**Spoiler warning for the first episode**

On January 15, 2023, the pilot episode for HBO’s new show ‘The Last of Us’ was released. This show is a rendition of Naughty Dog’s award winning video game, and a plethora of people had been greatly anticipating it. Due to the game’s popularity and high status, fans held high expectations and hopes for the latest interpretation.

First things first, the casting was perfect. Countless people were dismayed by Bella Ramsey playing Ellie because they don’t believe she resembles her, however, she did a fantastic job. Her acting skills were more important, as she portrayed Ellie and captured her attitude and energy flawlessly. She posses the character’s snarky and fiery personality so well, its unmistakable which role she’s playing. Not only that, but Pedro Pascal dominated with his role as Joel Miller. He was styled wonderfully and appeared fairly similar to his character; he also nailed the Texan accent, and sounded exactly like Joel did in the games.

Furthermore, Sarah’s death scene was far more emotional and difficult to get through. Perhaps its the fact that it was real people depicting the situation, but Pascal seemed so genuinely distraught and ruined by the loss of his daughter, and his line of “Help me, Tommy” was a nice yet devastating touch. Actually, the producers utilized video game Sarah’s sounds during this scene, giving video game players some heartbreaking nostalgia.

One critique that could be found would be that Tess’s character didn’t get the recognition she got in the game. In the game, there’s a an entire ordeal where Tess and Joel track Robert down, and he is terrified of Tess. However, in the show, Tess states that Robert is afraid of Joel (which is true, but it sort of just takes away from how tough and independent Tess is). Not only that, but the scene where the duo tortures Robert was taken out. That scene was fairly vital, since it shows how brutal the two can be together, and it seems the series missed that.

Overall, however, this was a fantastic pilot that left many fans yearning for more. 4.5/5