Well this is interesting. The first two episodes of The Last Of Us were good: a solid adaptation of a zombie apocalypse thriller video game.
They were moody with compelling characters and enough menace to suggest we’d be getting a superior version of The Walking Dead.
The third episode, though, was as startling as being ankle-bitten by a fungus-infected baddy.
In it, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s bickering pair take a back seat to a tale which made for one of the best episodes of television you’ll see this year.
Parks And Recreation’s Nick Offerman is Bill who, at the beginning of The Last Of Us, is the type of paranoid survivalist most of us would cross the street to avoid. His solo existence, complete with electric fences, an allotment and cases of wine pilfered from the off-licence, looks idyllic until Frank (Murray Bartlett from The White Lotus) happens across one of his traps.
The tension soon evolves into sexual tension and Bill is perhaps more lonely than isolated; in an incredibly sweet scene he plays Linda Ronstadt’s Long, Long Time on the piano for Frank. I shouldn’t spoil what happens next but the final third of the episode was a bit of a blur of tears.
Offerman’s performance is extraordinary and gives hope The Last Of Us might be more, so much more, than a simple apocalyptic thriller.
The Last Of Us, Sky Atlantic
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe