(Don't know who made the Poster but it certainly isn't me)
Cast :
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Joel Miller
Sadie Sink as Ellie
Rosario Dawson as Marlene
Carrie-Anne Moss as Tess
Josh Holloway as Tommy Miller
Lee Pace as David
Brandon Scott as Henry
Amandla Stenberg as Riley
Evan Alex as Sam
Ashley Scott as Maria
Derek Phillips as Dr Jerry Anderson
Episodes
1/ Outbreak Day
Guest Appearance: Julia Butters as Sarah Miller, Ashley Johnson as Ashley/Infected, Troy Baker as Bridge Soldier
Sarah Miller lives alone with her dad and has worked hard to offer him the best birthday gift she could, a watch. After falling asleep, she's awakened by her uncle calling her to get her dad. Waiting for him to return, she's seeing that her world is slowly turning to madness as the TV Shows report severals aggression across the country. She's forced to flee her home with her dad and Uncle after her neighbor try to kill her. The family flee on the roads until they crash in a town outside Austin where she broke her leg. Trying to get to the army, her uncle try to get them some times, they are shot and she dies in her father arms with her uncle saving her father.
2/ The Package
Guest Appearance : Laura Bailey as Infected Citizen
20 years after the Outbreak, Joel Miller is a broken man living from smuggling in the quarantine zone of Boston. Working with Tess, another smuggler, he's trying to regain his merchandise from another smuggler called Robert. They kill him after he reveal that he doesn't have it anymore. They save Marlene, the leader of a group called the Fireflies, and a girl named Ellie from the army and she reveals to them that she can give them anything they want if they get Ellie to a group of Fireflies outside of Boston at any cost.
3/ The Quest
Escaping from the army and Boston, Ellie is revealed to be infected and to protect herself from Joel, she reveals to the duo that she has been bitten three weeks before, she is immune and the Fireflies hope to make a vaccine thanks to her. Joel is skeptical but Tess is hopeful. They arrive to see that the Fireflies are dead and has to defend themselves from the infected. Joel wants to abandon the tasks but Tess force Joel to accept as a last favor to her, she has been bitten. Joel and Ellie leave to travel across the country to join Tommy in Jackson Wyoming as he might know where the Fireflies's lab is.
4/ Trapped City
Guest Appearance: W. Earl Brown as Bill
Joel wants to get a car from an old partner of him Bill but they encounter severals difficulties as Bill has wired and trapped the whole town. They must learn to trust the skills of the others to get to him. After that, Bill is revealed to be a somewhat older version of Joel, he has lost everything and doesn't want more human contact that could die later on. He give them a car and they leave. On the Road, Joel and Ellie share precious moments of bonding.
5/ Brothers
Driving into Pittsburg, they are ambushed by local bandits and ally themselves with two brothers, Henry and Sam, and each begin to friends with their equivalent (Joel to Henry and Ellie to Sam). After they escape from the city, Sam is bitten but hide it from the others. As the infection take hold, Sam attack Ellie and Henry is forced to kill him. Henry kill himself as he can't bear to have failed his brother.
6/ Jackson
Joel reminds himself of the last moments he saw his brother ten years ago. Tommy was being idealistic about his missions with the fireflies and Joel was cynical and openly called Tommy Stupid. After a small fight, they each goes their separate ways. In the present, Joel open himself to Ellie about his relationship with his brother. As they arrive near Jackson at a dam, they are ambushed by a group of Jacksonian lead by Maria and are saved by Tommy himself the now husband of Maria. After helping with the defense of the Dam, Joel convinces Tommy to take Ellie to the Fireflies. Ellie hearing that Joel wants to abandon her, flee Jackson forcing Tommy and Joel to look after her. After a confrontation in a nearby farm, where Ellie imagines herself in a world without a pandemic, Joel swear to stay with her, Tommy gives them the place where he was assigned as a Firefly and offer them a home when all's over.
7/ Broken Hope
As they look for the Fireflies laboratory, Ellie speaks about her infection and that she died with her best friends. Joel finally speaks about his daughter and all the bad things he had to do after the outbreak to survive. Finding no fireflies, they still manage to find a clue that their new HQ is at the Saint's Mary Hospital in Salt Lake City. As they leave, they are attacked, Joel is badly hurt and Ellie barely manage to escape with him and hide in the mountains.
8/ American Dreams
As she's looking over Joel, Ellie recalls the last day she had with her friend and where all began for her. She was in a military school in Boston and Riley ha disappeared only to return one night showing her new Firefly badge. They pass a night in an abandoned Mall where after making too much noise, they are bitten and decide to die together in a poetic manner. Yet Ellie doesn't turn and is saved by Marlene a friend of her mother and who's been watching over Ellie discreetly for years.
9/ Hunted
Guest Appearance: Nolan North as James
As she's looking for food in the snow, she encounters David and James and has to survive an horde with them. Despite a cordial exchange, David reveals that he is the leader of the group that attacked Joel and Ellie in the University and know that she's the one who murdered his crews. She manage to lead them away from Joel but is captured and refused to join their canibal group. Joel awakens and looks for Ellie, destroying David Group but find that Ellie has escaped and killed David.
10/ The Last of Us
Guest Appearance: Florence Pugh as Abby Anderson, Dacre Montgomery as Owen
Joel and Ellie reach Salt Lake but have difficulties reaching the hospital by the sewers. Ellie manages to saves Joel but nearly drown and Joel is assaulted and put unconscious by an unknown adversary
In a park of Salt Lake City, a teenage girl named Abby look for her father, and then both look for a zebra. After saving it, they are found by a teenage boy named Owen, in the same uniform as the one who arrested Joel and is revealed to be a firefly. The boy call Abby's Father Dr Anderson and inform him that "The Girl" has been found. Hurrying, Anderson does some test on a still unconcious Ellie and informs Marlene that they have the possibility to make a cure but that will kill Ellie. After some hesitation, Marlene gives her a blessing and goes informing Joel against Anderson's approval. After a heated exchange, Joel is thrown out of the Hospital and hesitates for a time before coming back saving Ellie. Anderson try to convince Joel but is killed and Joel leaves the Hospital, killing Marlene in the process. Abby finds her father and cry in the arms of Owen. Weeks Later, as they arrive in Jackson, Ellie make Joel swear that what he said about the fireflies was true, that they couldn't make a vaccine, and that her immunity meant nothing. He hesitates for a second before swearing. He leaves in the direction of the town but Ellie looks unsure of Joel words.
The Last of Us received widespread critical acclaim, especially Coster-Waldau performance, the Atmosphere, the Soundtrack and the Chemistry between the two leads. It received several awards including
Outstanding Drama Series, Coster-Waldau for
Best Actor in a Drama Series, Scott for
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and Neil Druckmann/Craig Mazin for
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Episode Brothers). In terms of public reviews, it has managed to win a 87% Metacritics Score and high-viewing ratings despite being a year after the end of another Pandemic (Covid-19), it has been compared to other "Dark" themed series since it's a hard universe with people saying that even when the duo is reunited and is looking to lives in Jackson, we still don't feel as if it's a full win with people calling the ending "Bittersweet".