The Last of Us Episode 1: What did they change from the game?

The new world order in the Boston QZ

That brings us to 2023. As with the Sarah sequence, a lot of the early events of the 2023 segment are invented for the show. The game picks up with Joel waking to find out that Tess has been roughed up by Robert’s thugs, so everything that happens before that point is new.

That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of references though, like the wanted posters for Firefly leader Marlene scattered throughout the QZ or the public execution of several civilians, which Joel does witness in the game, albeit under slightly different circumstances. The Firefly motto “when you’re lost in the darkness, look for the light” is also taken from the game.

As for Tess’ interaction with Robert, this is an example of the show dramatizing events that happened offscreen in the game, similar to how it actually showed us Sarah getting Joel’s watch repaired. This time, we see that Robert is trying to haggle with Tess and apologize for the fact that he double-crossed her and Joel by taking their money for a car battery before trying to sell it to someone else.

The game was slightly different in that Joel and Tess’ issues with Robert revolve around weapons they were trying to buy as opposed to a car battery. At this point in the game, Joel is not yet trying to find his brother Tommy; instead it’s implied that Tommy and Joel previously had a falling out and that Joel would be reluctant to ever contact him again. But the bones of the thing are the same: Robert’s thugs accidentally jumped Tess, and she brings the information about the scrapped deal to Joel with the aim of getting revenge.

Joel and Tess’ vendetta against Robert goes down differently as well. In the game, you shoot your way through Robert’s goons, while the show has Joel and Tess arrive after they’ve already been killed during a shootout with the Fireflies, who we discover were the other buyers for the battery.

Meeting Marlene and Ellie

In the video game, Joel and Tess are responsible for Robert’s death, whereas on the show they find him dead on the scene. Both of them feel far more ruthless right out of the gate. On the show, we don’t see how violent Joel can become until the final moment when he beats a Fedra soldier to death.

However, the pair still meet Marlene in a similar way right after Robert’s death, where they find her wounded and she enlists them to help smuggle Ellie out of the QZ. Joel and Ellie’s first interaction is slightly different. Ellie still tries to stab Joel, but it’s Tess who holds her back, and the group quickly move on from it without Joel ever threatening to shoot Ellie.

All of Ellie’s scenes preceding her meeting with Joel were inventions of the show. We still get lots of references, though, such as when Marlene asks Ellie about “Riley,” a character from Ellie’s past who we’ll undoubtedly learn more about as the season goes on. And as an added cool bonus, Marlene is played by Merle Dandridge in the show, who also provided the voice for Marlene in the video game.

Sneaking out of the Quarantine Zone

From there the show and game converge once again with Joel and Ellie going back to his apartment to wait for Tess to make the necessary arrangements for their escape. While Bill and Frank’s radio music code is an invention of the show, much of the rest of that scene is directly from the game. Joel falls asleep on the couch, telling Ellie she’ll figure out how to keep herself occupied while she points out that his watch is broken. The bit where she tells Joel he mutters in his sleep is directly from the game as well.

The actual escape from the QZ has been condensed a bit; there’s no need for the group to fight random enemies along the way like there would be in a game. Instead, Joel, Tess, and Ellie sneak out of the QZ in the dead of night and come face-to-face with a guard who previously bought drugs from Joel.

The exchange between the group and the guard is very similar to the game, right down to the dialogue. Once again, Joel and Tess are more brutal in the game. They show how seasoned they are by gunning down a pair of soldiers while Ellie mutters in shock that she just expected them to “hold them up or something.”

In contrast, the show gives Joel a flashback to Sarah’s death, which inspires him to beat the soldier to death with his bare hands to protect Ellie while she watches, fascinated and maybe even excited. It’s an intriguing change that foreshadows some of the long game storylines. The fact that it was a soldier we knew instead of some faceless grunt makes it more brutal.

While The Last of Us premiere may not have been an exact copy of the beloved video game, it had enough references to make it clear that this is an adaptation seeking to honor the original story. It’s an encouraging sign for longtime fans of Naughty Dog’s series.

The Last of Us premieres new episodes every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max. Check back for more game vs. show breakdowns each week!

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