Episode 1 just proves why this story was made for TV, it spends nearly a movie length time setting up the show, while showing the bleak and dark world these characters now find themselves in.
WRITTEN BY ELLIOT LINES / JANUARY 19, 2023
Since it was released in 2013, The Last of Us game has been in talks to be adapted onto the screen. For many years the big screen was the talk, with Sam Raimi attached to it for a long time, but that fell away when it was realised you couldn't tell this story in movie form. 10 years on from its release the much loved game has finally come to the TV screen, and if "When you're lost in the darkness" is anything to go by we are in for a massive treat over the next 9 weeks.
Video game adaptations have varied levels of success, what The Last of Us has going for it is its already planned out story-line. Within the first episode there are clear apparent video game to screen comparisons, not only with its lead characters but scenes also.
Sitting at a near movie length 85 minutes, this first episode clearly shows why a movie was not an option. The whole episode is setting the show up, with the story and the characters. It introduces us to Joel (Pedro Pascal), showing us where he was before this disaster and the affects certain events have going forward. The episode also spends a little time getting to know Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a young girl that seemingly bears a lot of importance in this world.
We start with a monologue about a pandemic which is chilling to say the least. We spend a little time in Joel's earlier life, just as the outbreak hits, then jump 20 years forward, with the world now in tatters and under military control. The setting here is very much like The Walking Dead towns, and there will be clear comparisons to the show due to its subject matter, but this outside world is there to be explored and this is just the beginning, we haven't even got to the monsters yet (unless you look a little closer).
Episode 1 just proves why this story was made for TV, it spends nearly a movie length time setting up the show, while showing the bleak and dark world these characters now find themselves in. Going forward this show is set up for success, but if it sticks the landing will remain to be seen.