This article contains spoilers for the television series The Last of Us. Please don’t read unless you’ve seen episodes one through three…
Wow. Where to start? I’ll come out and say it: I think it’s the best episode of TV to air all year.
Big call, I know, considering it’s still January, we’re only three episodes into this (excellent) series and Happy Valley isn’t over yet. But unless the Mandalorian and Logan Roy show up at Hebden Bridge to help Catherine look after Tommy Lee Royce, I have a hard time seeing how this will ever get over.
Everything you could want from television was here: high-stakes drama, wit, emotional depth, romance, and tons of heart. And the bravery of these writers, who all but abandoned their main characters and main plot in just three episodes to dedicate a feature-length episode to a poignant and moving character study like this one. Congratulations. Even without the apocalyptic aspect, the Bill and Frank story would have been a special sight, but given the context, it was even more impressive. And who knew that Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett were made to play such low-key heartbreak? Is anyone else catching shades of Up’s devastating opening montage, with an entire relationship cleverly captured in just a few scenes?
The other two
To end the episode, we open with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the woods, on their way to Bill and Frank’s house. Joel, who was still nursing a broken hand, was also dealing with a broken heart after Tess’s death. Ellie, meanwhile, absolved herself of all guilt: “I didn’t ask you to help me” was the size of her argument. And maybe she was right? However, I’m not sure I believe that’s what she thinks. And anyway, a few kind words and a little gratitude might have been nice.
Bill and Frank’s Excellent Adventure
Back to 2003 and the meat of the episode. When the outbreak started and the military was rounding up regular people and taking them to quarantine zones, Bill (Nick Offerman) was just a regular doomsday fixer with a gas mask, fancy CCTV system, and a basement. full of food and weapons. It’s the kind of behavior you’d be mocked for in normal times, but come the apocalypse, once you’ve restored your gas supply, run a generator, and raided your license, it means you can live like royalty, cut off from Hell going on in the rest of the world.
Four years into his rule, he met Frank (The White Lotus’ Murray Bartlett), who had been walking for two days and fell into one of Bill’s traps. Initially suspicious of the intruder, Bill softened up enough to offer Frank a meal: rabbit, paired with beaujolais! – and a decent interpretation of The long time of Linda Rondstadt. How apt.
Frank, taken aback by emotion, sensed that Bill was singing the song for someone special and asked, “Who’s the girl? The girl you’re singing about. Of course, Frank knew there was no girl involved, so tenderly and calmly he carried Bill to bed.
Their promise to stay for a few days turned into three years within the duration of a fade to black, and now they were a couple, lovingly caring for their town, entirely self-sufficient and entertaining friends. It also seemed that Bill showered regularly, not just when Frank asked him to. Naturally, we recognized their visitors: Joel and the nice lady Frank had been talking to on the radio, Tess (Anna Torv). They chatted, ate, and then, as Frank showed Tess around the house, Bill and Joel danced together in the garden before the visitors returned to Boston, radio code and supply line established.
If Joel’s words about armed muggers showing up in the middle of the night didn’t stick with Bill at the time, they probably rang in his ears a few years later when those predictions came true and he took a bullet to the body. Another time jump, to 2023, and we see that Bill had survived that attack, but Frank was now terminally ill and used a wheelchair.
That last day left a lump in my throat, as Bill carried out Frank’s last wishes with a fatal twist of his own. “I was never afraid before you showed up,” he had told her when they were picking strawberries, and here he was, choosing not to live alone after his partner died. In the midst of so much horror, so much beauty. Absolutely magical television.
go back to lincoln
The episode closed with Joel and Ellie arriving in the now ruined city. Bill’s letter to Joel contained some taunts and just enough motivation for him to continue his mission (Ellie is the only person worth living for now that Tess is gone), while some of those words may have reminded him of Ellie that there is more to survival than a brave attitude and endless witticisms. It was sweet to see her in a car for the first time: “It’s like a spaceship!” – and it was a reminder to us that while she might not think twice about stabbing an infected in the head, she’s still a wet-behind-the-ears teenager with hardly any of the experiences we take for granted. .
flour power
I’d say we got evidence of the origins of the infection from the conversation Joel and Ellie had about how it all started. Cordyceps mutated and became a common food, Joel said. Probably flour – “bread, cereal, pancake mix” – and infected those who had eaten enough. (Joel, remember episode one, he was on Atkins at the time of the outbreak, so no carbs; he forgot to pick up his birthday cake and didn’t eat the pancakes Sarah was making. Meanwhile, his neighbors were eating biscuits). That certainly explains how cordyceps spread so widely and so quickly, and why even people on airplanes weren’t safe. Don’t eat airplane food is the moral of this story. Or maybe, just maybe, The Last of Us is a gluten-free industry psychological experiment? Wheels within wheels…
Notes and observations
-
Last week, I referred to the “virus”. Of course, we are dealing with a fungal infection, not a virus. I knew it, honestly, but I still made the dumb mistake. Apologies. Similarly, some commenters objected to my use of the term zombie, since these monsters are not the undead (cordyceps cannot revive the already deceased), but the infected. I’d say he was using the term in a more generic sense, since the infected behave almost exactly as zombies do: infected by bites, eager to kill, killed by headshots/decapitation, etc. But I understand and accept the objection. From now on, no zombies.
-
Good news everyone: HBO has commissioned The Last of Us for a second season. I am going to assume that there will also be a third season, but if Part III of the video game arrives it is in the air.
-
After Frank and Bill gave us their interpretations of the song, we listened to Linda Ronstadt’s version of Long Long Time. Are all the adults in this story fans of Linda Ronstadt?
-
Con O’Neill, recently seen as Neil in Happy Valley, had been announced to play Bill, but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Having seen the end result, it’s now hard to imagine anyone other than Offerman in that role.
What did you do with it? Shocking television or distraction from the plot? What stores would you loot if you were alone in an apocalypse? Give us your opinion below, but please, no game spoilers…
