User Reviews

This series combines the apotheosis of each facet of TV story telling.

I felt the distinct superiority the series enjoys over most contemporaries in all areas. It does every thing better. It is the Usain Bolt, Don Bradman, Djokovic, Schumacher, Tiger Woods (take your pick) of tv.

Each department head is a master in their game. And the story is complex. Deep. Tender at the core but vicious, down right evil at times.

It shocks, awes, moves, tickles and eventually has you begging for more.

The camera movements are just the right shape and size. No angle wasted. Creates immediacy. Can't blink for a second.

The colour palette I found intriguing. It's a post apocalyptic world full of zombies but even the fungus infecting the zombies manifests as almost designer , floral , colourful patterns. There is beauty in horror. Even the cannibals we see in e8 have some earnestness about them. And the leader some charisma.

The plot itself (an ex con ushering an important girl across strife- invested US) is an odyssey where they encounter a host of people. Each encounter and the subsequent journey offers up interesting characters , plot development , twists etc. And the twists are really gnarly. They change the complete story arc and the relative values we had assigned to various elements in the story.

In a lawless and moral less world , what form does the basic survival instincts take. What really are the basic instincts. What is good. What is bad. What is evil. Who judges it all. Where really is god.

Who do you sympathise with. And till when.

What is a good outcome. What is a bad outcome.

What is common to all ? What sets some apart.

Are just some questions I tossed in my mind while watching LOU.

Specifically , episodes 8 and 9 are the best TV episodes I have seen in a long, long time. A couple of average episodes too but not too bad.

This is story telling done right. A series to remember in a glut of above average but trite or formulaic works. Per do and Bella are brilliant and so is the supporting cast.

As a middle aged woman, the last of my thoughts was to watch a zombie movie but then, I stumbled into this and I got instantly hooked. Every single character is unique and visibly broken, after all is a post apocalyptic movie so it makes perfect sense unlike the avalanche of cheap horror movies where they all look healthy and with their hair always in place. The atmosphere is so depressing that the pain of every single character is almost palpable. Joel and Ellie did an outstanding job in showing their fear and anger but so did the other characters. This is not a zombie story though the undead are like that due to a virulent pandemic infection. When global tragedies like that happens, the true nature of a human is revealed. At the very beginning, Joel is running away by car with his daughter and his brother, along the way they see a family of 3 with a little child desperately asking for help but Joel refuses to help them thus condemning them to certain death at night in a place crowling with infected. It may be a coincidence or fate but soon after he will have to experience the death of his own daughter. This series is a journey into rock bottom feelings yet, when you are lost in the darkness seek for the light. A masterpiece in every single aspect: thank you for giving us this. I want more!

I love the Last of Us video games. I love the story of those games dearly, played them as they were released.

So I was cautiously optimistic when this show was announced. HBO is easily the best network producing narrative fiction on TV so that gave me confidence. But then again, they have their misfires as well.

I'm happy to say that this show exceeded my expectations! It captured the spirit of the original story very well and allowed me to recapture the feelings I felt playing the game all those years ago.

The best thing about the show is how phenomenal the production is. The VFX, makeup, costumes, production design, creature designs, editing, cinematography, and music are all absolutely fantastic. Many of these elements are recreations of designs and ideas from the original game but the original game is so perfect, I'm happy they decided to faithfully realize it in beautiful fashion. HBO proves yet again that they are committed to next level quality in television in a way that no other studio has managed to match.

As far as how the story and characters land I'll say it's a mostly faithful adaptation where there are a few changes to the original story. Which is great because the original game's story is absolute perfection. In terms of its changes, some work a little better than others. I loved the expanded role of Bill and his lover. Their love story was really touching and surprisingly effective at fleshing out the themes of the story. Another strong change was how Henry and his brother were adapted. Henry's brother being deaf and so much younger made him even more immediately sympathetic. The added material in the first episode fleshing out Sarah and Joel's life before the outbreak was a completely natural and warranted change that I loved.

My only gripes are that I don't like some of the casting decisions. Pedro Pascal is perfect as Joel, different than in the game but in a good way and the original actress for Marlene was surprisingly fantastic in the show. Whereas Bella Ramsay never really won me fully over. She's somehow less likable and charming than Ellie in the original game. She doesn't have the charisma that the original Ellie had and her bad attitude feels less like a mask and defense mechanism and more like an attitude problem. I also, wasn't really feeling the actress who played Tess although that may be a result of her relationship/chemistry with Joel feeling somewhat underdeveloped. And I actually think the actresses for Kathleen and Riley were genuinely terrible casting choices. Kathleen's actress just didn't fit the menacing and violent nature of her character. She was unconvincing as the terrifying, ruthless leader she was meant to portray. And Riley's actress just wasn't believable in her performance at all. Her performance felt like a school play to me.

