The Last of Us Episode 3 is HBO's Magnum Opus

you know that minor character from the game that briefly shows up to help Joel and Ellie how about we make the most emotionally riveting and heart-wrenching story about that man's relationship with Frank that sounds like a good idea to say the least episode 3 of The Last of Us I think will be the most polarizing for fans of the game because it almost entirely deviates from it the primary aspect that is retained is the general plot point of Joel getting a car from Bill everything else is essentially different into comparing contrast the two would be a Fool's errands and if anything they are so completely different that would be basically spoiling the game for its rendition of events Craig and Neil decide here to opt for a more light-hearted and happy exploration of our relationship set within a depressing post-apocalyptic world that kind of Direction in of itself is beautiful because so rarely are there happy endings in this type of setting not to mention that we kind of needed this for how much darker the show will inevitably get so personally I think this deviation from The Source material is outstanding and achieves such a high quality and storytelling that it's baffling how well the creators are pulling it off because generally when you start to deviate too far from The Source material issues arise however for the last of us it's the opposite every form of deviation is used to expand the world and further dive into characters that the game wasn't able to put a spotlight on Bill in the game was definitely an interesting character but here in the show he's brought to life and we get to witness all of his best moments this episode as a whole reminds me of the first 10 minutes of up it's a story of Two Lovers that is told over the years as they get older and one of them succumbs to sickness they both explore the happiness and beauty of life and is also a reminder of the sadness that comes with death and sickness they obviously have different endings since Carl doesn't kill himself enough but I think they both achieve such a magnificent execution that is imbued with so much love to the point that anyone who watches those Works will cry or come close to it The Last of Us episode 3 is practically flawless and has no down moment through the entirety of its run time if anything I wish the episode was much longer even though it was already over an hour long like I would have gladly watched Ron Swanson the survivalist build up his defenses in a zombie apocalypse as a mini-series in of itself but the Montage we do get from that sequence is perfect and gives you just enough in a short amount of time to fully educate us as do his whole situation that it was just very intriguing to see this kind of situation play out and the practicality and realism of this type of scenario thinking about this episode there's only one nitpick that I could think of and that was Bill standing out in the middle of the street shooting Raiders as he was getting shot at it seemed pretty dumb that he didn't have a pre-designated area that he could shoot from that at least had more cover because his method here is obviously unsafe especially since stroll warns him about a Raider attack the scene prior this again is the only small flaw in the episode for me and I think it was just a way for the writers to injure Bill and to have Frank save his life and I think everything is made up for by how brilliant the ending of the scene was doing a time Jump and showing a wide shot of a character in a wheelchair makes the audience automatically assume that that character is Bill so it's a Twist just through the editing and presentation of the story that it was actually Frank but before going into their heartfelt ending let's fully analyze the entire story of Bill and Frank and the scenes leading up to this to see why this is HBO's magnum opus the episode does start out with Joel and Ellie and for all the people that said there wasn't enough of them here I think we get a pretty good amount from how long the episode was like off of runtime alone John Ellie are selling about 27 minutes of the episode their first few scenes are definitely great and it exemplifies Joel's refusal to bond with Ellie given that Ellie's smuggling mission is the reason for Tess's death Joel isn't mourning as he goes on autopilot to carry out the subjective and most attempts Ellie makes to talk to Joel are shut down in a way he blames her and him shutting her out is a part of his frustration then slowly through the course of their scenes Ellie is able to pierce through Joel's thick exterior and finally gets him to start talking Ellie does this by asking a string of questions that Joel can't really ignore and at a baseline Ellie is able to make Joel partially open up to her then the moment where Joel even makes a quick-handed joke towards Ellie confirms that this process is working is there anything bad in here just you ah getting funnier from here the question she asks become more and more personal and require elaboration from those questions my two favorite were Ellie asking what it was like to fly in a plane and her asking about the origin of the outbreak the education that Joel provides is really insightful and acts as both an interesting moment for the audience because it gives us some backstory and marks the point where Joel has moved past his anger towards Ellie Joel's now the one who's doing most of the talking and is probably relating back to the feeling of being a father where you inform your children through these 15 minutes we see the relationships totally change as Joel starts to open up and even through Pedro's performance you can see him admire Ellie from time to time this kind of nuance and progression for Joel and Ellie isn't really in the game and the show offers a more realistic approach for what Joel would be feeling in these scenes because in the game they move on pretty quickly after Tess dies and Joel and Ellie are always on pretty good terms like this moment where Joel such as ground rules for Ellie at the end of the episode happens right after Tessa's death in the game there isn't a long period for Joel to process what happened to Tess because each main event for the game is generally surrounded by action or things to engage the player gameplay-wise so in contrast this episode offers a progression for them that is fulfilled by the end of the episode when Joel listens to the music that Ellie puts on at first Joel is reluctant to show any form of happiness but he gives in and allows himself to fully bond with Ellie just within this under half hour stretch of time it achieves some great character development their relationship is more detailed and realistic and each scene had an additional aspect that strengthened it like the suspenseful moment in the basement the Intriguing backstories like the people getting executed and the suicide note that sends our characters through a roller coaster of emotions so anyone who is dissatisfied with the fact that there wasn't enough progression within this episode and it didn't entirely feature Joel and Ellie confuses me when you look pretty because not only does Bill and Frank's story hit so [ __ ] hard but it also is relevant within the plot given that Joel and Ellie react to their demise and also need their truck along with scenes that fleshed out Joel and Tessa's past with Bill and Frank even though this episode is mostly comprised of a self-contained story The Writers are still able to make it relevant and they manage to tell one of the best one-off stories I've seen for a while and let's finally get into Bill and Frank's story I don't think I'd be exaggering when I say that this is one of the best stories in a post-apocalyptic setting that has ever been told the journey we go on with Bill and Frank is constantly riveting with so many deeply moving scenes and so many beautiful little moments that makes the story feel like a gem in the rough for this whole section of the episode I first want to mention the acting Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett give incredible performances and I'll be surprised if one of them don't receive a guest starring Emmy nomination for acting their entire relationship and evolution is insanely touching and I'll probably keep thinking about them for for a while both of their performances throughout some of their first encounters are so layered in our entrenched with so many details to pick up on you can see Bill struggle to contain his happiness as he tries to put on an unmoved Expression he does this to not allude to the fact that he's liking the presence of Frank because if he communicates that then Frank can take that as a signal to stay along with Bill getting a little flustered at times that Frank also picks up on their performances are subtle enough to understand what they are going through precisely in each moment to the point that it doesn't feel jarring when it's revealed that bill is gay that in this moment gives Nick Offerman playing the piano and singing in such a Whimsical little moment that even feels like an escape from our own lives which is ironic considering that the world they live in is over like I was genuinely taken aback for a second during this wonder-like moment the whole nature of this scene where a kind man decides to give a man on the verge of death a chance a meal a shower and a good time is extremely wholesome and it reveals the true nature of Frank he's not a crazy person and Bill's kindness is paid off despite bill at first being hesitant in wanting to play it safe by sending Frank away but I think he quickly realizes the opportunity to form a connection with another human being that he's probably been missing for a while and at best it can turn into a romantic relationship it's just a joyful experience to witness this because of how rare the scenario must be in this Bleak and depressing world even though this is a post-apocalyptic story I love how this episode focuses on some of the small joys of life even through Joel and Ellie's brief scenes they essentially carry this notion like through Ellie finding an old arcade game she loves and then finding the music in the car the moment for Bill and Frank that was very precious was them eating strawberries for the first time in years this moment was so happy and beautiful that it almost feels surreal in a way I think the cinematography here AIDs that feeling with how they time the sun to peer through the trees in the backgrounds on one side of the frame you have the sun gushing in with a warm lens flare while on the other we have Bill and Frank giving each other a loving Embrace which this single shot on its own must have been frustrating because they probably had a very limited time to get it the links that the craters are going to to make this as visually delightful as possible is great and it really comes together to create an unbeatable Aura of Happiness however we can't just have an episode without any conflicts all these bejeweling moments are then contrasted by the Raider attack and Frank getting an uncurable life-threatening illness this is where the episode really feels like up to me and is a further exploration of that kind of story concept here in the last of us our characters are more accepting of death because they live an extremely fulfilling life especially given the fact that the world has ended so seeing them this happy and living one more final day of what they perceive as their perfect life was thoroughly heartwarming literally every moment within the last 10 minutes of their relationship is the most I felt in ages I haven't been this impacted by an episode in every aspect of production here as always is unmatched especially the performances again seeing Nick Offerman breakdown really destroyed me because this man kind of exemplifies the manly Trope of Men Who hide their emotions but here he's sobbing and realizes that the love of his life is going to be dead at the end of the day Nick Offerman can convey so much emotion and he's a man of few words like it's truly impressive how much this man can say through his face alone I am gushing quite a bit about Nick offerman's performance here but I think it's matched by Murray Bartlett his happy and somewhat calm demeanor from him accepting death offers a great contrast to the sadness that Nick is exuding Murray's performance was so good in fact that I didn't even notice that he was the same person who played Armand in season 1 of The White Lotus he was just so captivating to learn that he became the character and I never pictured him as anyone else this overall topic of a loved one passing away and having to accept their wishes is such a tragic element to explore and I think it was perfectly done it's sad but it simultaneously portraying a feels good moment as these two lovers live out the last day of their lives together all of this being sweeped away by violins and no dialogue further enhances the already gargantuan feelings that this scene is extracting from me and it all comes together to make something amazing then their final meal was perfectly paced as they take the time to process what's happening shots of them staring at each other lovingly from one last time is enough to get me swelling up again at this point the episode has you firmly locked in with these characters so when it's revealed that bill also put pills in the bottle and was going to die I further raised the scene that was already in the stratosphere Frank isn't even Furious Adam and realizes that it would be hypocritical to be mad at Bill and equally accepts Bill's wishes that he wants to die with Frank like I don't know how the hell Neil and Craig were able to keep one-upping themselves here because holy [ __ ] was this a magnificent ride and for most of the time after the scene I thought bill would have a botched suicide or something since he appears in the game but Neil and Craig commit to the bit at an aspiring level to not bringing him back then it's capped off with a suicide note and even leads into Joel confronting the loss of Tess it's staggering how great this deviation from The Source material is and if it's going to be this good then be my guess change as much as you want I know some people will be mad at them for changing this much already but keep in mind the core plot is still the same it's just the means in which we got here we're a tad bit different one had more action while the other decided to pop off with one of the best recent love stories even though this focus is on two minor characters from the game it still tells a gripping story within this world that is good enough to take most of the spotlights on IMDb this episode is already falling in terms of its rating it is at an 8.3 currently as of writing this video which is really surprising to me I don't know if people are either mad at the mass deviation or if people were bored or something because if this wasn't able to capture you and resonate with you then I don't know what will I think this drama is making a great substitution for all the action in the game because there's already a lot of action there and he can't just throw all that into the show the main complaint I did see is that Joel and Ellie aren't the same or aren't being featured enough but I'd argue The Show Goes in more depth than the game because the show is able to focus on the acting more while the game's story is primarily told through dialogue when you're navigating through the world things I pointed out earlier like Joel dealing with the loss of Tess is explored way more here than the game as a comparison that and Joel and Ellie were still in almost 27 minutes of the last episode and they had their own mini Arc of sorts so yeah to me this is essentially HBO's magnum opus in recent memory and Rivals some of their best episodes in the past I won't say it's the flat out best like better than the red wedding or some of the peak episodes of Game of Thrones but it's definitely up towards the top and you can't beat that final shot of the episode thank you for watching and let me know what you guys thought about episode 3 of The Last of Us foreign

Channel: Supercuts Delight

Views: 1,038,127

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Id: a5oNlf_dSvM

Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 31 2023