THE LAST OF US 106 starts with a three month time jump. Which is super weird. Our heroes have only been on the road really for 3 episodes, and now suddenly we're in Wyoming. What?
Those who know the video game will know that's its narrative. But who cares about that? There's a lot of territory between Kansas City and Wyoming. Why not do at least one more story in between?
But giving us that time jump is another way of undermining our expectations. Even after having the love story episode and other characters given their points of view, the basic structure of THE LAST OF US is very much a zombie/apocalypse/quest story, which brings with it all kinds of rules, including you have to keep stopping for problems/adventures along the way. You don't jump time, you go from place to place.
By dismissing that, Craig Mazin leaves unsure what to expect. Personally, my brain insisted on sticking to the rules: they're going to cross the river and then get attacked. And Mazin leans into that—he gives us them having to cross that narrow bridge, which seems absolutely primed to be a trap. We've even got Ellie constantly looking around.
But then it isn't a kill zone and the two of them have a nice little moment. After which, the twist—oh shit, maybe the Native couple meant this other river. Suddenly gunshots, they're surrounded, the dog. Okay, perfect. This is what we expected. The next big challenge.
But then it turns out these are Tommy's people, and there's not going to be any big action sequence. We're going to get a whole episode of Joel and Ellie hanging out with Tommy's community.
There's more going on here than dramatic effect, right? This is about theme: THE LAST OF US is a story about what people do for love. And that means it doesn't need to be one zombie or human battle or fetch quest after another. In fact it can't be. It has to have new characters in relationship alongside the ongoing questions/sacrifices of the Joel and Ellie relationship. That's the story it's telling.
I don't want to overstate this. I do think it might have been nice to have a one off episode somewhere else before we got to Tommy, maybe have them meet someone who is alone.
But it's definitely an interesting and unusual choice, one that only gets reinforced by that first scene with the Native couple, which is also really unusual and specific (see tomorrow). And maybe all of that is meant to loosen us up so that when we get to the scene where Joel breaks down, we're ready for such an unexpectedly emotional moment from Joel. Maybe these early moments are trying to shake us free from f some of the "Zombie Means Kills" blood lust that watching so many stories like this have instilled in us, so that we can be open to something more tender.
