Neil Druckmann – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

The Last of Us: Season 2, Episode 7 – Convergence

“It was easy. I just kept hurting her and hurting her.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

This week’s episode was an inevitably downbeat season finale for The Last of Us, a show that has never exactly traded in optimism. It also, at first, seemed surprisingly low-key for most of the time, retreading similar ground to earlier eps this season – I was expecting something more, well, not spectacular (the show rarely is), but dramatic. But in hindsight, I think there was a lot more going on in this ep than was immediately evident.

The Last of Us: Season 2, Episode 6 – The Price

“If you love someone, you can always see their face.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

This week’s The Last of Us was one of the show’s occasional flashback episodes, filling us in on some vital backstory that, until now, has only been alluded to. I’ve said from the beginning of the season that we were bound to get one of these, as so much was made of Joel’s killing of Gail’s husband Eugene, a character we hadn’t even seen. I must admit, I was also too curious to avoid the spoiler that cult character actor Joe Pantoliano had been cast as Eugene, so it was just a question of time until he made his appearance.

The Last of Us: season 1, episode 9 – Look for the Light

“You can’t keep her safe forever. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many people you kill, she’s gonna grow up, Joel.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Season finales, especially in big budget genre shows, tend to be things of spectacle, with all the budget thrown at the screen to keep the audience on tenterhooks for the next year. In a Walking Dead season finale, you could pretty much guarantee hordes of zombies invading the heroes’ sanctuary, with action, explosions and headshots aplenty.

The Last of Us: season 1, episode 2 – Infected

“Save who you can save.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

In every post-apocalyptic story, there’s the chance to show off the devastation of The End of the World by having a wander round an eerily empty, ruined city, with all the modern surroundings rendered unfamiliar by collapsed buildings, rampant vegetation – and, of course, corpses. That is, if your budget allows it; it’s not cheap to clear chunks of real cities in order to film a post-human wilderness. No matter how much CG you use to paint out the reality of the bustling metropolis you’re trying to portray as a desolate ruin.