The Last of Us: Linda Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time” haunted tale of love and loss in TV televised series
The third episode of the series has lived up to all of the hype and will become one of the best hours of TV in the foreseeable future, if the first two episodes are any indication.
The show uses Linda Ronstadt’s haunting song ” Long, Long Time” to finish off its story of love and weakness amidst the chaos and violence.
Feeling almost like an episode of an anthology series – think “Tales of the Last of Us” – the centerpiece revolved around Bill (Nick Offerman), a surly doomsday prepper, who reluctantly takes in the weary traveler Frank (“The White Lotus’” Murray Bartlett, who somehow seems to be everywhere at once these days).
The real emotional wallop came at the end, when Joel (Pedro Pascal), who had known the couple, and his traveling companion Ellie (Bella Ramsey) find Bill’s suicide note, in which he speaks of “saving” Frank and how his love for him changed his morbid, cynical outlook.
“I’m satisfied. Bill tells Frank that he was their purpose, but Frank says that he does not support it. It is incredibly romantic from an objective perspective.
That the strains of Ronstadt’s voice should inspire renewed interest in her 70’s hit “Running Up That Hill”, unlike the 1985 Kate Bush hit that received an unexpected resurgence thanks to “Stranger Things.” (HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
The Last of Us: A Game-Theoretical Analysis of a Never-Ending, Eleven-Year-Old, One-Dimensional Lost Town
The story will continue with the news that the show will be renewed for a second season. This is a series-changing episode, either on its own or in that broader context, and maybe for a long, long time.
As it’s introducing two of The Last of Us’ most memorable supporting characters, “Long Long Time” adds so much new depth and dimension to them that they almost end up feeling like different people. But the real magic of “Long Long Time,” and the reason it’s one of The Last of Us’ strongest episodes yet, lies in how spiritually true to the game it feels even while it’s doing its own distinct thing.
It’s only clear if you’ve played the games just how much more substance there is to HBO’s take on Bill and Frank as “Long Long Time” spotlights how their first, tense encounter began the start of a friendship that evolved into a passionate romance powered by the music of Linda Ronstadt. Bill is a jumpy, hardboiled survivor who has lost so much over the years he has become all but shut off from connecting to anyone, and it’s hard to understand how he came to know the person he is today. All of those things are definitely still true of Bill’s character in HBO’s The Last of Us, but rather than leaving you to infer important details about Bill’s interiority from his sparse dialogue, the show lays a lot of it out by giving Frank a voice and presence in a way the game never did.
While dozens of his trusting neighbors were unknowingly carted off to their dooms, Frank made sure to hang back in their small town until he was absolutely certain that the entire thing was completely deserted and ready to be converted into a fortified compound for one. The idea of spending the rest of his zombie filled days alone appealed to Bill, who was the lonelier of the two. All things considered, that lifestyle seemed to suit him well. Frank was stuck in one of Bill’s traps when he went onto Bill’s property to look for safety.
In that telling, it’s only implied that Bill and Frank were ever lovers, and by the time Ellie and Joel arrive in their town, Frank has died by suicide after growing disillusioned with Bill, trying to leave, and being attacked by clickers in the process. By showing you the arc of their relationship, though, “Long Long Time” primes you to be devastated by the way things play out for the pair and to understand some of what their time together might have been like in the game before things went sour between them.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/30/23577959/the-last-of-us-hbo-episode-3-bill-frank-kathleen
The Last of Us: Revisiting the Past with New Pieces of Lore in the Weakly-Interacting Universe (with a brief review)
The Last of Us is able to faithfully recreate things. The ability of the show to build out new pieces of lore that feel like they were always present is the most promising, with characters like Kathleen and Riley on the way.