The Last of Us episode 3

We're two episodes into the first season, with the third set to premiere tonight. Of course, it's one episode that fans of the video game are particularly ...

The Last of Us episode 3 will air in the United States on HBO on Sunday, January 29, at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 29 With Tess telling Joel to take Ellie to see them in We’re two episodes into the first season, with the third set to premiere tonight. The Last of Us episode 3 makes its presence felt on TV screens tonight. If that sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because [HBO](https://bamsmackpow.com/tv/)‘s last phenomenon, House of the Dragon, also found itself getting an early renewal in the days after its debut.

Warning: this story contains The Last of Us spoilers for episodes 1 and episode 2.] 'So, who's Bill and Frank?' It's the question a curious Ellie (Bella ...

("As awesome as that episode is, there are going to be fans who are upset by it," Neil Druckmann, co-creator of the video game and the HBO adaptation, told [The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/02/can-the-last-of-us-break-the-curse-of-bad-video-game-adaptations), adding: "To me, the story we tell [in episode 3] is authentic to the world. [bitten-but-immune](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-episode-2-how-the-infected-work-explained-types-of-infected/) girl to Firefly doctors out west [working on a Cordyceps cure](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-recap-episode-2-hbo-max/). And if we're not, and we don't know about the game, [it] will just feel right.' And it was that was such a joy to work on. [the romantic relationship](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-hbo-episode-3-what-happens/) between Bill and Frank, something only hinted at in the video game. [Warning: this story contains The Last of Us spoilers for episodes 1 and episode 2.] "So, who's Bill and Frank?" Joel has twice name-dropped Bill and Frank, his suppliers who send signals in radio code: a '60s song means nothing new, '70s means new stuff, and ['80s means trouble](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-episode-1-song-depeche-mode-never-let-me-down-again-streams-200-percent/).

Just two days after HBO renewed The Last of Us for a second season, the beloved video game adaptation continues its first season with the third episode.

And I have a brother out in Wyoming. He's in some kinda trouble, and I'm heading out there to find him.' He tells Ellie to show him her arm and she does as he tells her, 'I just finished Makin' a truck battery. but Bill is hit as Frank helps him inside. We left a window open so the house wouldn't smell, But it will probably be a sight. The girl you were singing about?' Frank asks, but Bill says, 'There is no girl.' Last you the rest of your life,' Joel says. 'I'm gonna start with simple things but I want you to know I'm not a whore. He turns on the security monitors when he sees an infected man walk towards his property... There were certain brands of food that were sold everywhere, all across the country, across the world. and sees someone who has turned, trapped underneath a pile of bricks but somehow still alive. They started to get sick.

Director Peter Hoar explains how Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett joined forces for the HBO show's surprise detour.

It was a joy to be able to tell the story of The Last of Us without talking about Joel and Ellie, actually. That was one part of it [and] the big hole that he dug and the electrified things. Or rather than a spinoff series, maybe it's just a spinoff of Bill, and it's just digging into that one moment. And we see the scene where they first meet—but then it's a good few years of them working together and understanding each other. Craig was quite particular about the cadences in the song, why he picked that song, and why it had to sound the way it should sound. That was one of the great challenges practically—to surround this set that we'd already built with this fencing, and then to build these pipes and these grinders that would pull the gas and make this flame appear. And I just thought, Nick, just do it with your heart and love it and just be relaxed. Because of course, we had Murray doing it badly and then Nick doing it well. And the things that I, as a gay man, might notice that he does are a bit fussy. Of course, we wanted the story of how it all came to be. And with an actor the stature of Nick Offerman, you just have to ask. And Nick was nervous, not because he was in bed with a man, but nervous because it meant so much.

This week's episode, starring Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, stepped away from the main action, offering a melancholy vignette about companionship.

