HBO’s The Last of Us TV series couldn’t fix the game’s opening mistake

Many people associate the opening of Last of Us was a landmark moment for games: a deeply human and emotional moment of grief and tragedy, all expressed in the short 15 minutes of the game’s tutorial. Others, like myself, thought it was completely off the mark. The whole thing felt like an unremarkable TV series, rather than a significant emotional accomplishment. It was definitely different to other videogames at that time. However, the opening felt false due to a tired idea, violent twist and so much manipulative sentimentality.

But now that the series has made the jump to actual prestige TV, with its new adaptation on HBO, creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have taken the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and improve on the original opening — even if it keeps some of its issues in its new context.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for The Last of Us game and the first episode of the series.]

First Last of UsThe game opens with a prologue that introduces Joel, the main character. But the game’s version of this scene puts us in control (for video game tutorial reasons) of Sarah, Joel’s daughter, who will ultimately die by the end of the sequence. That kind of origin story is an obvious way to open the game: The unexpected murder of Sarah has the glow of a surprise, and the prologue ultimately offers critical insight into Joel’s character, explaining his specific brand of haunted, brooding survivor.

But while the scene is objectively sad, that doesn’t make it interesting. Sarah’s role may have helped players learn the basics of Last of Us’ gameplay in a straightforward and low-stress environment, but it was also a casually cruel way to add tragedy to a story. Instead of actually developing a character, the game’s writers relied on shorthand; we’re obliged to feel sympathy, because a dead kid is a dead kid.

The sequence’s sense of inevitable makes it even more frustrating. Anyone who tried to play the game would have known that Joel was protecting his young daughter, but it is about him. This leaves the player looking down at the barrel of an unearned, senseless death.

Image: Naughty dog/Sony Computer Entertainment

It is a frustrating example of the way that death in the original game was dealt with. Cutscenes and major story moments such as the opening serve death as a blunt instrument for trauma. It is a punch designed to get you invested in the plot and its characters. Meanwhile, during the action gameplay, the violence of Joel’s shootouts and stealth-kills becomes so watered down that killing barely means anything at all. Things like the prologue feel almost as sloppy as shooting an anonymous Firefly.

Thankfully, the show, in this and many other ways, spotlights the issues with the game’s manipulative opening. Episode 1 features Sarah, played by Nico Parker in HBO’s series. This hour allows Mazin and Druckmann time to explore her relationship with Joel. Sarah is a vital part of Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) connection to the world, making sure he acknowledges things like birthdays or meal times (or at least trying to). While she lacks dimension, expanding Sarah’s role in the story and her importance to Joel at least nods to her being a meaningful person worth caring about — for Joel and for the viewer.

The bad news is that the show, in its faithfulness to the flaws of the game, doesn’t manage to go beyond these vague gestures. The prologue in HBO’s series still finds Sarah dying in the same frustrating and unfulfilling way. A soldier still takes his aim, and the young girl still dies in Joel’s arms.

It’s a moment that speaks to the grander impulses of the story — how danger is often those around us, or those who are supposed to be in control of the situation, and how caring for someone hurts more than anything — but without much characterization, it’s Sarah who’s left paying the price. The show remains so deeply committed to its style of direct adaptation that even the death itself feels nearly as flippant in the show as it does in the game — something the rest of the series is very careful not to do. Without giving too much away, the moment-to-moment killing Joel does has been toned way down, grounding his character in a way the game, and its gameplay, can’t.

Later in the series Last of Us proves that it’s willing to take its time and give the game’s vague sketches of tragic victims room to become fully realized characters. It’s just a shame that Joel’s daughter didn’t get afforded the same care.