I remember playing The Last of Us game long ago and massively enjoyed it. So I wasn’t remotely surprised when a TV show adaptation was announced. I was worried as video game adaptions tend to be fairly poor for the most part. Does The Last of Us HBO show fall into the video game adaption curse or does it survive by being a good adaption?
One of the most important elements of adapting a video game is retaining all the core elements that made the game great. In terms of this, the HBO show is successful. The main core of the plot, the characters, the relationship, and the tone are all in this adaptation. The show does make changes from the game but I find the changes to be mostly good. For example, deeper meaning for Joel leaving QZ, exploration of Bill and Frank’s backstory, Sam and Henry’s plot, and Tommy and Joel’s relationship. A lot of the changes give more depth to the characters and the worldbuilding. The set design is terrific and captures the exact feeling of the games. The makeup and design of the infected are creepy as they should be. Every scene with the infected is exciting with the memorable mansion scene being an awesome watch.
In terms of casting, Pedro Pascal is great as Joel. He retains the hardened, spiteful nature of Joel from the games but there are some differences. There is a lot of subtle warmth and vulnerability in his performance which leads to an emotional scene in episode 6 that isn’t in the games but has a lot of impact. I was sceptical about Bella Ramsay as Ellie at first. Ellie in the game comes off as naturally witty and sarcastic but Bella’s performance can feel a bit forced. It didn’t help that her character is written as way more hostile compared to the game. However, I warmed up to her a lot by the end as Bella delivers on the more emotional and heart-warming scenes. Some of the best moments in the show are the quiet moments between Joel and Ellie which is thanks to the great chemistry between Pedro and Bella. The supporting cast does a great job as well with special praise to Nick Offerman as Bill, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Anna Torv as Tess, Merle Dandridge as Marlene and Gabriel Luna as Tommy. The biggest surprise in the supporting cast was seeing the original Joel and Ellie voice actors in substantial supporting roles as new characters where they show how great of an actor, they both are.
Nonetheless, I do have some gripes with this show and one of them is the lack of infected; especially in the second half. For a world that has supposedly been taken by this virus, we don’t get enough scenes with the infected. It gets jarringly obvious in the second half where I wondered if they just ran out of budget. In the game, there is a fair amount of downtime between Joel and Ellie after combat. The show doesn’t have a lot of these downtime scenes and because of that the relationship between the two doesn’t feel as strong and believable. It also disappoints me how rushed the finale was as it was incredibly short with a lot happening. It felt like the show needed an episode where it was just Joel and Ellie spending time together which would’ve made the finale has more impact. Episode 3 is no doubt one of the more memorable and hopeful episode in this show that is mostly doom and gloom. However, this episode feels like filler in the overall scheme of things. I had a similar issue with episode 7 which was just one entire flashback that was very slow-paced and dragged on for too long. Both of these episodes lacked our main characters interacting which is what this show needed more of.
Overall, this is a good adaptation of the video game. It’s not perfect but it does manage to convey the necessary story elements effectively in a TV show format. As someone who has family members who aren’t as into video games as me; this TV show is a great way to allow them to experience the story as well. I’m interested to see season 2 of the show. Whether they adapt the sequel or go in a new direction, I’ll be there to watch.
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