opinion | “The Last of Us” is the series that almost everyone is talking about internationally. The video game adaptation is an unprecedented success after only three episodes. Our author Michael Hille is also enthusiastic – and has particularly taken episode 3 to his heart.
Right at the beginning an important disclaimer: This text is full spoiler for the first three episodes of The Last of Us series and also spoils the first 4-5 hours of The Last of Us video game template!
But the long episode 3 stands out. It is hardly based on the game’s content and tells its own little story. The main characters of the series, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), appear only briefly at the beginning and end. This takes some getting used to and is very unusual. But the risk is up: Those 75 minutes are among the most remarkable ever seen in a TV series.
“The Last of Us” episode 3: Love in times of apocalypse
HBO / Sky Germany
The third episode “The Last of Us” is all about Bill (Nick Offerman) and his life and love story in the middle of mutant country.
Joel and Ellie are left to their own devices in Episode 3 as Tess (Anna Torv) did not survive the events of the previous episode. But they are only in the picture for a short time, then the episode tells about the beginning of the apocalypse 20 years ago: From conspiracy theorist Bill (Nick Offerman), who stays in his basement bunker as the city is evacuated and decides to live life to the fullest now. He never liked people anyway, so it’s even better that he’s all alone now. He plunders the shops, he puts up a fence around the city and sets dozens of traps for the undead to walk into and he can have his peace forever.
Of course that doesn’t work, because after a while a human, Frank (Murray Bartlett), falls into his trap. Instead of killing him, he takes him in – and they get closer. From then on, “The Last of Us” tells a gay love story for a full hour, which has lasted for over a decade. Frank and Bill fall in love, sleep together, fight, reconcile, survive an outside attack, become friends with local people (namely: Joel and Tess) and thrive while the world around them burns. But then Frank gets sick, terminally ill, and one morning reveals to Bill that he doesn’t want to fight anymore, but wants to make today the most beautiful and at the same time the last day of his life.
A masterpiece within a masterpiece
HBO / Sky Germany
Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett won the hearts of fans with this episode.
Things are different in video games. Joel and Ellie arrive in the trapped town and meet Bill, shooting their way through a horde of undead. Frank is only briefly mentioned as Bill’s former “partner” and players find his body in one spot. There is nothing more to see in the game than that. The series makers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann decided differently, one of the most action-packed chapters of the original became a very quiet, human romance. Game purists can fret about it all they want, but this episode is a masterpiece – and it’s in the middle of what could already be described as a masterful series.
One would have to enumerate every moment of the episode to capture its genius and emotional impact. When Frank plays Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight” on the piano for Bill, and the latter falls in love with him. When both of them tremble all over when they physically approach each other for the first time. When Frank plants strawberries out of love for life and eats them with Bill and Bill can no longer hold back tears of joy. When Bill is devastated when Frank tells him of his intentions to die. If he still decides to give his great love the most beautiful last day on earth. All of these scenes are deeply touching, they are phenomenally written and if Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett don’t win all the acting awards for these performances, then something is wrong in the TV world. Imagine the legendary first ten minutes of the animated film “Oben”, only five times as long and part of an end-time series – and there you have this episode.
“The Last of Us” celebrates gay love
Especially for the Representation of homosexual characters “The Last of Us” achieves great things here. A lot has happened in recent years with regard to the depiction of non-heterosexual figures. But especially in series in which homosexual characters are only secondary characters, these mostly remain clichés or worse – their homosexuality remains their only character trait. In “The Last of Us”, on the other hand, gay love celebrated, celebrated and savored. It doesn’t stop at a kiss, the camera follows them into the bedroom. Especially for the US market, this is still a rarity that urgently needs to be appreciated. The love story of both men is shown and told in its entirety, in all its facets. Beautiful – and it will bring tears to millions of viewers.
The third episode of “The Last of Us” pays full respect to the title of the series, “The Last of Us”. So many apocalyptic films and series before have shown how humanity perishes and how terrible life is for those who remain. “The Last of Us” is not such a story. It’s about love, even in the worst of conditions. At the very end of the episode, Joel and Ellie arrive in Bill and Frank’s town and learn what happened there – and suddenly even Joel, the hard and jaded cynic on his face, shows that thanks to these two men and their extraordinary story, he’s back believes in affection for other people. Applause for this unique goosebump episode in television history!