‘The Last Of Us’ Reveals The Limits Of The Video Game Adaptation

So much of the latest episode doesn't actually feel like you're watching a prestige television show.

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 5.

Watching someone else play a video game might not sound like a particularly fun way to spend your free time. And yet, according to a recent survey from MIDiA Research, the average gamer spends 8.5 hours per week watching other people play games online, and just 7.4 hours actually playing themselves.

Clearly, video game fans are more than happy to turn their hobby into a passive activity, but what happens when that same experience is transferred into the world of prestige TV?

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If you’ve been watching HBO’s “The Last of Us,” you may have noticed that, as Season 2 progresses, it’s beginning to feel a bit like watching someone else play a video game for you.

That isn’t totally unexpected. After all, the show’s source material, “The Last of Us Part II” is a well-written, interactive drama with great voice acting and plenty of shocking twists. Adapting it into an HBO series was always going to feel a bit like a shot-for-shot remake of the game. But with “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 5, we’re starting to see the limits of this adaptation.

The episode primarily follows Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) as they attempt to infiltrate the Washington Liberation Front’s headquarters in their quest to find and kill Abby (Kaitlin Dever). This involves sneaking through an abandoned building full of fungus-infested zombies, which, of course, quickly goes sideways. But before their mission can even begin, we get a bit of exposition dialogue that feels eerily similar to the setup you might get in a video game before starting a new level.

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As Ellie and Dina prepare to embark, Dina explains how she’s been observing the WLF and triangulating their movements across Seattle. She also notes that the group has been speaking freely on an unsecured walkie-talkie network.

“It’s good, they’re overconfident,” Ellie says. “It gives us an edge.”

After a bit more planning, Ellie adds, “Let’s go be reckless.”

If this was a video game, that would be the moment the save icon popped up, giving you one last chance to grab some extra bullets and resources before heading off on a challenging mission.

“In the ‘Last of Us’ games, sprinting through carefully designed levels full of interactive obstacles can be a lot of fun. But when you’re watching it happen on HBO, it gets old fast.”

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The rest of the episode really does feel like watching a video game. Ellie and Dina need to slip through a big abandoned building that the WLF is actively avoiding (because zombies), which involves lots of sneaking around, shooting enemies and running from bad guys. At one point, they come across a “smart” zombie and quickly hatch a plan.

“It’s gonna try to flank us, but I say we flank it first,” Ellie says, delivering the type of dialogue video game characters typically only offer up after you’ve failed to make it past an obstacle on your own and clearly need some help.

As the episode nears its climax, the entire focus becomes running away from enemies — the infected, the WLF and the cult-like Scars. In the “Last of Us” games, sprinting through carefully designed levels full of interactive obstacles can be a lot of fun. But when you’re watching it happen on HBO, it gets old fast.

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Finally, in the episode’s final moments, Ellie sneaks into a WLF outpost and confronts Abby’s friend Nora (Tati Gabrielle). Nora runs from her, and Ellie chases close behind. (Yup, more running.)

If you compare the scene from the episode to the same sequence in the game, there are some notable differences. The HBO adaptation simplifies the chase and removes all the nameless WLF soldiers that Ellie needs to murder along the way. But ultimately, the effect is the same. The only difference is that instead of an interactive experience, you’re passively watching a very similar sequence.

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The episode ends with a powerful final scene in which Ellie brutally murders Nora, signaling how her obsession with vengeance has come at the price of her humanity. However, it’s not enough to make up for an overwhelmingly unsatisfying hour of television.

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This is all the more disappointing because “The Last of Us” seemed more willing to deviate from the game earlier on in Season 2. Yes, Joel still died at the beginning of the story, but the way his death played out felt different in a way that reflected the shift from PlayStation to HBO. This just makes it all the more frustrating to see the series fall back into something much closer to a shot-for-shot remake.

After all, if the HBO series feels like watching someone else play the game, then why not just play it for yourself? Or, at the very least, watch someone else play it online?

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