HBO's The Last of Us fans defend latest episode after it's branded 'a filler'

This article contains spoilers for episode three.

Mondays are very quickly becoming my favourite day of the week because it means we get to unpack and discuss a brand new episode of HBO’s The Last of Us - and oh my. Episode three, ‘Long Long Time,’ lived up the hype, providing us with what could end up being one of the best television episodes of the year.

In case you missed it, The Last of Us has officially been renewed for a second season which is no surprise really. The series marks HBO’s second-largest debut since 2010, plus the second episode had the biggest week two viewership increase in HBO history. This week, we were treated to another feature length episode, clocking in at around 80 minutes. It’s the show’s biggest departure from the game so far and yet, it’s also the series’ most triumphant episode. A few fans were unimpressed by the drastic change though.

Take a look at what’s in store on The Last of Us in the weeks ahead.

Episode three spent the vast majority of its runtime exploring the relationship between Bill and Frank and is told across the span of several decades. In the game, the duo’s relationship is only referred to and we never actually meet Frank. Instead, we just find his corpse … bleak. Here, we explore how the duo met, fell in love, and thrived in spite of the apocalyptic conditions they found themselves living in.

It’s a stunning hour of television and, dearest reader, I bawled. Some Reddit users have branded the episode “a filler” though. Did they watch the same episode I did? Rude_Bid642 wrote, “Bill and Frank’s backstory shouldn’t have taken up the whole episode [...] Everyone stating that it was so emotional and they were crying are being dramatic. The entire episode was basically a filler,” while Zimmylo added, “Invited my friends over to watch episode three, only to find out it was a filler episode.” BipolarShooter wrote, “An hour and 20 minute episode where the protagonists play second fiddle for only about 10-15 minutes. Honestly this episode feels like a pointless filler episode just to pad out the rest of the season.”

If this has left you feeling rather confused, let me put your mind at ease. Plenty of fans rallied to defend the episode. User ladrac1 said, “I enjoyed every goddamn minute of it and think it's one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen.” PoorFilmSchoolAlumn wrote, “To me the episode felt thematically relevant. This was the story of a man who was initially only motivated by self preservation, but, eventually, he came to realise that some things are more important than survival.” Sounds a lot like Joel, huh? As AmericanSeagul perfectly notes, Bill and Frank’s story “proves the need for something to survive for and that simply just surviving to keep breathing isn't living.” We’ll be back to the action soon enough. Let’s enjoy something a little bit different in the meantime.