Season one is a near-perfect season of television, and dare I say one that sets a new standard, not just for video game adaptations, but for adaptations in general.

The Last of Us is a breath of fresh air in this oversaturated genre. While many may take issue with the fact that the infected in this show are relegated to the back seats, I think it's a brilliant and welcome change. The Last of Us is not a 'zombie show', it's a show about love and loss; a show that aims to display a brutal, bleak, and heartbreaking world where these characters are forced to cling onto whatever they can get hold of to justify their continued fight to survive. The relationship between Joel and Ellie is brilliant, and their chemistry as a father/daughter type duo is second-to-none.

I've seen a lot of fans of the game complain that there's not enough action, and while it's certainly true that there's very little action in comparison to the game, I don't think that's a bad thing. This is not an action show, and video game fights do not translate well on screen. The game version of The Last of Us often sees the player (controlling Joel) mow down dozens of enemies at a time, and as a game, that works. It's necessary to have all those enemies, as action is a big part of the experience when playing a video game. But for a show, fewer action sequences make much more sense. The show feels much more grounded and realistic than the game ever did, and that's in part due to the action sequences being both far fewer, and also much more of a struggle for the characters involved. In this show, Joel is not a superhero, not like he is in the game. He can't take three gunshots and still take down five armed men, three runners, and a clicker. No, in this show, Joel is very much human; when he gets in a tussle with even one opponent, he struggles; and when he gets stabbed, he goes down and spends a long time recovering back to full health.

As far as the plot goes, the show hits every major beat that the video game did, and almost all of the major scenes are word-for-word identical to the video game counterpart. This was fantastic to see, as the game had already done a perfect job of hitting certain emotional scenes out of the park, and the show is no different. However, there are a bunch of times when the show does make some plot changes. One of the main changes is the entirety of episode three, 'Long, Long Time', which details the story of Bill and Frank's relationship. While this episode might be one of the most beautiful love stories ever told on television and was an easy 10/10 for me, it was also a huge departure from the game's plot. In the game, we never get to meet Frank; we only meet Bill. We meet Bill while playing as Joel, accompanied by Ellie. Bill is a bitter man who hates pretty much everything in the world, and his 'partner', Frank, is already gone. The show making the decision to never have Bill meet Joel and Ellie in the present timeline was a huge change, and while I was disappointed that we never got to hear the banter between Bill and Ellie in live-action, I actually think it was a very smart, and well-executed change; and one that gave us what will likely be considered by many to be the best episode of television this year.

There were other, much smaller changes throughout the show too. One example is that in the game, we never went to Jackson to find Tommy, in fact, we never get to see inside Jackson until the second game. Instead, Joel and Ellie meet up with Tommy and Maria at the hydroelectric dam. Another, even smaller change, would be how in episode eight when Ellie is hacking David to pieces with that knife, the game's equivalent scene actually has Joel find her during that, and he physically pulls her off of David to comfort her. Whether or not you like these changes is obviously going to be entirely subjective, but I will say that I found almost all of the changes to work well and make a lot of sense considering the change in medium.

Nothing will ever be an exact 1:1 adaptation of source material, that's just how things are. It doesn't matter if it's a book, a video game, or a comic book - there have to be some changes to make it work better for television. I don't agree with people who want as many changes as possible and who think that a 1:1 adaptation would be boring - I think that's silly. But I also don't agree with people who complain about every time there's a slight change to something and who then go on and complain about the show not being true to the source. This show is objectively one of the greatest adaptations ever put to screen, and I think we have the involvement of the game's original writer, Neil Druckman, to thank for that. The show hits all of the major story beats and character moments that the game does, while also expanding on various points in order to flesh things out a little more than they did in the game. If you genuinely think that this is a bad adaptation, then you must never have seen any other adaptations of other materials. You must never have read a book that was made into a movie, or any other game that was made into a show. Take 'The Witcher', for example, a show that received a lot of praise, especially for its first season. That show is literally one of the worst adaptations of source material that has ever been put to screen. The main plots literally changed and were abandoned in favour of the showrunner's own original content. Characters literally behave in ways that they never would in books or games. How about the recent Halo show? That was a bad adaptation. The Uncharted movie? Awful adaptation. But The Last of Us... this show is the furthest thing from being a 'bad' adaptation. The characters are true to themselves, the tone is a match, the plot is a match, the emotional impact is very, very close too.

I think the only thing that comes to mind when I think of things I didn't like about this season, was probably the stuff with Melanie Lynskey's character of Kathleen in episodes four and five. It wasn't that she was poor in the role or anything, but her entire character just felt entirely unnecessary, and it felt as though we spent too much time with her when we could have been spending it with Sam and Henry.

For me, the weakest episode of the season was probably episode seven, 'Left Behind'. It was still a good episode, and Bella Ramsay was great in it, but I felt as though the time spent in that episode would have been better suited elsewhere, maybe giving us more time with David's group to help flesh that plot out a little more.

