"The Last of Us" looks like many other things and yet it is one of the best of its kind - voila! culture

Trailer for the series "The Last of Us" (HBO)

When the video game "The Last of Us" was released in June 2013, it was immediately met with rave reviews.

Critics hailed it as a groundbreaking masterpiece that the medium divides into a front and an after.

They praised the way it breaks the narrative boundaries that video games have imposed on themselves, the strong emotion that guides it and the story, the description of the female and LGBT characters, the sincere and touching connection between the two main characters and their development over time, the moral dilemmas that the players face in their shoes The protagonist, the spectacular cinematic visuals.Already upon its release it was hailed as one of the most important games of its generation and the best ever.

"The Last of Us" became a big box office success, and over the years sold over 20 million copies, which led to a remastered version and a sequel released in 2020.

Of course, Hollywood could not ignore all this joy.

As soon as the game was released, film adaptations were planned for it, which in the end did not come to fruition.

The idea continued to evolve until in 2020 HBO announced that it was working on a version that would weaken the plot of the first game.

This week, almost three years later, the series came to the screen (and is broadcast together with Bis, Hot and Cellcom TV every Monday).

Former Israeli Neil Druckman, who created the game, is also responsible for the television adaptation alongside Craig Meizin, who is behind the acclaimed mini-series "Chernobyl" (whose fondness for video games can also be inferred from his small role in the second season of "Legendary Journey", in which he played the anti-game tester).

The plot of "The Last of Us" takes place about twenty years after a parasitic fungus took over the bodies of humans, turning them into zombies who only seek to spread the news to others by biting and other unpleasant-looking contacts.

Over the years, the world was divided into isolation zones under the control of the military, where most of the population that survived lived, and against them the "fireflies", an underground whose goal was to put an end to tyranny.

In between there are enclaves of human communities - those who just want to live as peacefully as possible and those who try to survive at the expense of others.

In this climate, Joel (Pedro Pascal, "Game of Thrones," "The Mandalorian") is a rugged survivor who, along with his partner Tess (Anna Turve, "Fringe," "Mind Hunter"), is asked to deliver a girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsay, she Little and seductive Lyanna Mormont in "Game of Thrones"), on a cross-continental journey to another unit of the fireflies, because for one reason or another lies great importance in it.

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They did not meet in the previous series in which they participated.

Bella Ramsay, "Game of Thrones" (Photo: HBO)

But filling gaps now.

Pedro Pascal, "Game of Thrones" (Photo: HBO)

Part of what made the game "The Last of Us" so beloved is the direct inspiration it took from the genre to which it now returns in its new version - zombie works and cinematic apocalypse - but what is so refreshing as a video game, becomes less innovative and original in its television incarnation.

We have already seen such series.

Works about a disheartening post-apocalyptic world where man is a wolf, with a reality where you have to fear humans as much as zombies.

A world where you can't trust strangers and you have to fear monsters of all kinds, yet kindness and compassion often peek through the cracks, fueling complex moral dilemmas.

Just a month ago "The Walking Dead" ended after 11 seasons, and its universe still continues with plenty of spin-off series.

One of the best series of last year was "Eleventh Station", which, although there are no zombies in it, there is a plague that has wiped out most of humanity, and its plot also takes place mainly twenty years after the event that caused it.

And there are many more of their kind, from "Night of the Walking Dead" of course, all of which were his sons, through Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" to "Sweet Tooth" - many of them come to mind while watching "The Last of Us".

And yet, the new HBO series is one of the best in the genre.

Its opening point is self-evident that the science behind it, as presented in the excellent opening scene, is completely real, and as such makes the possibility of a zombie plague one of the scariest ever used in the genre.

It was born from the BBC's iconic documentary "Wonderful World" from 2006 (here it is, just as creepy as what happens in "

On this platform, the series builds a crumbling world in an impressive and abundant way, as required by the cable giant's rich budget (estimates are that the budget ranges between 10 and 15 million dollars per episode).

