Look for the Light

Look for the Light ends season 1 of The Last of Us on a high, faithfully adapting the final moments of the game whilst simultaneously enhancing them with a cleverly implemented opening flashback. Fittingly, the episode itself also focuses on love, how it can heal people's pain and trauma as well as the violence that spawns from that same love.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey switch roles in this time around with Pedro being more open and hopeful contrasted by Bella's more closed off nature. They once again cement the fact that they were perfect casting for these characters and each one gets a proper standout moment within the episode.

Ali Abbasi's direction is excellent, the scale and combination of practical effects and CG is still really impressive but the direction shines brightest in the action which is wisely staged to really emphasise the weight and horror of the brutality on display rather than making it a simple spectacle.

Gustavo Santaolalla's music has been perfect throughout (such an obvious yet smart move to put the last of us theme over the opening credits) and it's particularly good here during the action. It's so haunting and bleak, able to communicate so much on it's own, without the need for any dialogue.

This finale was rushed, they skipped so many parts which made Ellie and Joel's relationship like- and believeable. All the struggles they went through were just skipped. We literally only had chatting - giraffe - chatting - hospital - epilogue

They went through the entire country and only had four encounters with infected, they walked through the woods and streets while making noises without any sense of danger.

Ellie's immunity is so important in the game since infected are everywhere and a threat to all humans. However, in the show it seems like humanities biggest struggles are starvation and cold.

Any fanboys here who give every episode a 10/10 should rewatch the first episodes that actually deserve such a high rating. I hope the second season will have more episodes and infected to build the world and create a constant sense of danger.

They really needed just a couple more episodes to flesh things out a bit more for this series before the finale.

I feel as if some further time spent with Joel and Ellie's relationship could have been very beneficial. The opportunity was right there after episode 8 but instead the finale is set after a timeskip! With two of the nine episodes this series essentially being filler, I don't really feel as if Joel and Ellie have really spent that much time together. In retrospect there is also a severe lack of infected in this series; episode 2 is the obligatory Clicker episode, and they never really come back afterwards save for one more scene, and the Bloater shows up for one measly scene.

I think 12 episodes would have been perfect, heck, 10 even just to make that finale really hit hard. I was shocked at how short the finale episode was, and it felt kind of rushed as a whole. Still a good series, overall, but why so short? We get about 6 episodes to develop our main character's relationship, and a lot of the dialogue is just from the game, but less of it. Personally, I don't think that's enough.

This is my only big gripe with the show. Why was this episode the shortest out of all of them if I recall correctly?

It felt like they just wanted to get to the point quickly and be done with it. There's only one other major scene that happens in this episode other than the big finale thing that happens. I actually thought I missed an episode while watching it.

Rushing also hurts the storytelling and characterization which this show overall is rushed heavily.

Nevertheless, this finale was great and everything worked out really well to deliver a really well-made episode.

The thing that happens in this finale changes Joel as a character (to an extent since we already know what he's capable of), and it definitely changes the dynamic of his relationship with Ellie, and there will be consequences. I just hope it's not really the same as what they did in the second game. Or at least change the way they're gonna tell that story.

The music and the decisions of the showrunners and the director on how to shoot some scenes, especially the most important one, and how to use music and editing is really great and makes this finale a lot better.

Overall it was a really good finale and I enjoyed it for what it was, but unfortunately, the rushed storytelling hurts this show and especially this finale and it's way better to binge the whole show than to have watched it weekly.

I wish we were allowed to write one word reviews because for this episode it would be that it's PERFECT.

I mean this sincerely! Just amazing!

I was not a believer before this series aired. I thought to myself "why"? Why would they try and make this into a TV show. It's perfect as is. Well I was wrong and I was wrong about how I felt about Bella playing Ellie. She is Ellie... This entire show has been outstanding from beginning to end.

It was great to see Ashley Johnson in this episode and especially hear her voice. For those who may not k ow Ashley played Ellie in the Last of Us part 1 and 2 video games.

I'm sure we will see plenty of negative reviews but for me this episode is the same for the entire season 10/10.