When You’re Lost In The Darkness – As the first episode of The Last of Us begins, it is 1968. Dr. Schoenheiss (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Dr. Neuman (John Hannah) talk about a virus on television. Neuman isn’t worried about a viral pandemic because they always win in the end. He begins talking about fungus and how some fungi seek to control. Schoenheiss admits that fungal infection like that is real but not in humans. Neuman explains how it could happen if the world became warmer. There would be no cures and no possibility of making them so they’d lose. On September 26, 2003, Sarah Miller (Nico Parker) wakes up to make Joel (Pedro Pascal) birthday pancakes.

As they eat, Joel asks if there is enough for Uncle Tommy (Gabriel Luna) who joins them seconds later. Tommy and Joel talk about their construction business. On the radio, there is a report about a disturbance in Jakarta. Sarah goes to her room to get her backpack. She also takes a handful of money and a watch. The neighbor, Mr. (Brad Leland) Adler, offers them biscuits just before they leave. After school, Sarah goes to a pawnshop to get the watch fixed. A woman comes out from the back and says they’re closing even though they normally don’t close until seven. She goes to the neighbor’s place to ask if everything is okay.

She is told people need to get right with Jesus. After they make cookies, Mrs. Adler (Marcia Bennett) agrees to let her borrow one of the movies. Sarah walks outside where she sees jets overhead before going home. Later, Joel finally comes home without the cake. She gives him the watch and admits she stole money from him to get it fixed. He also gets the movie she borrowed from the neighbors. Joel gets a call from Tommy who is in jail. He puts Sarah in bed so he can leave to get Tommy out of jail. Sarah wakes up in the middle of the night when she hears airplanes outside. An alert on television urges people to stay indoors. The neighbor’s dog jumps on the glass and scares her.

Sarah opens the door and tries to take Mercy home, but the dog ends up running away. When she checks on the neighbors, she finds blood on the ground. She has to run when the grandma comes after her. Joel pulls up outside and tells her to get in the truck. He manages to knock out granny before telling Sarah they’ll be brave and get through this. As they flee toward the interstate, they tell Sarah it is some kind of virus or parasite. They pass by a couple with a kid because Joel doesn’t think it is wise to pick them. Once they see the army in front of them, they decide to drive a different way. They end up in a crowd of people before something flies through their window.

Joel helps Sarah out of the vehicle as Tommy yells they have to get off the street. Tommy gets separated from them so he tells Joel to head to the river and he’ll find a way. Joel carries Sarah while being chased by a zombie. The zombie is shot and killed before Joel tries to explain that they’re not sick. The soldier ends up shooting them causing them to fall. He tries to shoot Joel, but gets shot by Tommy first. Sarah dies in Joel’s arms. Twenty years later, a young boy collapses outside and is carried inside. He is given an injection and told he is safe. Joel helps burn bodies outside. Once he is finished, he is told they have street sweeping or sewer maintenance tomorrow.

Joel accepts the sewer job because it pays more. Then, he watches people being executed for entering and exiting a quarantine zone without authorization. He gives one of the FEDRA soldiers hydro in exchange for money and cigarettes. They discuss a deal for a vehicle. Joel is told to stay off the streets for the next few nights because the Fireflies have been blowing stuff up all week. Robert (Brendan Fletcher) asks Tess (Anna Torv) what she wants him to say because he didn’t plan on ripping her off. Tess suggests letting it go since she doesn’t think they can just keep her there or kill her. She says it is just a truck battery. As for his guys who roughed her up, he should discipline them.

Tess promises that her guy won’t do anything to him. He agrees they’re good before an explosion destroys the wall next to them. When she walks out, she ends up getting caught in a gunfight and arrested because they think she might be a Firefly. Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey) is held captive and tested. She warns them that people from FEDRA are going to come looking for her. Joel goes to Abe to see if Tommy responded, but he hasn’t yet. He is worried because it has been three weeks and it has never taken more than a day for him to respond. Abe reluctantly tells Joel where the tower is in Wyoming. Joel goes to his room to look at the map and chart his course. After he goes to sleep and gets up, Tess tells him he got jumped by a couple of guys.

