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, it’ll 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 we’ve experienced thus far – 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.
RELATED: Pedro Pascal Is One Of The Highest-Paid TV Actors Thanks To ‘The Last Of Us’
Previously, there had been zero indication about whether survivalists Bill and Frank were “partners” in the romantic sense or from a purely functional standpoint. After decades by each other’s 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 you’d 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 — 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 Frank’s (Murray Bartlett) loving relationship – from those early moments of the former freeing the latter from his perimeter trap and sharing a meal together, to peacefully dying in each other’s 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 ‘Long, Long Time’ aired/streamed, this added context and brief detour from the core narrative made for television magic.
RELATED: Foxtel Might Lose The TV & Streaming Rights To A Bunch Of Major HBO Properties
“When we got to this part in the season, Craig [Mazin] brought up a really interesting point which is… there’s a lot of examples of things not turning out well for people, and often those are reflections and cautionary tales for Joel of, ‘Here’s what you stand to lose.’ It was, ‘What if we show them what you could stand to win?’” Neil Druckmann, who also served as creative director and writer for the original video game, explained to IGN.
“But in a way, also still a warning sign for Joel… especially on the heels of losing Tess (Anna Torv) at the end of [Episode 2].”
Craig Mazin added: “I think it is a happy ending. I think we tend to view death as failure, particularly when you’re talking about playing a video game. It is literally failure. And for our show so far, there’s been some brutal moments where Joel has failed or at least perceives that he’s failed: he failed his daughter, he’s failed Tess, and he’s certainly feeling that weight at both the beginning and end of this episode.”
“It’s the happy ending and Bill’s 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? We’ll have to wait and see.”
Wait and see, we shall.
Check out the previews for HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 4 ‘Please Hold To My Hand’ and Episode 5 ‘Endure and Survive’ below.
