In addition to our usual Monday hit of the good stuff, Aussie streaming service Binge has just announced the next instalment, The Last of Us Episode 5, arrives this coming Saturday (February 11th) at precisely 1 PM AEDT, ostensibly to avoid competing with Super Bowl LVII.
But from that point onwards, itโll be business as usual. Episode 6 is scheduled to drop domestically on February 20th, leading all the way up to the season finale scheduled for March 13th, and given the sheer quality of what weโve experienced thus far โ it promises to be another one for the books.
Last week, after remaining quite faithful to the source material, the HBO adaptation deviated from the hit video game in quite a significant way with the universally-acclaimed third episode. Thankfully, for the better.
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Previously, there had been zero indication about whether survivalists Bill and Frank were โpartnersโ in the romantic sense or from a purely functional standpoint. After decades by each otherโs side, Frank grows ever so tiresome of Bill and leaves their self-contained safe haven in Lincoln. Eventually, Frank takes his own life after being infected and leaves Bill a caustic farewell note that reads:
Well, Bill, I doubt youโd ever find this note cause you were too scared to ever make it to this part of town. But if for some reason you did, I want you to know I hated your guts.
I grew tired of this shitty town and your set-in-your-ways attitude. I wanted more from life than this and you could never get that. And that stupid battery you kept moaning about โ I got it. But I guess you were right. Trying to leave this town will kill me. Still better than spending another day with you.
Good Luck,
Frank
In the HBO series, however, creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann decided to imbue this particular storyline with a little more humanity.
Fans were treated to an unexpectedly poetic chronicle of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frankโs (Murray Bartlett) loving relationship โ from those early moments of the former freeing the latter from his perimeter trap and sharing a meal together, to peacefully dying in each otherโs tender embrace before Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) can even reach Lincoln in time to encounter Bill; having found a soul mate at the end of the world.
As we noted the day after โLong, Long Timeโ aired/streamed, this added context and brief detour from the core narrative made for television magic.
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โWhen we got to this part in the season, Craig [Mazin] brought up a really interesting point which isโฆ thereโs a lot of examples of things not turning out well for people, and often those are reflections and cautionary tales for Joel of, โHereโs what you stand to lose.โ It was, โWhat if we show them what you could stand to win?โโ Neil Druckmann, who also served as creative director and writer for the original video game, explained to IGN.
โBut in a way, also still a warning sign for Joelโฆ especially on the heels of losing Tess (Anna Torv) at the end of [Episode 2].โ
Craig Mazin added: โI think it is a happy ending. I think we tend to view death as failure, particularly when youโre talking about playing a video game. It is literally failure. And for our show so far, thereโs been some brutal moments where Joel has failed or at least perceives that heโs failed: he failed his daughter, heโs failed Tess, and heโs certainly feeling that weight at both the beginning and end of this episode.โ
โItโs the happy ending and Billโs understanding of who he was as a human being that inspires Joel to do the right thing here. The question is that: is it always going to inspire Joel to do the right thing? Weโll have to wait and see.โ
Wait and see, we shall.
Check out the previews for HBOโs The Last of Us Episode 4 โPlease Hold To My Handโ and Episode 5 โEndure and Surviveโ below.