On their way to Bill and Frank’s, Ellie pesters Joel with questions about the pandemic, and he explains to her — and to us — more about what happened. (“It’s like a spaceship!”) As they pull out of the compound, she pops in a cassette tape, and Joel is moved to hear “Long, Long Time,” a song that clearly means a lot to him, too, for his own unspoken reasons. Joel won’t let Ellie take a gun; but when he isn’t looking, she finds the pistol Frank kept stashed in a writing desk, and she shoves into her backpack. In a parallel to the sequence in which Bill fortifies his neighborhood, we see Joel and Ellie stock up for their road trip, grabbing clean clothes, toilet paper, deodorant and other basics. It’s clear these guys are going to hit it off from the moment they meet, when Bill says he is hesitant to feed Frank because he doesn’t want other bums to come by looking for a free lunch — “This is not an Arby’s,” he grumbles. All this domesticity leads Bill to worry that taking pleasure in basic human interactions will be a distraction from his mission to survive, leading to near-fatal mistakes — like the night when raiders try to infiltrate the compound, and Bill gets shot. But on a deeper level, this episode is about how even amid a world-ending crisis, the taste of a fresh strawberry can make a person want to stick around for another day. After Frank coaxes Bill to admit that he has never acted on his attraction to men, they slip into bed together, with Frank promising, “I’m going to start with the simple things.” Bill can’t entirely shake his fear of losing everything to the authorities or to the infected — a paranoia more intense now that he has someone to protect. Instead, most of the 70-minute running time is spent on one long journey into the past, stretching from the frantic early days of the cordyceps plague, in 2003, to one quietly bittersweet day in 2023, not long before Joel and Ellie knock on Bill and Frank’s door. Joel keeps his feelings to himself, but it is easy to imagine that for him this home was a portal to a safer, cozier past, like the one he lived back in Austin. As someone whose favorite post-apocalyptic movie is George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” — with all of its long scenes of survivors constructing a combination fortress-oasis in a shopping mall — I could have lingered forever in this episode’s 2003 segment.

Thanks to Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman, we need an Emmy Award for Best Bottle Episode.

Frank and Bill crush up enough sleeping pills to end their lives together—and go to sleep for one last time. When Joel and Ellie finally arrive in present day (well, August 2023), there’s a key left for them and a hand-written note. Frank tells him that the quarantine zone is completely gone, and Bill lets him out of a hole after testing to see if he’s infected. He plans one final day with Bill, and it’s set to the incredibly recognizable “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter. He wants to spruce up the town and play a little Sims in real life, but Bill reminds him that “we will never have friends, because there are no friends to be had.” Cut to: Joel and Tess having dinner with them outside. Tess thanks the couple for the beautiful meal, but Bill is still on edge. The two of them live together for another three years before he starts to truly feel the isolation of their living situation. With everyone in the town now gone, Bill pops out of a secret bunker he built below his house stacked with guns, barrels of sulfuric acid, and a stack of security camera feeds. Then, he sets up a bunch of booby traps and—as he eats his dinner—watches them go to work on some unlucky infected humans. Next, Joel and Ellie find something even worse: a mass grave of people, all of whom the army didn’t let enter a quarantine zone—because they either had a chance of being infected, or the QZ was just too full. That’s a good thing, because our hero, Joel ( [Pedro Pascal](https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a42535800/the-last-of-us-pedro-pascal-jacket/)), must help Ellie (Bella Ramsey) reach the Firefly oasis that she believes is somewhere out there, still trying to find a cure. “You needed a truck battery or whatever, and you made a choice.

Episode 3 of The Last of Us is the biggest diversion from the game, but may also be the best episode of the entire first season.

