Warning: The following article contains massive spoilers for ‘The Last of Us’ episode three, ‘Long Long Time,’ and the original video game.
While HBO’s The Last of Us has certainly made a few deviations from the video game in its run so far, it can be argued that it has mostly stayed faithful to the source material.
This week, said faithfulness was more or less thrown out the window, opting to veer the narrative away from series lead Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, and instead having us spend a solid hour with Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett).
Not only did Bill and Frank not have anywhere near as much focus in the game, but their love story was also rewritten entirely, and we think it was to spectacular effect.
If you’re unfamiliar with Bill and Frank’s arc in the game, we’ll keep it short and sweet. Frank doesn’t even make an on-screen appearance in the game. Well, in a sense he does, but we’ll get to that in a second. The game version of TV’s latest favorite couple had a serious spat at some point along the way, leading to them splitting up and moving to opposite ends of the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts.
Joel and Ellie show up in the town, with a similar objective of acquiring a vehicle, and come across Bill, who is alive and well. He aids them in their venture, taking them across to Frank’s part of town. However, the group discovers Frank’s hanging body, having chosen to end his life after being bitten by one of the infected. The cherry on top? Frank left a suicide note, in which he details his hatred for Bill. We know what you’re thinking — BOO! We like the television version better.
While Bill and Frank’s story in the game was tragic in its own right, it didn’t hit home quite as hard. In the live-action adaptation, we got to see a couple who found each other under the direst of circumstances and lived a long and happy life together. Of course, with this being The Last of Us and all, it remained faithful in the sense that it didn’t hesitate to break our hearts and have them commit a double suicide after a neurodegenerative condition ruined Frank’s quality of life.
Now THAT’s a Bill we can truly sob for, not a guy who couldn’t keep his relationship together and ultimately drew his partner away to fend for himself and ultimately get killed. Well done, HBO – keep it coming. Just don’t make bad changes. Easy, right?
If you can recover from the emotional damage of ‘Long Long Time’, The Last of Us will be back with a new episode next Sunday.