HBO’s The Final of Us is a solution to revisit the long-lasting and beloved online game of the identical identify — to revel within the methods it’s each unchanged and fully totally different. For devoted followers of the sport, the attraction of The Final of Us will not be essentially in being stunned by twists and turns of the story; slightly, it’s to see the franchise in a brand new mild, choosing out the little particulars that time again to the unique media.
There’s lots to see in that regard. Video video games are identified for his or her Easter eggs, the small and obscure references hidden as little surprises within the sport. And so it is sensible that HBO’s The Final of Us would do the identical, to make refined (and never so refined) nods to all of the The Final of Us-heads on the market. The Final of Us Half 1 felt prefer it so badly needed to be a film or present, and now the TV present is switching that up — at the very least in a method.
Episode 1 Easter eggs
Halican Drops
Photograph: Shane Harvey/HBO
Halican Drops is the identify of the band on the T-shirt Joel’s daughter Sarah (performed by Nico Parker) is sporting at the start of the present — and the sport. There’s no actual significance for the band within the sport, aside from a number of posters, however the again of the T-shirt does foreshadow how the sport performs out: Every tour cease is one other location that Ellie and Joel will go to all through their journey.
Other than Sarah’s T-shirt, there are Halican Drops stickers in home windows, too — at the very least in line with set footage.
Again-seat driving
When Joel, Tommy, and Sarah are attempting to flee Austin throughout the chaos of the preliminary outbreak, the present’s administrators make intelligent use of the digicam angle to make The Final of Us really feel just like the online game. It’s all within the third-person view, with the digicam within the again seat. That is precisely how the sport is shot from the truck — you’re nonetheless enjoying as Sarah at that time, and he or she’s within the again seat. A number of of us famous immediately that it simply appears like a online game throughout these pictures, a trick that’s of significantly better use right here than in different TV diversifications of video games, like Halo, which tried the first-person view — together with participant UI.
Sarah waking up
Sarah wakes up in her bed room in the midst of the night time in each the sport and the TV present, stumbling round sleepily at midnight to see what’s occurring. Each scenes present somewhat extra context however in several methods. Within the online game, you management Sarah, and he or she’s trying by her home at midnight. You’re not on a set path, and you may choose up issues in the home, which give some extra context — one merchandise is a newspaper that particulars how admittance to native hospitals is up by greater than 300%. Within the online game, an contaminated particular person comes busting by the glass door, however Joel shoots him, earlier than they run outdoors and Tommy exhibits up, proper on time.
The Final of Us TV present has Sarah waking up, alone, as a result of Joel went to bail Tommy out of jail. She finally ends up again on the neighbor’s home, bringing their scared canine house. That’s when she will get a really clear glimpse of what’s occurring: The contaminated previous girl is munching on her housemates. This scene units up the horrors of the contaminated otherwise, giving some extra context to point out viewers what’s occurring.
Joel’s wrench
Tommy and Joel pull as much as their neighbor’s home simply as Sarah is getting attacked by the contaminated previous girl, however fortunately Joel has a formidable weapon: a wrench. The heavy wrench seems to be of forearm’s size and doubtless fairly helpful whereas they’re escaping town, however Joel drops it straight away.
Why not put it aside for later use? Toss it into the again of the pickup truck and also you don’t even have to carry it. Our greatest guess is that it is a nod to the online game — in The Final of Us Half 1 and The Final of Us Half 2, you get max three hits in your on a regular basis melee weapons. They break on a regular basis, and that’s by design. The Final of Us is a sport about survival, and it’s a must to scavenge for all the things, together with bullets and, sure, wrenches for hitting contaminated issues.
Marlene
Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO
Does Marlene in The Final of Us TV present sound acquainted? That’s as a result of the identical actor performs each roles. Merle Dandridge performs Marlene in The Final of Us Half 1 and The Final of Us Half 2, taking the function on a 3rd time for the HBO adaptation.
While you’re misplaced within the darkness
Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO
The total phrase, While you’re misplaced within the darkness, look to the sunshine, seems a number of occasions within the present, and it’s plastered all around the video games. The phrase is graffiti on partitions all through Boston (and certain elsewhere), a logo and motto for the revolutionary group the Fireflies — the people who find themselves preventing the oppressive army within the nation’s quarantine zones. Marlene’s one among them, and an essential one at that: She’s the chief of the Boston faction, and the one who places Ellie in Joel and Tess’ care.
Curtis and the Viper 2
Curtis and the Viper 2 is the film that Sarah picks up from the neighbor’s home in The Final of Us, pulled from a shelf alongside the likes of Pink Panther and Murderball. In contrast to these two, Curtis and the Viper 2 isn’t an actual film, however it’s nonetheless an essential one. Individuals who have performed The Final of Us Half 2 will bear in mind it tearfully — it’s introduced up within the second sport as a tacky ’80s film, however one which was going to imply lots to the 2 individuals watching it.
“The Lengthy and Winding Street”
When Ellie and Joel are ready for Tess to scout for the escape from the Boston quarantine zone, Ellie picks up the e book of No. 1 music hits and flips by it. There’s one web page marked off with a bit of paper — the radio code for Joel and Tess’ smuggling operation. The web page it opens to is simple to overlook, however could also be a nod to the franchise — The Beatles’ “The Lengthy and Winding Street.” This might be reference to the lengthy, winding highway that can take Ellie and Joel throughout america, or possibly the lengthy and winding highway it’s been since a The Final of Us film adaptation was introduced in 2014.
Bigwig’s daughter
In the identical scene the place Joel and Ellie are discussing the radio code, Joel begins to query Ellie on her personal life — why Marlene and the Fireflies are going by a lot bother to smuggle her out of Boston. Nobody is aware of but of Ellie’s true situation — that she’s immune — and he or she’s sworn to maintain it a secret. Joel asks if Ellie is a “bigwig’s daughter” or one thing, and Ellie responds that it’s “one thing like that.” These few strains are pulled straight from the sport, however in these scenes it’s Tess speaking to Ellie after they’re escaping the zone.
Escaping the quarantine zone
Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO
Ellie, Joel, and Tess’ escape from the Boston quarantine zone has a number of pictures which can be heavy references to the sport — the overgrown world is darkish and gnarled up with vehicles and buses to crawl below and thru. However there’s one scene specifically that stood out for its similarities to an iconic stage in The Final of Us Half 1: Chapter 3, “The Outskirts.” Crawling by tunnels and particles, the trio has to dodge spotlights and flashlights from the army guarding the quarantine zone wall — spots within the sport the place it’s important to play the sport as stealthily as potential. Visually, the present does a intelligent job of mimicking that feeling.
