In the game, Joel takes Ellie to an acquaintance of his and Tess named Bill in Lincoln, Massachusetts. This involves entering a town overrun by infected, exploring and looting as players traverse Bill’s explosive tripwires that detonate nearby explosions. HBO’s The Last of Us tells a beautiful story about Bill and his lover Frank in its third episode, but this episode’s narrative is still almost entirely different from the narrative proposed in the game.
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HBO’s The Last of Us Gives Bill and Frank Their Own Chapter
The third episode of HBO’s The Last of Us opens with Joel and Ellie making their way to Bill’s town, and even here there are many diversions from the source material, such as Ellie cutting a pinned runner’s forehead out of curiosity or enjoyment.
Then, when Bill is introduced in the flashback from the start of the outbreak, it is learned that he was a survivalist and conspiracy theorist who hunkered down in his home’s hidden basement while FEDRA rounded up people from neighboring houses. Bill is then free to take the entire town for himself, and is industrious enough to be able to fortify it on his own.
It is here that he meets Frank as a wanderer who fell into one of his traps. The episode goes on to depict their lives together as lovers, and it is because of Frank that the two meet Joel and Tess and establish a business relationship. However, how Bill and Frank met is not portrayed or explained in the game, nor is how Joel met Bill.
Rather, Joel does not even know who Frank is until Bill describes him as his “partner” and he is already seen hanged. Anything involving Frank in the show is then known to be written for the show alone, but it ultimately creates an entirely new story for Bill and reinterprets how all of these characters know one another. Likewise, Bill and Frank are able to sustain their town with nobody else living there, and only one instance of raiders attacking them is ever depicted—unlike the game, where The Last of Us’ infected enemies such as runners, clickers, and a bloater are seen.
HBO’s The Last of Us Gives Bill and Frank a Bittersweet Ending
In the show, Bill and Frank grow old together and in the present day they decide to spend one final day together where they marry and fall asleep in one another’s arms. Joel and Ellie arrive sometime after this occurs, and Ellie reads a note aloud from Bill that tells Joel he is free to take anything he wants. Joel charges a truck battery and the two head out on the road, which closes the book on Bill and Frank’s emotional and tender love story.
In the game, players see The Last of Us’ Bill as a distressed and downtrodden survivor who learns that Frank was frustrated with him and tried to steal the truck battery, but was bitten by a horde of infected. Joel and Ellie are then urged out of the town after Bill helps them through it, leaving Bill to be a lonely character who is distrusting of others and has a lot of emotions bottled up.
The Last of Us debuts new episodes every Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
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