THE LAST OF US: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
Label: WBHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 521 Minutes
Audio: Dolby Atmos. TrueHD 7.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director:
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Keivonn Woodard, Ashley Johnson, Troy Baker
HBO wins the day once again with a superior series, this time it's their adaptation of the beloved video game franchise The Last of Us. Now I am not a gamer other than some occasional sit-down with my son playing Call of Duty so I have never played the games, but I have enough close associates who are that I have heard how popular it was, how the game play and story were next level and engrossing. Now I am watching this bereft of playing a single minute of the game, but I found the series to be absolutely engrossing from the get-go, opening with a tightly told origin story before moving ahead twenty years after the fungus-born infected Cordyceps have taken over the landscape, only small pockets of survivors are left, living in disparate settlements, oppressive quarantine zones run by leftover military, government holdouts known as Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA). Our story leads are Joel (Pedro Pascal) and 14-year old Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Joe having suffered a personal loss at the onset of the outbreak has been tasked by a bel group the Fireflies to transport Ellie on a cross-country trip, not realizing the importance of his cargo , Ellie is immune to the effects of the Cordyceps.
What starts as a seemingly small job in exchange for a vehicle soon becomes an epic journey as Joe and Ellie who traverse the apocalyptic landscape, starting off quite adversarial at first, Ellie is a headstrong teen and Joe is a world-weary cynic, but the relationship naturally blooms between them, Joe taking on a fatherly demeanor, the pair depend on each other for survival as they face off against FEDRA forces, violent communities and the infected.
The worldbuilding is incredible, the remnants of society are depicted as crumbling, the cityscape are in ruins, and the design of the infected, pretty much taken straight from the game from what I can tell, are creepy and horrific. One of the highlights for me was a side story about of a man named Frank who stumbles upon the compound of survivalist Bill, we learn of their backstory and the life they've made together during the apocalypse brought tears to my eyes, as did a tragedy-tinged backstory for Ellie set in a dilapidated mall, plus episode five features a bug-nuts insane clicker horde swarming an area that is just wonderful, and the penultimate season one episode features a flashback to Ellie's origins and a character arc for Joe that might be hard to digest.
There's nothing on TV this past year that enthralled me the way the first season of The Last of Us has, the depth of storytelling and character development is fantastic, the special effects and worldbuilding are visually stunning, and the fungus-head infected are quite scary - and this is the sort of high-caliber genre television that is easy to recommend, if you have not tuned in yet you are missing out get on it!.
Audio/Video: The Last of Us: The Complete First Season arrives on 4K Ultra HD from WBHE in 2160p UHD with Dolby Vision color-grading, framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The 4K digiral shot series looks phenomenal on UHD with deep blacks, layered contrast and deep saturated hues, far superior to the streamed versions I streamed during it's initial run on Max. Depth and clarity are at a premium with crisp details and textures throughout, the fungi-infected "clickers" feature yellow, green and brown mottled skin that looks terrific, and brighter colored sequences also showcase vibrant primaries when called upon, though the show for the most part deals in earthy colors that highlight the decay of this post-apocalyptic world. The CGI created backdrops are also quite pleasing in 4K, the effects work on the series is tremendous and it translates well to the 4K format, this is just a very leasing 4K image all around.
Audio comes by way of English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 compatible) which I found quite immersive even if it doesn;t hit the heights of the Atmos format. There's some pleasing s of the sound field to create a immersive experience, those clickers creep into the mix and can sound startling in the quieter moments, while action-sequences with piercing gunfire, explosions and fungi-infected hordes come through with some nice oomph with a solid low-end and mid-ranges. The series also features a terrific, often time moving score, by Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla (Amores perros) and David Flemming, who also scored the video game. The soundtrack also features a couple of tasty covers including Nick Offerman's version of Linda Ronstadt's "Long Long Time" and Jessica Mazin's cover of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again."
The first season gets a solid set of extras, more so than I would have anticipated. We get nine Inside the Episode featurettes that feature behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew interviews for each episode, plus the 24-min The Last of Us: Stranger Than Fiction, the 12 -min Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us which gets into adapting the game for a live-action series, the 12-min From Levels to Live Action also delves into the game versus series, the five-part 32-min The Last Debrief with Troy Baker features The Last of Us podcast host, who was also the original voice of Joel from game, answering fan questions about the game and series, the two segment 8-min Is This A The Last of Us Line? is a fun little featurette with the cast crew guessing if quoted dialogue is from the series or not, there's also a 3-min Ashley Johnson Spotlight which highlights Johnson who was the voice of Ellie is the game, and the four-part 16-min Getting To Know Me with Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsay, Merle Dandridge, Gabriel Luna, Nick Offerman, and Murray Bartlett who get into their characters in the series, dissecting them a bit and getting into what they brought to the roles.
The 4-disc set arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, there are two flipper trays inside housing the discs, plus an insert with an episode and extras listing. The set comes housed inside a side-loading slipcase with embossed features on the front cover, which has the same artwork ast the wrap.
Special Features:
- The Last of Us: Stranger Than Fiction (24 min)
- Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us (12 min)
- From Levels to Live Action (12 min)
- The Last Debrief with Troy Baker (5 Featurettes, 32 min)
- Inside the Episode (9 Featurettes, 58 min)
- Is This A The Last of Us Line? (2 Featurettes, 8 min)
- Ashley Johnson Spotlight (3 min)
- Getting To Know Me (4 Featurettes, 16 min)
The Last of Us: The Complete First Season Includes 9 one-hour episodes:
- When You’re Lost in the Darkness
- Infected
- Long, Long Time
- Please Hold to My Hand
- Endure and Survive
- Kin
- Left Behind
- When We Are in Need
- Look for the Light
