And that's it: after nine weeks of episodes, HBO's TV adaptation of The Last of Us has concluded its retelling of the PS3 game. A lot like the previous eight episodes, the finale remains faithful in many places but then deviates in others. We're sure fans will have their opinions on the way Joel and Ellie are captured by the Fireflies in the TV show compared to the game, while the opening handful of minutes focus on how Ellie has become immune to the Cordyceps outbreak.
However, the final episode concludes in the same way the game does. As Joel lies about what happened at the hospital, Ellie simply replies: "Okay." Then it's a cut to credits, with a second season promised for the future.
In the Poll and comments section below, we want you to post your thoughts on the season finale of The Last of Us' first TV season. What did you love? Was there anything you disliked? What do you think could have been done better? Share everything you have to say down below.
How would you rate The Last of Us - Episode 9? (1,318 votes)
- Excellent
- Very good
- Good
- Okay
- Poor
- Very poor0.6%
- Terrible
Comments 37
That may have been the most game-accurate episode yet. SOLID. I haven't been wild about every episode this season and the season itself felt very uneven, having a few episodes they could have either cut out completely or cut down the content of in favor of other story beats, but this particular episode was bang on! Bravo and a great ending. Looking forward to season 2!
Other than a couple of episodes, really happy with the show overall. Great job to Neil, Pedro, Bella, the cast, and set designers.š Now, the whole situation with Part 2...š
Definitely lacks some of the emotional weight the video game was afforded with having more time to let these story beats breathe, but overall a great ending to a fantastic season. Each and every episode had me hooked, though I totally understand why some familiar with the game may feel differently. For me, itās easily the best television Iāve watched in awhile and I cannot wait to see how season 2 is tackled.
@RemembersGems
Let me guess, didn't actually watch it but want to desperately feel a sense of smug superiority ?
I remember where I was and what I felt the first time I finished the game in 2013. I remember sitting through the entire credits, mouth agape, feeling emotionally gut-punched. I donāt think I slept much that night.
Iāve replayed it many times since then, including after becoming a father, but tonightās finale of the show finally brought back those initial emotions I had that first night. In some ways the game was stronger, in others the show was, but that might be one of the best adaptations I have ever seen. Itās interesting watching a wider audience ask the same questions from a decade ago ā did Joel do the right thing?
Iām not ready for whatās coming in season 2.
This was a very good finale imo. It was paced very well for this being the shortest episode.
I also thought the giraffe scene and final scene were handled a lot better than I expected them to be.
The whole season felt rushed but I do think this was the best episode out of the entire season.
@BleedingDreamer I canāt agree with that the series was perfectly paced imo and any more would have ruined that
Felt rushed I think the season was an episode short to build up a better relationship between the 2 of them also needed a few more clickers in the season for a bit of action. I wish Joel would stop crying.
@RemembersGems
Sure, go watch your cringe animes son
Out of the gate: I enjoyed it quite a bit. But let me elaborate on my feelings about this episode:
Let me get this straight, the first few episodes are 60 mins+ long and the finale cuts short at around 38 air time (minus intros and outros)? That is ridiculous. I think the finale could have been 90 mins to make more use of the tension. It ended too soon and left too many gaps for some good exposition.
Pedro hit a grand slam right out of the park.
let me see: THE LAST OF US was the best game of the generation. Season 1 TLOU HBO best season and solid. Who wouldn't have thought otherwise?
TLOU P2: not embraced wholeheartedly by TLOU fans, TLOU S2: will probably follow suit... If they follow the story line like they did in the game, some of the pivotal moments in TLOU P2, like Rat King battle, Dina and Ellie's love affair, the Seraphites. How will they pull THAT off and top the best game for a whole generation?
They gonna need a LOT OF MAGIC JUICE on hand!! I am a little skeptical guys.....
@PegasusActual93 What would actually be better, was if the writers went off and filled in the holes in part 2. I mean while playing the game, I felt like most of the time I was opening drawers and cabinets looking for crafting materials to ready myself for the next flighT.... What I am saying, is HOW will they pull off those portions oF stealth sneaking through areas controlled by the factions in P2. and make it interesting? Don't get me wrong, if they really dig deeper into the story, it will work. A whole SEASON about anger, chasing and a revenge plot, just won't sit well, we have seen that with so many series. It's gonna have to be told in a DIFFERENT way..
What really bothers me, is how in the show post cap, Craig Mazan touted Neil as a "genius" when he CO-wrote that whole game with Bruce Straley! TLOU wouldn't be TLOU without HIM, so lets not forget this point. And I don't think Neil can pull it off without a good CO-writer, and CRAIG MAZAN isn't that much invested into the TLOU universe. So Neil better get to hiring a new adjunctive writer, quick fast!!
The finale was awesome! 10/10!
But the whole show is 6/10 for me. Not enough of the action moments and the writing was weaker than in the game.
Brilliant brilliant brilliant. My memory of the game is a little fuzzy after some time, so I'm not sure what they took out of the episode, but for me I got all that back and more from the first scene...talk about expanding the lore!
