I have played The Last of Us Part I and Part II, and I had to say this is one of my favorite games of all time. I enjoyed each feature of the game - the graphics, the gameplay, the story, and more! So when I saw there was going to be an adaptation of this I was a little bit afraid that it wouldn't be as good as the game. At least for me, it was a great series, but I also know that there are people who think different. So I cheered up to share my review from each chapter and rate them too, and see if we share a similar opinion, but first, here is a quick synopsis of the series. Let's get started then!
As we should know, the story starts with Joel Miller and his daughter Sarah having a normal life and a great bond between them. It was Joel's birthday and Sarah get his watch repaired and gave him as a gift. This is the first great detail from the series and we can observe how the design of the watch is similar to the one from the game. After this, Joel had to find his brother Tommy that was arrested because of a fight that maybe it was with an infected already. So the virus infection that is a mutated Cordyceps fungus has already started. When Joey and Tommy returned home to get Sarah, they left immediately and have to avoid and fight already with the infected people. They almost escape but after an unforeseen, they were stopped by a guard and, as it was something new that was happening, they didn't know what to do in case they see people that might be infected, so the guard had to follow orders and shoot, and as a result, Sarah died.
After a time jump of twenty years, we can see how people normally live in a cruel world caused by a virus. People hardly trust others, and to survive, they join groups that kill or do terrible things to others. While Joel was trying to get a car to find Tommy who might be in trouble, he and his partner Tess meet up with Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies (a revolutionary militia group that is against the actual government group called FEDRA - Federal Disaster Response Agency), and Ellie, who is immune to the virus and after a while, they would discover that. So, to deliver Ellie to the Fireflies facilities to make a cure, Joel and she must go through many difficulties, adventures, and heartbreaking moments.
Chapters 1 and 2: "When You're Lost in the Darkness", "Infected" - 9/10
This was an amazing introduction with details that respect the game and provide more context about the virus. The girl who played Sarah did it very well actually, and since the beginning, we can compare the scenes with the ones from the game and recognize the city and what is going to happen next. Also, Tess's death was very creative and leaves you shaken, maybe it was even better than the one from the game. So, this is a great example of introducing an adaptation that is faithful to the game but at the same time adds some new details or changes a little bit the story without affecting the whole plot to bring something new and fascinating. One of the differences is that the story in the game starts in 2013 and then we jump to 2033, while in the series it starts in 2003 and then we jump to 2023 to provide a perspective of how it can be in the present time we are living.
Chapter 3: "Long Long time" - 6/10
It was interesting to see how Bill (a friend of Joel) managed to have a normal life in a destroyed world with infected people, and then also to see how he had a relationship in said world. But it was just that, a secondary but interesting story. Maybe their relationship affects Joel about having a life with someone he cares about, but they didn't affect Ellie because she didn't get to meet them sooner. What I think they could have done is tell the same story but put in the letter that Bill found the battery car at the school as it is in the game. That way we respected the story of Bill and Frank and at the same time we got to see Joel and Ellie sneak around the school which is a great moment. I have to say that it was interesting to see the character of Frank making his appearance and see how he influenced Bill's life. But as I said before, you can skip the story until Joel and Ellie find Bill's letter and still you will understand the main story.
Chapters 4 and 5: "Please Hold To My Hand", "Endure and Survive" - 10/10
They even gave more context to the story of Henry and Sam, where Henry had to take a difficult choice to save his sick brother. He had to betray Michael and become an informant of FEDRA. As a consequence of that, Michael got killed and his sister Kathleen, who leads a group of hunters and won the territory against FEDRA, wants revenge. For me, this was also something nice they did, in the game they were only hunters who just kill and steal supplies. Here get a whole new plot where Henry's and Sam's situations are going to come across Joel and Ellie.
Of course, I loved that they adapted the fantastic scene of the sniper which was an iconic moment of the game too, and the part where Joel took his weapon and start shooting made me remember myself doing those shoots when I was controlling Joel in the game. Also, another creative change they made was making a whole and unexpected encounter between the hunters, the infected, and Joel and company. It was a good way to introduce ourselves the bloater, who is an infected that is in his final stage.
Also, they implemented a new factor of making Sam deaf and using sign language to communicate. It is a small detail but did not affect so much the story, for me, it was good too. These two chapters were great, in the first one, we saw more context about Henry's and Sam's story, and in the other, we could see a lot of iconic scenes inspired by the game.