Fighting through the tears, Bill says that he can’t, but Frank asks if Bill loves him, to which he replies yes, and Frank says that he should “love me the way I want you to.” With tears in both of their eyes, Frank says that he's had a lot of bad days, and yes, a lot of bad days with Bill too, but he’s had more good days with Bill than anyone else, so he asks for one more good one. At the end of the meal, Bill brings out two more wine glasses, prepared to end the life of his love. Frank asks who the girl is that Bill is singing about, to which Bill states, “there is no girl.” Frank puts his arm around Bill and says, “I know.” Frank tenderly kisses Bill, a moment of intimacy that leaves Frank crying and Bill almost shaking with joy. Later, the two sit together; Bill has clearly been crying, asking about the possibility of finding a doctor — to which Frank says that they didn’t have a cure for his disease before the world ended, so what good would that do? Joel points out the faultiness of Bill’s fence and says that he can get him supplies that will last him the rest of their lives. Bill lets the man out of the hole, checks with a device to see that the man isn’t infected, and at gunpoint, points him in the direction of Boston. Bill and Frank jog around the neighborhood, and Frank says he has a surprise. The two are having a fight after Frank asked for some paint and a little gas for the lawnmower. Bill says that if he feeds Frank, everyone he tells about his free meal will come by looking for a handout, and yet, Bill eventually finds compassion for Frank and brings him to his house. As he eats his dinner, we see on his monitors that he’s set up even more cameras around the town, so he can keep a better eye on the perimeter and the traps he's set to keep infected away. But “Long Long Time” takes a different, and more moving approach to Bill and Frank’s story, which gets Joel and Ellie to the same place they need to be, but through a beautiful look at two people who saved each other during the end of the world.

Nick Offerman's survivalist takes center stage in the HBO Max adaptation, and you're not ready for this incredible episode of TV.

We never see Frank alive in the game, since he and Bill had a falling out prior to Ellie and Joel's arrival. In the show, when Bill finds him in the trap, Frank says he was on his way to Boston. The duo take Bill's car and hit the road to find Joel's ex-Firefly brother Tommy in Wyoming (with Ronstadt's 1970 song Long Long Time kicking off their journey). Tess and Frank immediately hit it off, while the more severe Joel and Bill find a mutual respect. Bill tenderly pushes Frank into their room and the scene fades to black. And you'll cook a delicious dinner," he says, before taking his pills out of his pocket. Bill is a loving caregiver, helping his partner take his pills and get around. Probably for the best, since Bill had an arsenal of weaponry and seemed absolutely ready for a siege. In 2007, Bill's way of life appears to have served him well -- he looks much the same four years after the outbreak. A flashback reveals how Bill managed to avoid getting dragged into a quarantine zone by the US military after the September 2003 outbreak. The hope is that they can replicate Ellie's resistance and restore the world. Their mission is to get Ellie, who's immune to the [fungus that's turned much of the populace into savage cannibals](https://www.cnet.com/science/biology/features/the-last-of-us-fungal-pandemic-actually-happen-a-scientific-investigation-hbo-max/), to the rebel group known as the Fireflies.

HBO's The Last of Us just delivered the episode it could very well be remembered for for years to come.

The nice thing about the episode’s epilogue with Joel and Ellie is that it seamlessly transfers all of the emotional heft built up in the ballad of Bill and Frank to the main storyline. The Last of Us series has always been a story about love at its core but wrapped up in a tragedy and “Long Long Time” is exemplary of both of those elements. And when they move to the piano to exchange songs, he comes out of his shell a bit thanks to Frank’s disarming warmth, conveyed with a gentle hand on the shoulder and two simple, liberating words of love and recognition: “I know.” The show builds upon the game’s story, giving Bill and Frank’s relationship, which was only alluded to in the game, a powerful and emotionally charged episode that fleshes out these characters in a way that feels natural for the series. Nick Offerman’s portrayal of Bill bears only a surface-level resemblance to his game counterpart, and to call Murray Bartlett’s turn as Frank a departure from the original story would be a serious understatement. Does all of this mean that the show is unfaithful to the source material?

A bearded man with shoulder-length dark hair sits at a dining table. Credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO. > ...

