“The Last of Us” is the newest HBO Max series that has taken the world by storm. Based on the award-winning video games of the same name, the show has nine episodes and finally wrapped up Season 1 on Sunday, March 12.
The game and the show are set in a post-apocalyptic world where a type of fungi called Cordyceps evolves and take over humans, turning them into puppets used to spread the fungi. “The Last of Us” stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, a jaded man in his forties who lost his daughter in the beginning of the outbreak, and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, a 14-year-old girl who is immune to Cordyceps. Together they must travel across the country in hopes of getting Ellie to a hospital that can create a cure for the outbreak through her immunity. Joel and Ellie form a beautiful father-daughter relationship while facing many hardships along the way.
“The Last of Us” has been praised since its release due to the incredible acting, directing and writing. Pascal and Ramsey have a wonderful dynamic that makes you fall in love with them as characters and as a found family. Throughout the nine episodes, the viewers get to see Joel slowly open his heart up to Ellie and heal the wound left by the death of his daughter Sarah.
The viewers also get to see Ellie navigate the world and learn how to finally trust and rely on someone other than herself. The show navigates many different themes, like how to cope with loss, the strength of the human spirit and how important it is to appreciate the little things even during the hardest times.
Like most apocalyptic shows, “The Last of Us” explores the idea that in a destroyed world with societal standards thrown out the window, the greatest obstacle is other humans. However, it’s also our connection to other people and the love we feel for each other that keeps us going and makes us stronger.
“The Last of Us” expertly navigates the line between good and bad, showing the viewers that the world is not black and white but a blurred gray. This idea can be seen in the season finale, “Look for the Light.” When Joel finds out the doctors are going to kill Ellie to attempt to make a cure, he kills everyone in the hospital to save her. He chooses Ellie over humanity, which is an extreme way to show the love a parent feels for their child. Even if they are not blood-related, it is made obvious through their actions how deeply the two care for one another.
In the end, Joel lies to Ellie about what happens at the hospital, claiming raiders came and he barely got her out. Ellie is skeptical but chooses to believe him in the end. Was it the right thing to do? In a world full of monsters and death and loss, is there ever a right thing to do? There was no guarantee the cure would have worked, and either Ellie could have died for nothing or her sacrifice could have changed the world. There is no way of knowing.
That is why “The Last of Us” is so brilliant. It leaves its viewers with questions that force them to come to their own conclusions.
