The Last Of Us HBO - The DVDfever Review

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The Last Of Us HBO is how – for SEO purposes – I’m referring to the new series that’s coming out next week HBO and Sky Atlantic, a TV series adaptation of the 2013 Playstation game, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

This is a series I’ve been very sceptical of ever since I first heard about it, since the videogames – the first, in particular – are amongst my favourites of all time. When you get involved in the story and the lives of the characters and all the perils they go through, it’s difficult to see and hear something different.

So, I’ll get into aspects of the first episode, but I’ll avoid spoilers, assuming that not everyone reading this has played the first game (let alone played through the entire thing, as it can last from 20 to 40 hours depending on how much you want to do within it), so I’ll attempt to get across some changes you’ll come across between this and the game, but still avoid revealing anything you wouldn’t want to know until you come across it for the first time, whether in the game or series.

I may go into more detail about each episode later, but only once the respective episodes have been broadcast, and would add the content in behind a spoiler header so you can’t trip over it accidentally.

So, for the opener, the first thing you see is something brand new, and like any additionally-created scenes, I don’t know if this was part of the original lore or just hasn’t shown up until now, but we begin in 1968 with a TV discussion about a pandemic virus potentially happening, with two epidemiologists, one being played by John Hannah, talking about how viruses can make us ill, but fungi can alter our mind and tell us what to do, where to go and control us, with the potential happening if the Earth got warmer (uh-oh, a global warming thing… and there was me thinking it was only Channel 4 News and the BBC which had the monopoly on such scaremongering nonsense).

Then, with timeframes changing, such that the series proper starts in 2003 (rather than 2013 for the game), we’re also introduced to Joel and Sarah on the morning of Day Zero, but this is all leading up to the evening at the point when the actual game STARTS – albeit the first scene in the game taking place at ten-to-midnight, and in the TV show, it’s 10pm and she presents him with a present for his birthday. (identical to the game’s first scene). However, this time round, one of his gifts is a DVD of Curtis And The Viper 2, the game referenced by Ellie to Dina in the second game while they’re on a recce, as a film she’s going to suggest that she and Joel watches back at the compound, since he’s into cheesy ’80s action movies. Now, it’s Sarah who first brings this up.

I will also add that the early morning scene features a clip of Sarah in school, but as it’s 2003, they have to suffer a fate worse than zombies – having to put up with a picture of George W Bush on the wall!

Seriously, though, and again, I don’t want to give spoilers, so I’ll just say – if it looks like not a lot is happening in the foreground, also keep one eye on the background…

We still see the same in-car camera as Joel drives Tommy and Sarah in search of safety, and beyond that, without giving spoilers for anyone who hasn’t played the game, all I’ll say is that the first 30 minutes of the first episode are largely faithful to the game’s opening chapter, before we see “Twenty years later“.

The Last Of Us HBO Series Spoiler-Free REVIEW! – HBO/Sky Atlantic – DVDfeverGames

At this point, the game shows us a conversation between Joel and Tess, whereas the TV series sees the cops dealing with a young girl they’ve chanced upon, who’s out walking on her own. It’s not Ellie, but it does lead into Joel and Tess’ introduction in 2023.

In fact, like a number of characters, Jess also gets an early introduction when she’s talking to Robert about getting a truck battery, rather than speaking to Joel and how they need to go and see him.

Similarly, in another scene not in the game, we’re introduced to Ellie who’s chained up for reasons not yet explained – unless you’ve played the game and know what makes her unique. However, in the game, we don’t see Ellie until Joel’s been to see Marlene and is tasked with taking her to the Fireflies, who offer humanity a chance for salvation.

But these intros for the two female characters give us a bit of extra backstory to chapter 2, before the game would normally tell us time has moved on to “20 Years Later” (’20’, not ‘Twenty’), before it moves on with the plot.

