Spoilers for Episode 5 of The Last of Us
All in all I like what Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have done with the TV adaptation so far. There were some memorable moments and I quite liked the keg that the series opened up last week. After episode 5 – which in itself was made up for – I’m a little worried about how this will continue to take place. Because slowly some things are coming together that I don’t like so much.
What in detail? Well, starting with the fact that it’s generally pretty bloodless, for a horror show, it all goes pretty fast somewhere, doesn’t it? The problem is, to a certain extent, homemade and comes from an understandable direction: the desire to give the side stories and characters more space. This started with Tess, whose connection to Joel was hinted at as deeper than the game, without the series taking more time to make anything of it.
Likewise, Bill and Frank were extended to an episode of effective emotional cinema, which was good, but not without drastic time jumps. The emotional punch landed anyway, but you could have seen more of these two and not complained. And now Kathleen, Henry and Sam. In an effort to give all the characters more context, to weave their destinies more intimately together, they are loaded with meaning and thereby take up more space, until they reach the too narrow confines of each episode.
All of the setup on these figures is rarely put to any real use. Neither Henry’s guilt, nor Sam’s fears, nor Kathleen’s only hinted at ambivalence resonated with me – and ultimately their fates didn’t move me that much. Especially not Kathleen’s. Sam’s and Ellie’s chemistry was particularly good, Henry was well acted and Kathleen brought the overwhelmed and vengeful leader to the screen well. But everything seemed to be designed to fit, on the drawing board, so to speak, so that we finally get the big action scene.
No conceding on the part of the persecutors, no doubts about all the atrocities committed by the unarmed (I don’t believe in Henry’s analysis that people turn into oppressors at the touch of a button as soon as they free themselves from a cruel authority) and on Ended up an all-too-clean escape from the infected onslaught, which this time seemed like it was from another series. Except for the clicker girl, whose moves and design I found extremely effective. What do the infected even feed on, especially this sea of beasts that peels out of the hole at the end of episode five? You are only the host of the infection, your body has to function so that the Cordyceps can control your behavior. You can’t do that without food, after all, these aren’t zombies…
Also, it’s gotta be so slow that Joel comes across as decidedly less jaded compared to the game. But I have yet to see how this develops. There’s a good chance it fits better with the ending Druckmann and Mazin have in mind for the series. One thing I also noticed is that I still don’t think The Last of Us is a particularly good looking series. By that I don’t even mean the equipment and the effects. That’s all right. But in terms of style, camera work, settings, lighting, it’s all surprisingly succinct. It looks okay but lacks dynamism and identity.
I know this is a bit weird now that I felt so effectively put into the game in episode four, even calling it the best episode yet. And maybe that’s just a hunch that’s just creeping in, because I think episode four got a few things in motion that fizzled out in part five. Especially since not everything was bad, especially the acting, the Easter eggs and cross-references from the game. But I came out of episode five with a bad feeling for the first time and I’m getting a little nervous about what’s going to happen next. Only four episodes left, please don’t mess it up!
All series reviews of Season 1 of HBO’s The Last of Us:
– HBO’s The Last of Us: I’ll admit I’m a little concerned after Episode 5 – this side
– Why HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 4 is the best episode yet – this page
– HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 3 is a bit touchy-feely for me. Of course I still cry
– How The Last of Us Episode 2 cheats — and why I love her for it
– HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 1: Everything It Had To Be And More – But Do You Want It?
