Watching The Last of Us Without Playing the Game?

When it was announced that The Last Of Us was getting a TV adaptation, I was minimally interested. I have never been big on horror games, and even though this game seemed so interesting, I never ventured close to playing it or even watching a play-through of it because I thought it might be too scary for me. Having barely gotten through my playthrough of Outlast, I didn’t want to jump into a game where I would have to survive a zombie apocalypse and crawl through dark places or whatever else this game could throw at me.

With that, I didn’t follow the show at first, but I was excited to hear if it was done well. After watching Arcane’s adaptation of lore from League of Legends, I hoped we could see more video game to TV adaptations that were done well.

After the first episode aired, I was bombarded by questions at work, asking if I was watching the show and saying (while avoiding any spoilers) how great the first episode was and how I needed to watch it. This theme continued each week as new episodes came out. I would be told how great this show was and how I didn’t even need to have played the game to enjoy the story.

I didn’t really bother to sit down and start watching it until episode three was released. At this point, both my boyfriend and I were being swayed to give The Last Of Us a try.

So, we took that Friday night and binged the available three episodes. After getting through that first episode, we were both hooked. The ability to become emotionally attached to these characters in an hour was unbelievable. Even though it was pretty obvious from the beginning that Sarah was going to die, whenever that moment happened, I was devastated. Watching the start of Joel and Ellie’s adventure made me anxious. I knew the two would go through many hurdles, and I also figured that Tess would not stay with them for long.

One thing that made me weary of getting into the show before I started watching, was that I don’t love zombie games/ shows, so I wasn’t sure if a show focused on getting through the hurdles of zombies to achieve their goal would be for me. Throughout the show, I never really felt overwhelmed by zombies, in fact, there almost felt like a lack of zombies, with the focus being more on FEDRA.

I think that one of the main things that kept me interested was the emotions that were shown and developed in these 9 episodes. We get to see the main characters bond with those around them. From Tess to Bill, to Sam, we can see them as 3-dimensional people. After Joel almost dies, we can see how much that affects both Joel and Ellie. Ellie relives the trauma of losing someone she loves, and Joel seems to have the will to live spark again when he sees the effort that Ellie goes to in order to protect and save him. I saw an increase in the father-daughter type of bond between them after this moment.

The ability to go into this show, thinking it is just two people against the world, is really all you need to know. You will come to learn how deep the show goes pretty early on. With the character development and somewhat realistic portrayal of the adventure, this show is more than a surface-level survival drama.

Without having played the video game, I wasn’t sure how the plotline of the show would go. Given that season 1 only has 9 episodes, I worried that there wouldn’t be enough time to make a coherent story with characters I could connect to. I’m not sure how they managed, but The Last of Us destroyed both concerns in the very first episode. The scenes are always in places that really set the mood, you never feel pulled away for a moment. The acting from the entire cast is outstanding. There is never a dull second, you are immersed in every episode, and you connect to each character by the end of the show.

Even though this is widely known as a show based on a video game, you only need to be someone looking for a good show to enjoy The Last of Us. There is no background knowledge needed before diving in. As long as you prepare for moments that will tug at your heart, you will enjoy this. Even with the main focus being on survival, there are so many times when things slow down and we get a look at the people who are underneath the tough personas. No matter how you look at it, this show is a must-watch for the journey that it takes you on.