Watching The Last of Us TV show is a difficult task. I’ve played the game numerous times, watched others play the game, and viewed YouTube videos detailing all aspects of the game — theories, side stories, etc. In short, I’ve grown accustomed to specific story and character beats, so much so that whenever the show deviates from the source material, I get antsy.
In Episode 3, we’re introduced to Bill (played by a perfectly cast Nick Offerman), a roughneck survivor whose cynicism has overtaken his desire for companionship.
Now, when Joel and Ellie bump into Bill in the game, the man is an asshole willing to blast either of them to bits at the first sign of an infection. He gives no s— and spends much of his screen time verbally sparring with Ellie. “Go ahead and take all my food,” he says sarcastically. “By the looks of things, you could stand to lose some food,” Ellie snaps back. “Listen, you little s—,” he exclaims, pointing a machete at her face.
Eventually, tensions subside, and Bill leads Joel through his rainy, muddy, downtrodden neighborhood to find a vehicle that will carry him and Ellie to the Fireflies. At one point, Bill discusses a love affair with a partner that ultimately fell apart. He doesn’t say much about the relationship. After a series of brief skirmishes, the threesome runs into a house and finds said partner, Frank, hanging from the ceiling; he killed himself after getting bit by one of the infected. Bill angrily cuts him down, clearly put off by the grisly sight.
Moments later, Joel finds a letter from Frank in which the man details how much he hates Bill. In fact, he ran away because he couldn’t stand Bill’s set-in-your-ways attitude. When Joel shows the letter to Bill, he grumbles, “F—ing idiot,” and tosses the piece of paper away. The pair clearly had a romantic relationship, but it fell apart due to Bill’s paranoia — a sad commentary on the state of this dystopian society.
HBO’s iteration explores this relationship further but makes some head-scratching changes. I’m all for good character development and was always curious to see what happened to the pair of star-crossed lovers. Rather than follow the beats of the game, the series pivots and allows Bill and Frank to live a mostly peaceful life during which the pair paints, work out, enjoy romantic walks through sunshine-drenched neighborhoods, and pick fresh strawberries. Eventually, Frank gets sick, and the couple decides to share one final meal together — after a decade, they still have wine? — before committing suicide. Life isn’t so bad after all unless you get sick at a very old age.
Joel only meets Bill in a brief flashback, but he and Ellie never meet up with the character during the present-day storyline. They do find a letter from Bill addressed to Joel, but this one is quite different from the one written by Frank in the game:
“I used to hate the world and I was happy when everyone died,” Bill writes. “But I was wrong. Because there was one person worth saving. That’s what I did: I saved him. And I protected him. That’s why men like you and me are here: We have a job to do. God help any motherf—ers who stand in our way.”
This felt like a strange detour, but maybe that’s only because I’ve played the game too many times. It would have been more interesting if the showrunners stuck closer to the game and revealed how Bill and Frank’s relationship evolved and eventually deteriorated due to Bill’s stubborn sensibilities. Imagine seeing Bill and Frank forge a relationship, live together in harmony for a time, then eventually split up and go their separate ways after some chance encounters cause Bill to rethink his strategy. Then, when Joel and Ellie arrive, they find Bill bitter and alone. Later, they discover Frank hanging in a house with bite marks all over his body — depressing, to be sure, but isn’t that more in line with The Last of Us?
This is the problem with moving away from Joel’s perspective. We gain unnecessary details at the expense of exciting game moments — what, no subway battle? After three-plus hours, we’ve had a surprisingly limited amount of action and/or infected sequences. Hell, Joel and Ellie have yet to come across another batch of humans or infected despite wandering around the outskirts of Boston for quite some time. The world appears surprisingly civilized.
The Last of Us TV series feels more like a drama punctuated by a few brief moments of horror rather than a horror/survivor story punctuated by moments of character drama.
It’s not bad, just not what I was expecting. There’s plenty of good material here.
There’s a great scene in the third episode where Joel details how the pandemic came about. His brief dialogue works better than those two painfully dull prologues in Episodes 1 and 2. We don’t need a 30-minute sequence of an unnamed doctor telling us the world is f—ed when a brief shot of a crashed airplane can tell the same story more succinctly. At one point, Joel wearily stares at a ditch littered with human remains. We get the gist.
The Last of Us video game works so well because it’s about the relationship that develops between Joel and Ellie during their wild journey across a desolate America. They bump into all sorts of weirdos, battle enemies, forge for food in abandoned houses, wander through empty schools and shopping centers, and get a glimpse of the world as it was before the s— hit the fan. Each experience pulls them closer together, paving the way for the controversial conclusion.