It's slight guesswork, but it seems like Bill finished his letter by recommending a food and wine pairing to Joel and Tess, if they decided to stay the night. But we can see "and she decide you're" on one line, followed by "I recommend pairing" on the penultimate line. On the last line we see a word that looks like a type of wine, possibly "Bordello". We see a brief close up, and the words "Tess safe" are clearly visible in Bill's hand. He wants to suit up at their preserved boutique, get married to Bill, and have a final meal of rabbit and Beaujolais red wine — the same meal they shared on the day they first met — before Bill gives him a fatal overdose. The ending of Bill's final letter to Joel (Pedro Pascal), who he'd made reluctant acquaintances with after Frank and Tess (Anna Torv) had covertly become friends over the radio.

The Last of Us game's most incidental gay romance becomes a standalone episode with Offerman and Murray Bartlett from The White Lotus.

The Frank (played by The White Lotus’ Murray Bartlett) and Bill of The Last of Us TV show are a near-complete retread. Stand-alone status propelled the spread of “San Junipero” across the face of queer discourse, and it may just walk “Long, Long Time” into the queer sci-fi hall of fame as well. Would you like to see The Last of Us do it for (white) gay men? [expanding on Bill and Frank](https://www.polygon.com/23574585/last-of-us-bill-frank-gay-game-show). But for many, “San Junipero” is most fondly remembered because a romance-centered genre story is rare enough to see on TV, let alone one where a gay couple gets to ride off into the sunset together. They share a far more niche category: self-contained episodes that pivot from the overall thrust of their respective TV series to present a sci-fi-tinged queer love story.

Pedro Pascal is Joel<p> Game of Thrones/The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal stars. 20 Images. Bella Ramsey as Ellie<p> Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsey plays Ellie ...

Nothing is permanent in our world in the first place, but in the middle of a pandemic, everything just feels that more fragile. A bulk that is ultimately a flashback reimagined from a one-page note in the game - a version of which is read by Ellie to devastating effect as Joel reluctantly listens. It's a clever choice to change their story for the brighter, offering the couple their own stage to shine on - granting a rare smile compared to the largely bleak events it follows. In the space of just over half an hour we've seen the transformation of a man who reveled in his solitary life become fearful of returning to it. One thing that was alluded to, but never fully explained in the game was how the cordyceps fungus fully spread its way through the world - something remedied here by Joel explaining it to Ellie. In many ways, it was a self-written prophecy, from the moment Frank entered his life that it would end in heartbreak. It’s fun little details like this that keep the story rooted in its origins, even when it branches off into different directions like this episode does. It's devastating yet tinged with melancholy due to the fact that it's so rare for someone to be able to say a proper farewell in this world. He seems content, if not fulfilled by his solitary life, not knowing that he’s about to find love in the most unlikely of places - the bottom of a ditch. It’s a remarkably impressive performance and one that is only accentuated by the nuanced work of his co-star, Murray Bartlett. It’s a supremely effective portrayal of the concept that without love, living is merely surviving. It’s a masterful hour of television, displaying everything the adaptation strives for at its best.

The Last of Us series has been faithful to the original video game. We've seen Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and Tess (Anna Torv) travel across ...

Bill is one of the few characters Joel and Ellie meet that survives, but to do so, he has to lose everything. As we approach the end of the episode, we learn that Frank is dying (presumably of cancer) and that he would instead pass away with no pain or struggle. Tess’s dying wish, along with Bill’s words, will stick with both Joel and Ellie for the remainder of the series and confirms that these words ring true — when you’re lost in the darkness, look for the light. This moment is vastly different from the games and arguably for the better. Joel and Ellie are still seeking out Bill’s aid after the death of Tess, but now we’re dedicating an entire episode to Bill and Frank. [the relationship between Bill and Frank](https://collider.com/the-last-of-us-hbo-clip-bill-frank-video/) over many years. In Frank’s last words, he expresses how much he hates Bill and that getting infected is better than continuing to stay with Bill. In the game, Joel and Ellie seek Bill’s help after Tess’s death (same as in the show). And in this world, that sort of shit is good for one thing. After setting off traps and battling a hoard of the infected, Bill reluctantly agrees to help our two main characters. Bill has always been a fascinating character in The Last of Us franchise. [The original portrayal of Bill](https://collider.com/last-of-us-hbo-neil-druckmann-cast-games-comments/) serves as both a cautionary tale and mirrors Joel’s character arc up until this point.

