Please be aware of spoilers!

2024/08/14

I am not really into comic books, never have been but often enough good (sci-fi) TV shows are spawned from that like Superman, The Walking Dead, Dark Matter, Jeremiah, Reacher and many others, and of course also The Last Of US. So even though I am not into comic books, I am happy they exist. When this show was announced, I immediately was excited about it and when I watched a few trailers of it, I got excited even more! It revolves around two characters actually, Joel Miller, played by The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal and Ellie Williams played by Bella Ramsey. It is quite a simple premise, Ellie may hold the cure to the virus which has struck the whole world and Joel is trying to protect her while finding the right people to test her and making a vaccine from that result. Although the premise is simple, the task for these characters is much harder. Shame about the fate Anna Torv’s character Tess though.

A dystopian world caused by some kind of virus which has spread all over the world, making people act like zombies, more accurate perhaps, they have become some kind of zombies. A family tries to escape the city but this ends with a father seeing his daughter die by military hands, just to avoid infection. Then we make a 20-year jump, the father, Joel, lives in the city, surrounded by walls, living on food tickets. His brother is missing , he was there also when his daughter got killed and he saved his brother from being executed also. His brother lives out of the walls of the city and he needs to find him, he also has to bring an important girl to a certain place, she apparently is very important to the resistance. His girlfriend, Tess, goes with him.

They arrive at the place where they should deliver the girl Ellie, but everybody is dead, on top of that his girlfriend Tess (Anna Torv) has been infected. Her last act is cause a huge explosion so they (infected) cannot go after him an the girl and kill as many infected as possible. Joel Miller wants to bring the kid to two friends of his and Tess, Frank and Bill. They proceed their journey and find a pit of skeletons and bones where FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) has killed many citizens since the quarantine zone was crowded. Meanwhile, we see a flashback how Frank and Bill meet and stay with each other for 16 years. Note – Very daring, the 3^rd episode and the lead character has very limited screentime. Still, it was a great episode, very emotional!

Joel loses his vehicle when he drives into a city, they try to stop him but when he drives on they start shooting. The car is lost and they need to try and leave the city on foot. In their sleep they are being surprised when a man and a boy holding a gun at them. Meanwhile, rebel leader Kathleen, instigates a manhunt - one that pits her violent civilian militia against the world's best hope. The boy and his brother don’t want to harm anyone but they want to get out of the city and the older brother thinks Joel is the one who can help them. To go via the underground tunnels. It used to be occupied by the infected people but the older brother learned that it has been cleared years ago. Ellie and the youngest brother bond, they even have a bit fun. The resistance however want the find Henry, the oldest brother. The resistance leader Kathleen blames him for the death of her brother. But then there is a showdown, suddenly, from the underground, the infected ones rapidly come above and attack the resistance and everyone they see. The youngest boy Sam, is bitten, the girl tries to save him with her blood but it doesn’t work, next morning Sam attacks the girl. The oldest boy shoots his brother and then himself. Note – I thought this was the best episode of the first five, which were all of high quality.

Joel and Ellie arrive at a place where they think they need to be but are held at gunpoint. They are brought to a small town, surrounded by huge walls and lots of security. There he finds his brother Tommy. It is a good place to live, he wants to leave Ellie behind but she wants to go with him, only with him does she feel safe. His brother doesn’t want to come because he is married and is expecting his first child. Then Joel gets shot but they manage to escape. Note – Also a favorite episode of mine. Joel tells Ellie to go back to his brother. In the process of deciding what to do, we go back a to a time where Ellie gets infected, together with her best friend Riley who joined the fireflies. She also was in love with this girl. Again she decides to stay with Joel.

Ellie tries to find food and medicine for Joel, she runs in to a few men who are hunting like she is. They know who she is because it is one of the men Joel killed out of self defense, where Joel narrowly escapes with Ellie on a horse but gets wounded. Now Ellie becomes their prisoner and the leader of this group thinks Ellie can become important there, but she has other plans. Joel gets back on his feet because of the medicine Ellie traded with these people and he comes to get her back. Joel and Ellie have become emotionally attached to each other and continue their journey to find the hospital where the Fireflies will research Ellie’s blood to find the cure. They are surprised by a group of men that hit Joel on the head. When he awakes, he sees Marlene and learns that he was captured by the Fireflies. He asks her how Ellie is, and Marlene tells him that she will be sacrificed by the doctor to create the cure to the mankind. Joel cannot make peace with that and goes on a “John Wick” tour, killing everyone who gets in his way to save Ellie.

Final Word:

My first watch was 18 months ago, I made notes but I did not write it until earlier this week (July 27^th 2024). I am really looking forward to season two, hoped we would see it this year but we will have to wait a while longer since it arrives in 2025, not sure when which month. If it is of the same quality is season one, then we will have nothing to worry about!

Screencaps taken from: cap-that.com