The Last of Us: all the game Easter eggs in the HBO show

HBO’s The Final of Us is a solution to revisit the enduring and beloved online game of the identical title — to revel within the methods it’s each unchanged and fully completely different. For devoted followers of the sport, the enchantment of The Final of Us just isn’t essentially in being stunned by twists and turns of the story; slightly, it’s to see the franchise in a brand new mild, choosing out the little particulars that time again to the unique media.

There’s loads to see in that regard. Video video games are identified for his or her Easter eggs, the small and obscure references hidden as little surprises within the recreation. And so it is sensible that HBO’s The Final of Us would do the identical, to make refined (and never so refined) nods to all of the The Final of Us-heads on the market. The Final of Us Half 1 felt prefer it so badly wished to be a film or present, and now the TV present is switching that up — not less than in a method.

Episode 1 Easter eggs

Halican Drops

Photograph: Shane Harvey/HBO

Halican Drops is the title of the band on the T-shirt Joel’s daughter Sarah (performed by Nico Parker) is carrying at first of the present — and the sport. There’s no actual significance for the band within the recreation, aside from a couple of posters, however the again of the T-shirt does foreshadow how the sport performs out: Every tour cease is one other location that Ellie and Joel will go to all through their journey.

Other than Sarah’s T-shirt, there are Halican Drops stickers in home windows, too — not less than based on set photos.

Again-seat driving

When Joel, Tommy, and Sarah are attempting to flee Austin through the chaos of the preliminary outbreak, the present’s administrators make intelligent use of the digicam angle to make The Final of Us really feel just like the online game. It’s all within the third-person view, with the digicam within the again seat. That is precisely how the sport is shot from the truck — you’re nonetheless taking part in as Sarah at that time, and she or he’s within the again seat. A number of of us famous immediately that it simply feels like a online game throughout these photographs, a trick that’s of a lot better use right here than in different TV variations of video games, like Halo, which tried the first-person view — together with participant UI.

Sarah waking up

Sarah wakes up in her bed room in the midst of the evening in each the sport and the TV present, stumbling round sleepily at nighttime to see what’s occurring. Each scenes present a little bit extra context however in several methods. Within the online game, you management Sarah, and she or he’s trying by way of her home at nighttime. You’re not on a set path, and you’ll choose up issues in the home, which offer some extra context — one merchandise is a newspaper that particulars how admittance to native hospitals is up by greater than 300%. Within the online game, an contaminated particular person comes busting by way of the glass door, however Joel shoots him, earlier than they run exterior and Tommy exhibits up, proper on time.

The Final of Us TV present has Sarah waking up, alone, as a result of Joel went to bail Tommy out of jail. She finally ends up again on the neighbor’s home, bringing their scared canine house. That’s when she will get a really clear glimpse of what’s occurring: The contaminated previous girl is munching on her housemates. This scene units up the horrors of the contaminated otherwise, giving some extra context to indicate viewers what’s occurring.

Joel’s wrench

Tommy and Joel pull as much as their neighbor’s home simply as Sarah is getting attacked by the contaminated previous girl, however fortunately Joel has a formidable weapon: a wrench. The heavy wrench appears to be like to be of forearm’s size and doubtless fairly helpful whereas they’re escaping town, however Joel drops it immediately.

Why not reserve it for later use? Toss it into the again of the pickup truck and also you don’t even have to carry it. Our greatest guess is that it is a nod to the online game — in The Final of Us Half 1 and The Final of Us Half 2, you get max three hits in your on a regular basis melee weapons. They break on a regular basis, and that’s by design. The Final of Us is a recreation about survival, and you must scavenge for every part, together with bullets and, sure, wrenches for hitting contaminated issues.

Marlene

Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO

Does Marlene in The Final of Us TV present sound acquainted? That’s as a result of the identical actor performs each roles. Merle Dandridge performs Marlene in The Final of Us Half 1 and The Final of Us Half 2, taking the function on a 3rd time for the HBO adaptation.

If you’re misplaced within the darkness

Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO

The total phrase, If you’re misplaced within the darkness, look to the sunshine, seems a number of occasions within the present, and it’s plastered everywhere in the video games. The phrase is graffiti on partitions all through Boston (and certain elsewhere), an emblem and motto for the revolutionary group the Fireflies — the people who find themselves combating the oppressive army within the nation’s quarantine zones. Marlene’s considered one of them, and an necessary one at that: She’s the chief of the Boston faction, and the one that places Ellie in Joel and Tess’ care.

Curtis and the Viper 2

Curtis and the Viper 2 is the film that Sarah picks up from the neighbor’s home in The Final of Us, pulled from a shelf alongside the likes of Pink Panther and Murderball. Not like these two, Curtis and the Viper 2 isn’t an actual film, but it surely’s nonetheless an necessary one. Individuals who have performed The Final of Us Half 2 will bear in mind it tearfully — it’s introduced up within the second recreation as a tacky ’80s film, however one which was going to imply so much to the 2 folks watching it.

“The Lengthy and Winding Highway”

When Ellie and Joel are ready for Tess to scout for the escape from the Boston quarantine zone, Ellie picks up the ebook of No. 1 music hits and flips by way of it. There’s one web page marked off with a bit of paper — the radio code for Joel and Tess’ smuggling operation. The web page it opens to is simple to overlook, however could also be a nod to the franchise — The Beatles’ “The Lengthy and Winding Highway.” This could possibly be reference to the lengthy, winding street that may take Ellie and Joel throughout the USA, or perhaps the lengthy and winding street it’s been since a The Final of Us film adaptation was introduced in 2014.

Bigwig’s daughter

In the identical scene the place Joel and Ellie are discussing the radio code, Joel begins to query Ellie on her personal life — why Marlene and the Fireflies are going by way of a lot bother to smuggle her out of Boston. Nobody is aware of but of Ellie’s true situation — that she’s immune — and she or he’s sworn to maintain it a secret. Joel asks if Ellie is a “bigwig’s daughter” or one thing, and Ellie responds that it’s “one thing like that.” These few traces are pulled straight from the sport, however in these scenes it’s Tess speaking to Ellie once they’re escaping the zone.

Escaping the quarantine zone

Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO

Ellie, Joel, and Tess’ escape from the Boston quarantine zone has a couple of photographs which can be heavy references to the sport — the overgrown world is darkish and gnarled up with automobiles and buses to crawl beneath and thru. However there’s one scene specifically that stood out for its similarities to an iconic degree in The Final of Us Half 1: Chapter 3, “The Outskirts.” Crawling by way of tunnels and particles, the trio has to dodge spotlights and flashlights from the army guarding the quarantine zone wall — spots within the recreation the place it’s important to play the sport as stealthily as doable. Visually, the present does a intelligent job of mimicking that feeling.