Photo byHBO: Warner Bros. Discovery via revistalevelup.com

By Pablo Vargas | pvargas@revistalevelup.com

The Last of Us’ series on HBO has become, chapter by chapter, not only one of the best adaptations of a video game to the big screen or television, but one of the best and most spectacular series in the history of television.

In Revista Level Up and Teletica.com’s Sabana magazine we make a recap of the best of each of the first five episodes of the series.

Episode 1 – When you’re lost in the dark

Photo byHBO: Warner Bros. Discovery via revistalevelup.com

Rating: 9/10

The series kicks off with a strong and respectful approach to the original material of Naughty Dog’s acclaimed video game, with a masterful prologue that first establishes the foundations of the series, expanding the game’s own mythology by explaining the devastating effect of the fungus in a scientific monologue that makes our blood run cold, then leaps back in time to 2003, where we are introduced to the pre-Pandemic world, detailing with great accuracy the relationship between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and his daughter Sarah before that fateful weekend when Joel’s world came to a halt forever.

Twenty years later, the world has completely collapsed; a government organization (FEDRA) has become a tyrannical state fighting a group of rebels (Fireflies); Joel is a feared smuggler who has done some truly terrible things to survive and now he and his partner, Tess (Anna Torv), are on an “errand” for Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the Fireflies’ leader: to take a 13-year-old girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to the Fireflies’ safe territory. Along the way, everything gets out of control; Joel and Tess discover that Ellie is “infected”.

Episode 2 – Infected

Photo byHBO: Warner Bros. Discovery via revistalevelup.com

Rating: 9/10

Year 2003, HBO once again gives a master class on how to “show and not tell” by clearing one of the biggest questions surrounding the universe of ‘The Last of Us’ about how the cordyceps fungus quickly infects humans, with the fungus taking control of people in less than 24 hours and turning them into fearsome infected, with a series of dialogues that will remain forever etched in our memory and reminding us that there is nothing humanity can do to escape its doom.

Back in 2023, Joel and Tess confirm that Ellie was bitten, but is immune to the fungus, and the Fireflies seek to create a cure through her. Joel and Tess know that this is humanity’s only chance to save itself and decide to take Ellie to the Fireflies in Massachusetts; along the way, we learn that the infected function as a large hive and in an encounter with a variant of the infected (Snappers) that has wiped out all the Fireflies, Tess is bitten and becomes infected; surrounded by infected and about to die, Tess sacrifices herself so that Ellie and Joel can escape and meet up with Frank and Bill.

Episode 3 – For a long, long time…

Photo byHBO: Warner Bros. Discovery via revistalevelup.com

Rating: 10/10

In this episode, the series gives us a perfect episode from beginning to end. Emotional and completely heartbreaking in which FEDRA is presented as a great antagonist that in the post-pandemic world became an extreme regime that mass-executed children and women from entire villages, under the concept of “if it’s dead, it can’t be infected” and how in the midst of that chaos, one of the most beautiful and sincere love stories we’ve ever seen on television emerges.

This episode is an absolute fucking masterpiece; the brutal work of Nick Offerman (Bill) and Murray Bartlett (Frank) will sweep all the acting awards this year, thanks to the direction of a Peter Hoar in a complete state of grace that deviates just enough from the original material of the game, to give us one of the best episodes in the history of television that left us with a completely broken heart and a sea of tears.

Episode 4 – Please Take My Hand

Photo byHBO: Warner Bros. Discovery via revistalevelup.com

Rating: 9/10

Joel and Ellie continue their journey to find the Fireflies at central camp in Wyoming; taking a shortcut they are ambushed by a group of bandits led by a woman named Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) who leads a para-military group that has wiped out the FEDRA division in Kansas City and is hunting a man named Henry and his brother Sam, ; Joel and Ellie manage to escape from the bandits, killing two of them; in the escape they decide to spend the night in a skyscraper to flee the next morning, when they are ambushed by Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard) holding them at gunpoint.

A rounded episode that introduces iconic characters, masterfully builds the bond between Joel and Ellie; the episode takes creative liberties with the inclusion of the paramilitary leader, but maintains the essence of the 3 chapters that comprise the video game, summarizing and recreating to perfection key scenes of the game, with a heart-stopping ending that leaves everything served to one of the most raw and painful moments, both of the story in the video game, as the series.

Episode 5 – Resist and Survive

Photo byHBO: Warner Bros. Discovery via revistalevelup.com

Rating: 10/10

The series aptly presents us with a world of shades of gray in which people are capable of doing atrocious things to survive; we see how Henry, painfully, accepts having committed terrible things to shelter and protect his younger brother Sam, including ratting out the beloved and respected leader of the Kansas resistance, Michael, brother of the ruthless Kathleen, who now pursues him to kill him and avenge his brother; all in a series of emotional moments in which the series makes it clear that neither is an old-fashioned “villain,” just people making bad decisions to survive and protect their own.

In this episode, HBO once again raises the bar and outdoes itself with an episode that mercilessly hits our emotions and leaves us completely broken. The Last of Us presents us with 3 love stories in the midst of a world that does not deserve salvation: father-daughter love (Joel & Sarah), couple love (Frank & Bill), brother love (Henry & Sam). And at the same time, these 3 stories, are a bleak argument, opposite to love: no matter what one does, the end is always death or loneliness who strikes low. We knew exactly what would happen and yet, we were not prepared for it. The sniper. The subway kindergarten. The fatty. Sam & Henry. Shattered. Speechless. A fucking work of art.

***

At the end of these 5 episodes, we can say with propriety what HBO has done with this first part of the series of ‘The Last of Us’ is anthology; adapting to perfection a true masterpiece to which it treats with exceptional affection and genuine respect for the material on which it is based, managing to expand its own universe through a narrative thread that gives us a unique and wonderful experience, both fans of the video game, as those who know nothing of the original work.

The Last of Us’ airs every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max; the series based on Naughty Dog’s acclaimed video game is the most watched streaming series in our country, according to official data from JustWatch, the entity that collects user preferences in streaming services worldwide.

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Pablo Vargas | Director and founder of Revista Level Up.

Industrial Engineer. Author of the novels “El Hombre de la Rosa Negra” (ULACIT, 2009) and “A coffee to celebrate” (Editorial Costa Rica 2012). Director and producer of the TV shows ‘Geek House’, ‘Press Start’, ‘Ellas Geek’, ‘Sabana GG’, ‘Next Stage’, ‘Let’s Play Nights’ and ‘PowerUp!’. He regularly writes about geek culture, technology, and video games for Teletica, Radio IQ, IT Now and La República (Costa Rica), Diario La Estrella and TVN (Panam+a), El Mundo (El Salvador), Guatevision and La Prensa Libre (Guatemala), TVC and Tu Nota (Honduras).

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