The Last of Us finale review: A knotty, violent ending

By Stephen KellyFeatures correspondent A huge hit, the postapocalyptic HBO show's first series has finished off powerfully by replicating the original video game's remarkable conclusion. Stephen Kelly gives his verdict.

By Stephen KellyFeatures correspondent

Alamy (Credit: Alamy)Alamy(Credit: Alamy)

A huge hit, the postapocalyptic HBO show's first series has finished off powerfully – by replicating the original video game's remarkable conclusion. Stephen Kelly gives his verdict.

One of the many reasons why the original The Last of Us is considered such a feat of video-game storytelling is because of its astonishing ending.

Spoiler warning: this article contains plot spoilers for the final episode of The Last of Us

Joel, having been told that the only way to create a vaccine is for Ellie to die, chooses to damn the world: blurring the line between heroic protector and selfish monster. Bella Ramsey, in an interview with Vogue, said that the finale is, "going to divide people massively – massively," and it will be fascinating to see how a new, broader audience reacts to an episode that is remarkably faithful to the source material. Although, as has often been the case with this adaptation, that leads to the show feeling like a squashed, bullet-pointed summary of what made the game so interesting.

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After last week's encounter with violent, paedophilic cannibal David, the finale picks up with Ellie in a pensive mood. It could be the anxiety of her and Joel having finally reached the deserted highways of Salt Lake City, the home of the Fireflies. Although it is more likely that, months on from the traumatic events of episode seven, she is still haunted both by what nearly happened, and what actually did happen. Ramsey plays these scenes well; quiet solemn, detached. It is a testament to how funny and likeable her Ellie is that seeing her like this feels so unnatural. Hence why it is such a relief when she suddenly bolts away from Joel in excitement, having spotted something miraculous: a giraffe in the post-apocalyptic wild.

It is one of the video game's most poignant scenes: an unexpected moment of beauty amid the bleakness, and a reminder for Ellie that there is more to this world than monsters. On screen, the scene has been adapted almost verbatim, and yet doesn't quite prove as affecting as it once did. This is possibly because of this episode's rushed sense of pace, with the finale as a whole feeling more like a loose collection of big emotional moments rather than something that flows with rhythm. There is also the ostentatious blue-screen work, which can ironically leave certain moments feeling more artificial than when they're rendered entirely with pixels. Nonetheless, Ramsey and Pascal play it wonderfully. "You don't have to do this," says Joel, obviously moved by Ellie's child-like joy and reluctant to hand her over to the Fireflies. "After everything I've done," she says. "It can't be for nothing."

Joel is a man transformed in this episode. It is said that to have children is to watch your heart walk around outside of your chest. Joel lost his heart many years ago, having been hollowed out by grief over the death of his daughter, and cursed to keep on living. Yet, as he confesses to Ellie, in a moment of newfound honesty, he has finally found something to live for. He has opened himself up to the idea of love again, to being a father again. Pascal, who made his name as the sensual Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, has become best known in recent years for playing strong, silent types. And yet it is Pascal's warmth as an actor, his soft-eyed vulnerability, that truly elevates these confessional scenes with Ramsey (which again, can feel inelegantly paced). "Time heals all wounds, I guess," says Ellie, referring to Joel's suicide attempt. "It wasn't time that did it," he replies, looking at her.

It's an ending about the difficulty of love at all costs, and what it means to find something to live for amidst the ashes.

And then they are ambushed. It is a jarring moment in an episode of jarring moments. Structure and pace have been an issue for the second half of this series. The journey of Joel and Ellie feels too fragmented, too condensed, as though the show is missing an episode somewhere; an extra hour that could get across how long and hard this journey has been, that can make their father-daughter relationship feel more earned. In the same sense, the finale is only 43 minutes long, and feels as though it is missing a few scenes or set-pieces that can knit these big moments together. In the game, this is achieved through a lengthy sequence where Joel and Ellie must make their way through a tunnel of monstrous Clickers and Bloaters, only to reach the other side and find themselves captured by Fireflies. Yet the second half of this series has seemed curiously uninterested in the infected.

HBO (Credit: HBO)HBO

Nonetheless, Joel wakes up in a dilapidated hospital, and is told the news by Firefly leader Marlene (Merle Dandridge): the Cordyceps fungus that has taken root inside Ellie's brain holds the key to saving mankind, but there is no way to remove it without killing the host. As we're shown in the opening flashback – starring the impressive Ashley Johnson, the original voice of Ellie, as the character's mother – Marlene was there when Ellie was born. Which, no matter the size of the big picture, makes her decision to sedate Ellie without giving her a choice feel ruthlessly pragmatic. Yet that arguably pales in comparison to what comes next.

There is something about the brutal, nihilistic nature of post-apocalyptic fiction that makes it particularly susceptible to reactionary politics. These are cruel worlds where conservative values reign supreme; macho Wild West fantasies where only the strong and self-interested survive, and where men reclaim their place as gun-toting hunter-gatherers. Despite its ostensibly liberal politics – episode three's tender gay love story being the prime example – The Last of Us has not exactly proved the exception to the rule (for that, you should seek out another HBO series, last year's sublime Station Eleven). Although the scene where Joel rampages through the hospital, killing everyone as he goes – a man with his hands up in surrender, a relatively harmless surgeon, a pleading Marlene – before dooming the world to misery and death, does at least subvert the idea of the noble strongman.

Much like in the game, you start out rooting for Joel, because you want him to save Ellie, but the knotty nature of his choices (including lying to her about what happened), even if they are perfectly understandable, ultimately challenges your sense of right and wrong. It's an ending about the difficulty of love at all costs, and what it means to find something to live for amid the ashes. The original voice actor of Joel, Troy Baker, once rationalised the character's decision: "People have asked me, 'why would Joel do that when he could have saved the world?', and my answer to them is always this – he did, he did save the world. It's just that the world was that girl, and that's it."

Still, it's an act that will have consequences. This will no doubt become more obvious in the next series, an adaptation of The Last of Us: Part II, a sequel that explores how Joel's actions, from another character's perspective, are indefensibly selfish and obscene. It is a lengthy, meaty story about how there is no such thing as heroes and villains, how everyone is simply the protagonist in their own story. It is about as bold and interesting as sequels get.

In the meantime, we have the first series of The Last of Us. The show has become a staggering success. Ratings are high. Buzz abounds. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my mother would know what a Clicker is. It is, by far, the greatest video-game adaptation ever made, even if it falls short of truly great television. What was fresh and exciting in video games in 2013 can often feel derivative and well-worn in 2023 TV. But none of that matters much when the characters are this absorbing, the performances this strong. Joel's choice might not have saved the world, but it has bought The Last of Us a long, shocking, harrowing future. We should be grateful to him for it.

★★★★☆

You can catch up with The Last of US on HBO Max in the US and NOW in the UK

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