In fact, that was easily my least favorite part of the whole show. Ellie and Riley's relationship being fleshed out takes away from Ellie finally spilling her guts about it in the end. Plus I think the way it was executed lacked emotion, believability, and basic logical consistency.

But apart from that, I loved this show. I'm happy it introduced this story to a whole new demographic of people. Highly recommend this one.

As a guy who admires the video game, played it several times and enjoyed it every single time, its hard to say I'm not biased about this. On the other hand, because I loved the game that much, it could have created a lot of negativity serrounding the series.

THANK GOD they actually took the game, and made a series based on the game nerrative and main story line.

Characters:

Joel - Probably one of my favourite characters of all time, literall masterpiece of character design, as an upcoming father, I connected even more to his story and couldn't let go of what he did for Ellie.

Ellie - I think game Ellie is much better then series Ellie, but Bella did overall good job with taking this perfect innocent young girl, and create her again in a series, which was not an easy task.

Overall what makes the last of us so great, is the fact that no one can really find hapiness in this cruel world, you can see it with Sam, with Ellie, with Joel, with each and every character that can't find pure hapiness, and even if they do for a couple of seconds, the cruel world takes them back to the sorrow of the reality they live in, as depressing as it sounds, this is where real relationships are made, Joel and Ellie's relationship is just something out of this world.

Must watch in my opinion.

Usually video game adaptions are rubbish (resident evil, sonic) And it isn't as good as naughty dog's spectacular digital, virtual adventure (which I actually played after I saw the show) the headline said it all. The Last of Us is one of my favourite dramatic emotional tv shows spanning about ten, hour long episodes each gripping and authentic- quite thought provoking diving deep into different points and topics. Very Immersive. It's a bit slow paced for a post apocalyptic outlast though with lost of boring dialouge especiallyfor a VIDEOGAME ADAPTION. It's not a far fetched, chaotic apocalypse, more of a ruin of an aftermath as the result of a fascinating and terrifyingly real fungal infection (ophiocordyceps) terrifyingly manipulating the body. It compares to the walking dead and 28 days later but In my opinion it trumps them all, gripping you in dark and gritty emotion with quirks and twists that have you sympathize with the characters. The father daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie is just spectacular. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey really portrayed the classic video game protagonists so well. The grizzly old man, lost in the past of the outbreak and ellie the curious, feisty 14 year old, cute but dangerous. It really stays true to the game. Even an episode based upon its prequel dlc, left behind and one focused on bill and his relationship which feels awkward but key. The awesome, unique infected which I was excited to see only showed up once or twice in the most generic forms which disappointed me quite a bit. Though the bloater looked great! Bit I love the drunken, antagonistic humans. And David was a great villain, a strangely real obsession with ellie and appearance who shows up at the darkest times. It just shows the terror of cannibalism and what a global pandemic can do to human kind. It shows that the real monster are - well the flesh eating infected but you know also humanity itself which really makes you wonder if man deserves to survive or if nature itself should just take over completely. But I do think it really just shifts its focus to the survivors which is interesting but a bit boring sometimes. The end was great too. It just shows the bleak, depressing impact and story. She could've saved the world, the last hope and he chose the flip side. All this for that. That's the powerful, most moving part. Then you look at all their backstories. The sad and rightful deaths. Then the swear - the lie. Since the sequel successor, part II was amazing (though I didnt agree storywise) I'm definitely hype for season two.

Truth be told, I hated the videogame and delayed watching this show for a long time BECAUSE I hated the videogame. But, so many people told me I had to watch it that I decided to give it a shot. I love apocalyptic/zombie type shows/movies so that's another reason I wanted to give this show a chance.

I binged this first season in 1 day. I couldn't stop watching the show, so I have taken in all episodes and am writing this one day after binging the first season. While many shows/movies are different from their book/videogame counter-parts I can understand that and sometimes respect why. I believe the game's creators were involved with these episodes.

The problem with being so attached and loving a book or videogame is you expect those same feelings when you see it in a movie or tv show. It's almost impossible to reproduce this. You must take it for what it is, another form of the subject matter.

Taken in that context, The Last of Us is truly an amazing show. From the beginning we see the disconnect of Ellie and Joel, the distrust, zero emotional connection. By the end, he views her as a daughter and she views him as a father. The scene in the last episode before the enter hospital where she tells him she will follow him anywhere and how he tried to commit suicide but because of her he truly found purpose in life. THIS was possibly the best scene in the season for me and brought some tears to my eyes. Because by this time in the season you are emotionally connected to Joel and Ellie. THEY are now emotionally connected to each other.

The chemistry between these two actors is nothing less than amazing.

I won't speak of other aspects of the show that many others have said in more details- the other actors, pace, etc. Just don't go in thinking you will get an exact copy of the videogame you will be let down. Try to go in from the viewpoint of not ever played the game. I think your stance on the show may be better.