The Last of Us Goes a Whole Different Direction with Heartbreaking Introduction of Bill

The feature-length installment tells the story of Nick Offerman’s “survivalist” Bill from how he survived the apocalypse to what happens when Joel and Ellie arrive.

If fans of the video game thought Episode 2 of HBO’s “The Last of Us” took a dramatic departure from the source material, they’d better buckle up before diving into Episode 3.

For the second time in three weeks, the post-apocalyptic saga dropped a feature-length episode on fans, clocking in at more than 80 minutes. In the premiere, it was earned because it had to do the heavy lifting of establishing this world and its major players. This episode earned it on sheer quality.

Not enough can be said about the incredible performance of Nick Offerman as Bill, a “survivalist” who endures across two decades after the cordyceps infection slowly but systematically wipes out all of humanity. Seriously, we’re expecting an Emmy nomination for this one!

The creators had a choice at this moment — and you’ll forgive us if we talk briefly about the game here — in how to adapt this sequence. Obviously, in a video game there are missions and quests and monsters galore. They could have gone that way.

However, viewers were just inundated with a cordyceps swarm in the previous episode (another change from the game) and spent the bulk of the hour learning about these monsters and just how terrifying they can be.

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