The Last Of Us: Season One (2023) Cre: Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann
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I came to watching this HBO dystopian series, created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, having never played the games, but still being very excited regardless. Considering that I was fairly late to the show, I was aware of the positive consensus surrounding the series - something which certainly made me pretty hopeful.
From what I know, there are a lot of shot-for-shot scenes taken from the game, which no doubt pleases fans. The cinematography is pretty standard for the 'zombie' genre; bleak and ruinous, but there was also some real beauty to a number of the visuals too.
The visual effects were also very solid - I never noticed any shots that looked explicitly poor. I was pretty impressed with all the special effects used, in truth. I thought the money and effort that had been put into the show was clear to see and paid off brilliantly.
I thought the soundtrack was great. The original score was in-keeping with the themes and aesthetic of the show, and the other music used was judiciously selected and very enjoyable from a personal standpoint.
The narrative was fairly typical of dystopian media, but I thought it was very well written. The pilot was intense, and established the threats of the world the series was based in. From there, I thought the episodes had a good flow to them. I thought each episode felt fairly unique from the others, with plenty of story and character development occurring throughout the nine episodes.
I liked the quiet, and sometimes not so quiet, inclusivity of the show. Be it the brief use of a down syndrome extra, or a deaf character, or the genuinely beautiful and sincere gay storyline, which made me cry a whole lot. That, along with all the positive relationships in the series, were really pleasantly developed and presented.
Pedro Pascal made for an interesting protagonist. I liked how complex his character was, and that he didn't always act like a typical main character. Pascal gave some very compelling performances throughout the series, especially in the last few episodes.
I also enjoyed the performances of Bella Ramsey, who I felt gave the series a much needed lighter touch. They had some pretty funny scenes, but they also managed to hit the mark with their more intense and serious scenes. I was very impressed with the range they displayed.
I also really enjoyed the performances of many of the supporting cast too. I thought there were a lot of talented faces that were featured, including; Nick Offerman, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Gabriel Luna, Marie Dambridge, Storm Reid, Melanie Lynskey, Lamar Johnson, Murray Bartlett and Keivonn Woodard.
Overall, I really liked this show. There wasn't much I didn't like about it, and even then, it was more nitpick issues that had no bearing on my enjoyment of the series as a whole. I thought this was riveting, and I am very keen to see the second part. And, what's more, it's made me want to play the games now.
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