In “Long, Long Time,” the most recent episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us,” we enter Bill’s never-before-seen romantic life. Fans of the sport could discover some large deviations from the supply materials, as characters are given reimagined lives.
In the sport, we meet Bill solely briefly, as protagonists Joel and Ellie cross by way of his city in hopes of scrounging collectively a working car for his or her journey throughout a post-apocalyptic America. We uncover Bill wasn’t all the time solo — his romantic accomplice, Frank, died by suicide after changing into contaminated. The sport doesn’t linger on these particulars lengthy, with solely small nudges and insinuations by way of dialogue and textual content, however there’s a way that the connection ended bitterly.
In comparability, we meet a extra weak Bill (performed by Nick Offerman) within the TV present, who spends practically 20 years alongside Frank (Murray Bartlett) as they construct a peaceable life collectively whereas the skin world fights for survival throughout a zombie apocalypse. This peek into their largely tranquil life, which the sport by no means provided, is greater than welcome, particularly when prolonged happiness — not to mention between a queer couple — is so uncommon on this universe.
It’s a change showrunner Craig Mazin mentioned he got here up with to “go deeper” with Bill and Frank, and to supply a “breather” after two quick-moving, action-oriented episodes. It’s additionally an answer to translate a gameplay-heavy part of the sport to the large display screen. During the writing course of, Mazin informed Neil Druckmann, co-creator of the present and sport, that he was “about to write something [Druckmann] would not recognize.”
“As much as I loved playing it, I thought maybe we would do something wildly different,” Mazin informed The Washington Post in a current interview. He recalled feeling impressed by the sport’s revelation of Bill having a accomplice, explaining the way it’s sudden, particularly due to Bill’s presentation as a “paranoid nutter” and a “cranky, very straight-acting, annoying guy.” He’s not somebody you’d essentially count on to have a romantic backstory, Mazin mentioned.
“There was this tragedy to the way it ended,” he mentioned. “And I thought, ‘well, what if we actually go really deep into that? And it doesn’t necessarily have to end the same way as it ended in the game. It can end quite differently.’”
The change to Bill’s story provides us new context for who he’s, who he turns into, and the constructive impact he’s had on others. But it additionally brings us to a brand new conclusion, with Bill and Frank rising aged and Frank finally falling in poor health. Unable to take care of himself, his high quality of life wanes, and he requests a marriage ceremony the 2 can rejoice collectively that ends with Frank taking his personal life. To Frank’s shock — and maybe to the viewers’s as nicely — Bill consumes sufficient tablets “to kill a horse” alongside him.
The story is heartbreaking, however Mazin considers it nonetheless hopeful.
“We had a chance to ask: what happens when a character in this world is actually, relatively safe?” Mazin mentioned. “What do they do? What do they need? Can we give somebody a happy ending? And I think they have a happy ending. I do. They win. They get this whole life together. And when it ends, it ends on their terms as they desire. It’s also important to show to the audience that there was a chance for things to be okay, and for love to flourish, and to conclude well.”
Rather than having to struggle for his or her love, Bill and Frank merely exist collectively. For Mazin, it was a chance to delve deeper into extra views of how love can manifest within the post-apocalypse.
“I wanted to explore this fundamental thematic dichotomy that comes up over and over as we watch the series, and that is that there are two very different kinds of love,” Mazin mentioned.
Mazin defined that the way in which Frank reveals love is, because the character says within the episode, by “paying attention to things,” as he performs renovations in town, crops stunning gardens, and infrequently surprises Bill with these to point out affection. Bill, alternatively, reveals love by way of safety. As they develop nearer, a profound concern of loss is felt, notably by Bill, one that’s paying homage to how Joel cares for Ellie. “I was never afraid before you showed up,” he tells Frank in a second of vulnerability.
Exploring these new views grew to become attainable as Mazin, Druckmann, and the remainder of the crew labored to construct a cinematic expertise that expands the fictional world of the video games. Mazin noticed this episode as one other probability to “give context to the time that happened between outbreak day and where we are now in the story.” These tales past Joel and Ellie give viewers an opportunity to expertise “The Last of Us” in a reimagined mild. In some circumstances this has labored nicely, whereas others are extra closely debated. Perhaps we’ll see extra of those sorts of tales because the collection continues within the months forward, and past in its second season.