Oh, and then another intro, this time for Marlene, with one of her staff asking why she has a girl locked up in her room, who responds about where they’re planning to take her, but without explaining why – to us dear viewers, at least. Naturally, if you’ve played the game, you’ll know why. There’s also a subsequent discussion between Marlene and Ellie, but the former makes reference to Riley, who you’ll have seen if you’ve played the DLC from the first game, Left Behind. As always, I’m having to omit plot details which non-gaming viewers won’t know about.

Flicking through some of the early chapters in the game, these additional scenes means that rather than the series lasting forever and ever, it will cut down time so it can advance the events on a little bit, so for example, it doesn’t show me spending forever looking for spare ammo on the ground. An hour of that would have people fast-forwarding in their droves.

The Last Of Us HO – Trailer & Cast Images REACTION – HOT TRASH?!

But now let’s get onto the massive elephant in the room… the casting. Oh, boy…. I’ve certainly mentioned this a time or two in my videos, here, but let’s be brief so as to save my fingers.

Ellie in the videogame version of The Last Of Us is more likely to drown any baddies in the game, or shoot them in the face, but for the show, Bella Ramsay, doesn’t look like she’ll hurt a fly. Apparently, over 100 young women were auditioned for this role, so I can’t believe there weren’t any actresses who actually looked more like her and/or were a lot more suitable.

And then we move on to Joel, changing from Texan to Chilean… no, wait, it turns out ‘Joel’ is from Texas after all. But actor Pedro Pascal is from Chile, whereas the original videogame actor, Troy Baker is from Texas. Yes, he’s not a big name, but seeing his picture on Wikipedia, he could be dolled up to be Joel. In fact, Pedro even says, as Joel, that he’s from Texas, but he certainly doesn’t sound it. Why not just get an actor who can do a Texan accent? Like… Troy Baker? Hmm…

Gabriel Luna, as Tommy, was actually born in Texas, but doesn’t seem at all how I’d envisage Tommy after the game.

Anna Torv, as Tess, is fine, though, and for Marlene, Merle Dandridge is the original videogame actress, so she’s technically the best casting here. Now, for Ellie, in case you’re not aware, she’s voiced in the game by Ashley Johnson… who is almost 40, so she wouldn’t pass for a 14-year-old girl any more than I would. And I’m a man!

But we still have one more character left to discuss… Sarah. She’s changed from a white girl, aged around 10 to 12, to a black 18-year-old (played by Nico Parker). Doesn’t make a lick of sense. Ok, technically, you could argue that the best thing about Channel 5’s Anne Boleyn drama was Jodie Turner-Smith in the titular role, but while she’s a great actress, the rest of the show wasn’t up to much, so it seemed less of an issue. Here, the change is just too ridiculous and I’d love to know the thinking behind it.

The Last Of Us HBO Series – First Teaser REACTION!

Early on, there’s lots of walking around and plot exposition, which works in the game because you have to look around and work out where to go next, such as when there’s a blockage on the path. Since it’s fiction, there’s always a way to get from A to B, unlike reality. Then again, in games, sometimes even a small mound of grass can fox a character, whereas in reality, you’d just step up onto it.

Doing a game to TV or movie conversion rarely works, which makes you wonder why people still bother. Do you know which is the only really successful one, in my eyes? 2018’s Rampage. As for why, I’ll let you read that review on my website which I’ll link below, but, hey, at least for this one, the music comes from the same man – Gustavo Santaolalla – and they use the same Clicker sounds from the game!

Oh, and nothing beats trying to get past the Clickers in the game by yourself, though, including one underground scene where the room’s completely full of them, as well as a Bloater, but if you manage not to disturb them, you can actually sneak right past them. And sneak slowly… since unlike most zombies, Clickers are the worst to deal with. You can’t just simply punch them in the face and run off, they generally take a few shots to the head before they finally capitulate. And ammo is usually scarce.

One of the items you’d find and use in the game, and which also comes up here, is the use of rolls of tape. Unlike real life, in this programme, it doesn’t take 100 tries to pick at the end of the tape before you can actually use it.

Some things that are nice to see (albeit a bit grim) is the cordyceps wrapping around a corpse when someone dies. That’s not something you’d concentrate on in the game because you’re too busy trying to save yourselves, but here, the camera is allowed to linger. So, hey, a plus!

