Let’s talk about the beautiful portrayal of gay love in the third episode of HBO’s ‘The Last of Us,’ shall we?
For more context, the series’ plot reads:
“The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic action/horror drama. It takes place twenty years after a species of cordyceps fungus infects humanity, turning those who inhale its toxic spores into animalistic, zombie-like infected.”
Episode 3 spoilers incoming…
The episode, titled “Long Long Time,” focuses on the story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and his partner Frank (Murray Bartlett). In the original video game, Frank becomes infected and decides to kill himself in order to save Bill.
In the series, however, ‘The Last of Us’ strays from the “bury your gays” trope in pop culture, and gives Bill and Frank a demise that is undoubtedly tragic, but also in a manner where there were no suffering, nor struggle.
Both of them didn’t get infected, and they also weren’t brutally killed. Instead, Frank suffers from a degenerative disease, which leads to him asking Bill to assist him in committing suicide. Of course, Bill is horrified by his request, but eventually gives in after Frank tells him:
“Love me the way I want you to.”
The two enjoy a beautiful last meal, and then Bill empties a bag of crushed pills into his lover’s wine. In the end, Bill tells Frank that he also took the fatal drink, expressing:
“This isn’t the tragic suicide at the end of the play.
I’m old, I’m satisfied, and you were my purpose.”
Bill and Frank exchange a loving look, and then they head to bed. The couple falling asleep in each other’s arms is the last we see of them. On a handwritten letter, which they left before taking their lives in the bedroom, Bill wrote:
“I used to hate the world, and I was happy when everyone died. But I was wrong. Because there was one person worth saving. That’s what I did. I saved him, then I protected him.”
Episode 3 brought on the waterworks.
byu/uptothemountains7 ingaybros
There is no denying it — ‘The Last of Us’ portrayed a beautifully powerful gay love story, which is one for the books, and we’re absolutely HERE FOR IT.
Moreover, Bartlett shared about his experience working with Offerman in an interview with PinkNews.
“I love Nick. It turned out he loved me, which was great. And there was chemistry there, which was sort of charged with what we knew we were about to do.
I think there was magic in the script and we all sort of carried that with us,” ‘The White Lotus’ actor shared.
He also revealed that even the show’s cast and crew were very emotional about their scene, even before they got to shoot anything.
“We came to set the first day and everyone was on the verge of tears, and we hadn’t shot anything yet.
It is such a beautiful script. We were all completely floored by it. I think the entire crew, every department, was treating this episode with such reverence because everyone loved it so much and everyone came at it with such emotion,” Bartlett expressed.
‘The Last of Us’ airs every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
Sources: 1) thepinknews.com, 2) thepinknews.com, 3) collider.com
I am Bill.
My husband literally bawled through half of the episode….not light weeping or a tear…but full out ugly cry. Kept looking over to make sure he was ok as he was gasping for breath between sobs
I read a couple places this was one of the best gay scenes in TV. I’ll have to watch it to see if I agree.