The Last of Us aims to be a very innovative series, since it grew out of the video game of the same name, which was already an event in its branch. It’s not the first time this trip has been made, but it’s the one with the biggest impact yet because it’s the big bet of the HBO season. However, the true-to-life script isn’t that original. We’ve seen a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction from Mad Max to I’m Legend; many zombie stories from Night of the Living Dead to The Walking Dead (and Resident Evil, which is already out of a video game); we’ve followed oppressive dystopias like The Handmaid’s Tale; here too there are references to the western.
Nothing is very original in The Last of Us, but everything is very well done. There are successful characters, even the most ephemeral; some secondary ones come to the fore in some chapters. Abandoned cities and wild nature, a fascist regime and strongholds of resistance. And borderline endings that make you want to read the next chapter. As in all disaster stories, the characters are mysterious: not only do you not know their past, it doesn’t matter who they were before the catastrophe, this time a fungal pandemic that afflicted the corpses. The fight for survival speaks of both heroism and meanness: you would be capable of the best and the worst.
There’s everything that’s expected of a good series, and it turns out those elements were already present in the video game that’s rightly being claimed as a cultural product. The player’s experience is very different from that of the spectator, who doesn’t have to kill fungus zombies or decide where to go. And there’s another big difference: the video game was characterized by its narrative, almost cinematic, ambition; this is not uncommon for HBO productions. As a series, The Last of Us isn’t all that revolutionary. Nothing that marks a before and after. It’s an excellent series. It’s not little.
The final chapter of the first season is coming this Monday. Players say it will convince. You’ve been here before, but in a different way.
You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISIÓN on Twitter or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Receive the TV newsletter
All the news from channels and platforms, with interviews, news and analysis, as well as recommendations and criticism from our journalists
REGISTRATION
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits