It's finally here!
When I initially saw the news that HBO was going to adapt the videogame The Last of Us into a television series with Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann at the helm, I was both excited and very nervous. See, the games are to this day some of my all time favorites, especially the first one, so I was understandably worried whether or not they could pull it off. Famously, video game adaptations are rarely decent and usually pretty horrible, save for a few more recent animated shows like Arcane and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. However, I personally loved Mazin's previous show, the historical drama Chernobyl, and even though Druckmann has upset a large portion of the fanbase with the sequel, I still respect him as a writer. (You can read some of my thoughts on Part II here.) Not to mention that having someone who was so integral in creating the story of the game be involved with its adaptation would surely bode good for being faithful to the source material. And if any company felt like a good pairing with the gritty survival story of the game, it was HBO. With them also casting Pedro Pascal as Joel, who I immediately figured as a perfect choice for the role, I felt like if any adaptation had a chance of succeeding, it could be this one.
Thankfully, I can say that at least Episode 1 of the new show got a lot right. While it remains to be seen if the rest of the show can deliver, this first taste of it got me feeling hopeful.
Fair warning, this review will contain spoilers for Episode 1, so read at your own risk.
Right off the bat, the show introduces us to the threat of the Cordyceps in a very interesting way that differs from the game. Through a fictional talk show from the sixties, a scientist tells the audience a gripping monologue of the lurking danger of this very real fungus, even if it is still only infecting insects in our world. The whole scene was chilling with the oppressive silence of the audience and host conveying how terrifying and uncomfortable this subject is. Even though it is hard for me to judge, I feel like this opening was an effective way of getting the necessary exposition to new audiences unfamiliar with the games, setting up the grounded and hopeless atmosphere right from the start.
That same grounded take can be felt throughout the episode. The sets, costume design, visual effects and everything else on the screen made the places we see feel very lived in and real, something that was also the case with Chernobyl. I also think it was an interesting idea to change the date of the outbreak from 2013 to 2003, as the lack of smartphones and social media makes it that much more believable that Sarah is oblivious to the events unfolding around her. The small detail of Tommy's "Operation Desert Storm" bumper sticker was also a nice touch, that not only sets us in a place and time but also tells us about his character without needing to say a word.
Talking about characters, this is a good time to comment on the casting. Honestly, I don't think there was a single weak link, other than maybe the actor who played Robert, whose line delivery felt somehow a bit off but that could be down to just directing instead of the performer. While some people might have a problem with the ethnicity of certain actors, I could not care less and I thought all of the important ones portrayed their characters well. Nico Parker as Sarah was just the right amount of sassy but still believably vulnerable when things started going south, making her immediately likable and her tragic death that much harder to watch. As I mentioned before, I always believed Pedro Pascal would be an amazing Joel, and at least in this first episode I felt I was proven correct. Despite having seen Sarah's death scene in the game more times I can count, it still got me.
My biggest worry coming into this show was Bella Ramsey as Ellie, not because of the reasons some weirdos have focused on like how she looks physically, but because I had no other reference for her acting skills other than her role as Lady Mormont in Game of Thrones. While she was a scene stealer and a fan favorite in that show, she still played a minor and fairly one-note character that only really had one mode: being a tough little girl. Ellie definitely needs to be tough, but she's a layered character who can be charming, funny and at times vulnerable. Whoever plays her has a big role to fill, so getting the casting right was fundamental to the show's success.
Prior to seeing the first episode, I read from reviewers with access to the whole season that Bella Ramsey was a perfect Ellie, which alleviated some of my concerns. Now that I've seen the premiere, I can't say I'm completely sold on her yet as we saw so little of Ellie and need more time for the dynamic between her and Joel to evolve, but what we did get of her was good. Her take definitely felt different to Ashley Johnson's, but a lot of it might come down more to the writing than Bella's performance. So far we've mostly only seen the "tough girl" act from her in this episode, some of it coming off as a bit forced, but there were small glimpses of the girl behind the mask, and I especially liked those moments. Specifically the scene with Ellie and Marlene was a great addition to this story, and Ramsay's delivery of "Why won't you let me go home?" was what proved to me that she can be a great actor.
The actual story and delivery of the first episode was incredibly faithful to the game in many ways, to the point that it was at times almost distracting how close some scenes were. With specific lines used straight from the game and certain shots being almost identical, this could very well be the most faithful adaptation of a video game I've seen by far without it feeling like just fan service. The interesting thing is, while I could often marvel at how down to the smallest detail they got a lot of it, my favorite things were all the new scenes and story elements that were only alluded to in the game but not seen. I loved seeing more of the outbreak day with Sarah before everything falls apart, and the glimpses into the inner workings of the Fireflies and Ellie being held captive along with the cold opening from the 60s were all great additions. Funnily enough, I almost want the future episodes to differ more from the game, as long as key points in the story are respected.
I watched the episode twice, first by myself the morning it came out (the episodes are released at 4 a.m. here in Finland) and then again a day later with my partner. On a second viewing it became apparent that Episode 1 does have a bit of a pacing issue. This isn't surprising considering the fact that it was initially supposed to be two episodes that were then made into one. The first episode would have originally ended after Joel tosses the body of the little boy into the fire and we see a glimpse of Ellie looking out of a window. However, it's not hard to see why producers thought that as the real inciting incident of the story is Joel and Ellie meeting each other (and not Sarah's death as some may believe, that's just the prologue), it would be important to include it in the first episode as their relationship is really what the show is about.
Personally, I think the premiere episode is great, and there aren't really any things I would necessarily cut out, but the fact of the matter is that it is a long episode with an odd structure. After the prologue, which is roughly 30 minutes, the show has to introduce a completely new setting with the Boston QZ and all the new characters like Tess, Marlene and Ellie that were absent from the first half of the episode. (You could also argue that Joel is almost a different character after 20 years, and the audience needs to be shown what he has become.) It's not hard to tell that the second half was supposed to be another episode, as the pace takes a hard dip and slows down to another buildup and a barrage of exposition after the first "halfway point" that is Sarah's death.
For fans of the game like me, I don't think that's really an issue especially on a first watch, as we are so wrapped up in gushing about how well the show is recreating the story from the game. Yet I do have to wonder if newcomers will be a bit overwhelmed by the amount of characters, factions and plot points that are introduced just in the first episode, and whether the pace and length of it will make the second half feel too slow. I've yet to talk to anyone who is unfamiliar with the game but has started watching the show, but it does seem that the general consensus online thus far has been thankfully very positive.
I have a lot more thoughts, but this review is already painfully late and if I'm planning on writing about the show weekly, it's not necessarily to make this into a horribly long essay. Overall my impressions of the show so far are that I'm positively surprised, relieved it doesn't suck and very excited to see more!
(Note: I've found it surprisingly difficult to get good quality images of the episode to use in these reviews, so you'll just have to settle for text only for now. Even if it does look less appealing. Sorry!)
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