King of the Bill.
Episode three of The Last of Us is remarkable.
It embellishes on the show’s theme of love in a world that is crumbling.
In all honesty, it took my breath away.
That’s not to say that episode three won’t be controversial.
THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH THE SHOW AND THE GAME SERIES IT IS BASED ON.
ADDITIONALLY, THERE ARE DISCUSSIONS OF SUICIDE BELOW.
hey READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
Unlike previous recaps, this article will not have as many direct comparisons.
In the show, Bill and Frank’s story is told over 20 years.
We first meet Bill a few days after the outbreak began.
I love this next montage.
He is alone, having started out in a group of 10.
And thus begins their love story.
Where Bill is closed and always on the alert, Frank is warm and open.
To this, Bill reveals there “is no girl”, and Frank says he knows.
The two then share their first, tender, kiss.
It is a really beautiful and very pure moment between two people.
Meanwhile, we never spend any time at all with Frank in the game.
Here it transpires that Frank was bitten after parting ways with Bill.
In the game, players can choose to give this note to Bill.
We then have a rather wonderful scene of the four enjoying lunch in the afternoon sun.
And yes, this means we get to see Anna Torv as Tess again.
Frank in the show is the perfect antidote to Bill’s paranoia and distrusting nature.
As I have already mentioned, in the game their story does not have a happy ending.
In the show, however, they have a beautiful one.
He is in a wheelchair, with Bill caring for him.
“This isn’t the tragic suicide at the end of the play.
I’m old, I’m satisfied.
You were my purpose,” Bill tells Frank.
Bill then takes Frank to the bedroom, so they can die peacefully together in each other’s arms.
We are then reunited with Joel and Ellie as they enter Lincoln.
But, I was wrong, because there was one person worth saving.
That’s what I did.
Then I protected him.
That’s why men like you and me are here.
We have a job to do.
And God help any motherfuckers that stand in our way."
The note specifically mentions Joel protecting Tess, and Joel leaves the house to collect himself.
In this moment, Joel believes he has failed - that he has failed Sarah, and failed Tess.
It is also, of course, foreshadowing for the lengths Joel will go to to protect Ellie.
Once again, I ended this episode in tears, and immediately went to hug my husband.
Firstly, unlike the last two episodes, episode three does not start with a cold open.
He is having a rather reflective moment by a river, stacking stones on its bank.
Stone stacking, or balancing, is often said to provide meditative benefits, and help with anxiety.
Secondly, this episode confirms themuch-discussed bread theory.
Then people started biting, and here we are.
Several companies have already voluntarily recalled their food products from the shelves."
So, the same, but different.
Sadly, this only turned out to be partly true.
Ellie continues on despite Joel’s protestations, and discovers a pit of human remains.
These were the lengths the government would go to to try and ease the spread of infection.
Something more lighthearted, now.
There is no bloater, something many who know the game may have expected.
When Joel is preoccupied, Ellie explores further into the store and comes across a basement area.
She jumps down, and finds an infected pinned beneath fallen stonework.
However, the trapped infected Ellie comes across in the show is very passive.
Ellie, realising the infected isn’t a threat, walks over to them and pulls out her knife.
She then cuts its head, revealing the cordyceps fungus within.
All this time, the infected is just watching Ellie with a slight look of fear in its eyes.
Ellie then violently stabs the infected in the neck, killing it with no signs of remorse.
Meanwhile, they are showing that Ellie has a sadisitic side.
Are we meant to wonder if what Ellie did here was right?
If the point is to spread the fungus, why do they need to be violent?'
“We landed on that, they don’t.
They’re violent because we resist, but what if you don’t?
What does it look like if you just stand perfectly still and let them do this to you?”
