The Last of Us: Season 1
The Video Game Move/TV Curse is Broken!
Whether you are going into this as a fan of the games, or going in blind like I did, The Last Of Us Season 1 is one of the greatest series on TV of the last few years.
From the stellar cast including Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell in Game Of Thrones and Din Djarin [Mando] in The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Lyanna Mormont in Game Of Thrones) in the lead roles as Joel & Ellie respectively, to the fantastic set pieces, to the prosthetics on the Infected and the Digital Special Effects, the whole show is a beauty to behold.
Pascal once again plays a gruff man escorting a youngster of great import across hostile territories (at this point, who else would you cast?) and Ramsey shines as a teenager stuck in a hostile post-apocalyptic world trying to deal with loss, trust/mistrust and what kind of future she could have in that world.
The show takes it's time building the world for us, including scenes from before the collapse of society that set the scene so well, especially after the world's real-world reactions to COVID. The words of a specialist from Korea in episode 2 home HARD.
Joel is landed with the task of escorting Ellie through very hostile territory, both from Infected and from less reputable groups of people. Their journey is hard, requiring that they trust strangers en route in order to get where they need to go. These interactions are the backbone of the series, with some nicely fleshed-out characters coming to aid/antagonise the unlikely duo. Pascal & Ramsey play very well off each other and their relationship grows in a realistic and charming way as the series progresses. They have both suffered loss and it has shaped their personalities in differing ways. Throughout the series we see flashbacks to their pasts and learn more about them and why they are such interesting characters.
Also, Episode 3 is one of the greatest episodes of television ever made, and I will die on this hill with my tears!!
The Writer and Director of the original games is here alongside the creator of the PHENOMENAL HBO series Chernobyl, and together they create an amazing looking, feeling, sounding world.
If you love your zombie shows and movies, you'll love this and the non-zombie creatures. Sick of zombie movies and shows?? You'll love this!! (It's not zombies.) A second season is already in the works, and there looks to be at least a third if not fourth.
Cannot recommend this series enough, I think anyone who gives it a go will thoroughly enjoy it. And if you got a chance to see it on TV earlier this year, you know how good it is and you know you want to rewatch it. ;)
The trusted words of our very own Kevin Morrin in Waterford.
The Last Of Us Season 1 is out on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K & 4K Steelbook in-store and here on GoldenDiscs.ie.
