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The Last of Us Season 1 Review

The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic drama television series created by Craig Mazin and starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. It premiered its first season on HBO Max in 2023.

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“Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?“

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The first season of nine episodes that range from 45 to 80 minutes covered the first video game and its DLC – Left Behind. The original is one of the best video games of all time, so I’d expected a lot from this TV adaptation going into it, but I ended up finding it somewhat disappointing and overrated. There was an obvious choice here to make a dramatic western series instead of a post-apocalyptic zombie show and I did not like that choice at all.

The show is quite faithful to the source material, which I definitely appreciated. After all, the game has such a perfect story that they did not need to change it much in order for the series to be effective. They did add some characters and subplots that ranged from disposable to solid, but the core text thankfully remained intact.

But my main issue here was the lack of zombie action. The game both had a phenomenal human drama and post-apocalyptic shooter action, but this adaptation only adapted the former and not the latter. I was fine with more emphasis on human drama, but they overdid it, purposefully omitting zombies to the point that I did not feel anything when the big ending came because the characters did not have to deal with zombies all that much. It was such a counter-intuitive and odd choice for a show that must have had enough budget to include more of the infected.

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The acting on this show is its main strength. Every single actor delivered phenomenal work and everybody was so well cast. It took a while for me to get used to Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as they did not quite look or sound like their game counterparts, but eventually I’d come to really appreciate them. Pascal delivered his best work to date yet as his Joel is both a badass, brutish antihero and a powerful father figure who would stop at nothing to protect Ellie. He was very charismatic and believable in the role. As for Ramsey, she was incredible. She sold all of the character’s emotional turmoil while being believable as this survivor girl who is smart and competent while still being a kid at heart.

Nico Parker was so good as Sarah and I really appreciated the opening delving deeper into her character, though the first two episodes were ultimately a bit too slow and uneventful. The addition of the epidemiologist talk was quite welcome and it fitted the narrative so well. As for the third episode, this is where the show seriously divulged from the source material. Yes, we got to see Bill in the game and he was hinted to be gay, but in the show his story is given a full episode where his relationship with Frank is given so much time to flourish. While the episode was definitely emotionally impactful and wonderfully performed by perfectly cast Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, it still felt like a bit of an overlong detour. It showcased once again how much subtler the game was.

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I liked Tess quite a bit and she got to be heroic as she did in the game, but the addition of Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen was unnecessary. She was fine in the role and the character was easy to hate, but she got a rushed death scene that was ineffective. Henry and Sam’s tragic faith was just as heartbreaking as it was in the game and Joel’s brother was also memorable, though the lack of zombies there was again problematic.

I loved the Left Behind episode as it was very well adapted, faithful and quite emotionally effective. Storm Reid was so good as Riley. The final two episodes also worked. Scott Shepherd was so memorable as the villainous David and the episode was so much fun, but again lacking in subtlety as the game’s David was much more nuanced and grounded. The finale was definitely impactful and beautifully acted, but also a bit too condensed and rushed while again thoroughly lacking in zombies.

The Last of Us is superbly crafted on all fronts. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, the score is grandiose and the show evoked the feel of a western incredibly well. The directing is uniformly strong from every single director that was very well chosen for the gig. The audio-visuals here are so good that the lack of zombies felt even more confounding. The pacing was ridiculously slow and the show almost seemed to despise its post-apocalyptic setting as it abandoned it at every stop.

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