HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ Is Wrong. Assisted Suicide Is Not ‘Incredibly Romantic’

After the first two episodes of HBO’s “The Last of Us” It was faithful to the eponymous video game, the third installment veered sharply from the source material in its portrayal of characters Bill (Nick Offerman), a cantankerous doomsday prepper, and Frank (Murray Bartlett), a refugee-turned-romantic partner. While opportunities for social and political commentary abound in the show’s post-apocalyptic setting, where government authoritarians use a health emergency to destroy even healthy people, the latest episode focused on a different theme: romanticizing suicide.

In the decade-old game, lead characters Joel and Ellie cross paths with Bill only briefly in their quest for supplies and survival, learning in that encounter that after Bill’s gay partner had become infected with the deadly cordyceps fungus, he took his own life. HBO’s retelling, however, lingered on the homoerotic backstory for the majority of its third episode.

This was possible because viewers were required to suspend logic in order for it to work. For instance, Bill’s declarations that Frank was his “purpose” and he wasn’t afraid of anything before Frank showed up are wholly unbelievable in light of the former’s obsessive prepping for fear of losing his freedom, his apparent passion for conservation and resourcefulness, and his love for his apparently deceased mother and her heirlooms.

That’s to say nothing of the dead end their homosexual relationship offers viewers. The same-sex relationship does not help the plot or the declining human race. But the gratuitous gay plotline, ubiquitous in today’s entertainment landscape, was unsurprising and hardly the most offensive theme.

Warning! Spoilers ahead

After detailing Bill and Frank’s tense meeting and subsequent 20-year stint as aging roommates and lovers, the episode shows a wheelchair-bound Frank with an elderly Bill as his caretaker. That’s when Frank announces abruptly that this will be his “last day.” He’s old, he’s had “bad days,” and he’s made up his mind: He’s going to die.

Worse, his death won’t be by his own hand. He’s tasked Bill with the responsibility of assisting his suicide, directing his life partner to cook him a final meal and then crush a handful of pills into his wine so he can die. Frank manipulates Bill with, even when he protests in tears. “Do you love me? Then love me the way I want you to.”

So that’s what Bill does. When the last shared dinner is over, Bill comes out of the kitchen with a bottle and pair of stemmed glasses as well as a bag of crushed pill. Into Frank’s glass, Bill pours the fateful white powder and watches as his doomed lover drinks the concoction. Then as Bill quickly consumes his own pour, a knowing look washes over Frank’s face: Bill had laced the entire bottle with enough drugs “to kill a horse.”

It’s then Bill’s turn to voice his reasons for wanting to die, none of which would have materialized without Frank’s death wish. Frank responds with a line which sums up the message for the episode:

This is not something I support.