Warning: The article contains spoilers for the first five episodes of The Last of Us on HBO.
HBO has packed the first half of The Last of Us season one to the brim with tragic incidents and heartbreaking developments, so newer fans are wondering if the rest of this run is going to be as painful to watch in the month to come. We won’t be able to meander too much into spoiler territory, but we might have an answer to that question for you.
By this point, we’ve witnessed the destruction of the world, the deaths of multiple characters, all sorts of gruesome post-apocalyptic scenery, and the horrifying sense of abject nonchalance with which people, even our protagonists, kill other human beings. Living in The Last of Us world is similar to a hellish nightmare that includes all of humanity’s fears and insecurities, but is it always going to be like this?
We’ve seen Ellie crack a few dad jokes at his father figure-to-be, and Joel even laughed at some of them. Frank and Bill also led a relatively peaceful life together in their safe haven, so it’s not as if it’s all been doom and gloom up to this point. That being said, we can’t help but notice that The Last of Us has a tendency to condemn its characters to some of the worst possible fates you could ever imagine for a human being, and the latest episode was no exception.
But now that we’re essentially embarking on the “autumn” section of the game, what can we expect Joel and Ellie to run up against, and more importantly, will more tragedy ensue?
It’s not just the fact that The Last of Us wishes to be a grimdark tale embued with human suffering. None of the things that happen in this world undermine that foremost suspension of disbelief that formed in the first episode. Human society is in shambles, and human decency is even scarcer to come across because people have had to become, ever so reluctantly, crueler to survive the harsh wasteland.
The show even makes it a point that Joel isn’t necessarily a good guy. He’s even murdered innocent people to survive in the past, so if your main protagonist protecting humanity’s only hope isn’t really a paragon of virtue, what can you expect to see from everyone else who is out to ensure their own survival?
Of course, the story the writers choose to tell could still avoid the gritty nature of the end times. That’s basically a creative decision. But note that if anything, things will only get darker from here on out. Joel and Ellie are going to find a little sanctuary of their own, but that peace won’t last when they’re swept into the wilderness again.
Between all the human raiders out for themselves, the fascist government that was formed as a knee-jerk reaction to Corcyceps, and even the radical Fireflies, our duo has a lot to face out there, and that’s not even taking the infected into account.
The Last of Us essentially takes place over the course of a year, with each season serving as a narrative junction for a portion of the 2013 Naughty Dog game. By now, we have pushed past summer, but that still leaves us with fall, winter, and spring. In terms of what you can expect from those three chapters, winter will face Joel and Ellie with their most difficult challenge yet.
It may not be as emotionally scarring as what we’ve already seen through — I mean, there wasn’t much chance of that after we survived the gut-wrenching Bill and Frank episode — but in terms of putting them up against insurmountable odds and a ticking clock, that definitely stands out in the entire narrative.
To sum it up, The Last of Us is going to continue to make you cry, even at the most unlikely narrative moments. Characters aren’t necessarily going to be killed off, but that doesn’t mean the story won’t have a few dark twists up its sleeves. And as folks who’ve played The Last of Us Part II will tell you, the next two seasons will be infinitely worse, so much so that you may actually need to book therapy sessions after it. An overstatement to be sure, but not far off the mark.