HBO’s The Last of Us expands Bill & Frank’s gay romance om the game - Polygon

Contents:

• THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY
• THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO
• HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE
• THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST
• HOW LAST OF US EPISO 3 AVOIDS CLICHé GAY TROP EXPLAED BY CREATOR
• THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE
• THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG EPISO THREE’S GAY ROMANCE

THE LAST OF US’ GEO GAY LOVE STORY COULD NOT BE MORE TIMELY

“It was geo, and I was so not expectg , ” said Darn Lowenste, 41, a vio game nsultant, who is gay.

“Obvly, I’ve played the gam religly and I know there’s gay characters there, but I was not expectg an 80-mute … tearworthy piece of art.

” Queer-themed gam date as far back as 1992’s “Gay Bla, ” acrdg to the LGBTQ media advocy group GLAAD.

THE LAST OF US TELLS A HNTGLY BETIFUL STORY OF GAY SURVIVAL S THIRD EPISO

Though Bill’s role the game is small, and his mentn of beg gay brief, did not go unnoticed by LGBTQ gamers like then, he was his early 20s and still the closet about his sexualy.

HBO’S THE LAST OF US IMPROV ON THE GAME’S IMPLIED GAY ROMANCE

”Adaptatn giv gamers hope for more reprentatnSome queer viewers exprsed excement that Sunday's episo would expose even more people to gay vio game characters.

THE LAST OF US EPISO 3 REVIEW BOMBED BEE GAYS EXIST

What we got stead was a psule episo, and a particularly bracg one, given the show’s opprsively bleak mood th far: The hour is dited to the love story of Bill and Frank, a gay uple who—due ially to Bill’s skills as a bunker-stockg, booby-trappg, Don’t Tread on Me survivalist—manage to build a largely happy existence together an abandoned and eventually fortified ral hamlet for almost 20 years. Wh Bill and Frank, we were given a portra of love—specifilly gay love—that feels surprisg and urgent. In our own 2023, we are not exactly lackg for media imag of whe gay men.

HOW LAST OF US EPISO 3 AVOIDS CLICHé GAY TROP EXPLAED BY CREATOR

For one thg, we see gay sire portrayed all s plexy, but wh a touch as light as a breeze playg through curtas.

Bill’s is not a “type” of gay man I n say I’ve ever seen mastream media before, and watchg him slowly reveal and epen that aspect of himself wh Frank’s help—sexually, y (Hollywood: more hairy bear love scen please! But Bill and Frank create somethg else, a ltle oasis of their own that’s regnizably gay, full of quiet bety and joys the size of new strawberri.

Frank wants to fix up the block and some of the “not stupid” shops—the we and furnure stor, the clothg boutique—bee he hop they might one day have unfected guts (which they eventually do, the form of Joel and Ts), but really bee makg thgs nice, pecially when nicens isn’t valued, is one of the great gay llgs.

THE LAST OF US LETS GAY LOVE FLOURISH THE APOLYPSE

As an echo of the gay experience wh AIDS, is, as veteran activist Peter Staley put a Facebook post, a ftg tribute to the “tenr love & bravery gay men summoned when facg ath durg the plague years, cludg those who did so on their own terms.

How powerful, then, to see not only a gay uple given an entire hour of a marquee show, but a gay uple who are held up as the keepers of civilizatn, as stewards of bety, as emblems of human digny and possibily. Over the urse of 80 mut, the episo tak a gay relatnship mentned only passg the source material and turns to a s-spanng character study embodyg the show’s overarchg them of love and we first meet Bill (Nick Offerman) he’s a doomsday prepper who’s happy to watch the human race fall to piec — until a chance enunter-turned-romance wh fellow survivor Frank (Murray Bartlett) giv both men a life-alterg sense of purpose that has major ramifitns for Joel and Ellie years down the le.

THE LAST OF US DIRECTOR SAYS HE WANTED TO ‘TRICK’ VIEWERS TO WATCHG EPISO THREE’S GAY ROMANCE

But I thk ’s not jt as simple a story as him sayg, “Oh great, here’s a man, here’s a gay man, and we n have a good time together. ”I mean, I’m a gay man, I’m 53.

’s not really a queer drama per se, but ’s about a boy who jos the Mar as a gay man, and of urse at a time where was illegal. As a rult of that, ’s about what is that mak you a gay man, a queer man, or whether you n hi .