And unfortunately, while scavenging for more supplies, Bill, Joel and Ellie find that Frank has died by his own hand. And not only that, in his final note, ...

Joel takes this as a sign to continue protecting Ellie and take her to the Fireflies out west. (Shoutout to both Offerman and Bartlett for the incredible outpouring of emotions during this incredibly heart-wrenching scene.) Frank confesses to Bill that he’s had “more good days than bad days” with him during their life together and that he just wants Bill to give him “one more good day” and respect his wish to go out on his own terms. “This isn’t the tragic suicide at the end of the play,” Bill says to him. The two share a kiss and a moment of sexy time before everything goes to hell later that night. His daily routine mainly consists of painting, taking a mixture of pills, and relying on Bill to transport him in and out of his wheelchair. Frank gives Bill a list of desires that include toast for breakfast, getting married at the restored boutique, and having one last tasty meal together before helping him end his life. In a move of desperation and charming distraction, Frank rushes from the dinner table and over to Bill’s vintage piano to prove that he could earn his keep by being entertaining. Bill doesn’t understand why Frank wants to trim the grass and repaint the crumbling storefronts of their vacant town. The ever-paranoid Bill keeps a gun pointed at Joel the entire meal while Frank and Tess gab over wine. After a snarky tête-à-tête between the two men, Bill gives in to Frank’s handsome face and deep blue eyes and allows him to stay at his home temporarily just to recoup. For those who haven’t played the game, but are eager to join in on the discourse, here’s a quick rundown: In the game, Joel and Ellie come across a former acquaintance of Joel’s named Bill, who is the sole occupant of a small town that he’s heavily reinforced to keep out infected. Upon investigating the disturbance, Bill is surprised to see it’s another person and immediately launches into hostile defense—it has been a while since he’s interacted with another human.

HBO's The Last of Us is a mostly faithful adaptation of the hit PlayStation game. But just how close to its source material does it get? Episode 3 takes a big ...

According to the developer, it cost more to make than The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion, which was practically a whole game in and of itself. The team consulted with fans early on in development, and this resulted in some incredibly creepy environments, so creepythat technical director David Robillard didn't like playing with headphones on after hours. HBO's The Last of Us is a mostly faithful adaptation of the hit PlayStation game.

If the hoopla surrounding "The Last of Us" has felt at all excessive through the first two episodes, the third chapter of the HBO series lives up to the ...

“But I was wrong.” Yet the show has After sharing a meal, Frank plays Bill’s piano, kisses him, and winds up staying, well, for the rest of their lives. Discovery.) … But from an objective point of view, it’s incredibly romantic.” “I’m satisfied.

io9 spoke with Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann about this week's Nick Offerman-centric episode, "Long, Long Time."

It’s been a long time with these characters, and it ultimately reflects back in a really strong, beautiful way to the themes of the game, which is the most beautiful moments in life come from love and sometimes the most horrific moments in life come from love. What if we focused on that and blew that up and do things that we couldn’t have done in the game, which is jump around in time and show these other characters? It feels like it’s part of The Last Of Us. One of the things that I remember from the game was that Bill was safe. In the best of circumstances, you get what you get with Bill and Frank, which is a success. And what kind of love are we going to see exhibited when this is all said and done? So it was an opportunity to just explore theme and the passage of time and to do it with Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, who are incredible, and our director Peter Hoar’s gorgeous job. That there was an opportunity to, first of all, help people understand how the passage of time functioned between the outbreak to now, but also to really dig into the point of the show, which is the nature of love. And the second episode is incredibly tense and features danger and Clickers and tragedy. I’d just watched episode three of The Last Of Us, called “Long, Long Time” and was stunned. [HBO’s new show, The Last Of Us](https://gizmodo.com/last-of-us-hbo-review-playstation-pedro-pascal-joel-ell-1849950042), I immediately thought [about this moment](https://gizmodo.com/last-of-us-hbo-length-left-behind-dlc-neil-druckmann-1849945355). And one of the things that I felt pretty strongly was, look, we’ve got this insane first episode where the world falls apart and there’s tragedy.

