Especially the success of game adaptations on the big screen has always been questionable. Assassin’s Creed, Warcraft, Far Cry, Hitman, Doom, and many more world-famous games with millions of audiences could not give what was expected. We’ve been waiting for Warcraft’s second one for years. On the other hand, game adaptations such as Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, and Sonic have been successful at the box office. However, game adaptations have always remained as a question mark. The Last of Us, designed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony, is a successful game that has managed to attract the attention of even someone who is far from games like me. It is obvious that The Last of Us has an impressive story for someone who grew up with RPG games, that we follow the story. The adaptation claims, which have been in circulation for years and flared up with the claims of Maisie Williams, have finally come true, and after years, we have reached the season finale of this game adaptation that we have been eagerly waiting for.
Let’s briefly touch on its subject… Fungus, whose resistance to heat has increased with global warming, over time begin to establish the reign they have established over ants over humans as well. Fungi, which take over the human brain and make them zombies, cause the world’s end as we know it. People start to live away from diseased people and growing fungi by building walls and hiding behind them. The boredom of this ordinary isolated life changes with the discovery of a girl who is immune to fungi.
Perhaps the fact that HBO is adapting the series, which millions have been eagerly waiting for, has helped everyone to keep their hearts at ease. HBO is a channel that expertly attaches importance to its series and tries to preserve realism until the end by avoiding unnecessary details. In The Last of Us, they managed to meet our expectations by doing the right thing for the project. The series is a feast regarding visuals, storytelling, and acting. Although there are minor problems – of course – we can say that HBO has signed a brand-new classic.
First of all, I want to start with the flaws of the series. The first flaw might be that it’s boring. But this boringness actually turns into an advantage that HBO is looking for. The series successfully conveys the dystopian universe in which humanity is in and the dangers of the environment. They use traveling and city views to convey this. Although this situation creates some tediousness, it establishes the ordinariness of the new dystopian universe. The second flaw of the series is the lack of action. But we know that this is also a purely budgetary problem. Craig Mazin announced that the action will increase in the second season after the success of the series. So yes, I criticize it for the lack of action, but the bloater and zombie invasion part in the fifth episode, Endure and Survive, filled my action bar. For this reason, I do not dwell on it too much and close my criticisms here.
Let’s come to the successful parts of the series. Naturally, everyone’s expectation from the series was to see many diseased people and actions. This would actually be our criterion for liking the series. But the series achieves its success with its side characters. The series gives fresh excitement in every new episode, with its side characters who join the series for different reasons and then come out for other reasons. And surprisingly, all the side characters in the show did a great job. I may not remember a project where the supporting characters acted so masterfully and stood out before. My personal favorites are the couple in love, played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, and Father, played by Scott Shephard. Especially the gay characters’ story in the third episode, although it is entirely unrelated to the story, the depth of the characters, the jumps in time, and the final made me cry. After the episode, like many others, I couldn’t help but ask myself if a The Last of Us spin-off series with different characters from different places could be made.
I was one of those who got excited when the Maisie Williams rumors came out for Ellie Williams. But Bella Ramsey also did justice to the role. Bella will be an exceptional actress whom we will often meet in the future. There is nothing to be said for Pedro Pascal anyway. He will soon declare his prophecy, along with The Mandalorian being broadcast simultaneously. He is a remarkable actor who brings the pleasure of watching the series to the top with his acting, especially in the scenes where he loses his calm and turns into a killing spree murderer.
To sum it up… The Last of Us, as expected from HBO, is a perfect, slightly boring, but very successful series for the first season. Although the lack of action creates a small minus, the series gives a reason to watch itself every week, especially with the exquisite acting of the side characters that come in and out of each episode. The series, which I don’t get bored with even in a single episode, has no trouble introducing its dystopian universe and even opens up space for possible future side stories. Projects anticipated for many years are often famous for falling short of expectations, but we were relieved that the task was entrusted to HBO. And they did not mislead us and signed a project whose second season we are looking forward to.
Cast & Crew
creators: Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
starring: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Anna Torv
USA | 2023 | 9 EPISODES |