Last of Us’ strawberries are a symbol — here’s what they mean

Built by Naughty Dog Last of UsOne showrunner Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin and their science fiction cast easily recreated the story for HBO. The references to Joel and Ellie will be obvious. Lone Wolf and CubProtector/straggler dynamics, and the “zombie” of it all speak for themselves. But Last of Us episode 3, “Long, Long Time,” marks a new blip on a trope timeline that feels far less obvious: the power of a sweet, sweet strawberry in the worst of times.

In “Long, Long Time,” doomsday prepper and Cordyceps Bill (Nick Offerman), a survivor, finds his world shaken when Frank (Murray Bartlett), shows up at the door. The relationship begins as just a dinner. But it soon blossoms into something more. While the episode’s been lauded for deepening the game’s portrayal of Bill and Frank’s unspoken-in-the-games relationship and tearjerker ending, it’s the little moments that really let it spark. One of my favorite episodes was this: Frank gives Tess (Anna Torv), a gun, to break the shell of his beloved one. He then surprises Bill by giving him a garden. Bill sinks his teeth into one of those postapocalyptic strawberries and, damn, it’s juicy. Bill’s face says it all: That’s the stuff. Strawberries.

The scene is easy to read: The strawberry, in all its glory — aromatically sweet, tart on the tongue, maybe even a bit leafy — is the fruit of a former world. Strawberry is born from the overgrowth of fungal bacteria. This ground was fertile enough to support rebirth. But love is what made this possible. A strawberry is a sweet, juicy bite. Last of UsThis is the taste of hope.

Druckmann and Mazin aren’t alone in finding solace in the strawberry. Aleksandar Hmon, Lana Wachowski and David Mitchell discovered humanity through strawberries in 2021. Resurrections of the Matrix. The long-awaited sequel sees Neo reunited with Niobe, his former pal in the blossoming underground society of IO. Humankind brought back life under scorched skies since Neo left the Matrix by reassembling digital code into genetic code and extracting familiar bits from everyday life. IO scientists are able to recreate a luxury in the Matrix by using reverse-engineering.

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20 years ago Last of UsOr Resurrections of the Matrix, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens remixed J.R.R. Tolkien’s own reflection on the joys of Middle-earth to make the strawberry even more important to two hobbits on an impossible mission, in a moment that at least It feels good apocalyptic. In The Return of the KingSam, in one of the most difficult moments during the quest to destroy The One Ring, asks Frodo for help.

“Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo?” he asks. “It’ll be spring soon. It will also be spring in the orchards. Birds will also be found nesting in the hazel thorns. And they’ll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields… and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?”

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Frodo admits that he can’t. He can’t feel much of anything. Sam responds, Screw that, let’s go. There’s no greater motivator on the hills of hell than the strawberry. (Funnily enough, in Tolkien’s manuscript for The Return of the King, Sam pokes Frodo to remember the taste of rabbit, and only in the chapter “The Grey Havens” does the author reflect on the Shire’s delectable strawberries and cream — Jackson and his co-writers lifted the delicacy for use in their version of the scene.)

Strawberry-as-symbol has already taken root beyond strawberry itself. In HBO’s Last of UsIt’s like 2021 postapocalyptic drama Station ElevenBased on Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel, Jeevan calls Siya (Tiya Sicar), his sister in the ER as a virus pandemic threatens Chicago. Her warning is immediate: It’s too late to run — shelter immediately and barricade the door. Siya, despite the panic and anxiety, finds some time to share memories with her brother from their childhood. This might be the last time they ever speak, so why not recount the time Jeevan “barfed strawberry Yoo-hoo on Jenny Kemkin”?

Later in the episode, Jeevan scrambles for groceries in a last-ditch effort for survival, but lingers when he’s caught in a memory vortex. Strawberry… Yoo-hoo…

Image Credit: Max

There is no shortage of the strawberry as a symbol of purity throughout time, from the let’s-eat-strawberries-instead-of-people messaging of Soylent GreenMultiple Shakespeare plays have been compared to the Bible. At least, they are based on an interpretation. Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 drama Wild Strawberries“The title of this poem, which is about an ailing doctor reflecting on his life, as he prepares to go into death,” feels particularly appropriate for our collective understanding of strawberries as fruits of Good Times. Smultronstället is literally “the wild strawberry patch” but figuratively an idiomatic phrase for a place or moment in time associated with a feeling of great happiness.

The more conventional representation of the strawberry in organic form feels like Bergman, which is a continuation of his postapocalyptic fantasy. It’s a symbol for what used to be, only tasted again. Last of UsThe tropiness and all that it is, leans in to take a bite.