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I’ve played the game Last of Us repeatedly over the years. When HBO announced the TV series, my excitement was sky-high. Part of it is because the game offered a storyline that is complex and full of moral questions. The story takes place 20 years after a pandemic that radically changes civilization. Infected humans run wild and survivors kill each other for food, weapons, or whatever is available. The player is asked to understand an environment that causes humanity itself to break down. The story of Ellie and Joel, two survivors of the zombie plague who make their way across the country, has been frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time.
For people who have never played the game, there may be expectations that the series will be one about murdering zombies and lots of action sequences all the time. Those sequences certainly do exist. Others might expect something a bit like The Walking Dead, with scheming and plotting throughout. If you’ve played the game, though, you know that the struggles depicted in the game are what made it a masterpiece.
The game and its sequel deal head-on with human consequences, our expectations, our decisions, and the results of our own actions. Is it possible to feel joy in the midst of the most dire of human circumstances? The story of Bill and Frank present in episode 3 handles a topic broached in the game with the meeting of Bill, a survivalist, and Frank, a traveler hoping to get to a quarantine zone.
The love story progresses throughout the episode, as it fast-forwards a few years, and Frank surprises Bill with strawberries.
As time moves on, so does their relationship. Who would have thought a series about zombies would turn into one of the most powerful moments on an hour-long treatment when the relationship between a doomsday prepper and his partner illustrates our very human need to be loved?
Neil Druckman, creator of the video game, raises a key point that fans of the video game know, but those watching the series may not realize.
While there is sadness in episode three, there is also incredible joy. In the face of the end of the world, two people found love, and they were able to live in it on their own terms. They found beauty in their small community that only they knew, and a town with only buildings they maintained. As their lives came to a close, they exited on their own terms, a fact that most characters within the game never experience.
In the game itself, the relationship between Bill and Frank is speculation, assumed but never detailed in quite this way. While the fact that Ellie—the lead character in the game and the series—was gay became canon in the downloadable content of the first game, the decision to make this episode has resulted in conflicting reviews. While the episode matches the spirit and heart of the game it hasn’t stopped right-wing hate addicts from review-bombing the episode online.
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The episode screams out for Emmy nominations ahead, and the screenwriting has all the markers of the best episodes HBO has ever presented from any series, from Sopranos and The Wire to Game of Thrones and Six Feet Under. Still, social media has put the power of hatred in people’s hands in a way that wasn’t present when Omar was a gay gangster in the 1990s in The Wire, or when gay characters had meaningful stories in Six Feet Under.
It’s sad knowing that living with hatred is such a powerful device for some, when instead, they could choose to enjoy entertainment and a view into what love can look like for a couple. As someone who has struggled at times to open my own heart, this episode shows us that those difficulties can be overcome and that hope can come to us all, even in the darkest of times.
Isn’t that a positive message we should all embrace?
Listen to this episode of The Downballot for an in-depth analysis of the 2024 Arizona Senate race and the implications of Kyrsten Sinema's re-election decision. Special guest Victoria McGroary, the Executive Director of BOLD PAC, will also discuss the efforts to prevent losses among Hispanic voters and the fight against disinformation in Spanish language media.