I know the ‘game adaptation curse’ has been broken long ago, I didn’t expect last survivor Potentially giving us one of the best TV episodes of 2023. Yes, it was a dramatic statement at the start of the year, but it’s a character study of the kind of flavor—bold, subtle, warm and heart-rending, all things being equal—that doesn’t come along very often.
The lead duo, Joel and Ellie, only wrap up the episode; they back the show with Bill and Frank’s love story—a story that blooms like a fungus in a dank, bleak world that’s falling apart. Joel (physically bruised and heartbroken) plans to stop at the compound owned by these two men as he begins to embrace his new life of smuggling people instead of products.
Spoiler Alert for The Last of Us – Games and TV Shows – Ahead
After a brief contextualization, we’re back in 2003. Until the very end, when the Cordyceps first began wrapping its tendrils around the future of man and dragging it into the dirt. At that time, Bill was just a lonely, ordinary doomsday preparer, capable of dealing with this unprecedented biological apocalypse. He has everything he needs to live and live his life. Well, at least a living shadow. Armed with a gas mask, sophisticated CCTV system and enough firepower to repel an entire army, he is destined to spend his life in this beautiful little walled community. He even raided liquor stores. It could be even worse.
Four years later, the most unlikely thing happened. An intruder breaks down the barriers around Bill — both metaphorically and physically. His charm, his vulnerability, and his appreciation of Bill’s taste for finer things allow him to shyly dodge the obstacles of the lonely, angry man. And build a home for yourself in it. A boiled rabbit (perfectly paired with the crisp acidity of an aged Beaujolais, no less) sets the tone, and a totally unexpected amateur rendition of Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Hours” turns it Pushed to a climax.
Bill and Frank fall in love. All the tragedies they’ve endured so far have brought the two closer. But the trauma is not easily forgotten, and even in the most mundane of everyday conversations, Bill’s mistrust and hostility toward the outside world manifests itself. An optimist and a shy orator, Frank manages to drive his nails under Bill’s carapace and pry it open – allowing his neglected but tender heart to breathe what they’ve created for themselves The air of this unsuspecting utopia.
This isn’t the Bill Joel met in The Last of Us Part 1. This isn’t the Bill we know from the game. That Bill — weathereder, angrier, more allegorical — highlights the end of Joel. Trapped by his own pain, shaped by anger, a man ruins the lives of those around him because he refuses to escape the emotional stagnation created by the death of his daughter.
Bill forces Frank to commit suicide in the game. It’s delicate, and a lot of it is handled off-screen, but Bill and Frank are drawn into a relationship shaped by resentment and control, and Bill’s rejection of the outside world – even in the face of a man he loves as much as Frank. Man Profile – Leads to the latter trying to escape from this prison built by his husband. Just got bitten and killed himself before he could do anything to affect Bill any further.
The TV show’s version of the relationship still ended tragically, but it did have a dark romance. Frank has cancer instead, and he hopes to spend the rest of his life in marriage, good meals, and long sleep. While Frank sat down to try to paint, Bill – at once pragmatic and calm in his use of closely guarded resources – was watering the flowers. As a viewer, you quickly realize that this well-preserved home will serve as a mausoleum for the two as they grow and adjust to the gaps in each other’s lives.
In a joint suicide later, this tragic — but somehow heart-wrenchingly beautiful — love story draws its last breath. And the soundtrack to Max Richter’s impeccable “On the Nature of Daylight” – perhaps the most moving and beautiful musical accompaniment I’ve seen on TV in years one of the fragments.
Joel learns from it? soften. The game’s message is “don’t be like me,” and as we watch Bill’s life crumble, he realizes there’s nothing you can do to keep the outside world from getting in. In a TV show, it’s not an allegory. It is more compassionate, self-aware, and reflective. It does more justice to Bill’s apparent intelligence and doesn’t believe in his love for Frank. “I learned that people like us all have a purpose,” he wrote explicitly in the note to Joel. Here, he’s a guide — not a warning.
This story represents The Last of Us’ first major departure from the game, and it definitely sticks to the landing. Giving these two people agency over their deaths—and enjoying a positive, beautiful story—was a very effective change. Yes, Druckmann and Mazin are indeed “burying their gays”, but they do so in a way that gives them peace and dignity in a world that will take it away from you in a heartbeat.
Let’s see Joel and Ellie drive away, and let’s see things from their point of view through the open window of Bill and Frank’s bedrooms. It makes us hope that, maybe, Bill helped Joel find a better path — even if it wasn’t the easiest path.
