THE LAST OF US Series 1 (2023)

To say that the Sony PlayStation game The Last of Us was received to critical acclaim is to underestimate just what a phenomenon it was when it was released in 2013. It received mainly perfect scores across the board, except from a few sources, and maintains a 95/100 score on Metacritic. Simply amazing.

In the game, you control smuggler, Joel, who is tasked with moving a young girl Ellie across a dangerous landscape, encountering all types of villains including rogue gangs roaming a post apocalyptic wasteland caused by a virus that turns people into cordyceps fungus infected zombie types, whom are also standing in the way of his mission. It’s a third person based game with heaps of shooting and crafting and stealth missions developed by Naughty Dogs studios, but the acclaim for the game, and the 1.3 million copies sold in the first week of release, because of its narrative, its portrayal of female characters, its sound design and so many other reasons.

Weirdly I don’t really rate it because I prefer more immediate hits of dopamine in my video games, and really don’t care too much about story: I like to shoot stuff and drive stuff, although as I get older and slower, maybe I should revisit it.

Anyway, for some reason this game took ten years to be developed into a TV series, and honestly, I was concerned because the game borrows from so many movies and TV shows that I assumed it would be an utter travesty, mimicking not just its source material, but its source material’s source material, that is, 100 years of horror cinema, especially those of the zombie apocalypse variety.

Does it suffer from this? Well yes, but is it detrimental to its narrative? No. I think the choice to make this game a 9 episode tv series and have it drift slightly from the narrative of the game was beneficial to its execution. Even though the story has a few moments of time jumping back and forth it’s not detrimental to the narrative at all.

In the TV series, our smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal) and his partner Tess (Anna Torv) are employed by a resistance group called The Fireflies to deliver a young girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of the walled city they reside in and across a wasteland to a research group, as Bella has been bitten by one of the cordyceps fungus infected zombies, and appears to be resistant to the infection.

Joel isn’t keen to take the job. He’s jaded and bitter, and the death of his daughter before the outbreak still hangs heavy over him, and his brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna) has gone missing, and he is waiting on word of his whereabouts.

He reluctantly accepts the mission after Tess convinces him to do so, and very quickly, the group find themselves out in the post apocalyptic wilderness of destroyed cities, rabid games of thugs and many MANY infected people… but will Joel complete his mission, or does Tommy’s disappearance weigh far to heavily on him…

So prior to a few years ago, cinema repeatedly proved that cinema versions of video games weren’t a hot property… though I must admit to being D.O.A. being a guilty pleasure… but that’s evolved and become more sophisticated as this and the Fallout TV series have proved… and those Super Mario and Sonic and Minecraft films that had a slight bit of success a few years ago… that it can be done.

I just want to point out that doesn’t include the Resident Evil Netflix series. I really need to stress that.

This could have been an absolute horrific nightmare of rubbish, a carnival of crap that just appeared to be stealing from multiple sources, but the performances, the way it’s shot and, did I mention the performances?, have helped it rise above merely an adaptation of source materials or an amalgamation of multiple horror film tropes to be an amazing drama as well as a horror/ sci fi TV series.

Purists of the video game are of course are going to be somewhat upset with the casting. Pascal is rugged and Joel-like but not at all similar in look. The version of Joel… it must be a multiverse… from the game is not the same, but they have a similar feel. This goes for Ellie too. The video game character has a pre-Eliot Page look about her, but Bella Ramsay does not look even close. Both of them, and the rest of the cast, are exceptional.

This who wanted a word-for-word TV version of the video game will be disappointed. The monsters don’t have as big a role, even though they are a constant threat. Other survivors with their different choices made to survive are sometimes just as horrifying, and some of the exposition and backstories make for excellent drama.

At the risk of an overshare, there was one early episode that effected me so profoundly it took me a whole year to go back to the series because I do not like my entertainment to make me sad. I want to relish in the horror… not ‘feel’ stuff!!

I think the best recommendation I can give for this series is that my wife loved it. My wife who isn’t a horror fan, has little interest in pop culture and nerds out of business and politics actually liked it!

Mind you, I owe her a series now so I imagine ‘House of Cards’ is very soon on my visual horizon, or something like it.

Extras: There is extras galore on this 4 disc 4K edition of Series 1.

Inside the Episode is a series of small featurettes that look at the story of each individual episode. It contains interviews with cast and crew and some behind the scenes footage. Each one is just under ten minutes so they don’t delve too deep but there’s just enough footage and extra stuff to keep you watching them.

Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us looks at the trials and tribulations of casting and making a tv series of a game that is well loved.

From Levels to Live Action is all about the comparison of the final result of the clickers from game to TV series, and adapting the gameplay of player vs computer, to a visual non-interactive entertainment.

The Last of Us: Stranger than Fiction looks at the actual sciences of disease and the idea of a cordyceps infection. Disturbingly this extra is more horrifying that the tv series.

Ashley Johnson Spotlight looks at the actor who plays Ellie’s mum in the show, but who also,played Ellie in the video game; not just the voice acting but the mo-cap as well.

Get to Know Me are a bunch of short interviews with some of the cast: Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, Nick Offerman & Murray Bartlett and Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey.

Is The A The Last of Us Line? Is a fun little piece where the actors have to guess if lines presented are from this show or another one. It’s a fluff piece but it’s cute.

The Last Debrief with Troy Baker who didn’t just play Joel in the video game, he also hosted the HBO podcast about the film, and is split into 4 parts, and basically gives some insights into the show and even some comparisons to the game.

Series: 9/10

Extras: 9/10

Rewatchability: 7/10

This review was done with the Australian 4K Steelbook release, purchased from JB Hifi