Since this is a travel story, each episode introduces new sets of ruined cities, all complex and superbly detailed.

It's an impressive fusion between performance and script, which in itself is full of smart creative choices.

Some are already done in the original and cleverly developed by the adaptation, others are exclusive to the television version.

Choices that have a small twist on what we have already seen before in the genre, that refresh the archetypes and connect us to the characters and the reality at the heart of the series.

A perfect example of this is the choice to open the story through the eyes of Sarah (Nico Parker, the new "Dumbo", daughter of the actress Thandiwa Newton), the daughter of the hero (note, spoilers for the first episode below).

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through her eyes.

Nico Parker, "The Last of Us" (Photo: HBO)

The series summaries focus only on the characters of Pascal and Ramsay, so it's hard not to immediately conclude what will happen to this cute girl, and it's heartbreaking even before anything happens.

The fact that the collapse of the world is brought to us first and foremost through the experiences of a young girl, one who is unaware and does not necessarily understand what is happening, turns the random, strange and seemingly small things she encounters into another layer in the impending tragedy - private and global.

A boy in class whose arm rattles involuntarily, the old neighbor who vibrates behind her on her seat and the dog who stares at her afterwards, the watchmaker's wife who unexpectedly kicks her out of the shop.

In the last decade, the idea of ​​a dead child in the hero's past has become a huge cliché, a ready-made tragic characteristic that should deepen and round out the character without too much effort.

But it is rare to know this child before his death for a long period of time, to experience through him the crazy happenings and the impact on the parent while it is happening.

In a story like this, where twenty years later the hero is forced to marry another girl, this opening helps us to always know and feel what is bubbling inside him even without saying it explicitly.

It contributes to the restraint that feeds a large part of the power of "The Last of Us", to the purposefulness of the series and of Joel, who cuts through destinies and kills people without thinking twice.

This is the world they live in and this is the world that takes place in it, and when Ellie tells him "Your watch is broken", we know that it's not just the watch.

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Between the calamity and the light.

"The Last of Us" (Photo: HBO)

Not that the series itself is without cracks.

Throughout the first season (of which all nine episodes were sent in advance for review), less interesting stories emerge here and there, ones that expand its universe (such as an episode that follows couples who survive over the years in a well-equipped and secure corner they carved out for themselves) or enrich the history (such as an episode that goes back to one night certain from the passing of one of the characters, and yields the most heavenly episode of the season).

However, most of the time the balance between loud and scary action and character drama that makes us care about them, is what elevates "the last of us".

And above all shines the relationship between Joel and Ellie.

Her transformation from a "cargo" that he and Tess have to move from place to place, into something that may fill the vacuum in his soul, and from the point of view of the girl herself - someone and something she can find her place in and belong to - are the most beautiful element in the series.

Pascal does a very good job as the conflicted and rude human embodiment of a gray area, but it's Bella Ramsay who steals the show, just like she did on Game of Thrones.

She wonderfully channels the humor and defiance of her character, and is alone responsible for several moments of essential loud bursts of laughter amidst all the existential gloom of "The Last of Us".

In her hands, and also thanks to the excellent writing, the confrontational teenage character that can be so annoying - as we were taught by Kim from "24", Dana from "Homeland", Paige from "The Americans", Connor from "Angel", Carl from The Walking Dead, of course.

Steals the show.

again.

Bella Ramsey, "The Last of Us" (Photo: HBO)

The stunning first chapter ends with the escape of the three heroes from the isolation zone.

We then go back to the apartment that Joel and Tess left, the radio starts up and Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again" starts playing.

What an excellent and symbolic choice.

We know that based on their code Eighties songs portend trouble, but the use of a song that deals with traveling with the best friend, who keeps his confidence in the hope that he won't let him down again, and ends with the words "everything is fine tonight", automatically brings hope along with the threat.

It's a fine line between calamity and light, and "The Last of Us" does a good job of walking it throughout.

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