THE LAST OF US: Episode 1.1-3

Name: THE LAST OF US: Episode 1.1-3
Item: THE LAST OF US: Episode 1.1-3
Author: Lillie Jaenchen

"Ultraviolent Woke Fungus Apocalypse"

Family Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

In THE LAST OF US, HBO Max’s dystopian science fiction series, a fungal pandemic strikes the United States and the rest of the world in 2003. The fungus infects humans and turns them into cannibalistic zombies. Twenty years later, Joel, a combat veteran and survivor, gets roped into saving the life of a teenage girl named Ellie, who seems immune to the fungus. He agrees to take her from an authoritarian government compound in Boston to the Western United States, where a lab might be able to replicate Ellie’s immunity.

Based on the video game series of the same name, the first three episodes of THE LAST OF US are very well produced and acted, with exciting, scary scenes. However, they have a strong humanist worldview, mitigated by some light moral, redemptive content. Also, the third episode takes time out of the main story to tell the story of two male homosexual survivalists. They eventually commit suicide when one man gets AIDS. The first three episodes of THE LAST OF US also have many “f” words and lots of extreme, gruesome violence.

Content:

(HH, B, C, PCPCPC, HoHoHo, LLL, VVV, SS, NNN, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong humanist worldview in three episodes, slightly mitigated by some light moral, redemptive elements promoting doing the right thing, compassion and sacrifice, but the third episode tells a very strong politically correct story about two homosexual survivalists who fall in demonic lust

Foul Language:

At least 50 obscenities (including 30 or more “f” words) and five strong profanities in three episodes

Violence:

Extreme, graphic, scary action violence includes the following: In Episode 1.1, a young woman steps in a large pool of blood and discovers it flowing from a man’s torn shoulder then discovers an elderly woman chewing on another victim’s neck, when the elderly woman looks up, fungal growth are hanging out of her mouth, and she moves to attack the young girl before a man kills her with a shovel (no blood), many infected people attack others in the streets, a bomb goes off, and the shockwave overturns a truck in which the protagonists are traveling, many infected are seen eating other dead humans, a man is chased by an infected human and is saved when a military man puts a bullet through the creature’s head (blood splatter from the headshot), a young girl is shot in the stomach and dies in her father’s arms (much blood shown around her abdomen before she dies), shots of the burned out and demolished city of Boston with teams tossing dead bodies into massive street bonfires witness, explosives of many kinds go off in many scenes injuring or killing many, a full flowered dead body is plastered on a wall in one scene, a man beats a man to death punching him in the face (blood on face and fist). In Episode 1.2, a nude female body is examined in a biohazard facility (her leg is cut open and plant substance extracted from her throat), three lead characters combat infected with guns and melee weapons and there is much peril, a character is bitten and sacrifices her life to save her companions by blowing up a building while still inside so they can make their escape. In Episode 1.3, a man lays traps for the infected and for some non-infected scavengers, who burn to death in one scene, and man kills many scavengers with shotguns, plus it’s implied a man is dying of AIDS and he and his homosexual lover commit suicide via a drug overdose in some wine

Sex:

Two men get in bed together and kiss, one man gets on top of the other, implied oral sex between the two men before the camera cuts away, several other scenes with the men kissing or holding hands, plus some light suggestive dialogue and movements

Nudity:

A totally nude female body is examined in a biohazard facility, and upper male nudity when two homosexual kiss in bed and commit sodomy

Alcohol Use:

Many characters drink beer or hard liquor at several points

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Several characters smoke cigarettes; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Government zones are run like a police state, scavengers prey on non-infected people, and a character says the government murdered people in rural areas to cut down on the numbers of people getting infected.

More Detail:

THE LAST OF US is a dystopian science fiction series on HBO Max based on a video game series of the same name. MOVIEGUIDE® screened the first three episodes of this ultraviolent woke series.

When a fungal pandemic strikes the U.S., turning infected people into Zombie monsters, combat veteran and working man Joel Miller becomes a survivor. While fighting for his own life, he agrees to protect the life of a fellow survivor, a teenage girl named Ellie Williams. Despite being told that Ellie may be “the key to everything,” the somewhat desensitized vet reluctantly takes the girl to a safe haven on his journey into the dangerous wasteland that is the post-pandemic U.S. He does so in exchange for weapons and supplies that will help him find his lost brother. However, Joel’s journey, and Ellie’s role in it, soon become much more than a rescue mission aimed at saving just a single human life.

Many movies are adapted from books, but what happens when a TV series is adapted from a couple video games? Some good things and some bad things. The show does a good job of achieving the original game’s tension, jump scares and intensity while telling the story of its two leads with a good deal of emotional impact. Joel’s loss of his own daughter in the first episode is heartrending, and his rage against the infected becomes completely understandable. The imagery of the infected, what the virus does, the story’s unique zombie apocalypse, and the process of supercities, skyscrapers and other urban landscapes being reclaimed by nature are well depicted in the first three episodes. The series also keeps the game’s compelling narrative largely intact.

However, it’s endlessly sad and regrettable that the creative team decided to overtly bow to today’s woke idolatry of “inclusivity” by awkwardly inserting a homosexual relationship into the third episode. Thus, in the third episode, the series portrays the life and death of two male homosexual survivalists, from the time the fungus hit the world in 2003 to the time that Joel and Ellie arrive at the two men’s suburban compound, only to find them both having committed suicide. The episode shows that one of the men eventually came down with AIDS and decided to kill himself, and the other fellow joined him. Before they have their last meal, however, they exchange wedding rings and vows.

It should be noted that the homosexual relationship between the two men is actually part of the original game’s narrative. Also, it’s later revealed in the original game and its sequel that Ellie decides she’s a lesbian and gets a girlfriend. The creators behind the series, including the main creator of the video games, have promised fans of the game that the series will keep Ellie’s lesbian behavior. In fact, one of the show’s directors has been outspoken on this subject, saying, that sometimes you have to “trick” viewers into watching a “gay love story.” Be that as it may, the third episode of THE LAST OF US clearly is shot in such a dramatic way as to serve as Emmy Awards bait for woke leftist TV voters in Hollywood.

Overall, the first three episodes of THE LAST OF US have a strong humanist worldview, mitigated by some uplifting human emotion and nods to doing the right thing, including risking and sacrificing your life. That said, most character motives in the post-apocalyptic world of THE LAST OF US are basically selfish. All three episodes have strong foul language, with the first episode seeming to have the most. The first two episodes also have lots of graphic, extreme, gruesome violence. The third episode also shows some human scavengers being burned to death by the fiery traps set for intruders by the two homosexual survivalists. Finally, the third episodes show the two homosexuals kissing in several scenes, as well as a bedroom scene with implied oral sex.

For all these reasons, MOVIEGUIDE® finds the first three episodes of THE LAST OF US as unacceptable, abhorrent and too politically correct.