Last of Us episode 3 review: Nick Offerman leads the San Junipero of zombies

If you enjoyed Black Mirror’s “San Junipero,” you’ll want to give a thought to “Long Long Time,” the third episode of Last of UsHBO Max, the starring series Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman in a guest role as Bill.

No, “San Junipero” doesn’t have anything to do with zombies, and “Long Long Time” doesn’t have anything to do with uploading your personality to an endless 1980s club scene. There is a niche between them: they share self-contained episodes, which are separated from the main thrust of their television series and present a science-fi-tinged love story for queers.

Back in 2016, everyone I knew was watching “San Junipero,” talking about how they hadn’t watched “San Junipero” yet, or telling me I should watch “San Junipero,” the fourth episode of the third season of Black Mirror. It’s not that I knew a lot of Black Mirror fans, it’s just that I know a lot of queer folks who enjoy genre TV. Eventually, I watched “San Junipero.” It was lovely! I’ve never seen another episode of Black Mirror.

“San Junipero” is widely considered one of the best episodes of television to come out in 2016, and is still appreciated for being basically the only episode of Black Mirror where technology is a good thing that’s nice, instead of a Twilight Zone horror. But for many, “San Junipero” is most fondly remembered because a romance-centered genre story is rare enough to see on TV, let alone one where a gay couple gets to ride off into the sunset together.

Did you enjoy what “San Junipero” did for bisexual and lesbian sci-fi fans? What would you like to do? Last of UsIt’s for white gay men.

Well then, can I interest you a 60-ish-minute short film where Nick Offerman plays a closeted survivalist in a zombie apocalypse who learns the irreplaceable value of attachment from another man’s tenderness, as you follow their relationship from its beginning through to a peaceful end in old age?

[Ed. note: The rest of this piece contains broad spoilers for “Long Long Time.”]

Joel and Ellie also appear, although I don’t know why. The episode’s bookends are Joel and Ellie, who appear only at the end and beginning of the episode. This leaves the remainder for Craig Mazin and director Peter Hoar to expand on Bill and Frank. They do expand. Bill’s game appearance is minor, and Frank died before the player even finds out he existed. Players know that the relationship was a bad one. One can infer that they were lovers, but there’s no direct confirmation of it. Frank and Bill, played by The White Lotus’ Murray Bartlett) of Last of UsTelevision shows are almost a complete retread.

Offerman, who plays the part of a self-sufficient prepper freezes when presented with intimacy that he has never been allowed to have. Frank and Bill kiss and fuck and argue, they cook and make art and surprise one another with loving gifts. They find great joy and struggle in creating a little piece of paradise out in the wilderness.

If the episode has a failure point, it’s that these guys are almost literal Log Cabin Republicans (although the log cabin is a Modern Colonial in the suburbs of Boston). Or, and I’m putting on my best Surfer Dude accent here, “Getting yours and then actively resisting creating a community to share with even though you absolutely have the resources to do so? You’re not radical (queer), dude. Not (queer) radical at all.”

However, this is an area of failure for all. Last of UsIt can be described as a game or show. In that it does not discriminate based on race, religion, or creed, its characters are molded according to a mythical notion of the isolated, private homestead, which is protected righteously from chaos.

Offerman and Bartlett’s performances are what make the episode transcend Last of Us’ limited ideas of ideal society, turning “Long Long Time” into the best episode of the show’s first season. Time — and further seasons as they arrive — will tell if it turns out to be the best episode of the show, period.

You can still enjoy it in its entirety, sans pun intended. Last of Us. If you can watch the satisfying thing everybody’s talking about without signing up for hours of notoriously dour television on either side of it, well, that’s an easy sell. Stand-alone status propelled the spread of “San Junipero” across the face of queer discourse, and it may just walk “Long Long Time” into the queer sci-fi hall of fame as well.