The Last of Us Review - Episode 1 Recap: Where a post-apocalyptic fungus f*cks with humanity

The "Last of Us" follows the staid recipe of all the end-of-the-world, life-as-we-know-it-is-over thrillers before it. Still, premise wise it's kinda entertaining.

In the first five minutes of The Last of Us on HBO Max, a 60s epidemiologist who specializes in mycology hypothesizes a doomsday scenario in which a fungus, embeds itself in the brain of its human host, and from there, alters its mind - devouring its host from within. This parasitic relationship renders the human a mere puppet of the fungus and while the fungus of the 60s can’t survive in temperatures above 94 degrees, a few degrees lower than the average 98.6 degrees temperature of a human, it can evolve over time, meaning its ability to survive in higher temps could be an actual threat to civilization. The audience looks on in disbelief and shock as a subdued John Hannah unknowingly predicts what will transpire 35 years later.

Here’s hoping there’s more to Hannah’s story arc and if not, he did predict the beginning of the end. That’s something.

And that takes us to the future, or the past. The year is 2003 and we’re in Austin, Texas where we meet construction worker, Joel (played by The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal), his precocious daughter Sarah (played by Nico Parker, who I had to look up because she looks so much like Westworld’s Thandiwe Newton and turns out she’s her daughter!), and his brother Tommy, a Desert Storm vet who is a good guy with a predilection for getting in trouble.

In addition to a strong physical resemblance, Nico Parker, like her mom, is gifted in the acting department.

With no other parent or caregiver in the picture, Sarah spends a great deal of the day alone so when Joel leaves her late at night to bail Tommy out of jail (he was in a bar brawl) and she wakes up to a deserted house, at first you don’t think anything of it. It’s only when Sarah awakens in the middle of the night to the sound of military jets and explosions, which culminates in her neighbors’ dog yelping and banging itself into her porch door, that you know something is off. Well, that and when Sarah turns on the TV there’s a message of the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS/EAS) telling everyone to stay at home, to which Sarah runs out with the dog to return it to her now-Zombified neighbor, nana Adler.

On note of the EAS (emergency activation system): It’s difficult to fathom for today’s digital natives how smartphones were not really a thing in the early naughts rendering the ability to communicate with a loved one while in transit during a crisis, not commonplace. Hence the tension and build up between Sarah (kid) and Joel (adult) not being physically together from the onset of the zombie apocalypse even more tenuous. Then again, likely cell towers would have been down…Either way he would have been able to tell her to stay away from the Adlers and lock herself inside the house!

Unlike the zombies in The Walking Dead who seemingly move in super slow motion, these putrified fungal infected (the exact brain infection is later revealed to be called Cordyceps) beasts are like something out of a horror movie with their jerky, demon like movements, acting like a video game character, which unsurprisingly the show is based on. See pics below.

Which one of these doesn’t belong? The middle pic is a demigorgon from Stranger Things, but pointing out the similarity with the Cordyceps infected zombie on the right from The Last of Us. Inspo likely comes from the mushroom infested trees you see in nature which may look aesthetically beautiful, but let’s not forget what we are witnessing is a fungus going wild and taking over the tree…

Another vestige of the video game roots of this show (pun entirely intended) is the anarchic scenes in which Joel, Sarah and Tommy are driving out of Austin in search of some semblance of safety. The claustrophobic and chaotic effect of the crowded streets, blown up cars and buildings, and people frantically running everywhere, feels like I’m could be holding a game controller (forgetting what the buttons actually do and asking my son for a reminder for the zillionth time) and racing thru the streets trying to avoid being caught either by the zombie or the military. Inevitably, with the scene unfolding, Tommy crashes the car, because yeah, lots of chaos all around and I’m holding the controller, remember? Sarah gets injured and can’t walk. Joel and Tommy separate with Joel carrying Sarah around the streets like a rag doll trying to avoid capture.

Fast forward to spoilers: Sarah is shot by a US soldier and dies, setting up a theme for the future of just when you thought we had a common zombie enemy, the real enemy is the military regime who just want control of everyone and everything. Yes, Governor and Negan, we are looking at you! The enemy is never the infection in these shows. It’s the people that survive and how they turn on one another, giving into their base instincts as humans.

Twenty years into the future brings us to 2023 and that’s right, we’re in Boston (woo hoo!) with Joel and a new character, Tess (Anna Torv, Fringe, Mindhunter, Secret City), Joel’s partner romantically and also in business. Unfortunately the present, beyond this pairing, is bleak. The U.S. is divided into QZ (Quarantine Zones) where the military (Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA), reign supreme and the outer zones, which exist mostly out West because as the average U.S. storyteller knows the West is a totem for the independent minded and liberated symbolizing a new frontier - renewal, rebirth, and some other re-.

The rebels here are called “fireflies” and while you get the impression that Joel is loyal only to his people and won’t die for causes (only his people), he’s resourceful and a survivor. He shows no allegiances to any one group - shifting in one episode from moving product and make himself useful to a FEDRA agent and then helping the fireflies by accompanying Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a child surrogate for his daughter, out west, if it means he can get a car battery and ammo for his trip to find his brother. In short, he’s a free agent and Pedro Pascal plays him to perfection.

Ellie is the other main character in this show if the promotions ring true and she may also be the hope for the future, as she is likely immune to the Cordyceps infection, given that she tested positive in the scanner that detects infection, and is still healthy. Marlene, who is head of the Boston fireflies, warns Joel that he must protect her at all costs, but what’s apparent in the first episode alone is that Ellie can wield a knife and handle a gun just fine. She’s grown up in this vicious world and knows how to be a survivor. She is one.

Joel and Ellie are off. “When you're lost in the darkness, look for the light.”

Miscellaneous

The QZ scape is also full of “gig” economy minded individuals. Here they are slavers, raiders, or burn bodies for a living (see note below).

When we are first reintroduced to Joel in 2023, he is throwing a dead body into the firepit. It’s the boy who wanders into the QZ for help. They scan him and then give him a shot. The implication being that he was infected and the shot kills him.

Joel sells “hydro” to an addicted FEDRA agent. It’s not oxy but sounds like this new world version of it. “Everything is pills and bullets” in this black market, helping us appreciate the currency of the day here.

Joel is like 56 in present day given 20 years ago when the pandemic broke, he was just turning 36. He’s looking pretty good and strong. Is this realistic? Wouldn’t be more broken down and beaten after years of this life? Seems like it would age you quickly.

The poster in QZ shows the over time effects of the infection and where it hits the body at each stage down to the day. That seemed pretty elaborate and likely lots of experimentation in keeping people alive long enough to observe and record.