The Last of Us departed from the games with its third episode. Though the characters had minor roles in the video game, the TV show decided to dedicate an entire episode to Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), telling their love story from the beginning of the cordyceps outbreak to the end of their lives.
The Last of Us is set in an alternate world where humanity has been ravaged by a fungal cordyceps infection, which can turn any human into a mindless zombie drone. As the characters adapt to life in a post-apocalyptic landscape, they must come to grips with their reality and find a reason to continue living despite their circumstances. The Last of Us episode 3 showed that the Infected aren't needed for a compelling story - the true drama and intrigue come from how humanity picks up the pieces.
In an interview with Inverse, Peter Hoar, who directed The Last of Us episode 3, talked about what he wanted out of the story. As a gay man, Hoar was excited to depict a love story about two middle-aged men falling in love, as that type of story is rare in media. "Sometimes you have to sort of trick the rest of the world into watching these things before they're like, 'Oh, my God, it was two guys. I just realized,'" Hoar said. "I think then they might understand that it's all real. It's just the same love."
Hoar's worries that the audience may not connect with the story because it consisted of two men falling in love were not unfounded. The Last of Us episode 3 was review-bombed by several anti-gay viewers. Though the episode received widespread critical acclaim, many of these detractors could not see past the premise of the episode, or the fact that Bill and Frank were in a gay relationship.
Ultimately, the series succeeded in telling a self-contained story, and viewers who couldn't look past the initial premise are missing out. The Last of Us alters Bill and Frank's story to a significant degree. When the original video game came out, gay marriage was not legal in much of the United States, so their story could only be told through inference. Many fans were not even aware that the two were a couple, so the fact that the HBO series was able to make the relationship explicit shows how far society has come. Still, the fact that the episode was review-bombed shows progress needs to be made.
Though Frank and Bill ultimately die in The Last of Us, their story ends as happily as it can. Despite the world ending, the two managed to live a happy life together. The two exit the series on their terms, their story both unique and complete.
The Last of Us airs on Sundays at 9 PM EST on HBO and HBO Max.
Source: Inverse