By DAHJIA THOMAS
Arts Editor
HBO gives viewers the show they’ve been waiting for with “The Last of Us” premiering Jan. 15 on the platform. The show heavily follows the plot of its video game predecessor, but fans were overjoyed at the fact their fictional characters were coming to life. From the cast to the vast settings, “The Last of Us” may be one of the best video game to television series adaptations as of yet. Right from the start, the show wastes no time in fastforwarding to the action. With episodes ranging between 45 minutes to over an hour, each one crams in detail after detail.
Episode one “When You’re Lost in the Darkness” introduces us to Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal), the main protagonist throughout both series. It portrays him as a regular man, a single dad who lives near his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) in Austin, Texas working his day-to-day job as a contractor. We’re then given a glimpse into their relationship, a tight-knit family who could never be torn apart. Fans were excited to see how the show related to the video games’ relationship between him and his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), the latter pushing their close bond on to us. One scene pans to them sitting on a couch, as it’s Joel’s birthday, Sarah handing him a watch. Fans noticed he wore that same watch throughout the entire game until the end. The back and forth banter lulls us into a false sense of security, a healthy father-daughter relationship that makes fans wish Joel was theirs. But the cuteness turns sour quickly once alarms are sounding through the country, the beginning of the end.
The moment everything goes wrong though, it goes extremely wrong, and of course it’s at night. Neighbors are turning into these horrific monsters left and right; Joel is clueless as to what to do. Viewers can see the clockwork running in his mind, focused on protecting the one thing he has left of his humanity, his little girl. The camera shaking emphasizes the chaos and panic that Joel feels, the horror of seeing people brutally murdered as the trio race to their car; their last hope at surviving the unimaginable. They’re not the only ones though, as cars are lined up for miles trying to get out and save themselves, every man for themselves, causing a rift amongst the population. A sudden car crash takes us out of the gruesome scene in front of us, Sarah suffering the brunt of it. It’s something a parent never wants to see–their child in pain, Joel seemingly representing the emotions of fellow parents watching. He would martyr himself if it meant his daughter’s survival, the camera following as he runs into a soldier armed and ready. With the craziness, precaution is at the forefront in how people think, but as regular people wanting to live, Joel compares this to an interrogation instead of a safe point.
We haven’t seen Joel as this submissive character, but when facing down the barrel of a gun with his daughter in his arms, he has no other choice. Guards have been ordered to shoot on sight and the two are no exception. Out of nowhere, Tommy comes in to save the day, but he’s too late. In a state of shock, Joel is facing the reality that his daughter’s life is out of his hands, the hands that desperately tried to keep her with him. The despair in his voice when yelling at Tommy goes deeper than losing his only child; he lost the last ray of sunshine in his life. There is no one else to blame but him, and he carries that with him every day that he continues to live while his “babygirl” is left behind. Reminder, all of this happens in the first episode and leaves no room for dwelling. No dwelling on the past, only looking towards the desolate future he’s forced to live in.
Even amongst the critics who didn’t have high hopes, HBO continued to produce a show that fans could relate to. The use of the video games lines scattered throughout the series had fans waiting for what’s next. When the series finale aired on March 12, it brought suspense with it, and, if you’ve played both “The Last of Us” and “The Last of Us Part II,” a foreshadowing of grief. If the series continues to follow the plot, fans are in for a surprise, especially those who already know what comes next.
