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The Last of Us<\/em> has proved itself a cold-blooded affair through its first season. It\u2019s colder than ever in episode eight, \u201cWhen We Are in Need,\u201d which adapts the winter chapter of the Naughty Dog video game the HBO series is based on.<\/p>\n Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by show creator Craig Mazin, \u201cWhen We Are in Need\u201d takes some of the most iconic moments from the first\u00a0Last of Us<\/em>\u00a0game and brings them to faithful life \u2014 and faithful death, in the case of the unlucky hunters who find themselves in Joel and Ellie\u2019s crosshairs. Here are some of the most prominent Easter eggs from the episode, as well as the rest of the winks and nods to\u00a0Last of Us<\/em>\u00a0gamers seen throughout season one.<\/p>\n The Original Joel<\/strong><\/p>\n Before there was Pedro, there was Troy. In the video game, Joel’s voice and motion capture come courtesy of Troy Baker; he now becomes the latest\u00a0Last of Us<\/em>\u00a0alum to make the leap to live-action for the HBO show, joining the cast as James, one of David\u2019s disciples. It\u2019s a great tribute to someone who was so essential to the\u00a0Last of Us<\/em>\u2019s success, and only becomes more memorable when you consider the current Ellie is the one who killed the original Joel.<\/p>\n Oh My Deer<\/strong><\/p>\n In the\u00a0Last of Us<\/em> video game, the winter chapter opens with Ellie hunting a deer, leading her directly to David and James. The show follows that same path, with very few changes.<\/p>\n The Pittsburgh QZ<\/strong><\/p>\n David tells Ellie that he and his community originally hail from Pittsburgh, escaping the city after it came under the rule of raiders. It\u2019s the show\u2019s first overt shout-out to one of the more memorable locations from the video game, where Joel and Ellie dodge raiders while working together with Sam and Henry. That portion of the story was changed to Kansas City for the sake of the show.<\/p>\n Disinfectant<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n The Last of Us<\/em>\u00a0declinsd an opportunity to deliver a huge monster scene for episode eight. When Ellie and David first meet in the game, their shelter comes under attack from a small army of infected. It\u2019s a harrowing scene as a gamer, but perhaps a bit too frenetic\u00a0 for the HBO show\u2019s more mournful tone.<\/p>\n Needle Work<\/strong><\/p>\n Ellie nurses Joel back to health using a medicine-filled syringe she receives from David and James. It\u2019s a good callback to the first episode of\u00a0The Last of Us<\/em>, when a FEDRA officer gently promises an infected child a syringe filled with \u201cmedicine\u201d to ease their suffering. This time, the needle actually does the trick, bringing Joel back onto his feet.<\/p>\n Bench Press<\/strong><\/p>\n The episode contains a very quick shout-out to one of the game\u2019s most essential mechanics: the work bench, which Joel sees quickly when he infiltrates Silver Lake. In the game, players upgrade their weapons and tools at work benches strewn throughout post-apocalyptic America. There\u2019s another world where HBO devoted an entire episode to Joel and Ellie modifying all their guns in a veritable workshop, but alas. We\u2019ll take what we can get.<\/p>\n The Power of Belief<\/strong><\/p>\n Several of the scenes from this episode were pulled straight out of the game, from Ellie\u2019s escape from David and James to her final fiery fight with David. But the most iconic game-to-television moment occurs when Joel is back on his feet, interrogating and killing two of David\u2019s henchmen. \u201cIt\u2019s okay, I believe him,\u201d Joel tells the second hostage, right before bludgeoning him to death. The scene is a nearly one-to-one adaptation, though in the game, Joel says \u201calright\u201d instead of \u201cokay.\u201d<\/p>\n A Left Turn<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2014, Naughty Dog released \u201cThe Last of Us: Left Behind,\u201d the first major downloadable content (or DLC) from \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d video game. Just like the episode, the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d DLC is a bonus chapter centering Ellie before she met Joel. While it changes some elements (settings, locations for certain scenes), the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d episode of HBO\u2019s\u00a0Last of Us<\/em>\u00a0more or less follows the big beats of the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d DLC. If you\u2019re becoming a\u00a0Last of Us<\/em>\u00a0super fan but you\u2019re not normally into video games, the two-hour runtime on \u201cLeft Behind\u201d could appeal to you. Then again, you could instead sit back, enjoy some nachos, and watch the entire thing with\u00a0this very handy playthrough video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nEpisode 8: When We Are In Need<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Episode 7: Left Behind<\/strong><\/h2>\n