They hit all the high points, but everything hinged on the very last scene...and Bella utterly nailed it. Chef's kiss, bravo!
Didn't watch. And probably won't be watching any time soon.
I most likely won't be able to as I only sub to netflix.
Was too short, the whole episode felt rushed, which made Joelās choices less impactful
@swagbag7 Iāve come to the conclusion that Pascal is not a great actor after watching this series. The scene at the medical camp was so poorly acted. I cringed through the entire scene.
Itās weird, because before I watched this show I thought Pascal was the strongest casting choice. But having watched all the episodes, I now think heās the weakest element.
Bella on the other hand was much better than I she would be.
@ItsBritneyB_tch Nah. He's great in "Narcos" and "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" and his performance was the only vaguely tolerable component of "WW84". Didn't you like him as Oberyn Martell in "GoT"?
I'm so happy it's finally over! Because now I just need to wait a little bit longer for a home media and finally get to watch it. It's been awful missing out on it every week. Didn't want to ruin it with streaming
Curious how the time skip will be handled as Bella is still 14. Unless they make the antagonist a bit older when the ***** went down in this episode.
@Bunchesopuppies Well, I've got good news for you. They've already handled the time skip by pre-aging Bella before filming season 2. If you google her age it will now show that she is 19, instead of the previous 14, just in time for filming to begin.
@WexMajor Well, thatās good. Now as to changes to the sequel, will PP survive a bit longer than Joel?
@BleedingDreamer This was my feeling upon watching the finale too. Imo a couple more episodes would have helped.
@Allfather
Now Now...don't hate on anime. It's not all cringe.
Hasn't been on in UK yet. And I can't stay up all night to watch then go to work. But I guess I shall rate it later when the daughter and son in law come round.
@Bunchesopuppies Now that they've confirmed the 2nd game will be stretched over multiple seasons, I'm sure the "Joel moment" will be a finale climax. Maybe not but we'll see. Either way, they'll at least draw him out over the series with flashbacks like they did with the game.
@Bunchesopuppies Bella Ramsey is 19 or 20 IRL so it won't be much of a stretch.
I think the show was excellent and hard to fault. And yet, there was something small missing, that just wasn't quite as good as the game.
Can't complain though as it was beyond my wildest expectations before it started.
So, what I remember/dread most during this section in the game is the clicker infested tunnel right before the hospital. I was hoping for some good clicker action in the final episode, but alas. At least there was an infected in the game, for a mere 3 seconds, but it's been more than some other episodes.
I don't know, the whole show felt rushed. The clickers didn't feel like a treat. I thought they were building up to that with the whole underground hive-mind sense thing they set up in episode 1 or 2, but nothing really came out of it. Almost all clicker sections were skipped in favour of the human interactions and side stories. Why did they need to sacrifice Ellie in this show? The infected were hardly a threat, it's been mostly other people. At least in the game the infected were always a lot harder to deal with than the human encounters, so it made sense from a ludonarrative perspective. But in the show? Not really.
Also it was strange hearing Ellie give birth to Ellie. Although it was a neat little surprise/reference, Ashley Johnson and Ellie are the same person in my mind, so it was kinda difficult to separate the two.
@Octane Neil Druckman obviously didn't understand the power of the game he created. It seems obvious that Amy Henning was the reason that the first Last of Us game was great and her leaving ND is the major reason that the Last of Us 2 was the disaster that it is. The final episode of the season seemed to be Neil Druckman filling all the holes that critics of the second game have pointed out. In the end they tried to make Joel look like a selfish psycho that wanted to save Ellie for his own reasons, but that undermines the story itself. The reason for Joel's actions was that he realized that there was no saving humanity. He (and the player) has a front row seat to what the world had become - Raiders, cannibals, and fungus zombies. Joel weighed the value of Ellie's life against the value of saving a world that was already dead and made the correct choice. Any parent would have made the same choice. I really feel for Neil's children knowing that they have a father that would sacrifice them on the altar of the "greater good."
It's funny that Neil attempted to tone down the bleakness and make the world seem more worth saving actually had the opposite effect. We're left with a world so devoid of danger that the sacrifice of Ellie seems even less reasonable.
In the end, Last of Us series was a complete failure in my opinion. I'm glad it's over and I won't be around for season 2 when Neil attempts to make the world sympathize with the true psycho - Abby.
@Octane Easiest birth ever. Happened in 30 seconds. Really tired of how the show gives people bites after the fact. The fungus zombie's teeth were never anywhere near her leg.
I voted very good. The opening scene with Anna was an excellent edition, although I found it slightly distracting considering how much needed to happen in the finality of the show. I thought this was the most rushed episode, story wise. They got all the beats in a greatest hits sort of way.
Up until this episode I've loved Pedro as Joel, but I do feel like he was missing the beat in the first ten minutes up until they find the giraffes, something just felt off about his performance here. Bella is the perfect Ellie, again. She should hopefully win awards, although I fear they might go to Offerman or someone from episode 3.
Overall it was an excellent ending to one of the best shows I've ever seen not named breaking bad and HBO paid full service to the game.
Excellent episode, looking forward to Season 2!
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