“The Last of Us”: A Post-Apocalyptic Masterpiece
by Suzie McCarthy
Photo Courtesy of HBO
Who needs another drawn-out, zombie series like “The Walking Dead”? These types of shows are predictable and audiences are sick of them, right?
Wrong!
HBO Max seems to have revitalized the zombie-plot concept within its newest series. HBO Max’s latest success, “The Last of Us,” has left fans reeling on the edge of their seats for more.
“The Last of Us” storyline originated from a video game developed by Naughty Dog. HBO Max managed to make a show based on the two main characters from the game, Ellie and Joel. Their story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where they must survive against an infectious fungus, vicious enemies, and even themselves–pretty standard for any zombie plot so far. But the difference between most zombie tropes and “The Last of Us” lies in the characters and relationships.
The two main characters–Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, and Joel, played by Pedro Pascal– have a great range of emotions throughout the show. The actors bring a sense of reality to the show that most series fall short of, and it’s hard to imagine these roles being played by anyone else.
“The Last of Us” leaves the audience captivated through multiple cinematic dynamics. The show is able to make the infected scary enough to haunt your dreams and the enemies sick enough to make you question the characters’ motives while speculating “what comes next?”
The storytelling within the show is excellent. The writers formed a plot based on how the characters would react to intense situations instead of writing what people wish would happen. This helps switch up the general, predictable atmosphere you’d expect from typical zombie shows.
Joel is a grieving father who loses his daughter during the outbreak of the apocalypse. Ellie is born in the middle of it. Viewers are shown the heartfelt journey of Joel and Ellie, where Ellie becomes Joel’s surrogate daughter that he would die for.
Joel feels tremendous guilt and loss for not being able to protect his daughter, but soon learns he can direct his pain towards protecting and caring for Ellie. We see Joel undergo enormous redemption throughout his adventure because of his growing love for Ellie.
Ellie is afraid of being alone and has often been abandoned by those she loves. By joining Joel, she begins to have the family she always yearned for and develops a desire to save mankind.
From the first episode until the season finale, the show has plot twist after plot twist which keeps viewers coming back for more. Now that the season has wrapped up, fans are ready for season two to see Ellie and Joel continue fighting for their lives.
If you enjoy post-apocalyptic stories with well-drawn characters and intense action, go ahead and add this series to your binge list. You won’t be disappointed.
The Insider 
This is a great blog post about HBO Max’s “The Last of Us” series. The relationship between Ellie and Joel seems to be the show’s standout point, which provides necessary depth to the series. I’m intrigued by your statement that the writers focus on how the characters react to intense situations instead of what people wish would happen. Can you give an example of how this approach affected the show’s plot? Good job on the blog post!
P. T
https://blog.primarytinting.net
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Yes, of course! Though, this response will contain spoilers! At the end of each episode, the audience is given a behind the scenes look into the actors’, writers’, and directors’ point of views. I definitely suggest watching these, it was enlightening to see how the whole team worked together to make this incredible series possible. The writers make it apparent that they wanted to have characters respond to plot changes based on their personality traits. Toward the ending of the first season, Ellie is taken hostage by the Fireflies who then inform Joel they will perform ‘surgery’ on her to save the world. Joel, the grieving father who will not lose another daughter, refuses this and demands to be taken to her. They escort him out and expect him to just leave even though this surgery could never guarantee humanity’s survival. At this point, Joel’s sole interest is to save and protect Ellie, his surrogate daughter. Ellie wishes to save the world but Joel wants to protect her from the world she yearns to save. The loss he experienced from losing Sarah would not allow him to just leave Ellie with strangers who would harvest her organs, eventually killing her. The traits that have created Joel’s character are that he is a father and fathers protect, which is exactly what he did. To protect her, Joel kills many people including a doctor who could potentially ‘save the world’. Joel would be lost without Ellie and the only logical response is to eliminate all threats to Ellie’s well-being. Once Joel retrieves Ellie, he is given another chance to do ‘what is right’ for the world but instead executes Marlene, which was a big shock factor for the audience. When Ellie wakes up and asks Joel what has happened, Joel lies to her as a means of further protection. The writers explain they wanted the plot to move in the direction that the character, Joel, would have moved it. Each response from Joel throughout the show corresponds to how one would expect someone like Joel to respond. By doing this, I feel like the show’s team brought a deep sense of reality into a show based on complete fiction. Thank you for reading!
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