Episode 103 of THE LAST OF US aired last night. And it's a very interesting episode to watch for the ways that it deviates from the expected.
First, it's an hour and 15 minutes long, basically as long as an HBO season finale might run and almost as long as the series premiere.
Second, it has nothing to do with the main characters. Instead, it's the story of a survivalist named Bill who basically takes over an entire abandoned town after the military supposedly takes its people to a safe zone (but actually kills them). Years after he is firmly ensconced, a man named Frank stumbles into one of his many traps. And the two fall in love. The episode is their almost 20 year love story, which ends shortly before Joel and Ellie arrive.
And it's a pretty extraordinary love story. There are plenty of gay romances to be found on television these days, but they almost never have the kind of vulnerability and patience that you see here. Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman are perfect in their roles, and the writing is exquisitely understated.
There's a third thing that makes 103 stand out: it sets up more rules for the series. Usually by 103 a series is fully up and running—we've been taught what to expect, what a show is and isn't. But by giving us this standalone vignette, creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin are telling us this show is not just going to be plot driven. In a sense it's not even just Joel and Ellie's show. It's the story of how love thrives (or dies) in this world, how people have tried to protect what they love.
I don't know about anyone else, but for me the fact that the show has this bigger vision makes it immediately so much more interesting and exciting. As popular and great as the source material is, there is that question, Does the world need ANOTHER zombie show? And with 103, Mazin & Druckmann show us this maybe isn't that at all.
For anyone out there who might be writing something that is in a familiar genre, it's worth asking, How is my take fresh? What's the thematic thing I'm bringing to the material that is significantly different? What is my story about, not in terms of plot but in terms of our own struggle to be human?
