Episode Three of HBO’s latest hit series “The Last Of Us” aired Sunday, and it explains how the world ended in just three days.
Walking through the broken landscape that was once the outskirts of Boston, Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) explained to Ellie (Bella Ramsey) how the outbreak of cordyceps fungus started, and it was terrifying. To the best of humanity’s remaining ability, the assumption is that cordyceps, a very real parasitic-like fungus, evolved to be capable of inhabiting human hosts.
That fungus then got into some part of our food supply. Joel suggests it was something common, like flour or another wheat product. Those products were consumed on a Wednesday or a Thursday, and people started to feel sick by Friday morning. By Friday night and into Saturday morning, our entire species was at risk of digested infection or attack by those under the control of cordyceps.
Seriously, if you weren’t already scared of existential threats like asteroid impacts, geomagnetic storms, or supply chain collapse that could send us back into the dark ages in less than a day, the fact a fungus exists that could theoretically do to humanity what its portrayed to do in “The Last Of Us” is haunting. In my opinion, this is one of the worst potential apocalypse scenarios.
Aside from this terrifying story, Episode 3 introduced the world to Bill (Nick Offerman), a survivalist who does what we all dream of during the apocalypse: builds a beautiful fortress and lives a quiet, happy life away from governmental and societal control.
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What did y’all think of #lastofus on @hbomax ?? https://t.co/79vshKIYXs
— KAY SMYTHE (@KaySmythe) January 16, 2023
Me and my family initially joked that Bill was the perfect spinoff story for Offerman’s role as Ron Swansea in “Park and Recreation,” but then things got very, very gay. As we all know, Swanson loved powerful women, but in “The Last Of Us” Offerman’s character falls in love with Frank (Murray Bartlett), a man he rescues from one of his own traps, and his one true soul mate.
In what can only be described as the most moving love stories written in the post apocalypse, this one episode arc tugs at the heartstrings of every survivalist and lover or love. (RELATED: It Looks Like HBO Has Another Mega Hit On Its Hands)
It took the imagined apocalypse to depict the most compelling gay relationship Hollywood has ever produced. It was the perfect balance of current humanity, with two jacked, hairy men falling in love, one of whom is introduced to the audience with the line “jack booted motherfuckers,” as he sits in front of a Don’t Tread On Me flag in his gun-filled doomsday survival shelter, but is soft enough to truly love another like any man should be capable.