Also, it’s fascinating to see the city and the depiction of the zombies – including an image which was shown online some time ago, with the two skyscrapers where one has crashed into the other at an angle, in a scene from the game – but…. every time the camera cuts back to Mr Pascal or Ms Ramsey, and my suspension of disbelief is unsuspended again.

Y’know, towards the end of the opener, Pedro does try to make his voice sound a bit more gruff, but he still isn’t Joel. And I think it was in episode 3, I heard him sound a lot more like Joel, but as soon as I watched episode 4, it all went out the window. I have since come to the end of the series, but… well, I’ll add more in-detail thoughts about each episode after they’ve been individually broadcast.

I still can’t get over how some of the casting is so unfortunate. While I’ve gone through the first game in full twice, along with a few chapters of the remake, I’ve been just as affected with the opening chapter in every single version. However, when it comes to this TV show, this is not the case and I was left cold. YMMV.

However, do you know who DOES work in this series? Nick Offerman as Bill, a friend of Joel’s, and Murray Bartlett as Frank, and if you’ve not played the game, you’ll learn about their characters before too long.

The 2013 game – in original PS3, remastered PS4 and remade PS5 flavours – is, as I’ve mentioned, one of my all-time favourite games. The chemistry between Joel and Ellie is beautiful, and while I’ve mentioned the two lead actors for that game already, it’s pleasing that both are getting small roles in this actual series – as has already been confirmed online. I won’t go into detail about who they play, however, but once each episode ends, I may go into more detail, as previously mentioned, with added spoiler banners.

As an aside, there’s also an issue for some that there are no spores in this series. Perhaps because that would cause the actors to have their faces covered while wearing masks, but then there’s tendrils instead, which it appears were already a part of the game – as the video below shows. That said, there’s a number of issues with the series anyway, which I’ll get into as it goes on, each of which will air after the episode has ended, and EXPECT SPOILERS WITHIN!

https://twitter.com/NaughtyNDC/status/1612205337934983168

UPDATE Episode 1:

For my first episode update, I made a video for this, which you can see below:

UPDATE Episode 2:

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This one gives us another bit more backstory, we go back toSept 24th 2003, this time to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Ibu Ratna, Professor of Mycology states that ophiocordyceps cannot survive in humans, whilst investigating a dead woman who’s been bitten and attacked some colleagues. It’s declared they need to create some sort of a vaccine, or a medicine, but either way, the only way to really sort it out is to bomb the city and kill everyone in it… but to save on the budget, we don’t get to see the actual bombing. But to another character, and although Tess lasted until chapter 9 in the game, this series is rapidly running through it, so she makes her exit here. Yes, in the game, she had also been bitten beforehand, but she bowed out by shooting a few enemy soldiers before they took her out (off-camera). Here, it’s zombies, and it’s all with a snog and a BOOM! Well, why go for subtlety, when you can have an explosion, instead?

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UPDATE Episode 3:

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So, this episode has aired, and there’s a mixed reaction online. I think a lot of viewers will be expecting a zombie gorefest, and this one wasn’t that at all. For those who haven’t played the game, the outcome for Bill and Frank is different. I won’t say how, in case you haven’t played the game, but let’s just say, I expected more Bill, since what I will say about the game, is that you head out around Bill’s Town (as the chapter is titled), and go through a school gym, killing a bloater in there along with other minions. One slight plus, is that Pedro and Bella’s voices do start to sound more like Joel and Ellie in this episode, but they still look nothing like them.

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UPDATE Episode 4:

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This time round, the writers cram in Ellie bringing out her book of puns, No Pun Intended. I can’t remember, offhand, if that was the name of the book in the game, but it doesn’t work, here. Also, this episode has the scene where Joel and Ellie are ambushed while driving, and crash into a convenience shop, which is not very convenient. This was great fun to play in the game, smashing the baddies heads against the wall. I spent many hours doing that in various ways. Naturally, this one doesn’t take so long, since the story has to be moved on. Also there’s talk about Henry, so Henry and his brother, Sam, come into the story differently than in the game, but still, it’s just a lot of running around and getting not very far.

