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.
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.