This week's episode of The Last Of Us delivers a sucker punch right to the gut of even the most stoic of viewers.
We start in what must be the morning after the departure from the Capitol building, and the farewell from Tess. There's tension in the air between our two heroes, as they share a few choice words and decide to press on up to Joel's buddy Bill's place in hopes of finding shelter, a ride and advice. Along the five-hour hike , Ellie's back to her usual annoying 14-year-old self, poking the gruff Joel with pestering questions. Anyone with a kid will know how this goes: "where'd you get that scar? did you shoot him? are you bad at shooting? or just in general?"
In amongst the adorable bickering of an already thawing friendship, we get Joel's first-hand account of the Cordyceps pandemic. Describing what keen-eyed viewers will have spotted, the fungus spread in amongst flour-based products distributed across the globe (hide your Hovis, guys). We're starkly reminded, with Ellie's comment, of how radically unprepared the government is for a fatal pandemic, and left to question to what ends the human race will go to survive. And so, they come across- despite Joel's protest- a chilling scene. A graveyard, littered with the bones of what were once healthy people in search of the nearest QZ; put to death by FEDRA for one simple reason that Joel sums up by simply grumbling: "the dead can't be Infected."
Quick pan in to some fabric blistering in the wind, and we're cut back in time to the bodies that fill those clothes. We see the evacuation by FEDRA with our own eyes, pulling people from their homes and marking their doors with a giant red X. But someone's not adhering to the rules. Nick Offerman's Bill is stowed away in his bunker beneath the basement, watching the scene play out on his CCTV and tightly gripping his gun. What follows here is what I can only describe as poetic, deeply moving and revitalising TV.
Bill and Frank deliver an LGBTQ+ love story for the decades...
Bill is a 'survivalist', or what we'd call a 'Doomsday Prepper'. A deadly pandemic is his dream come true; a fungus ridding the population of people who've always sneered his way, put him down or ridiculed his way of life. He revels in the immediate moment by raiding empty houses, dashing to Home Depot for supplies, and building his own little fortress of solitude. He becomes self sustaining, working the land and rearing animals for gourmet meals served with a pizazz not even Gordon Ramsay could achieve. And, really, what good could the apocalypse do if not refine Bill's palate?
If you're familiar with the game, you know that Bill lays traps. And as a runner breaks through one of his trip wires, the memories come flooding back. But here comes the deviation. While Bill is perfectly happy in his metal bubble, building motion-sensor flamethrowers, something happens that pulls him from the pit he's created in his mind. This is a man called Frank.
Bill spares Frank, and points him towards Boston. But after Frank pleads for food, Bill allows him to shower, change clothes, share lunch with him and even take a turn on his mother's piano. Throughout, we see Bill tightly wound like a spring, seemingly having forgotten how to converse with another human being. But Frank's extroverted nature, genuine smiles and warmth soon lead to Bill's rendition of "Long Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt revealing a more vulnerable side to the grisly character. The men kiss, and then make love.
Years on, and the pair are the perfect domestic, suburban couple of their isolated town. They bicker over supplies and the way each other live (as a nod to the game), double date with Joel and Tess and build themselves the perfect little life, complete with a strawberry patch. Frank serves as the best of the pair, forming a friendship with Tess over radio communication, swapping physical and emotional bounty. Bill and Joel are suspicious of one another, hardened to the world, but their mutual respect comes in Joel's warning: 'raiders will come, at night, armed for your town'.
And come, they do. In the dead of night, the raiders try to press into the mens' town, but are staggered by Bill's flamethrowers, electric fence and sharp shooting. Frank, panicked, rushes to Bill's side as he is shot. This is is, we think. The end of suburban bliss, and what a twist! As Bill becomes motionless on their dining room table, bleeding out, we're left wondering what will happen. Cut to ten years on, however, and it's Frank in the wheelchair; suffering from an unknown degenerative illness, he is cared for by the ever-hardy Bill.
Frank, tired by his illness, awakes one morning to make a request of Bill.
He's not able to do the things he once was, he doesn't want to be a burden, and he's had his fill of happiness. He wants one final, beautiful day with the man he loves; breakfast, shopping, a wedding, dinner, then to pass away in his lover's arms. And though we can see Bill's hard exterior crumbling to pieces, he lovingly concedes, and they set about this most painful of sequences set to Max Richter's 'On The Nature Of Daylight'.
As the two have their last supper, the same dish Bill first served Frank, the time comes. Frank downs a glass of wine laced with pills. Then Bill nods, clearing off his glass as well, and we have a moment of breathlessness. Bill reveals the bottle was mixed with enough pills to 'kill a horse'; he has had a good life, Frank was his purpose and he is satisfied. Frank is distraught, but then admits how romantic it is. And so, the pair head off to bed to die in each other's arms.
Joel and Ellie come across the scene, where Bill has left them the keys to their truck and a note explaining that Joel has to find that one person in his life worth fighting for. They collect supplies, set some ground rules, shower and then set off in search of Joel's brother, a former Firefly.
10/10
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