Review: The Last Of Us, "Infected" | Season 1, Episode 2
In which the monsters arrive, and Tess makes her choice
Due to internet issues, Zack’s review was a bit delayed. Discussions of “Infected” are already in full swing in this thread, so be sure to check that out, too!
We currently don’t suffer from a shortage of zombie media. Even with The Walking Dead gone (can you believe it?), it feels like the genre is past its saturation point—hell, it felt that way five years ago. I’ve already read several people criticize The Last Of Us as a TWD knock-off; on a surface level, I can see their point. We have the same dingy outfits, the same mournful tone, the same bleak outlook on the future, and, in the weeks to come, we’ll be seeing a fair bit of “What if we’re the real monsters?” kind of shit going down. The differences exist, and they’re meaningful, but they can be hard to explain.
For instance: Unlike TWD, which more or less lasted till Kirkman got bored and the cast wanted out of the show, TLOU has a specific story it’s trying to tell, with a specific endgame in mind. It has a point beyond just, “Wow, these murderous dead people suck, and so do most of the living ones.” But I get that can be hard to take on faith.