Why HBO’s ‘The Final of Us’ rewrote the love story of Invoice and Frank

In “Lengthy, Lengthy Time,” the newest episode of HBO’s “The Final of Us,” we enter Invoice’s never-before-seen romantic life. Followers of the sport might discover some large deviations from the supply materials, as characters are given reimagined lives.

Within the recreation, we meet Invoice solely briefly, as protagonists Joel and Ellie go via his city in hopes of scrounging collectively a working car for his or her journey throughout a post-apocalyptic America. We uncover Invoice wasn’t at all times solo — his romantic companion, Frank, died by suicide after changing into contaminated. The sport doesn’t linger on these particulars lengthy, with solely small nudges and insinuations via dialogue and textual content, however there’s a way that the connection ended bitterly.

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Compared, we meet a extra susceptible Invoice (performed by Nick Offerman) within the TV present, who spends almost twenty years alongside Frank (Murray Bartlett) as they construct a peaceable life collectively whereas the surface world fights for survival throughout a zombie apocalypse. This peek into their largely tranquil life, which the sport by no means provided, is greater than welcome, particularly when prolonged happiness — not to mention between a queer couple — is so uncommon on this universe.

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It’s a change showrunner Craig Mazin stated he got here up with to “go deeper” with Invoice and Frank, and to supply a “breather” after two quick-moving, action-oriented episodes. It’s additionally an answer to translate a gameplay-heavy part of the sport to the massive display. Throughout the writing course of, Mazin advised Neil Druckmann, co-creator of the present and recreation, that he was “about to put in writing one thing [Druckmann] wouldn’t acknowledge.”

“As a lot as I beloved enjoying it, I assumed possibly we’d do one thing wildly completely different,” Mazin advised The Washington Put up in a current interview. He recalled feeling impressed by the sport’s revelation of Invoice having a companion, explaining the way it’s sudden, particularly due to Invoice’s presentation as a “paranoid nutter” and a “cranky, very straight-acting, annoying man.” He’s not somebody you’d essentially anticipate to have a romantic backstory, Mazin stated.

“There was this tragedy to the best way it ended,” he stated. “And I assumed, ‘effectively, what if we truly go actually deep into that? And it would not essentially have to finish the identical manner because it ended within the recreation. It may finish fairly in a different way.’”

The change to Invoice’s story offers us new context for who he’s, who he turns into, and the constructive impact he’s had on others. But it surely additionally brings us to a brand new conclusion, with Invoice and Frank rising aged and Frank ultimately falling sick. Unable to take care of himself, his high quality of life wanes, and he requests a marriage ceremony the 2 can rejoice collectively that ends with Frank taking his personal life. To Frank’s shock — and maybe to the viewers’s as effectively — Invoice consumes sufficient tablets “to kill a horse” alongside him.

The story is heartbreaking, however Mazin considers it nonetheless hopeful.

“We had an opportunity to ask: what occurs when a personality on this world is definitely, comparatively protected?” Mazin stated. “What do they do? What do they want? Can we give someone a cheerful ending? And I feel they’ve a cheerful ending. I do. They win. They get this complete life collectively. And when it ends, it ends on their phrases as they need. It is also necessary to indicate to the viewers that there was an opportunity for issues to be okay, and for like to flourish, and to conclude effectively.”

Relatively than having to battle for his or her love, Invoice and Frank merely exist collectively. For Mazin, it was a possibility to delve deeper into extra views of how love can manifest within the post-apocalypse.

“I needed to discover this basic thematic dichotomy that comes up time and again as we watch the collection, and that’s that there are two very completely different sorts of affection,” Mazin stated.

Mazin defined that the best way Frank reveals love is, because the character says within the episode, by “being attentive to issues,” as he performs renovations in town, vegetation stunning gardens, and sometimes surprises Invoice with these to indicate affection. Invoice, then again, reveals love via safety. As they develop nearer, a profound concern of loss is felt, significantly by Invoice, one that’s harking back to how Joel cares for Ellie. “I used to be by no means afraid earlier than you confirmed up,” he tells Frank in a second of vulnerability.

Exploring these new views turned doable as Mazin, Druckmann, and the remainder of the crew labored to construct a cinematic expertise that expands the fictional world of the video games. Mazin noticed this episode as one other probability to “give context to the time that occurred between outbreak day and the place we at the moment are within the story.” These tales past Joel and Ellie give viewers an opportunity to expertise “The Final of Us” in a reimagined gentle. In some circumstances this has labored effectively, whereas others are extra closely debated. Maybe we’ll see extra of those sorts of tales because the collection continues within the months forward, and past in its second season.