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UPDATE Episode 5:

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Episode 5 arrived, finally bringing Henry and his younger brother, Sam, into the story, but this time with Sam being deaf. Henry clearly wants to protect Sam, but since they ran out of food, they need to go looking for some when they spot a chance they can do so on their own with no enemies in sight. In this episode, sometimes, you get scenes with the resistance – whose side we never saw in the game, since it’s all about Joel and Ellie’s survival. So, that’s a chance, but not a huge one. Henry and Sam’s story is similar-ish, albeit condensed into episode 5, but this time, Sam tells Ellie that he’s been bitten on the leg, whereas in the game, it’s a surprise to everyone. In the series, Ellie tells him because of her immunity, her blood is “medicine” and attempts to patch up his leg by smearing some of it on his cut. In the game, Sam was left to sleep on his own, whereas this time, Ellie sleeps in the same room as him, only discovering the ‘medicine’ didn’t work when she goes to say hello in the morning. Beyond that, while it was speculated that Henry and Sam’s story would last longer in the series – which wasn’t the case, their outcome is the same as in the game. Also in the game, it just cut to the next season, but in the series, there’s a short scene where Joel digs graves for them both, and Ellie puts Sam’s writing pad on top of the lad’s grave, with the words, “I’m sorry” written on it. So, that was a nice addition. However, after seeing The Whale in the cinema today, for which Brendan Fraser is nominated for Best Actor, I figured how much better would The Last Of Us have been with Sadie Sink as Ellie? Perhaps Hugh Jackman could’ve been Joel, too.

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UPDATE Episode 6:

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Moving on from Henry and Sam, instead of a ‘Winter’ captain, this one begins “Three months later” in the winter, so similar. It also introduces new characters, with Graham Green (Dances With Wolves, Die Hard with a Vengeance) as a man with his wife in a cottage, who Joel and Ellie come across, but they’re only in it very briefly, so it felt like a wasted opporuntity to bring someone else in, since as soon as they’re introduced, they’re history. This is another example of how they shouldn’t have rushed through the story. Joel now gets to meet up with Tommy in the compound where he lives with his wife, Maria, who because reasons, is now black rather than white (why the race changes in this show? Doesn’t make sense). However, Joel’s still at loggerheads with his brother. It was interesting to see Joel thinking he saw Sarah, although it was just a young woman with the same hairstyle. I will admit that Pascal and Ramsey did exhibit some chemistry in this episode, when they were at loggerheads, then tried to find some common ground before heading off towards the Fireflies, but it still feels like a bad cover version. Finally, they go to the University, and it looks the same, but then the game one was based on the real University, anyway. Meanwhile, Joel does still end up with a hole in his stomach from an implement, but from an altercation and not from a fall. A shame they didn’t go that route, opting for a quick fight instead of a long, drawn-out shoot-out. I really enjoyed that section of the game.

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UPDATE Episode 7:

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Episode 7 brings us to Riley and the Left Behind DLC from the game, all summarised in a single episode, similarly shown as a flashback scene. Riley pays a visit to Ellie’s house while they were still at school and, hey, at least Riley actually looks like Riley! Like in the game, they head down to the mall, and I’m presuming the music I saw in the preview is the same as in the show, but we get A-Ha’s Take On Me, and then The Cure’s Just Like Heaven, but covered by Rockabye Baby! As for their outcomes, they turned out just the same as in the game, but like with Sarah’s death in the first episode, I was left completely cold. So, this series has basically turned into a “Last of Us clipshow”, but whereas the game has multiple zombie encounters, in this show, they’re few and far between. And since Riley’s been living in the shopping mall, she’ll have covered every inch of the place, so how come she didn’t miss a bloater stuck to a wall in the arcade?!