Overall, this was a damn near-perfect season of television. The pacing is fantastic, the characters are compelling, the tension is fantastic, and the emotional payoff is brutal. Season two will no doubt be controversial, just as the second game was. Though, from what I read, it seems that they're planning on splitting the second game across two seasons rather than just one, so that will be interesting to see.

Overall, season one gets a 9.4/10 from me. I will update this review after future seasons.

As a huge fan of the source material, I have watched the entire season and formed an opinion on the series. Compared to other video game adaptations, the TV show is well-made. However, personally, I was a little disappointed. I had high expectations for the writing, given that Mazin and Druckmann were the showrunners. While the writing is to some extent comparable to the game, I find the videogame version to be miles better. This is mainly because it had the perfect balance of every storytelling element.

The pacing is the most unusual aspect of the show for me. One would expect that with Mazin, known for Chernobyl, and Druckmann himself, pacing would be a strength. However, the TV show has a significant pacing issue. In some instances, it spends too much time on side stories that are irrelevant to the main plot, such as the episode featuring Bill and Frank. Additionally, it focuses on the wrong parts of the game's adapted story, like the story of Henri and Sam, where the show prioritizes Kathleen and her group over the meaningful story of the people living in the underground tunnels in the game. The main plot points also feel rushed, diminishing the emotional impact of these same scenes that were so memorable in the game.

My second problem is the lack of violence. The game version was significantly more brutal, and it was necessary for world-building and character development. It was a chaotic, violent, and dark world where only the strongest and cruelest people could survive. However, the TV show felt much softer. It didn't have enough encounters with infected, raiders, or other people, making Joel and Ellie's journey feel less challenging than in the game. In the game, you could feel Joel's exact feelings in the last hour of the game because, like Joel, you fought through hell to get there. It was a long and difficult journey, and you too were questioning whether a cure was needed. However, in the show, this high difficulty of the journey isn't justified.

Furthermore, Joel isn't as dark a character as in the videogame, at least until the events of the last episode. In the game, he is a violent person with no sympathy for others and shows no emotion. Ellie changes that, but Joel is stubborn, and up until very late in the game, he shows no signs of change. In the show, however, he's tough, but it feels like he can be a nice person if you try hard enough. Because the storytelling is rushed, and there is very little violence up until the end, the audience can't see the changes in the character that he has gone through.

Lastly, although I liked Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, some of the scenes didn't feel as genuine as in the game version. Some scenes in the game had a significantly higher emotional level and felt more heartfelt, but that may be a matter of taste, and Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson did a phenomenal job.

Overall, the show is excellent for people who haven't played the game, and it can give them an idea of what videogames have become in terms of storytelling. However, the videogame version is a much better version of the story. Anyone who hasn't played the game and liked the show should definitely experience the game too.

As a huge fan of the game franchise, the first few episodes are a disappointment of course!
First thing, it's an adaptation, so characters and story may, to some extent, be different..
At first it's good, the atmosphere, the ost, the actors and the acting, even the cgi is great..
There are even some scene that are really similar to the game. So everything is here... Everything? no...
They removed one of the gameplay feature and major story point, the spores... No mask needed as far as it goes for now...
The other thing that bothered me was how all clothes are freaking new, not even dirty, just plain new, after 20 years smuggling shit in and out a QZ.. LOL!
But to be honest, these games really touched me, and one of the reason is Ellie, as she is, not as an over-weighted child with an emotionless face! Sadly, all scenes packed of emotion from the game were Ellie is involve doesn't work at all in this adaptation.
Ellie is, I think, the worst cast ever made, even more than the "uncharted" movie ! And with all the actor there are, it is a shame!
Without this horrible mistake, it would have been the best video game adaptation ever made !!

Show is very good. It's interesting and after watching it I decided to play the game and I can say that it's quite close to the game. Cast is also good and bad at the same time. For example Pedro Pascal is doing amazing job playing Joel and is actually very similar to game character. I think they did good job matching this actor to the character. Gerrard Buttler would be another great choice as well. Actress who's playing Ellie's character is nailing it as well, although in game she has blue eyes and actress has brown eyes. But I think it's not that bad. But like I said, there are bad matches too because of propaganda put in this show as well sadly. For example, Joe's daughter in original source (game) is white, however geniuses in show decided that black daughter should be better for him. Also, Tommy's new wife is white in game, but in show they made her black on purpose which is very obvious. Also there's whole episode dedicated to LGBT propaganda (episode 3). Sady this crap is ruining amazing show, but it is what it is... That's why I'm giving this show 7/10. If not the cancer woke agenda, I would give it 10/10. I mean, if we close an eye on propaganda, show itself is very good and interesting and very close to original game. It's hundred times better that Witcher adapatation of game which is horribly ruined completely by the propaganda. In short, this show isn't perfect, but it's still good and there are far worse propaganda plagued shows nowadays.

Well the story from the video game was great, and they stayed true to that which ultimately led to a great tv show. Very enjoyable. HBO has a great track record of pumping out high quality shows and this one is no different. 8/10. Hopefully the second season lives up to expectations, but if the video game is anything to judge by then it likely won't be nearly as good as season 1.