The Last of Us

REEL TALK

Don Wilburn

‘Reel Talk’

The Times local film critic reviews HBO’s newest video-game based offering.

T hose looking for something to fill that Walking Dead-sized hole in their tv-viewing heart might find what they are looking for in HBO’s new series The Last of Us. Following in the tradition of groundbreaking shows like The Wire, The Sopranos and Game of Thrones HBO officially has another hit on their hands drawing in 4.7 million viewers for last week’s premiere making it the streaming giant’s second biggest series debut in a decade with House of the Dragon, a prequel to Game of Thrones, still holding the number one spot.

The series, based on the 2013 multi-award winning video game by developer Naughty Dog, tells the story of middle-aged Joel and 14-year-old Ellie played by Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as they attempt to traverse a post-apocalyptic United States fraught with environmental, biological, human and monstrous dangers of all shapes and sizes.

Grounded in real world science, the apocalypse-causing virus for which there is no vaccine, is a real virus found in nature known as Cordyceps.

Cordyceps is a fungus that gruesomely infects insects and takes control of it’s body and mind as it consumes it from the inside essentially creating a zombie-like host which has no control over it’s own actions. Often the host unwillingly returns to the colony where it can attack others further spreading the virus until nothing is left. While the virus cannot currently be transmitted to humans, The Last of Us asks the terrifying question “What if?”

The most terrifying aspect of this specific fungal virus, however, and another way it differentiates itself from traditional zombie fiction is that the human host is still there somewhere watching from inside trapped within their own mind and completely aware of their involuntary actions, yet not only helpless to do anything about it but also unable to die, for years, perhaps even decades.

That is not the only way in which the Last of Us approaches its’ material in an original way, however, as it is further grounded in reality in that it does not focus on the zombies or gore, but rather on the burgeoning father/daughter relationship between Ellie and a very hesitant Joel. But do not be fooled as the series has plenty of the former as well. Rumored to be one of the most expensive shows ever made with a budget of over 10 million per episode and it shows as every penny is on screen with beautifully decrepit crumbling sets and lush environments as nature reclaims the cities , The Last of Us is as infectious as it’s own virus and one you don’t want to miss.

The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in a post-apocalyptic trek across America.

Photo courtesy of HBO