The third episode of The Last of Us might have been called “one of the greatest episodes of TV ever made,” but there’s one detail that fans just can’t help but criticise.
Sunday’s episode left some fans in disbelief when the show tried to get viewers to believe that a rocky mountain range was “10 miles West of Boston.”
Just over 2 weeks ago, audiences were introduced to the HBO Max series, which is the first live-action adaptation since the video game wowed audiences way back in 2013.
Just like the games, the series is set in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by an unstoppable, brain-eating, fungal outbreak that transforms humans into cannibals.
The writers have been commended for honouring the original source material, which rapidly gathered a devoted fan base when it first came out. The engaging storylines, impressive visuals, and music propelled it to its massive success.
For those who haven’t watched the show, Joel, portrayed by Pedro Pascal, is a ruthless smuggler who is responsible for transporting the young teen Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey) to a medical facility situated on the opposite side of the country after it turns out she’s immune to the infection, leading him to believe she could hold the cure to the deadly parasite.
The Last of Us premiered on January 15, and has been met with rave reviews from both critics and fans, resulting in an unbelievable score of 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Some are even claiming the show is better than the games.
The show has stuck to the gameplay religiously, in parts, recreating scenes frame by frame. And it has really paid off, as original fans are loving seeing the story come to life in a different way.
Fans already had to say goodbye Sarah Miller in the first episode, who was a pivotal character, and one that many felt a deep connection with in such a short amount of time. But due to her death being identical to the game, most were impressed with the way the show pulled it off.
Then in the second episode, we lost Tess, whose death was slightly different. Joel and Ellie teamed up with the hardened survivor, and all three set off on a mission to transport Ellie to their next destination before heading to the quarantine zone.
Sadly, we learned that Tess had been infected, and she chose to sacrifice herself so that Joel and Ellie could escape the infected area and carry on with the mission.
Then on Sunday, episode 3 dropped, and fans think it’s the best one yet.
In the episode titled Long Long Time, fans got to meet 2 new characters, Bill, a paranoid survivalist played by Nick Offerman, and Frank (Murray Bartlett), who were only ever briefly mentioned in the games.
The episode is set just a little while after the outbreak and centres around the partnership they both share before going on to meet Joel and Ellie on their journey to deliver her to the Fireflies.
This differs from the games entirely, as in them the pair die way before Joel and Ellie meet, both resorting to taking their own lives.
But it seems like this alternate character arc has gone down extremely well with fans, despite the change of direction.
One fan wrote that it “will probably go down in history as one of the greatest episodes of TV ever made”.
Another echoed: “The last of us episode 3, one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever watched.”
A third added: “Ok so #LastOfUs ep 3 is one of the most moving and beautiful and devastating stand-alone tv episodes I’ve ever seen. I love that it showed us another option in the end of the world than the Walking Dead’s ‘hell is other people.’”
Despite the incredible reception, some fans just couldn’t get past one small detail when it came to the geography of the Boston area.
During the episode, a clip of a rocky mountain range was shown with the text, “10 miles West of Boston,” and anyone that knows Boston, and the surrounding area, knows that just doesn’t exist. And with the added fact that the filming actually took place in Canada, some fans have been left annoyed.
“Getting belligerently angry when ‘The Last of Us’ tries to claim that a mountainous terrain that’s clearly northwestern is ’10 miles west of Boston,’” wrote Twitter user wrote.
While another joked: “I went to college about 10 miles west of Boston, and I vividly remember all the wonderful times I had in the part of Middlesex County that looks exactly like a coniferous forest in the Canadian Rockies.”
However, a third wrote: “Except none of us have lived 10 miles west of Boston 20 years after an apocalypse…”
