If you’ve played the first few hours of The Last of Us — you know, like you can play completely free on PlayStation right now — then you know a little about Joel. He is a squatter. Rough killer dads must have iron thighs. Whether he’s trying to avoid the clicker’s screeching hearing by crouching and softly making his way through the run-down library, or crouching to avoid the sight of some angry FEDRA recruit, this man loves to crouch.
But that’s not realistic, is it? When was the last time you spent more than 20 minutes, in the drizzle, crouching on your hip, waiting for your chance to hang some security guard who was harder than a nail? Probably never. Even a quick skirmish at a paintball range – or setting up some cheap, locally worn-out laser guns in a nearby forgotten industrial estate – will tell you that crouching and moving like that even Seconds are also murder on the legs.
In the game, this is the mainstay of the gameplay: this is a stealth survival game after all, and staying out of sight of enemies and being quiet is essential if you want to keep your limbs intact. Joel is no chick either. He is 55 years old. I’m 31 and can barely squat for a minute while my back cries from a million muscle spasms and my spine won’t tip my way. Granted, Joel has probably done more cardio than I have in the recent past (running from something with a cordyceps brain infection does that to a guy), but you can’t deny that age brings Loss.
In an interview with Polygon, The Last of Us TV show co-creator Craig Mazin told the site that the show had to make some changes to the game because it needed to look more realistic than the source material. “Joel walks squat so often that he’s going to have these huge quads, right?” Mazin explained in the interview. “People at 55 can only squat for three minutes at most! Max! Then their backs collapse.”
This is similar to the ongoing healing that exists in the game: getting hit, getting hit by shambling undead, or otherwise messing with your body, you’ll need MacGyver some basic medkits to stop the bleeding and get back on your feet superior. On the show, the threat of violence is what matters—not the actual violence itself. It wouldn’t be good TV if 20 minutes of each episode was Joel pouring ethanol on a rag and running his fingers to bleed some pus from a cut on his shin.
Making characters more human — and therefore more vulnerable and more relatable — is part of what makes The Last of Us such a compelling TV show. Like the game, the stakes are deeply human; we’re watching a man act out his healing and grief in real time, being forced to confront the pain he’s been avoiding for decades. By making his body as accessible as his mind, the show subtly engages us and makes us care right away.
That’s why the first two episodes are so successful: They establish the stakes, the state of the world, and our characters’ motivations and starting points with minimal ambiguity. Even the most media-inexperienced can watch the show, piece together the pieces at this early stage, and have everything fall into place for the rest of the journey. Little-known details, like how Joel can only eat one bullet at a time or “run away” for seconds at a time, are integral to creating and maintaining this illusion.
The Last of Us has by far the best gaming TV we’ve ever had – on a scale comparable to games like Arcane, Castlevania, Cuphead, or The Witcher. If the series continues its momentum, it will likely be remembered as one of the best series of all time. Here’s hoping it has its legs.