Chapter 6: "Kin" - 11/10
It was one of the best without a doubt. When you see the previous chapters you realize that there were more reasons for Joel to leave Ellie with Tommy. The fact that it was able to show off the game's iconic discussion scene between Joel and Ellie makes this chapter awesome and surpasses expectations. And this can be even better if Dina's character (from The Last of Us Part II) did a cameo, it makes sense because in Part 2 she talked about the first time she saw Ellie. Nothing more to add to this chapter but it was good with extra dialogues that justify the actions of each character and also that allow us to know more about the new characters like Tommy (who only appears a little bit in the first chapter) and his wife. Also, they did introduce ourselves to the city where Tommy is leaving which only appears in the second part of the game. Again, some small details and changes but they are creative and worked for telling a better story.
Chapter 7: "Left Behind" - 9/10
Here we can see how was the life of Ellie before in a FEDRA school, where his friend Riley becomes a firefly, visits Ellie for one last time, and have fun. It was a good chapter inspired by the DLC of the game - left behind. They used many elements of the game like the masks that Ellie and Riley used or the Carousel. One more time details that were meaningful if you played the game. This story also relates how Ellie figured out that she was immune to the virus and how she experienced the feeling of losing someone that she cares about and not being able to do anything. That would be one of the main reasons for the determination of Ellie for making a cure, so she or anybody would not have to go through something similar.
Chapter 8: "When We Are in Need" - 12/10
I think we all can agree that this was the best chapter of the series, I mean they actually did it! They showed us the fierce fight scene between Ellie and David and his savage death. To give it more context, Ellie and Joel, after leaving the place where Tommy lives, continued their journey to reach the fireflies, but they had to encounter and fight some people that were standing in their way. Here Joel got injured and Ellie must take care of him. But unfortunately, she meets David and his people, who in order to survive they had to appeal the cannibalism. Here we discovered that dark side of Ellie that is going to be explored more in the second season.
Chapter 9: "Look for the Light" - 10/10
Joel and Ellie got captured by the fireflies, when Joel wakes up, he speaks to Marlene, who tells him that the only way to make a cure is by killing Ellie first. Joel remembers all the time he shares with Ellie and his trauma of losing again, who he took care of like another daughter. He founds himself in a horrible situation where he must take a decision.
I think they did the most relevant parts, like the giraffe scene when Ellie runs to see it and Joel said that it is ok if she want to touch it. Also what they did very well and to improve the story even more were some extra dialogues that made them bond more. They did it great by showing us more details and references of the game like the way Joel was able to fool the guards. And to make even better the story of The Last of Us, they also made a scene of Ellie's mom that practically explain to us why Ellie is immune to the virus.
Obviously, I must mention that the actress who played Ellie's mom (Ashley Johnson) is the same one who plays the voice of Ellie in the game, and the one who played Joel (Troy Baker) in the game is the same as the one who played the character of James in episode 8, who is one of the members of David's group.
Conclusion:
This was an amazing adaptation of the game. While watching the series, I felt like I had been there before because the locations were the same or similar to the ones in the game and had great details. A lot of people had negative comments about the game, especially about the second part. I just want to say that the world of The Last of Us is cruel, of course, the character's deaths are not epic, and I think with the series you realized that Joel is more like an antagonist. Of course, you can understand his feelings, but it wasn’t his decision to do what he did. I want to say that I really liked Joel’s death in the second part, because it shows that although you are or were the protagonist, you are not invincible, and you can easily die in a cruel world where are infected people.
The series and the game give you a realistic perspective of how people would live in a world of infection. Also, I had to say that they did it very well on using the main soundtracks of the game too, it did fit very well in the series and encourages you to remember the good times you were having in the game. To conclude, I am going to say that the series manages to show a lot of amazing details and references from the game (like Joel's watch, the book of jokes from Ellie, and so more). I guess this is because some people who worked in the game with Naughty Dog including Neil Druckmann also helped in the project and they never disappoint when it comes to details. Of course, we have to give credit too to the compositor Gustavo Santaolalla, and to the director Craig Mazin, who also directed some other projects like the Chernobyl series.
By the way, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey played their characters very well, especially Bella’s. Their characters are not 100% percent equal to the ones from the game but there are pretty similar and they respect the main features of them. They could choose people who have nothing to do with them, but they respected the game enough.
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