if you liked it black mirror‘s San Junipero, think of Long, Long Time, the third installment of The last of us on HBO Max, starring Parks and Recreation‘s Nick Offerman guest starring as Bill.
No, “San Junipero” has nothing to do with zombies, and “Long, Long Time” has nothing to do with uploading one’s personality into an endless 1980s club scene. They share a far more niche category: self-contained episodes that break away from the overall direction of their respective TV series to present a sci-fi-tinged queer love story.
In 2016, everyone I knew was watching San Junipero, talking about not having seen San Junipero, or telling me to watch San Junipero, the fourth episode of the third season of regard black mirror. It’s not like I know much black mirror fans; It’s just that I know a lot of queer people who like genre TV. Finally, I watched San Junipero. It was lovely! I’ve never seen another episode of black mirror
“San Junipero” is widely considered one of the best television episodes to come out in 2016 and is still credited for being essentially the only episode of black mirror Where technology is a good thing, it is beautiful instead of being Twilight Zone horror. But for many, “San Junipero” is fondly remembered because it’s rare enough to see a romantic genre story on TV, let alone one in which a gay couple gets to ride horses into the sunset together.
Did you like what “San Junipero” did for bisexual and lesbian sci-fi fans? would you like to see The last of us do you do it for (white) gay men?
Well then, I may interest you in a 60-minute or so short film in which Nick Offerman plays a hidden survivor in a zombie apocalypse who learns the irreplaceable value of bonding from another man’s tenderness as you watch his relationship from start to finish end pursue peaceful end in old age?
[Ed. note: The rest of this piece contains broad spoilers for “Long, Long Time.”]
Joel and Ellie are there too I think, but whatever. They frame the episode, only appearing at the beginning and end, and leaving the rest to director Peter Hoar and writer Craig Mazin to expand on Bill and Frank. And extend them do. Bill’s appearance in the game is insignificant and Frank died before the player even found out he existed. What the players know is that their relationship ended badly. One can conclude that they were lovers, but there is no direct confirmation of this. The Frank (played by The White Lotus
Frankly, Offerman stuns in his role as a self-sufficient prepper who freezes like a deer when presented with the freely offered intimacy he never dared allow himself to need. Bill and Frank kiss and fuck and fight; they cook and make art and surprise each other with loving gifts; They find much effort but greater joy in building paradise in the wasteland.
If the episode has one weak point, it’s that these guys are almost literally Log Cabin Republicans (despite the fact that the log cabin is a modern colonial house in the Boston suburbs). Or, and I’m using my best surfer-dude accent here: “Getting yours and then actively resisting creating a community to share with others, despite having absolutely the resources to do so? Not (queer) radical, dude. Not at all (queer) radical.”
But that’s a weak point of The Last of Us, Game and Show, as it molds its characters, regardless of race or creed, according to a deification of the largely mythical idea of the private, isolated homestead justly defended against chaos.
It is Offerman and Bartlett’s performances that transcend the episode The last of us‘ limited notions of an ideal society and made “Long, Long Time” the best episode of the show’s first season. Time – and more seasons when they arrive – will tell if it turns out to be the show’s best episode, period.
But in the meantime, no pun intended, it can be enjoyed in isolation from the rest The last of us. If you can watch the satisfying thing everyone’s talking about without signing up for hours of notoriously grumpy television on either side, well, that’s an easy sale. Stand-alone status has propelled the spread of “San Junipero” in queer discourse, and it may well be that “Long, Long Time” enters the queer sci-fi hall of fame as well.