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UPDATE Episode 8:

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Episode 8 brings us to ‘the David episode’. Yep, if you’ve played the game, you know what’s coming. I will talk about what happens in both in this section, but the episode has aired, so expect spoilers. We also see Troy Baker (the original Joel Miller voice) as James, the henchman alongside bible-basher David who, in the game, has dark brown, unkempt hair, whereas this one has short, ginger hair. As for Mr Baker, oh, I’d rather have had him as Joel. He doesn’t do the Joel voice here, but he would’ve brought it back for sure. A potential alternative who would’ve made a good Joel, physically, would be Hugh Jackman. I’d love to know if he was asked, but for any TV series, you have to commit to several years if it takes off. Sure, Part I has been done in one season, while Part II was confirmed would be split over two, but given how it’s somehow become a hit, and since Part III hasn’t come out in game form yet, you never know if they’ll develop spin-offs along the way. But back to this penultimate episode, and we see Ellie killing a deer… Naturally, no animals were harmed in the making of the series, before you get confused about things. And when it comes to those back at David’s camp, the woman heavily featured is clearly Mel from the second game. Now, we have to talk about the ending, because it was SO much more powerful in the game. They had a chance to replicate this and they botched it. In the game, while Ellie’s pounding the butcher’s blade into David, Joel turns up and stops her, telling her that David’s already dead, and since Joel grabs her, that’s when she screams, thinking she’s being attacked again. In the TV show, she killed David, and then left the restaurant, only to get surprised by Joel. Come on, guys, why change that?!

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UPDATE Episode 9:

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And finally, we get to the last episode, where a pregnant woman is on the run from zombies, who turns out to be Anna, Ellie’s mother, and played by Ashley Johnson, the real voice of Ellie. I thought they’d made a featre-length finale, but it’s only 43 minutes, making it the shortest episode in the whole series! It’s nice to see the giraffes, though… And at least they got the final scene almost exactly right as they escape the hospital. Okay, so they’re not set on by baddies as they leave the operating theatre and make their way towards the lift, but the car/car park scene is almost exactly replicated. The final scene between Ellie and Joel, though, was like a bad cover version compared to the original game finale. Overall, throughout the series, while I think Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are completely unsuitable to the roles of Joel and Ellie, seeing the reaction to them on Reddit and various Facebook groups for The Last Of Us, and when you get one bunch of Gen Z-ers saying how wonderful they are, the rest won’t voice their own, true opinions, and just parrot what they’ve already heard, so they don’t get shunned by their peers. It’s called Groupthink. At least we’re at the end. Seasons 2 and 3 will cover The Last Of Us Part II. There’s still time to recast Sadie Sink as Ellie, y’know…

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Thanks to our friends at Sky for the screener prior to release.

NOTE: Original review post after ep.1 on January 10th 2023 at 3.00am, then updated weekly as per the embargoes.

The Last Of Us HBO is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Sky Atlantic from Monday January 16th at 2am, and it’ll be a weekly series.

The Last Of Us HBO – Official Trailer | HBO Max

Detailed specs:

Cert:
Running time: 45-85 minutes per episode (9 episodes)
Release date: January 15th 2022
Studio: Sky Atlantic/HBO
Format: 2.00:1

Series Directors: Ali Abbasi, Jeremy Webb, Neil Druckmann, Peter Hoar, Liza Johnson, Craig Mazin, Jasmila Zbanic
Producer: Cecil O’Connor
Developers: Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
Writer: Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla

Cast:
Joel Miller: Pedro Pascal
Ellie Williams: Bella Ramsey
Tommy Miller: Gabriel Luna
Marlene: Merle Dandridge
Perry: Jeffrey Pierce
Theresa ‘Tess’ Servopoulos: Anna Torv
Frank: Murray Bartlett
Bill: Nick Offerman
Anna Williams: Ashley Johnson
Kathleen: Melanie Lynskey
Riley Abel: Storm Reid
Sarah Miller: Nico Parker
Henry: Lamar Johnson
Sam: Keivonn Woodard
Head Stuttering Passenger: Kevin Sateri
Young Firefly Solider: Riley Davis
Robert: Brendan Fletcher
James: Troy Baker
Marlon: Graham Greene
Infected Girl: Marlee Grace Becker

Dom Robinson

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

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