Warning: Spoilers for The Last of Us to follow.
Episode three of The Last of Us, which just aired yesterday, came packed to the absolute brim with surprises for newcomers and veterans alike.
Not only did we get the biggest change from the game to date, thanks to the amount of time we got to spend with Frank and Bill, but the creative team finally found a way to sneak in an Easter Egg that, in the context of this adaptation, breaks the heart just as swiftly as it warms it.
As Joel and Ellie end the episode by trekking on, we’re greeted with one final shot of a breezy window, which seasoned Last of Us connoisseurs will recognize as an homage to the game’s main menu screen. However, on top of that scene being a quick love letter to its source material, it also paid respects to the stars of this week’s episode; stars that episode director Peter Hoar wasn’t quite ready to leave behind.
In an interview with Inverse, Hoar explained his choice for having that window lead into Frank and Bill’s home, complete with photographs and long-dead gifted flowers, noting how it allowed him and the rest of the creative team to fulfill their main menu Easter Egg dreams in a way that felt appropriate, if solemn, for this particular episode.
“I wanted a last moment with Bill and Frank, and I didn’t know how else to do it. But if we pull back through their window, see the flowers that have died, which is also heartbreaking, and one of Frank’s pictures on the wall. I just thought that was our last moment. We’re actually coming back into the world of Frank and Bill for that one last shot because I didn’t want to go.”
Indeed, episode three is perhaps the most definitive proof that, even though the original game offers more than its fair share of narrative meat, this team is more than capable of dreaming up equally captivating material in their own right, and perhaps The Last of Us should have just been a show all along.
The Last of Us is currently streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes releasing every Sunday until the season’s conclusion on March 12. A second season has been confirmed.