Such a simple thing, but such a big difference.
SPOILER ALERT: This synopsis reveals a key inciting incident from The Last of Us TV show and video game
When HBO’s The Last of Us for television was announced my initial reaction was negative. I was of the opinion that the story had been told so perfectly in its original medium that adapting it would only dilute its significance. After the first episode premiered I couldn’t be happier to have been so wrong! Everything from the writing to the directing, editing, and performances is absolutely stellar. The show is firing on all cylinders.
But the premiere episode did make one glaring mistake.
The game’s opening sequence – where Joel and Sarah find themselves in the midst of the Cordyceps apocalypse, before Sarah gets killed in the most maddeningly human way possible – is easily one of the most memorable and hardest-hitting in gaming history. Because this moment worked so well in the game and provided incredible source material for the show, adapting that sequence while maintaining the same level of impact was one of the show’s biggest opportunities to make an early blunder. And the show came so close to landing the game’s inciting incident if it wasn’t for one little thing: the placement of the opening credits.
See, in the game, the placement of the game’s title card just after Sarah’s death forced the title of the game to take on the intended meaning in a way that was so much more personal to both Joel and the player. Prior to Sarah’s death, the words “The Last of Us” were a statement of what was to come in the events of the game. After Sarah’s death, the title changed from statement to reality. Sarah’s death left Joel desperately alone, and the credits running immediately afterward forced the audience to bask in that desperation for more than a minute, which really let the new reality of the world in which the game takes place set in.
The show opted for a different route. Inserting an extra scene at the outset to provide more exposition as to the scientific reasoning for the outbreak worked well to relieve the burden of the suspension of disbelief. The stinger in that scene being the line “we lose” was a great way to end it and there is no denying that cutting to the opening credits added some gravity to the line, but the game left a hell of a high bar to hit.
The biggest difference between the game and the movie at the moment of Sarah’s death is the amount of time that the audience has to absorb what they just saw. The show cuts from Joel holding Sarah’s lifeless body to Boston 20 years later in just nine seconds, not giving a lot of time to reflect on Sarah’s death. The game on the other hand cuts from Sarah’s death to the title card, then runs the opening credits to give the audience a relatively staggering 77 seconds to process what they just saw before asking for our attention again. The longer time allowed for reflect on Sarah’s death made the game’s moment much more impactful, masterfully setting the tone for what was to come.
Did they get it wrong in the show? That’d probably be a bit harsh, but it does put into perspective just how well the game did it, and the impact a well-placed opening credits sequence can have.
The long-awaited debut episode of The Last of Us was an absolute home run and criticizing the placement of the opening credits is extremely nitpicky. But that placement took what could have been a 10/10 moment and turned it into a 9/10, not much to complain about, but there will always be room for improvement. Overall the show is fantastic and I personally cannot wait to tune in every Sunday evening for the rest of the season to enjoy the best video game-to-film adaptation to date.
