'The Last of Us:' A New Experience Brought by The Stereotypical Zombie Theme

Recently, HBO released a drama, and the first episode received a good reputation and ratings. After three consecutive episodes, IMDb scored 9.3, and Rotten Tomatoes scored 99%. Apart from the labels of political correctness, strong HBO style, popular game adaptation, and making the zombie theme fresh, I think it's a drama with many aftertastes. It's The Last of Us.

I especially like the third episode. In an apocalyptic environment, a touching love story between two reclusive gay lovers ushered in a wave of emotional climax.

And in the fifth episode, the story of the black brothers also moved me very much, and the ending is so sad.

Unexpectedly, only a few months, a drama with the potential of the American drama king of 2023 appeared. Let's talk about this drama today. It got such high popularity, on the one hand, because the popularity of the original game is very high. On the other hand, HBO spent a lot of money on its production, making it a big-budget drama this year.

With a total investment of $100 million, the drama is far more expensive than the final season of Game of Thrones, and the cast is also attractive. The leading actor Pedro Pascal has played many remarkable roles, such as the Red Viper in Game of Thrones, the detective in Narcos, and the bounty hunter in The Mandalorian.

The heroine is the island owner Bella Ramsey in the sixth season of Game of Thrones. She is young but left a deep impression on me as soon as she appeared. Their combination seems like the actors' layoff and re-employment of Game of Thrones, hahaha!

Looking at the creative team, one is Neil Druckmann, the producer of the original game, and the other is Craig Mazin, who made Chernobyl.

The plot setting is in the post-apocalyptic era of 2023. At this time, the whole world is suffering from a virus infection, the order is destroyed, and the only survivors are struggling to survive in the heavily guarded quarantine area. How about it, is this setting a little familiar? It's like the COVID-19 pandemic the whole world has just experienced.

In the apocalyptic scenes' presentation, the creative team worked hard to create an atmosphere of complete imbalance in the old-world order, with apocalyptic cities, collapsed buildings, dilapidated streets, and panicked crowds. Everything is hopeless and chaotic.

The biggest highlight of the drama, of course, is the monster that can spread the virus rapidly, and the initiator of the disaster is Cordyceps, which can parasitize the human body and is highly infectious. Once infected, they will gradually lose their humanity like zombies.

In less than an episode, The Last of Us shows a shocking apocalyptic environment, chaotic and dark enough, using the early peace as a foreshadowing, and it shows the process of a disaster spreading gradually.

Joel's family is like the epitome of countless families. At first, the virus is close at hand but not noticed. Later, as Joel's family drives away, they discover that the virus has spread rapidly, and a flood of infected people pour out of the houses.

Everywhere are people running for their lives and monsters biting people. The disaster comes without warning, and the director shows the process of escape in a long take, which has a strong sense of substitution. Honestly, this is the first time I have ever felt such a real apocalyptic scene in an American drama.

However, relying on these alone, the drama will not get such high ratings. On the surface, this is a traditional doomsday survival drama, but it tries something new under a seemingly stereotypical framework.

This novelty lies in the meticulous shaping of the characters. The hero Joel is a very complex character. Joel in 2003 is very different from Joel 20 years later. He used to be gentle and kind, but now he is indifferent, selfish, and cruel.

Joel in 2003

Joel in 2023

The most surprising thing is Joel's emotional outburst. He is so angry when facing a guard with a gun. He finally beats the guard to death to protect Ellie, and his hands are covered with blood before he stops.

I could understand his outburst because the scene reminds him of a similar memory 20 years ago. At that time, he was also held at gunpoint by a guard, resulting in the killing of his daughter. At this time, although he is protecting another girl, he can't let the tragedy repeat.

However, only by relying on this desire to live can he survive tenaciously in doomsday, and only such a role can make the development of this story unconventional.

Similarly, the heroine Ellie is also funny. She is about the same age as Joel's daughter, who is a troubled foul-mouthed girl and curious about the world outside the quarantine area. However, she does not follow the usual problem-girl routine in American dramas. On the contrary, she is clever, bold, rebellious, and brave.

Because of her specific life experience, Ellie also has very complex personality traits. She is kind when facing the black boy, brave when facing her same-sex love interest, cruel when facing a cult leader who wants to rape her, and sincere when facing Joel.

The combination of these two characters is funny. Compared with The Mandalorian also played by Pedro, the story core seems somewhat similar. Both are an uncle with a cute child, but adventure and survival are only part of it, and the emotional connection between the characters is the biggest attraction. The emotional world and changes of the characters are far more touching than the special effects scenes.

In the past, many film and television works adapted from games were not satisfactory, such as Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, and so on, all adapted from well-known game IPs. But they all received bad reputations after their release. Fortunately, The Last of Us did not become a destroyed IP.

Original Game: The Last of Us Season 1

In general, many scenes almost achieve perfect reduction, from the action and dialogue design of the characters to the presentation of the apocalyptic environment are very detailed and actual, meanwhile focusing on the depiction of human nature and society.

The top image is from the drama, and the bottom is from the game

Plenty of trivial daily conversations, such as the dialogues between Joel and Ellie, seem meaningless. But it is about shaping characters and creating emotional connections between the characters and the audience. Thus, we can immerse ourselves in the heart-wrenching pain when something happens.

Of course, the story of the drama is not a complete copy of the game. Many plot settings and event transitions supply the missing parts of the game. Adaptations like this, to a certain extent, make the story more exciting and the characters more touching. Sometimes, such honest adaptation is the utmost respect for the original and the audience.

Have you played the original game? What do you think of the adaptation of this drama? See you in the comments and discuss it with me!