Spoilers, kind of. Maybe don’t read if you haven’t finished the episode.
Since House of the Dragon ended, my Sunday nights have been pretty dry television-wise.
Desperate to find something, anything, to watch, I put The Last of Us on my TBW (To Be Watched) list for one reason, and one reason only: Pedro Pascal. The man is just a fantastic actor; I’ve been absolutely endeared to him since he got his head crushed like a grape in Westeros and watching him galavant around the world universe galaxy with our favorite toddler, Baby Yoda, was a delight as well. I love Pedro Pascal. At this point I’d happily watch the man read nutrition labels.
Only one small problem: I couldn’t really tell what the hell The Last of Us was supposed to be about in the one (1) trailer I saw before deciding to watch it, so at the time of writing this post, I have absolutely no idea what’s in store for me. This is me going into the show totally blind.
Now, I do know the show’s based on a game, thanks to my boyfriend, who’s a moderate gamer. Shoutout to Mang. He did explain the premise of the game to me once, but that was like a month ago at this point and I have the attention span of an earthworm so I couldn’t remember what he said if my life depended on it.
So, without further ado, here are some thoughts I had while watching the series premiere of The Last of Us:
- Not another pandemic show, I can’t do this. I’m out.
- So we’re all doing to die a death by mushroom?
- Oh, okay. This is about zombies. Mushroom zombies. It’s literally World War Z if the infection came from mushrooms.
- 10/10 theme song
- Isn’t Sarah in like high school? Why is she learning about subject and predicate in high school? I know Texas is, always has been, and always will be garbage but was their education system really that bad in 2003?
- What the grandma doing?
- See, me personally, I’d be having a panic attack. Shoutout to Sarah for maintaining composure even though I think it’s clear she’s not surviving this.
- Okay, so this is Zombieland without the humor.
- This has a been going on for 20 YEARS?! Nah. Y’all would have to kill me. I simply do not have the survival skills nor desire to withstand a zombie apocalypse.
- Get vaccinated, people!!
- Wait, why’d they kill him anyway? Can’t take risks in a world like this, I guess.
- Not the percs coming from Atlanta. How… fitting.
- Okay so the main conflict is Fireflies vs. FEDRA, and I guess we’re supposed to be rooting for the Fireflies because ACAB?
- I don’t think I’m going to like Veronica/Ellie. And I have a feeling she wouldn’t give a sh*t.
- To be completely honest, if I somehow managed to survive 20 years post the onset of a zombie apocalypse by mushroom, abiding by a curfew to avoid “infection and insurrection” wouldn’t sound like that bad of an idea. I’d welcome a curfew.
- *Nicki Minaj voice* TO FREEDOM!
- …or not.
- So Veronica/Ellie is a huge liability.
- TO FREEDOM!! For real this time.
- Never Let Me Down Again must be an 80s song. So if Little Miss Infected was correct, some shit’s about to go down
- NICK OFFERMAN’S IN THIS SHOW?????? I will absolutely be tuning in next week.
Okay, so that’s everything that ran through my head for the first episode of The Last of Us! All in all, I enjoyed this premiere, I’d probably give it an 8.5 out of 10. It’s not too hard to follow as someone who’s diving into this with zero prior knowledge, but it’s easy to tell there’s context I’m missing because I haven’t played the game. I found myself zoning out for some of the dialogue-heavy scenes. However, because I think I can tell this is going to be a zombie apocalypse story that’s very similar to those before it, missing those few bits shouldn’t affect too much of my ability to follow the story.
I’ll be tuning in next week, if only just to see Nick Offerman, another actor I quite enjoy. I can say this: while the plot of The Last of Us isn’t my cup of tea (I’m not the biggest fan of zombies) the casting is certainly enough to keep me captivated. At least for the first two episodes.
Let’s see if I stick with this show! If you’re reading this, let me know how you felt about the first episode. Bonus points if you played the game – I’m curious to see if it lived up to players’ expectations.
Until next time, bye y’all! ❤
Literally Just Thriving 