Sticking the landing of the year's most popular drama is not an enviable task, and "The Last of Us" set its own high bar heading into Sunday night's finale. The zombie drama showed itself to be the rare video game adaptation, on the big or small screen, that honored its source material while taking its own detours for added depth and grace.
One of the more impressive aspects of the show is how it's dared to move slowly against the urgency of a plot in which time is running out for humanity, taking care to build a complex emotional bond between main characters Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) while laying waste to zombies, FEDRA, Fireflies and other opposing forces in post-apocalyptic America.
Though risky, the thoughtful, spacious storytelling paid off: "The Last of Us" has been The Television Conversation of the year, from its stunning premiere (HBO's most popular in a decade behind the "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon") to the moving love story in Episode 3 starring Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman to last week's hellish escape from a cannibal compound.