As a fan of the video game, watching the show change things can make one feel antsy as our The Last of Us Episode 3 recap shows.

Hopefully, the showrunners finally unleash the unruly horror and gritty violence that drew us to the game in the first place. In the game, Ellie is tough and always on the lookout for a fight. Fans of the game will love the inclusion of crafting in this episode. Offerman, in particular, behaves just like his video game counterpart for much of the episode but, unfortunately, doesn’t get the same substance to chew on. Joel only meets Bill in a brief flashback, but he and Ellie never meet up with the character during the present-day storyline. The Last of Us video game works so well because it’s about the relationship that develops between Joel and Ellie during their wild journey across a desolate America. Ellie finds a box of tampons in a secret room, a minor but interesting beat. Later, they discover Frank hanging in a house with bite marks all over his body — depressing, to be sure, but isn’t that more in line with The Last of Us? Rather than follow the beats of the game, the series pivots and allows Bill and Frank to live a mostly peaceful life during which the pair paints, work out, enjoy romantic walks through sunshine-drenched neighborhoods, and pick fresh strawberries. When Joel shows the letter to Bill, he grumbles, “F—ing idiot,” and tosses the piece of paper away. I’m all for good character development and was always curious to see what happened to the pair of star-crossed lovers. Watching The Last of Us TV show is a difficult task.

'The Last of Us' Episode 3, featuring Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett as gay couple Bill and Frank, is earning an overwhelmingly positive reaction from ...

Response to the episode online has been overwhelmingly positive, with fans praising the writing of the romance between the two characters, and Bartlett and Offerman's understated performances. "One of the beautiful things for me about this experience was being paired with Nick and finding that both of us wanted to just go there. [Nick Offerman](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a31994535/nick-offerman-devs-interview-profile/), who lives alone in a bunker following the outbreak of the cordyceps infection that decimated the population. The episode ends with Frank, who has been getting increasingly more sick from an unnamed terminal disease, asking Bill to assist him in euthanasia so he can die with dignity. Initially distrustful of this newcomer, Bill reluctantly offers Frank shelter and a meal. Several years after the initial disaster, Bill encounters Frank (The White Lotus and [Welcome to Chippendales](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a42041931/welcome-to-chippendales-true-story/) star [Murray Bartlett](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a37328826/white-lotus-finale-poop-death-murray-bartlett/)), who has been caught in one of his many traps.

Craig Mazin weighs in on the HBO series' third episode, a bottle episode featuring heartbreaking performances from Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett.

“And if we know emotional success can still happen in this world, if it can go well, we can worry a little bit more as Joel and Ellie move through this story because if there’s no chance it goes well, then no one cares much. And I know that there’s a certain different kind of love that happens that you can’t get early on. “I wanted to show there’s this other form of love that’s the product of time and commitment,” says Mazin. In the show, Mazin and Druckmann revise the love story, allowing Bill and Frank not only to fall deeply in love with one another but to find decades of happiness together. Mazin argues that Frank and Bill’s melancholy but beautiful ending serves an important purpose for the story going forward. There’s a lot of tension, a lot of sadness and tragedy and violence. And they’re also people who through wounds—very different kinds of wounds—have shut the rest of the world out.” In the game, Joel cashes in on a favor Bill owes him by asking Bill to help him rig up a working car. Chronicling Bill’s story from the beginning of the pandemic, rather than introducing him 20 years in, also allowed the show to expand its scope. On his last day, the two men get married, and Bill informs Frank that he intends to die too. Frank befriends Joel’s partner Tess via radio communication, and soon Bill and Frank are on double dates with Joel and Tess, to the chagrin of Joel and Bill, both of whom would prefer to keep their inner circles small. When the infection is first discovered in 2003, Bill hides out in his home in the suburbs of Boston while everyone else evacuates the town.

