The Last of Us: The Pinnacle of Adaptations?

I absolutely love "The Last of Us." Since I first discovered the game, I've loved almost everything about the story it tells. I love Joel, the main protagonist of this post-apocalyptic epic. He's such a tortured, interesting, and layered character, and it was interesting to be able to step into his shoes and get a glimpse of his life and his existence. I love Ellie. Ellie may be one of my favorite characters. Like, ever. She's curious and is just an incredibly easy-to-root-for and easy-to-like character. I love the nuances and brutality of the cruel world the game is set in, mixed with the undeniably warm and tender tendencies of the complex and intimate story the writers wove for us. The Last of Us is easily my favorite video game of all time, and so I was interested when HBO announced that a miniseries based on the game was in production. Now, I probably don't need to tell you that video game adaptations have a, uh, sketchy record when it comes to their actual quality. And so I took the news with a grain of salt. When casting for the show was announced, some long-time fans of the game took issue with it, especially when it came to Bella Ramsey being cast as Ellie. However, I have seen audiences time and again fall into the trap of letting their expectations influence their opinions on casting decisions, and so while the casting surprised me, I wasn't necessarily taken aback. But, in the back of my mind, I kept having one thought: so, how are they going to mess this up? I was worried that what had happened to so many beloved IPs would happen to The Last of Us, a title I hold near and dear. However, once the first trailer for the show dropped, most of my worries went away. Here was the world of the game, adapted for us in what appeared to be a competent and caring fashion. The acting actually looked pretty good so far. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey both seemed to have understood the natures of Joel and Ellie, their respective characters as well as the main protagonists of the story. The production design looked incredible, and all seemed to be going well. And then, after a few months of waiting, the show dropped. And my verdict?

It was absolutely incredible. It was beyond amazing. It is by far the single best film or show I have ever seen that has been based on a video game, and it may be the best adaptation of any post-2000 source material I've ever seen. However, for a long time, I took a hiatus from the show for about a year before coming back to it, and I want to dedicate a little time to talking about why. If you've read my blog for a while, you probably know that I'm a Christian. I was raised that way, but it wasn't until recently that I really started to live my faith out in the way I live my life. This might get me a little bit of hate, but be aware that I went into HBO's adaptation knowing that it was going to adapt the Left Behind story arc. However, another similar arc, dedicated to the characters Bill and Frank, surprised me. By now, you can probably see where this is going, but before you jump to whatever pre-programmed conclusions you may have, I want to elaborate. I do not hate the LGBTQ community. I have friends who are a part of it. However, I simply choose not to endorse their lifestyle, they know and respect that fact, and I don't let our differences come between our friendships. But just because I can coexist with someone doesn't mean I necessarily agree with them, and this was the case with the Bill and Frank story arc, which, as I'm guessing you've heard, was very, very gay and quite differently presented than the source material that the game drew from, because by the time the game's timeline takes place, Frank has been dead for some time, leaving Bill alone. I get that the point of the show was to present the original timeline as well as expand on existing material, but I can't help but feel like the writers were trying to bait-and-switch audiences who wouldn't condone this particular worldview, given the popularity and wide appeal of the source material across the board. Now, this doesn't have anything to do with the actual quality of the show, but for those of you who may be on the more religious or conservative side of things, I want to give you a heads-up that episode 3, Long, Long Time, and episode 7, Left Behind, contain this sort of material. Now, that said, let's move on.

Did I mention that the show was amazing? Yes, despite a couple of, uh, contentious storytelling focus choices that may turn a decent chunk of prospective audiences off to it, The Last of Us is still an utterly top-notch adaptation as well as an utterly top-notch miniseries. On a purely cosmetic level, the production design in this miniseries could be the best I've ever seen in any show. The sheer scale combined with the sheer detail on display is absolutely mind-blowing. The realization of this post-apocalyptic world is on par with a lot of projects with far bigger budgets. This show puts its money where it needs to be, and it shows. As a general rule, The Last of Us hits high marks in all of its technical aspects, from its production design to its cinematography to its incredibly impressive makeup and prosthetics work for the infected. The makers of the show obviously care a lot about bringing its world to life, and the emphasis on favoring incredibly high-quality practical production design over computer-generated effects is truly remarkable. One of my favorite instances of this technique in the show has to be the infected attack scene from episode five, "Endure and Survive." The crew used impressive makeup and prosthetic work to create an entire mob of infected and a bloater, which is a very large kind of monster. By the time the final product was put out, the bloater suit had been ruled impractical, and computer graphics had been used instead, but the rest of that mob of infected was made up of real actors in makeup, and it looked absolutely stunning. It was one of the finest action sequences I've ever seen in a show, and the practical work lent an unsettling amount of authenticity to the scene. Out of every different location we see in the show, not one felt like it didn't fit or was noticeably lower-effort than others. All of them looked consistently top-notch and otherworldly, which was impressive given how many different and unique locations this show featured, not to mention that nearly every location was trying to practically emulate a place from an entirely computer-generated game. As for the score, the makers of The Last of Us decided to stick to either existing music from the game or similar music written by the same composer as the game, Gustavo Santaolalla. It might seem small, but that desire to capture the same tone as the game is really telling to me about how much the makers of the adaptation cared about it's source material. Some excellent song choices enhanced the show as well, most notably Agnes Obel's "Fuel To Fire," which we hear at the end of episode 5, Endure and Survive. It's a haunting piece, as well as one chosen by someone who has a good ear for appropriate music, and it reminded me of some of the music selections from the earlier seasons of The Walking Dead.

