When Frank falls through a trapdoor into one of the pits hidden around Bill’s compound in the brilliant third episode of The Last of Us, he can’t imagine how his life is about to change. Seven years into the zombie apocalypse, he’s on the run and knows better than to expect any humanity from the few paranoid survivors he encounters. Bill isn’t your average doomsday prepper. He’s also a man “who knows to pair rabbit with a Beaujolais.”
This episode is beautifully produced The Last of Us rises to the TV heights of HBO’s best prestige dramas. Murray Bartlett and Bill are captivating as the two grizzled survivors, who stumble their way to intimacy and form an unlikely partnership at end of the universe. But their story is only an interesting sidebar to main plot. The Last of Us has so far been exactly what you’d expect in a zombie action show—or a John Ford movie, for that matter. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a gruff, emotional shut-down, is an aging smuggler/assassin who must transport Ellie (Bella Ramsey), the mysterious and mouthy fourteen-year-old, across the country. He must protect her against undead killers and other ruthless criminals. They will save each other on their way to saving the world.
