Spoilers ahead for the third episode of “The Last of Us”!
Leave it to Stephen King go cujo completely on tv, otherwise exciting.
On Sunday, HBO released the third episode of its hit drama “The Last of Us,” which is an adaptation of the popular video game of the same name.
The episode, titled “Long, Long Time,” shifted its focus from the show’s two leads, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and their bleak circumstances to deliver a refreshingly tender love story between two new characters.
But before Joel and Ellie’s stories collide with the new characters, the two have to successfully sneak out of Boston, where a quarantine zone full of kill-happy soldiers and juicy-headed mushroom zombies looms. The show went on to inform viewers that the rebellious duo had successfully left town, using the overlay text to explain that they were “10 miles west of Boston” — but the surroundings confused many New Englanders.
A twist of the area revealed a scenic river backed by mountains, and King, a proud Mainer, couldn’t help but draw the stunning setting.
“You’re really telling me it’s 10 miles west of Boston?” the horror writer tweeted Months.
Many onlookers were as stunned as King, as the area around Boston certainly does not include a scenic mountain range.
Despite this hiccup, the rest of the episode was extremely emotional.
“Long, Long Time” deviated from the video game story to depict a romance between Bill (Nick Offerman), a hardened survivor whose pre-pandemic paranoia made him a unique fit for the show’s chaotic new world, and Frank (Murray Bartlett). a beautiful survivor whom Bill falls in love with after Frank gets stuck in a hole Bill created as a trap.
The series uses multiple timelines to see Bill and Frank’s years-long intimate romance in a quaint but deserted New England town. Their story is full of boozy dinners, jogging, a strawberry garden, a wonderful outdoor brunch where Bill and Frank meet Joel for the first time, and Bill takes care of Frank after he gets sick and leaves him in a chair with wheels.. Their romance ends with Frank asking Bill to give him “one more good morning”.
“My first reaction to the episode was surprise. It was this unexpected and beautiful love story in this dark world,” Bartlett said during an inside recap of the episode for HBO.
Creator Neil Druckmann said in the same recap that he aims to show a “reflection of where love can take you” in each episode of the series.
“And that was the pure and innocent version. This is the beauty that love can bring us,” she said.
Given the sweet storyline, many viewers of the show called out King for focusing on a small mistake in an otherwise impactful episode.
And, of course, King had his critics answered as well.
“Oh, I liked it. Just saying ‘, ” he wrote on Twitter later on Monday.
Well, I’m sorry you didn’t include”“side breasts” and alligators in the canals below New York“King. God!
