![]() ![]() With the benefit of a generous HBO budget, there is a staggering sense of scale to this apocalypse, from the subtle touches - one extra wears an Al Gore Presidential campaign T-shirt, a signifier that time stopped at the early 2000s outbreak - to the faultless CGI, grand cinematography, and lavish production design. This is what is so impressive about this adaptation: how fully realised this world is. To say more might spoil the experience suffice to say that it is moving, surprisingly romantic, and one of the finest hours of television in recent memory. He’s re-imagined here as a survivalist and occasional conspiracy nutter who prepared for zombies his entire life, proving it possible to eke out a good dystopia from the ruins of the world. Most riveting of all is the extraordinary, near-standalone third episode, which tells the full story of Bill, a previously very minor character now played by Nick Offerman. None of the major plot-points are drastically changed, but several episodes go gloriously off-piste from before. Thrillingly, the show is perhaps at its strongest when it deviates from its original blueprint. ![]() ![]() One of the game’s key strengths was its depth of character, and that’s only intensified here. But - save for one moment where Joel tells Ellie that he’ll “give her a boost”, a sly nod to one of the game’s key mechanics - it never feels like you’re watching a video-game. As before, we follow Joel ( Pedro Pascal) and Ellie ( Bella Ramsey) making their treacherous journey across a post-apocalyptic United States, from Boston to Wyoming, taking on zombies (known here as ‘infected’), plus the equally terrifying living, in a quest for a cure - or at least some kind of internal healing.įor anyone who has played the game, it is a sometimes surreal experience to see its most iconic moments (the collapsed skyscraper, the giraffes) handsomely rendered in live action. Clearly aware they are working from a pretty bloody strong template - and perhaps also conscious of pleasing the game’s aggressively loyal fan base - Druckmann and Mazin have hewed relatively closely to the original narrative. Most striking, first of all, is how faithful a transfer this has been. ![]()
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