When it was originally on: 2023-present

Original network: HBO

Where you can stream it now: HBO Max

Had I seen it before: Nope, never seen it before.

What IMDb says: After a global pandemic destroys civilization, a hardened survivor takes charge of a 14-year-old girl who may be humanity’s last hope.

Why I picked it: The Last of Us is one of HBO’s most recent hits, perhaps the closest it’s gotten to Game of Thrones level success since Game of Thrones. It’s respected within the industry, with critics, and the populace. Like Game of Thrones, this is also an adaptation of pre-existing IP without necessarily feeling like the cash grab that say, a DC Comics or Harry Potter adaption does. I want Hollywood to green light original ideas, but it’s also naive to think that adaptions of popular IP will ever go away. At the very least, I want to see studios take interesting swings with what they adapt instead of just rebooting the same 3-4 properties over and over again. As popular a video game as The Last of Us is, it still feels like HBO took a risk with this show, and that risk has certainly paid off. I just hadn’t gone around to it yet, and this was as good excuse as to see what The Last of Us is all about.

What I liked: I was skeptical when I saw this pilot is 81 minutes long, and perhaps the nicest thing I can say about it is that it justified that runtime. About a 3rd of that runtime is just showing us what Joel’s life is before the pandemic, and that turns out to be a great choice. Most of this first act isn’t even focused on Joel, but on his daughter. She’s a good kid who cares about her dad and just wants him to have a nice birthday and (spoiler alert)

… she ends up dying. There’s a great lesson to learn here. If you’re going to kill off a character in a pilot, make us like that character. Make sure we’ll miss that character once they’re gone. In this case, all the time spent developing a character that dies relatively soon actually serves to develop Joel. I understand his grief better now, and how that grief shapes anything he says or does from here on out.

I also love that the defining conflict here isn’t just the uninfected vs. the infected, but the uninfected vs. a fascist government that is allegedly protecting them. That makes it a war on two fronts, and a conflict I can see evolving and holding my interest for many seasons to come, long over fighting off zombies loses its appeal. There’s something so compelling about characters who choose to affiliate themselves with a resistance movement against the government even as the world falls apart. The idea that yes, this infection is decimating everything, but “safety” isn’t worth literally hanging people for leaving quarantine zones.

There’s also just production value far beyond when you see in other tv shows, even shows from well-funded outlets like Apple or Netflix. It’s cinematic the way Game of Thrones was. It just makes me wish there were more instances of HBO going full-HBO like this.

What I didn’t like: I wish I knew a bit more about Tess than I do, since it looks like she’s going to be a fairly central character for at least these next couple episodes. She seems slightly less impulsive and a bit more level-headed in comparison to Joel, but I’m not sure why, what her background is, how she’s managed to get through 20 years without getting infected. That could easily be addressed within the next episode or two, so certainly not a dealbreaker.

Do I want to watch Ep. 2?: Yes! It’s an intriguing drama and I see what the hype is about. I’m excited to continue it!