I'll admit, when casting was announced this (Bill) was one of the ones I was actually most skeptical of, if only because a very accomplished HBO alum originated the role (W. Earl Brown) and I could still easily see him in this version of it but Offerman really, really nailed it. I also loved how much focus there was on establishing a sense of place and history here (in the game, it's known as Bill's Town and purely a trap laden stealth section) because if you're going to purposefully avoid a lot of the gameplay sections, it's nice to have a better sense of who these guys are.


Edit because I let the comparative mind take over: Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman delivered a beautiful story about appreciating the little pleasures of being alive choosing optimism over bitterness, and I get why the non-player viewers have been so taken with this episode. It's an episode that could totally stand on its own with or without the show buttressing it and evinces why these post apocalypse, zombie adjacent narratives have amassed such power in this pre-dystopian moment we envision ourselves living in.


Bill & Frank is a great reminder that even surrounded by loss and pain, even just one person can make it all acceptable and even background noise.


-----GAME STUFF BELOW-----



That being said, Joel and Bill have a really interesting rapport in the game and it's through that relationship that Ellie starts to get a better read on who Joel is, and what the people outside the QZ might mostly be like. Originally, this is where the battery comes into play, as Bill owns a truck and knows where a battery is and the three of them go on a mini adventure to get the truck running.

Narratively, that's a pretty big change, but in terms of characterization the letter Bill writes to Joel contains a decent chunk of a letter Joel finds in Bill's house. However, in the game that letter is from Frank to Bill, alongside a hanging Frank who committed suicide after an apparent argument between him and Bill. It's one of the more artfully subtle moments in the game but I think they repurposed it pretty craftily.

It would have been nice to see these versions of Ellie and Bill have some kind of interaction because they have SUCH different views of the world's past and future in the game, but removed from the fan lens this episode runs perpendicular to the first in that it takes some very explicit detours from the game and makes the show all the better for it. Bill's story in the game is mostly about survivalism and paranoia, with Frank a literally specter in his living room, which is maybe a little too dark for a 9 episode week to week blockbuster drama.


-----NO MORE GAME STUFF-----


I'm now officially purely stoked to see what they do and don't bring over from the game going forward.

Posting this outside of game related because it has nothing to do with the narrative but I do love the contrast between the Linda Ronstadt song Joel and Ellie listen to in the truck as they hit the highway in the show and the Hank Williams song they listen to in the game.

Game (there's a hard cut to this song, but I can't find anyone identifying the first song they play, so) - Hank Williams' "Alone and Forsaken" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIuRHp0gxAY

Show - Linda Ronstadt "Long Long Time" (with an emphasis on the "love will abide, take things in stride" opening line) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIuRHp0gxAY

I'll really enjoy if the show continues to have this sort of subtle, metatextual conversation with its source material.

As a totally random musical aside, I felt like if I were the musical director of this show I'd have argued so hard for Jessica Pratt's "Back, Baby" to play over the credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHwq8AUOCc8



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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
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