The Last of Us – Long, Long Time

By: Kelly Kearney

In what was arguably one of the finest seventy-six minutes on television, the HBO dystopian drama “The Last of Us” managed to successfully take a detour from the source material gamers love to take us on an unsuspecting journey of the heart that left this recapper teary-eyed and yearning for more. Who knew a sci-fi/horror show about fungus zombies could deliver one of the most beautifully written and acted love stories of 2023? In the third installment of the game to TV adaptation, we shift focus away from our protagonists, Ellie and Joel, for an introduction to Joel’s friends- a thriving yet isolated survivalist Bill, and a visitor named Frank who changes this lonely misanthrope’s entire world for the better. It took the end of mankind for Bill to find his beginning and in doing so, he found his purpose in life.

A Whole New World For Ellie

“Take her to Bill and Frank,” were Tess’ (Anna Torv) last words to Joel (Pedro Pascal) before the cordyceps French kissed her into oblivion. After discovering the Fireflies’ meeting spot was overgrown with fungus and littered with the dead, Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) managed to make a quick getaway before Tess blew the whole place, and her infected self, sky high. When we catch up with the traveling duo later, they are ten miles down the road from Boston and sleeping in the woods. Ellie, who has never left the QZ, is amazed by this unfamiliar world. Even the annoying bugs are worth the bites.

Later, the two stop at an abandoned gas station in search of supplies. The place is pretty picked over and Joel tells Ellie to not even bother hoping for a decent find, anything worth taking was taken by others a long time ago. Ellie splits off from Joel in search of anything useful. What she finds is a door to the basement and an infected man buried under some rubble. The moaning and gnashing teeth prompt Ellie to drive her switchblade into what’s left of the zombie’s brain. Threat handled, she casually pats herself on the back for the kill as well as proves Joel wrong by finding what could be the last box of tampons in New England.

Speaking of Joel, we see that Ellie finds him ditching his heavy artillery now that he is almost out of ammo. Without bullets, the rifle is just going to weigh him down. Now it’s handguns and packing lite for this road trip. Ellie, who is still without a gun, asks Joel if she too can carry a pistol for protection, but he again refuses. He still doesn’t trust that her bite-wound fester into a fungal zombie nightmare, but considering how quick she is with a joke, immunity seems like a guarantee. Joel is also still privately reeling from the loss of his partner, Tess, and Ellie can’t help but wonder if some of Joel’s chilly attitude toward her is due to the fact he blames her for the woman’s death. She lets him know that she can tell he’s angry and it isn’t her fault. Both Joel and Tess chose to go on this journey knowing the dangers outside of the QZ. Whatever happened after they made that choice is on them – not her.

With that out of the way the two head in the direction of Bill’s house. On route, they come across a mass grave of what Ellie surmises were uninfected people. Joel explains how they were the leftovers-the ones who couldn’t get to the QZ after the outbreak. His theory on how the world ended and what led to these innocent people’s deaths starts with the cordyceps fungus spreading to humans through tainted food. That food was probably shipped to all four corners of the earth infecting everyone who ate it. Then the military stepped in and they didn’t care who was infected or not. If you weren’t chosen to live behind the walls of the QZ, you were killed because a dead body can’t become an infected one. As he tells her what it was like at the start of the end of the world, we meet Bill (Nick Offerman) in a flashback. He’s a doomsday prepper who manages to avoid the military culling of humans. Instead, he cleans out the local stores, factories and industrial complexes for the supplies he would need to survive. He is resourceful, a jack of all trades and hobbies, but most importantly he is unshakable in the current dystopian state of the world. They don’t call them preppers for nothing!

Soulmates

And survive he did, and quite comfortably in his isolated life. Bill managed to scavenge for generators, hunt, cook and even take daily hot showers. While society was crumbling, Bill was thriving. Cut to four years of lonely 4-star meals and DIY boobytraps later and Bill finally comes across a visitor named Frank (Murray Barlett). This Baltimorean says he’s on his way to the QZ and is fungus-free but Bill keeps him in a hole. No, seriously, an actual hole in the ground, until he’s sure. After determining Frank is safe, Bill lets him inside his house for a shower and a meal but makes it clear that after dinner Frank has to be in his way. The problem with that is after years of solitude saying goodbye to companionship is hard. The men might not see eye-to-eye on everything from landscaping to decor but they can agree on two things: Bill’s knowledge of wine pairings and the growing feelings between two lost souls yearning to find a home. In Bill, it seems that Frank found his home behind the rigged fences of the prepper’s compound.

Three years go by and we catch up with the apocalypse’s best home makeover gays. They’re bickering over whether or not they should open their doors to other survivors. Frank admits he’s been communicating with people on the outside and now he wants to renovate their little section of town.

It isn’t long before we find out that the people Frank was talking to were Boston’s finest smugglers, Joel and Tess. Later, when the two get an invite to dinner, Joel makes a comment about Bill’s fencing around the compound not being secure enough to stop the raiders – who are the biggest obstacle the people outside of the QZ face. Three years after Joel pointed this out the raiders came like a small army trying to sack Fort Gay! They manage to break through Bill’s fencing, although many die in the series of explosions meant to stop them from advancing. In the midst of all the chaos of gunfire and landmines, Bill winds up catching a stray bullet to the abdomen. Frank pulls him to safety and as Bill starts to bleed out he tells his lover to call Joel as “he will take care of you.”

But the phone call was unnecessary because Bill survived his bullet wound and so did his compound from the raiders. Ten years into the future it is now present day and Frank is the one in poor health and using a wheelchair. Bill, ever the loyal partner, cares for Frank with the knowledge, like a weight crushing his heart, that the man he loves is terminal. No amount of drugs can save him because there wasn’t even a fix for this before the cordyceps devoured humankind. When the world stopped, Frank found Bill and their spark shocked it back to life, but this bug is too strong to defeat. Frank tells Bill he is ready to end things on his terms but asks that they spend his final day getting married. After saying their vows and ending the night as their romance started over dinner, Frank wants to wash down all of the pills they’ve gathered with a celebratory glass of wine. A final supper is what he has in mind and Bill can’t argue with his husband’s last wish.

After finishing off a bottle from Bill’s reserves, he dumps the crushed pills into Frank’s drink who downs it in one gulp. Bill’s reaction makes Frank realize he’s been tricked. Not all the pills were in that glass! Bill spiked the entire bottle and drank it, too! He confirms Frank’s suspicions by saying, “I’m old. I’m satisfied” He also calls Frank “my purpose.” Without him, life behind the fence isn’t worth living. They’ve been together in that house for two decades and that is more than many people got in the old world. Before they go upstairs to their bedroom to pass peacefully in each other’s arms Bill breaks all of the viewer’s hearts when he quietly admits, “I wasn’t afraid until you got here.” Because sometimes the scariest thing is saying goodbye to the one you love.

When Joel and Ellie finally make their way to Bill’s compound they’re met with a house in disarray and a locked bedroom door. Ellie finds a gun, which she secretly pockets, and a letter addressed to Joel. Bill the prepper left all of his supplies and his truck to his friend, a word he doesnt use lightly. He tells him to take what he can use, including whatever he wants from the weapons bunker. The two might not have been best friends but mutual respect was shared. Bill and Joel were not that different, neither liked the company of people but both risked it all to save the ones they could. He couldn’t save Sarah, Tess, Bill and Frank, but he can save his brother Tommy and maybe with the help of Ellie, the entire human race.