On a more narrative-focused note, one thing that I can't appreciate enough about this adaptation is its faithfulness to the source material. As a writer, I can, to some degree, understand why writers of adaptations may want to take creative liberties that almost always end up rubbing audiences in the wrong way. They're writers. Taking creative liberties is in their blood. And the writers of this show strike a very nice balance between creative liberty and faithfulness to the source material by simply choosing to expand on the existing world in ways that actually make sense when they get the creative itch rather than trying to rewrite something that's already there. In essence, what they're doing is leaving the main storyline of the game relatively untouched while simply filling in gaps with implied storylines from the game or flashbacks that make a surprising amount of sense, like the opening scene from episode 1, where Doctor Neuman, an epidemiologist from the 1960s, explains the cordyceps virus on a late-night talk show. This never happened in the game, but it makes a lot of sense to include a scene like this. It neither alters the main storyline that follows Joel and Ellie's journey nor starts another storyline that would distract from said journey. The Last of Us struck a perfect balance between expanding its world while also remaining faithful to the source material, and doing so made the show feel familiar but also fresh. I knew what was going to happen, and everything felt recognizable, but it never felt like the show was simply copying the game. The best simile I can think of is that watching this show felt like listening to my favorite campfire story being told by someone new. As for narrative balancing, the episodes were well-paced and always seemed to end exactly when they needed to for the sake of segwaying seamlessly into the next one. Of course, the episodic and one-situation-to-the-next-situation approach of the show did create some mild pacing issues, but there's only so much you can do with that when adapting an existing IP, so that complaint is very mild and something of a non-issue when you consider what the show is trying to do.

And finally, I want to shine a spotlight on the cast of characters, which was the focus of the show (rightfully so), as well as incredibly strong. Given the adoration of the characters of Ellie and Joel from critics and audiences alike, their portrayals were what was going to make or break this show. Luckily, the actors understood their assignments all across the board, our two main leads included. Pedro Pascal brought a lot of nuance, strength, and necessary weakness to the character of Joel, and made his father-figure dynamic just a little bit more real than it ever had before. Bella Ramsey started off season one a little slow as Ellie, but as the show progressed (and the book of puns was introduced), it quickly became apparent why she had been cast, despite some initial complaints from fans. She brought excellent range and the necessary quirkiness to the character of Ellie, and by the time episode 8, titled When We Are in Need, aired, she had pretty much perfected the role. Speaking of When We Are in Need, I want to discuss probably my favorite performance in the entire show: Scott Shepherd as the villainous David. I've rarely seen a performance so disturbing, charismatic, eerie, unpredictable, and subtly revolting put to television. Shepherd's performance was nothing short of creepy, and this particular episode's revelations that reveal him to be even worse than the game portrayed him didn't do anything to lighten the mood. Nonetheless, David still managed to feel human, and that's probably what really sold Shepherd's portrayal of him to me. The Last of Us loves to explore the philosophy surrounding the fact that humans are capable of being far worse monsters than anything we could ever dream up, and David was a thinly veiled metaphor for the bigger ideas of the show. And all that said, Shepherd managed to capture both the monstrously vile and undeniably human sides of him with what was an absolutely chilling performance, proving that the show didn't have to rely on the infected to provide its greatest scares.

After all was said and done, I have to say that The Last of Us is certainly the best adaptation of a video game I've ever seen and has set the standard for future game adaptations. However, I am going to slap it with a hard content warning for loads of graphic violence, lots of strong language, and a couple of instances of non-sexual nudity as well as a smattering of same-sex relationship drama that would be a non-issue for some, but a deal-killer for others. But then again, it is an adaptation of a mature-rated video game, so I think that you probably already knew what you were getting into. But for all its content excesses and controversial polarizing subject matter, this is a show I can give an emphatic thumbs-up to, provided you understand that it is a very mature-rated show and are willing to be able to exercise a little discernment if you ever feel uncomfortable, because you probably will at points while watching this show, for better or worse. If other video game adaptations can follow in the footsteps of The Last of Us and provide us with good writing and skilled craftsmanship combined with the same obvious passion for the source material, they might end up going places. The only unfortunate thing is that I just don't know if they'll be able to get much better than this.

The Last of Us - 9/10

Matthew 24:35-36