It's been hailed as one of the best episodes of TV in a long time. Nick Offerman as Bill and Murray Bartlett as Frank in The Last of Us.

As Joel and Ellie drive off, they find Bill's music in the car. Frank wakes up to the house under attack, and Bill is outside attempting to fend off the intruders. Joel and Ellie later arrive at Bill and Frank's place, to find it uncharacteristically run-down. In a soul-shattering moment, Frank tells Bill that today is his "last day". Cut to three years later, and the two of them are still together, having a raging argument about the appearance of their town. He's shot and looks in a bad way as Frank drags him back into the house and onto the table. Frank asks Bill who the girl he's singing about is, to which Bill replies: "There's no girl." Unable to listen any longer, Bill stops him and takes over, giving an emotional rendition of the song. Director Peter Hoar has said that Offerman was genuinely shaking during the piano scene - and that the pair's relationship was somewhat mirrored in real life as Bartlett guided Offerman through the scenes. He unsuccessfully tries to reroute her, but Ellie then sees countless skeletons, including that of a baby, buried in the ground. Watching the horrors unfold on a CCTV feed, he declares: "Not today, you new world order jackboots," before going about his plans and securing himself in a haven of his own making, complete with running hot water, all the wine he could drink, and booby traps to take care of any wandering infected, or any intruders. She sacrificed herself to buy Joel and Ellie time - and her loss is immediately felt in the opening scene.

The survivalist takes center stage in the HBO Max adaptation, and you're not ready for this incredible episode of TV.

We never see Frank alive in the game, since he and Bill had a falling out prior to Ellie and Joel's arrival. In the show, when Bill finds him in the trap, Frank says he was on his way to Boston. The duo take Bill's car and hit the road to find Joel's ex-Firefly brother Tommy in Wyoming (with Ronstadt's 1970 song Long Long Time kicking off their journey). Tess and Frank immediately hit it off, while the more severe Joel and Bill find a mutual respect. Bill tenderly pushes Frank into their room and the scene fades to black. And you'll cook a delicious dinner," he says, before taking his pills out of his pocket. Bill is a loving caregiver, helping his partner take his pills and get around. Probably for the best, since Bill had an arsenal of weaponry and seemed absolutely ready for a siege. In 2007, Bill's way of life appears to have served him well -- he looks much the same four years after the outbreak. A flashback reveals how Bill managed to avoid getting dragged into a quarantine zone by the US military after the September 2003 outbreak. Their mission is to get Ellie to the rebel group known as the Fireflies, due to her immunity to the [fungus that's turned much of the populace into savage cannibals](https://www.cnet.com/science/biology/features/the-last-of-us-fungal-pandemic-actually-happen-a-scientific-investigation-hbo-max/). The hope is that they can replicate Ellie's resistance and restore the world.

The most sublime episode of HBO's The Last of Us offers its richest narrative exploration yet of the life and love two men share.

While everything is collapsed around them, it is in the loving life of Bill and Frank that we got to experience infinite beauty which will never be lost, even after both of them are gone. It is this willingness to show love and all the facets of it that makes this episode one which pulls us deeper into their corner of the world. In the small life the two built, the beauty of all existence was allowed to lay down roots. It shows that this type of bonding and connection is not merely a nice perk to surviving the apocalypse — rather, it is essential. At the end of the world when it seems almost everyone else had turned on each other and any sense of community was hard to come by, two men are making a go of it together. It is not presented in a sappy manner, but a truthful one. [Craig Mazin](https://collider.com/tag/craig-mazin/) at the helm, it never undercuts the horror of everything else and actually grapples with a greater emotional depth because of the heart it captures. When you come to care for these characters and the love they share, you see the value of continuing on in a way that is greater than it would be with either of them alone. Even when it seems like opening up your world to another carries with it immense risk, this is one that is worth taking. While Bill was indeed a character, he was a bitter and broken man who had become separated from a partner that we never even saw alive. He treats Frank as an intruder into his life and remains resistant to even let him out of the trap he set, let alone opening up to him at all. This has now been done most effectively in the third episode, entitled “Long Long Time,” which [also happens to be the very best of the series thus far](https://collider.com/last-of-us-hbo-episode-3-recap-long-long-time/).

