I Watched ‘The Last of Us’ to See What All the Fuss Is About
I’m still not sure
The latest streaming TV show that everybody is talking about is The Last of Us, an HBO horror series based on the PlayStation video game of the same name. I know nothing about the game, and I knew nothing about the show until a friend started telling me about it, and the next thing you know, there I was watching the first episode.
The show is popular, presumably, because zombies. People don’t seem to be able to get enough of these creatures.
But there are so many zombie shows and movies — would anything involving zombies be as popular as this latest show is, or is there something else going on with this particular show?
The Last of Us has zombies that start out seeming like every other zombie you’ve ever seen. They’re not undead; this is a virus, which I’ll get to in more detail in a minute. But they wander around aimlessly, suddenly springing into action when they see a person, then gnaw on the victim like a cow grazing in a pasture.
They do get a little more interesting in the second episode. The zombies, or technically, “the infected” as they’re called in the show, are infected by cordyceps.
Let’s switch to some real-life facts as background.
Cordyceps is a fungus and you can actually get it in bottles like vitamins. But in nature, it infects insects and can control their brains. Its purpose is to survive, so when it infects an ant or a spider, it compels the insect to move to a place where the fungus can thrive, and spread.
Cordyceps can’t live in humans because our body temperature is too high. The Last of Us proposes that it could if the earth was to somehow — get warmer.
The fungus would adapt to higher temperatures, and possibly be able to survive inside a human being. That’s the opinion of a 1960s scientist in the show’s opening scene.
Jumping to 2003, and then 2023, the characters are living in the cordyceps zombie apocalypse.
I have watched three episodes so far. New episodes are released on Sundays on HBO; there are five available as of 2/11/2023. (This week’s episode was released on Friday due to the Superbowl this Sunday.)
I found the first episode to be — nothing. It held my interest, and I did like the opening (because I love anything set in the 60s — the carpet on that TV talk show set!)
It was when the action switched to the present day that it started to seem like every apocalyptic or zombie story I’ve ever seen.
The second episode offers more action, and then the third is completely different.
The third episode, like the first, is over one hour long. It focuses almost entirely on a couple (Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett), from their first meeting shortly after the virus alters the world until the main characters (Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) visit the couple’s home in the present day. The couple’s story is romantic, funny, and sad.
Episode three is the best of the first three episodes, but it’s like watching a comedy-drama instead of a horror-action-adventure.
Is a video game enough source material for an entire TV series?
The first season will have nine episodes, and the show has already been renewed for a second season. Season 1 covers the first The Last of Us Playstation game.
Video games can offer plenty of material for movie adaptations, but a TV series, with some episodes running for over an hour, seems like a tall order.
Paramount+ did it with the game Halo, and season 1 was a hit, despite complaints from fans of the actual game.
The Last of Us currently has an incredible 9.2 rating on IMDb. I don’t know if fans of the game are watching (and loving) it, or if the fact of real-life cordyceps infection and the “it could happen to humans” aspect is what’s drawing people in.
Or maybe, the show is popular just because people love zombies so much that they can’t resist them, no matter what.