In the game, when Joel bumps into Bill, he sees an eerie reflection of himself and realizes how much he does not want a life of solitude. Relationships are crucial to survival, an important stepping stone on his journey.
After discovering Bill’s fate in the show, doesn’t it seem like Joel would have a greater desire to ditch Ellie, find a little abandoned neighborhood on the outskirts of Boston, and get fat off wine and meat for the next decade? Why not just repair Bill’s fence and live on his property? Hell, invite the Fireflies over for a BBQ! Bill and Frank survived despite Frank’s inability to fire a weapon. Surely, Joel could make a life for himself in this small town.
The Last of Us game is grim, dark, and relentlessly depressing. So far, this series is indeed dark, but there’s far too much sunshine for a world supposedly steeped in despair.
Odds and Ends:
Ellie finds a box of tampons in a secret room, a minor but interesting beat. This type of detail needs to be added to The Walking Dead, where Tylenol is typically the only thing the heroes seem to lack. I’ve said this several times, but these dystopian TV shows need to focus on everyday issues — finding contacts for someone who can’t see, foraging for food, looking for shoes, etc. Gunning down leather-clad baddies would rank dead last on a list of things to do in a zombie/fungi apocalypse.
I loved Ellie’s reaction to being inside a truck for the first time — Joel has to explain what a seatbelt does. She also gets a kick out of seeing an airplane. “You got to go in the sky,” she says. “It didn’t seem so special at the time,” he replies. Ah, the things we take for granted.
The opening bits with Bill were fantastic. He goes to the store, grabs supplies, and enjoys a peaceful evening alone. It’s odd that no one ever wanders to his neck of the woods, but I suppose that’s where suspension of disbelief comes into play.
Bill ends his letter by telling Joel to do what he can to protect Tess. We get an exchange between Joel and Ellie taken straight from the game: “Don’t ever mention Tess again,” he says. “Ever.” This beat occurred immediately following Tess’ death in the game, making the Bill subplot pivotal to Joel’s growth. In the show, he grumbles about Tess after reading Bill’s letter — so, did he not actually listen to what Bill said?
Is it just me, or does Ellie seem more bratty in the show? For the most part, Bella Ramsey does an excellent job with Ellie’s dialogue. Still, she behaves too much like a sassy teenager. In the game, Ellie is tough and always on the lookout for a fight. When Bill ties her to a pipe, she breaks free, bashes him over the head, and verbally assaults him. TV show Ellie doesn’t exhibit the same toughness, but that may change in future episodes. She hasn’t exactly had many chances to kick ass.
Fans of the game will love the inclusion of crafting in this episode. Joel goes to Bill’s garage and finds items needed to build a car battery. We even get a shot of a crafting table — a fun nod to the countless hours spent cleaning, upgrading, or modifying weapons.
That flashback scene with Joel, Tess, Bill, and Frank was weird. Everyone is far too calm, cool, and collected. Just two couples enjoying a lovely Sunday brunch in the afternoon sun. Joel’s clothes are clean and pampered; Tess’ hair is brushed. They’re eating steak for cripes sake and drinking wine! Why not show Joel savoring his first scrumptious meal in years? Or clamoring to stay in this isolated paradise? Who would want to leave this humble abode awash with supplies and enough firepower to take down Fort Knox? I haven’t seen that many guns since that motherhumper crashed through Burt and Heather’s basement in Tremors.
From an acting standpoint, Offerman and Murray Bartlett were terrific in their respective roles. You see the love and respect between them, and there’s plenty of chemistry to spare. Offerman, in particular, behaves just like his video game counterpart for much of the episode but, unfortunately, doesn’t get the same substance to chew on.
I’m curious how people who have yet to play the game feel about this show. A guy I work with considers it a more polished Walking Dead and finds it fascinating. When asked about Joel and Ellie, he merely shrugged. We’re still early in the season, but we haven’t learned much about either of these characters. Instead, the show continually cuts away from them and focuses more on peripheral characters than its main stars. At some point, a fan will edit the show to follow Joel’s POV and trim the excess.
Next week looks to get things back on track. There’s a shot of Joel and Ellie coming across a stranger begging for help. Gamers know where this bit goes. Hopefully, the showrunners finally unleash the unruly horror and gritty violence that drew us to the game in the first place.