The Last of Us episode 3 director Peter Hoar talks GQ through casting Nick Offerman in an unexpected role, and shooting a pivotal moment of physical ...

[The Last of Us](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-last-of-us-tv-show-review), and for good reason. Increasingly utilised on sets across film and TV, their job is to ensure that actors participating in sex scenes are properly looked after, consent is continuously provided, and that the scene’s agreed choreography is upheld. (Bartlett is openly gay.) “We did talk a little about representation,” Hoar says. Hitting pause, for the larger part, on our central story following the cross-country odyssey of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel ( [Pedro Pascal](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/pedro-pascal-interview-2022)), it re-shifts focus on a peripheral character from the video games, the paranoid survivalist Bill (Nick Offerman), and his impossibly beautiful romance with Frank (Murray Bartlett), a wanderer who stumbles upon his compound. “We were like, If Nick says yes, isn’t this the dream cast?” We’re used to seeing Offerman play gruff everymen who can wield a hammer, sure, but we seldom get to see him play with a character’s interiority. “It was a journey for Nick, he’d never done anything like that.

The video game and HBO series have hit the same character beats and even kept the same dialogue in specific moments. That all changes this week with episode ...

It’s a dark and crushing moment in the game. As Joel and Ellie arrive to Bill’s house, they finally find the car and battery that Joel has been desperately searching for. Frank is never seen in The Last of Us Part I, having died when Joel and Ellie go to Bill’s home (the game's events differ from the show). These devices are on full display as Bill and Frank get attacked by a group of travelers in this episode. Leaving him and Joel to defeat a Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Episode 3 and mild spoilers for The Last of Us Part I.The first two episodes of The Last of Us have been incredibly faithful to the source material.

The series takes a detour, spinning an emotional, romantic tale that unfolds like an alternate timeline from the game.

Joel goes on to call out specific foods, such as bread, cereal, and pancake mix, that would have kicked off the pandemic before it was further spread by aggressive infected biting others. Joel explains to her that it was initially spread through the food supply, specifically mass-consumed ingredients, like flour and sugar. [Nick Offerman](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/nick-offerman)) and Frank ( [Murray Bartlett](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/murray_bartlett)). Through the lens of Ellie’s curiosity, the show continues to shed light on the Cordyceps virus’ origins. The episode also closes with an interior shot of Bill and Frank’s bedroom window, a familiar image – complete with windswept curtains – that faithful fans will recognize from the game’s main menu screen. These two separate threads ironically collide when, in the show, Ellie finally gets her gun – unbeknownst to Joel – while snooping through the now-deceased Bill’s home. The episode is easily the series’ best yet, one that’ll deservedly be hailed as a major departure from the game that changed the story for the better. Additionally, you have the choice, as Joel, to share the letter with Bill or keep it a secret. Similarly, if you’ve just played through the “Bill’s Town” chapter of the game before watching the episode, you might watch the argument unfold with bated breath, wondering if it will ultimately lead to a pissed-off, infected Frank hanging from a rope. And the feeling is mutual, as Frank, who chose to hang himself after being infected, leaves an especially nasty suicide note for Bill. In fact, upon closer inspection of two key scenes – one from the show, one from the game – you can begin to appreciate how both stories not only began on the same path, but could have just as easily continued down it to reach identical conclusions. And, in fact, given the emotional intensity of the scene, you could be forgiven for entirely forgetting the pair were even mentioned.