As he begins taking care of the wounds, Tess confirms she was in FEDRA lockup all day. She says the guys who jumped her were with Robert who sold their battery to someone else. She says they have to shake it off and get their battery. Joel is warned that Robert could skip because he is terrified of Joel. Tess wants him to hurt Robert so they should go track him down. Marlene is asked questions about bombing FEDRA targets and the girl she has locked up. She talks to Kim (Natasha Mumba) in private and reminds her they’re in a war against a military dictatorship. Marlene (Merle Dandridge) says every Firefly in Boston is going to meet in this building and leave the QZ permanently.

They’re taking the random girl west. Marlene shows her a note from their guy at the radio tower in Salem. Tess learns that Robert is supposedly taking a battery to a red-tagged building on the corner of Stillman and cross. Marlene gives Ellie her bag back and suggests she should thank her for not letting them shoot her. Marlene tells her it isn’t going to happen, but she can’t go either. She reveals she put Ellie in the FEDRA military school when she was a baby. She introduces herself as the leader of the Fireflies in the Boston QZ. Marlene won’t let her go because she has a greater purpose than any of them could’ve imagined.

She is going to tell her something that cannot be repeated to anyone. Tess and Joel try to sneak into the building. They find a zombie that wasn’t down there previously although it is done now. Once they get inside, they find blood and multiple dead people including Robert. Although the battery is no good, Robert tried to sell it twice. As Joel looks around, he is nearly attacked by Ellie before he sees Marlene and Kim ahead of him. They learn that Marlene was buying the car battery so Joel wants to know why. She says they need it for a better reason than him since Tommy is only one man. Joel accuses Marlene of turning his brother against him.

Marlene wants Joel and Tess to get Ellie out of there since they won’t be able to do it now. A team of Fireflies will be waiting for her at the Old State House. Marlene promises they’ll get what they need if they get her there safely. They eventually agree. Tess makes it clear that they’ll kill Ellie if they don’t get what they want. Ellie is taken back to the room while Tess and Joel talk outside. Once Joel comes inside, Ellie wants to know about Bill and Frank since she thinks the radio is a smuggling code. Joel goes to sleep to kill time. When he wakes up, Ellie says she has never been on the other side of the wall. He wants to know if she is some bigwig’s daughter. She says something like that.

She tells him about the song that kept coming on the radio while he was sleeping. Ellie knows 80s means trouble. Tess returns and says it is time to go. When they try to escape, they get caught by the soldier Joel made a deal with earlier. Ellie ends up stabbing him in the leg. Joel thinks about his daughter before violently attacking the guy. They have to run for it to avoid being caught. The radio comes on in Joel’s apartment.

 

The Last Of Us Review

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was one of the most successful video games after its June 2013 release. Thanks to its success, it spawned comics, sequels, tabletop games, and two film adaptations that ultimately fell through. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before the material was used for the basis of a television series or movie that was actually made.

Now that HBO’s The Last of Us was released, it may be clearer why Sam Raimi’s feature film never made it to the big screen. The series does a good job of replicating The Last of Us gaming experience for the small screen with the camera work, dialogue, and other things being almost identical, but this isn’t always successful.

The project tries too hard to feel like a video game and ends up being a zombie with no real purpose but to exist. The dialogue is delivered quickly and flatly in an impersonal way that makes it hard to care about the characters. The core ideas are there, but the games were unique because the player was forced to have a connection to the characters whereas viewers are not.

The first quarter of the episode was much better than the last although both had some of the same issues. Much of what happened in Boston was difficult to understand considering it was thrust upon the viewer and somewhat expected them to be familiar with the source material. Another issue is that the world itself seems a bit small with everyone being in the same place, but that may change in the next episodes.

At this point, The Last of Us is a mostly good copy of the game, but it is impersonal and emotionless. More should’ve been done to change the pace, dialogue, and story to make television viewers care since they’re not holding a controller. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Last of Us are available on Reel Mockery here.

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