All good things come to an end sooner or later, and the series “One of us” (The Last of Us) came out the last episode. We have been following the project closely since the announcement. You can read our impressions of the trailer and pilot episode here. In the same article, we decided to summarize the first season and answer the main questions: does the film adaptation deserve attention, could Bella Ramsey cope with the role and does the story evoke emotions in those who are not familiar with the original?
mushroom kingdom
The impressions that leave you immediately after watching depend on how well the game is remembered. If successful The Last of Us once upon a time upon release, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the almost literal retelling of all the main points. At least it will seem that way. This isn’t Netflix’s The Witcher, where the writers proudly announce that they’ll be moving further away from the canon of books and games in new seasons.
However, true fans who have played The Last of Us on all available platforms are in danger of being disappointed. Many important scenes and details are mercilessly omitted in favor of entire episodes that expand a familiar story with meaningless fillers. For example, Bill played a very small role in the plot. In the series, he was devoted for a whole hour, although in the end he does not participate in the adventures of Joel and Ellie at all.
For regular viewers, everything looks much better. Granted, they’re also likely to pay attention to the optionality of many scenes and characters. However, non-fans should still like the project. The main ideas are carefully transferred to the screen, and they still work perfectly, and the lack of action is made up for by some unexpected twists.
In the series, Bill is very similar to his game prototype.Only in the pilot and winter episodes does the expansion of the canon seem appropriate. In the first case, we observe in detail the beginning of the epidemic, and in the second we are no longer a group of ordinary bandits, but living people who do not even know about the true motives of the leader. Other digressions add nothing new to the story and only serve to delay the timing.
But the adventure of Ellie and Joel cannot be shortened. Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin got too carried away with the study of the ‘human’ component of the local world. Instead of the annoying mental anguish of unknown characters, you could easily insert episodes with the infected, but there are practically none. All the innovations in spreading cordyceps and the one mind system don’t affect anything and are only needed for one or two scenes. True to canon, the series would lose nothing.
One of the main characters in two entire series. You won’t remember the nameThose who played the game know that there were no less interesting moments with mushroom zombies than with people. Why in a series about post-apocalypse and monsters their participation will last barely more than 20 minutes over nine hours is a mystery. I don’t think it’s a matter of budget. HBO has plenty of money.
Such ambiguous changes make it seem like the cross-country transition proved too easy for Joel and Ellie. Small skirmishes and inconveniences, of course, were present, but the effect of overcoming, the feeling of constant fear and loneliness in a hostile world did not materialize.
The Nutcrackers appear exactly once in the series.The serial Joel is very different from the game. In the original, there were only indirect hints about the hero’s past and his life before meeting Ellie. In the series, on the other hand, everything is spoken directly and even several times. Joel not only traded in scarce goods, but also brought illegal goods and even killed innocent people. The biggest change, however, is the complete anti-sociality. After arriving to Tommy, the hero behaves inappropriately and is angry with anyone who has a better life than his own. Of course, the original Joel was also gloomy and strict, but he was not even close to the sociopath Pedro Pascal (Pedro Pascal). This, unfortunately, radically changes the meaning of one of the main game scenes.
In addition, the duality of the character is lost. The finale of the story only looks less impressive because Joel is much more of a maniac than an ambiguous and complex hero in the last three or four episodes.
It is in this episode that Joel starts acting strange.Yet Pedro Pascal did it. The image that the actor has become, repeats the original as much as possible. However, if the script hadn’t changed, The Mandalorian would certainly have showcased a much deeper level of drama.
Ellie, on the other hand, turned out to be canonical. Bella Ramsey turned out to be a really talented actress, and even the features of her appearance do not spoil the picture. By the end, the girl’s round face is generally not noticed anymore.
Addition The Last of Us: Left Behind has also found a placePeople familiar with the game know that the inner world of the heroine has changed a lot after meeting David. The traumatic experience was one of the main factors that made Ellie an inadequate maniac The Last of Us: Part 2. Unfortunately, this is depicted very chaotically in the series.
The point is that after the winter, before the end of the story, there were many hours of gameplay, repeatedly demonstrating Ellie’s brokenness. In the show, the girl’s condition is given literally a few minutes, after which what is happening quickly comes to a conclusion.
The problem is that the series is too long where it shouldn’t be, but it has lost many important scenes. Because of the strange pace, you don’t quite believe in Joel and Ellie’s closeness, which is why the finale in the game looks and feels much stronger and more emotional.
One of Us is definitely too busy in nine episodes. The tenth episode would definitely benefit the plot by adding the missing action sequences and important dialogues.
An important scene showing the characters’ rapprochement. Moments like this are sorely lacking in the series.At the same time, third-party viewers and those who have not completed The Last of Us four times are unlikely to notice all this. For them, the series will turn out to be a wonderful work with an interesting moral, an unusual ending and a very friendly post-apocalypse. Seriously, in The Walking Dead, zombies are even more dangerous and more common.
What do you think of fillers in TV shows?
Mushroom rain
The atmosphere is undoubtedly one of the main plus points of the series. Not always with success, but the creators managed to convey the spirit of the game. The idea that the story was primarily about ordinary people in unusual circumstances took the show to a new level and completely overshadowed everything else, but this cannot be called a complete drawback.
Move, cockroach!The hopelessness that accompanies Joel and Ellie on the road is now divided among minor characters. While you know that a female rebel leader or some elderly Indians won’t last more than one or two episodes, it’s interesting to watch stories from small towns. In the game, such stories were more often told in notes, but this would not work in the format of the series.
Despite all the criticism of filler episodes, it’s worth acknowledging that they work in their own way to set the right mood and atmosphere. It would be a mistake to remove them completely, but to reduce or dilute them with action is another matter.
Epic fight, too bad he’s the only oneSurprisingly, absolutely all actors play perfectly. We’re used to very strange characters appearing in game projects every now and then that weren’t in the original, and the actors have little idea where they’ve ended up. According to the latest trend, those times are over. As mentioned above, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey did a great job. The second season has already been confirmed, so we look forward to the young actress appearing in the sequel.
Separately, I want to praise Scott Shepherd (Scott Shepherd) in the role of David. Despite the fact that the actor bears little resemblance to the prototype of the game, he managed to convey the terrifying image of a cunning cannibal.
This nice man is David. One of the most dangerous enemies in Joel and Ellie’s pathTroy Baker (Troy Edward Baker) and Ashley Johnson (Ashley Johnson) took part in the shooting as a cameo. It was they who gave their voice to the original Joel and Ellie. Troy played the role of David’s assistant. Unfortunately there was almost nothing to play there. Ashley symbolically became Ellie’s mother, but she literally appeared for five minutes.
HBO decided not to piss off the fans, so the series begins and ends just like in the game. Many small changes in the plot do not change the big picture. As a result, all characters come to the same end as in the original. This makes the show one of the most iconic projects of all time for the existence of movies and series based on games. Worthy! By the way, there are giraffes. For this special respect.
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The Last of Us is a great movie adaptation of the cult game, but not all fans of the original will like it. The creators lost the balance between the story about humans and the difficult process of survival in the world of mushroom zombies, cutting out many important details and stretching the timing where it was not necessary. Most viewers who are not familiar with the original source will be satisfied, record figures already indicate this, but the project should not be compared with the game. As is often the case, the original is still better.
Did you like the series?
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.