The Last of Us

[Citadel]

 

THE LAST OF US Review by Nikki Bowles

 

The Last of Us is a recently aired series from HBO Max that re-treads the storyline of a post-apocalyptic world completely wiped out by a pandemic (with a surprising twist since the source is not a weapon or a virus but something far scarier).  The series lead is Pedro Pascal, recently became very famous in some circles for his portrayal of the Disney-created Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian.  In it Pedro is the lead who plays the eponymous hero, a lone bounty hunter (with a heavy dose of Clint Eastwood westerns) scouring the galaxy after the collapse of the Empire.  The timeline of The Mandalorian is set after the Return of The Jedi (1983).  From the first episode of The Last of Us the story plows into an interesting and very scary “what if” scenario, in its implications, given the recent COVID pandemic.

 

But science aside for now, Mr. Pascal portrays the hero, Joel, a Persian Gulf combat veteran barely making ends meet and living with his daughter in Texas (well-played by Nico Parker) when the world comes unraveled overnight.  The show’s first two episodes are very promising in production quality, acting and in storyline flow and editing, creating much-appreciated suspense in an extremely tired science-fiction premise.

 

The series setup is present day 2023 and involves Joel and Tess (his trusted lover and girlfriend played by Anna Torv) having to deliver precious cargo to a group of rebels seeking a cure outside the dangerous walled in city of Boston.  The world has turned to mush anyways and there is hardly any infrastructure in place after the collapse in 2003.  Outside the walls of the city is death lurking and an infection plagued world made impossibly livable by the walking dead, in a highly effective rendition of the recent flourish of Hollywood zombie movies.  Bella Ramsey plays Ellie, a young woman with a special gift who becomes the unintended companion to our duo heroes in their deadly trek.  To boot, Joel’s brother, Tommy, is out there somewhere, separated from each other during the initial wave of the apocalypse and Joel is hard pressed on finding and bringing him to safety.

 

The Last of Us has currently just aired its third episode, from a total of nine episodes in its first season.  It is far too early to judge whether a second season will be produced at this point but all initial audience indicators are hopeful.  What do you think of this latest sci-fi iteration from HBO?  The podium is open to our readers for comments!

 

[Dana Vasquez]

The premise and show are decent but Ramsey is a little irritating, not seeing any chemistry between her and the lead (Pedro Pascal) and she is too old and wise-cracking to be cute Grogu and The Mandalorian.  She is not that likeable, she comes off as if the actress herself has been compelled to be on the set and wants to be somewhere else doing something else!  Am I the only one feeling that vibe?

[Lennie Deakens]

Ellie is a cheesy knock-off of the little girl in the animated series for latent adults The Bad Batch (Star Wars) one of numerous animation programs from producers that dont know whether it is for children or adults with intellectual growth homornal issues (maturity latency disease).

[Carla Diaz]

it’s not about Ellie although the character strikes me as somewhat amoral, apathetic and lacking a few qualities my friends and some fans call “human”, but that’s not my biggest gripe, its’ what the reviewer quickly glossed over – this storyline has been done, over and over and over.  We’ve seen it so many times from Escape from New York to Johnny Mnemonic, 28 Days Later, Contagion, World War Z and so many more in low-budget episodic series format. Yo HBO it’s not THAT original even with The Mandalorian dude!

[Spidey Gamma]

you forgot about 12 seasons of The Walking Dead???  no way, it puts this series to shame

[Ewan McGregor]

we are getting close to the final stretch of season one, only three more episodes to be aired, this week’s episode is far closer in tone and storyline to The Walking Dead series but has a “gentler” touch, Ellie finds herself in a deep hole by not listening to Joel who wanted her to stay with long lost brother Tommy.  This episode had the most developments in the entire series crammed into a one-hour broadcast – Tommy, The Fireflies at the supposed destination, The vaccine team, and Joel and Ellie getting closer to family.  UNFORTUNATELY for fans (myself already starting to get bored and realizing the hook on the fishing pole doesn’t get a worm) finding the group of researchers to make the vaccine is going to be a series dragging affair – the quest of quests – meaning we will never see it happen until the series peters out and gets cancelled.  Ready for season 2?  Advertisers and promoters are salivating for your viewing attention!

[Lennie Deakens]

How are they gonna defeat the Zomboroni Plague like by this season’s end before cancellation from the HO-BO?  All that extra talking and tacky yakking is gonna make JOWEL immune to the Zombironi Plague, all you gotta do is work YOUR JOWEL and all that exercise will build your red blood cell counts and defeat the ZOOMboronic Syndrome. Hear what I mean? We’re talking already and you are on your way to the cure!

[Gail Gonzalez]

Episode 7 was Ellie and BFF Riley coming out as teen lesbians.  This is the second episode of The of Us that showcases LGBTQ as heroes of the Zombie Resistance.  Hollywood and now Disney are getting their change as they continue to treat the majority of audiences that are heterosexual as homo and queer.   Sad to note that LGBTQ producers and entertainment creatives have difficulty grasping that hetero population brains are wired differently than homosexuals, the differences may seem subtle under some circumstances but eventually as LGBTQ moves ahead with its cultural programming agendas the blowback and pushback will only be interpreted in face saving maneuvers as “outliers”.  Disappointing to me is the time wasted watching a few episodes only to find out it is not my cup of mojo.  The promoters of the show failed to pre announce or hint that this show is about gay characters in lead roles.  I got conned into watching but I am not suprised.  It’s the only way homosexuals nowadays get heterosexuals to watch their cultural junk while pretending the ratings support their causes!

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