; these choices don't matter. Joel is making them regardless.

Overall, I give the entire season a 10 out of 10. 12 out of 10 with rice. I thought it was absolutely perfect in every way. I now can't wait to beat the game so that I can agonize over whether or not to play TLoU2 before Season 2 comes out or wait