The first episode, written by Druckmann and Mazin and directed by Mazin, feels like something of a tug of war between the two men, or perhaps just between the two media. The series was co-created by Neil Druckmann, one of the key minds behind the game, and Craig Mazin, whose Chernobylminiseries was one of the best shows of 2019.

Ever since HBO announced plans to make a Last of Us series, gamers have pointed to it as the one that will finally remove the stigma associated with game adaptations, and along the way perhaps help legitimize the concept of video games as art to non-gamers. Though there’s action galore as the pair are besieged by various threats, both human and inhuman, the game is also filled with rich characterization, poignant drama and even some comedy. Set 20 years after a zombie apocalypse destroyed life on Earth as we know it, it follows Joel, a taciturn and proficiently violent loner, as he leads 14-year-old Ellie on a dangerous cross-country journey. The Last of Usgame, though, has a reputation for being more “cinematic” than its peers, to the point where its cutscenes have as much appeal as the gameplay itself. It’s not easy to translate a concept from one medium to the other, particularly traveling the route from games to movies or shows, which is why so many of those adaptations are pretty dire. One is interactive, inviting you to bend the story to your own actions the other asks you to immerse yourself into a specific story over which you have no control. This isn’t a knock on video games, but on the very different, conflicting natures of gaming versus watching film or television. Among the many compliments I can give HBO’s The Last of Usis that it eventually made me forget that it’s based on a video game.

The last of us neil