A Necessary Detour
The Last of Us’ third episode, Long, Long Time, is not what most anyone expected. Those just looking for a zombie show will get a lot more this week as we spend most of the episode taking a break from Joel and Ellie. Those who played the game won’t expect this as while it is rooted in a section of the game, Long, Long Time is by far the most significant deviation from the source material. For a show that’s been so praised for being faithful to the source material, that’s a considerable risk. It’s absolutely the right move, though, and it produces one of the most powerful episodes of television I’ve seen in years.
When the apocalypse comes, video games and movies might make you think that everyone gets busy fighting or they get busy dying. Long, Long Time presents another path, though. Some people just get busy surviving. Bill is one of those, avoiding a path that would have meant a certain death and finding a way to keep on surviving. He doesn’t want to save the world, or find a new community, or do much of anything but be left alone. Bill is the type of person who wanted to be left alone long before society fell apart.
For a while, he’s pretty good at it too. Bill’s the sort of person that, in real life, we’d call paranoid and want to keep an eye on, but in the world of The Last of Us that turned out to be the right move. He’s absolutely prepared to survive on his own, to carve out his own slice of the world and keep it relatively safe, at least as far as that’s possible in this world.
It turns out, though, that surviving on your own is awfully lonely. Even someone who thought they truly wanted to be alone might not like it so much when there’s literally nobody to talk to. No one to wave to on the street, or nod at in the hardware store, no human interaction at all. A few years have passed before a lost Frank falls into one of Bill’s traps, and while their early interactions are awkward, and Bill initially wants to see the back of him, a part of him is thrilled to have someone to speak with. To cook for. To take care of.
This isn’t an episode I can really talk about without spoiling at least one major plot point, so turn around if you’re not ready for it. Bill and Frank soon form a rather strong connection. They see something in each other, which they initially dance around but soon confirm with a kiss. Bill never felt free to be himself before the world fell apart, but here the weight of society is no longer a factor, and their attraction takes over. Frank isn’t going anywhere.
Together the pair build a life together, managing to find a way to live in this world. Sometimes it’s still lonely. It’s also hard, and not always, because there are creatures outside their gates who want to rip them apart. It’s hard in the way that living with someone who is different from you can be, something anyone who has loved someone and lived with them should relate to. Frank wants more human connection than just Bill, at least now and then, while Bill is content to just keep the two of them safe. They do eventually build some bonds, connecting with others and connecting their story back to the main plot of The Last of Us, but this is mostly a bottle episode, and all the better for it.
Long, Long Time establishes what can be if you’re willing to put yourself out there. Bill and Frank might or might not have survived apart, but their lives would have been far less meaningful. You can’t live solely for yourself, it’ll slowly kill you from the inside out. These characters existed in the game, but their story there was far less hopeful and definitely didn’t have the beauty that it does here, but that change is easily the best choice the creators of this show have made so far. Part of a great adaptation is knowing what to keep and what to change, and while the story of the game is mostly incredibly well done and translates well on its own, it is also a story that often lacks any sort of hope. Showing that there can be more to a life within this world sets new stakes for Joel and Ellie when we return to them. It will drive their journey the rest of the way, and after seeing it, it’s hard to imagine why this story eventually went a different way. Nick Offerman as Bill and Murray Bartlett as Frank are absolutely incredible, putting so much feeling and thought into every moment, every glance, and gesture that it will be a crime if they’re not both looking at major awards recognition next year.
The ending of Long, Long Time connects us back to the stars of the show and sets them up for the true journey to come. This is an episode which actually has some strong work from the leads, which is easy to overlook considering how moving the story sandwiched between their segments is, but their relationship grows here, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Seeing that the creators know not only what to keep from that original story but also what can be improved means that anything can happen.
Final Verdict: 5/5
