What did you think of the latest episode of The Last of Us? Do you feel great? Do you think it’s one of the most powerful, powerful, emotional pieces of television we’ve seen in recent years? Because I did. In fact, I wrote a whole 1,000 words the other day explaining why it works so well as a good, prestigious piece of TV (even with that in mind, yes, it does stray from the game).
Spoiler Alert for The Last of Us – Games and TV Shows – Ahead
But what if there were more? Just to catch you up, Episode 3 is pretty much the only episode we’ll see Bill – a character who lives longer in the game. The episode ends with Joel and Ellie traversing the ruined heartland of America, focusing mostly on Bill and his doomed romance with partner Frank.
After an unlikely meeting, the two of them enjoy a slow but intense relationship at Bill’s protected compound. Safe (for the most part), from the threats in the world around them, Bill and Frank set out to support each other to fill the gaps in each other’s lives – even with some friction along the way.
Some delicious food and a little Linda Ronstadt later, the two went about their lives for the rest of their lives. We set out on this romantic journey, showing how it began, how it filled up in the middle, and how it ended. The episode runs a whopping 75 minutes—we still only get a rough idea of what happened between the two.
There is a longer version of the episode – about 45 minutes.
“when [director Peter Hoar] Send it to me, I think it was like two hours or so,” show co-creator Craig Mazin explained in an interview with Deadline. “So, I was like, oh, that might not be good. I sat down, but I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll watch the two-hour version of this episode. ‘
“I cried so hard that at one point I literally said out loud: ‘Oh.’ I mean, it hurt. I cried so hard; it hurt. I thought: ‘Well, if these people can I do this, and I write this fucking thing, then I think it might work for other people as well.’ Now, we do work really hard, but we know we can’t spend two hours on this thing version in there.”
The show’s various emotional gut punches come hard and fast — can you imagine how hard it would have played if the show had had more time to build stakes and characters?
Whether or not we’ll see this extra-length episode (perhaps on the series’ final Blu-ray release?) remains to be seen, but it’s good to know that something exists to flesh out this gorgeous relationship.
Mazin think we’ll see it? who knows. In the same interview, Mazin noted that he never wanted the show to be “overly popular,” but if that’s what fans are asking for, maybe one day, HBO will release a “Hoar cut.”
