The Last of Us Episode 1 Review: The Flour Theory Explained 

I personally think they decided to let the prologue take place in 2003 instead of 2023 because of the lack of social media/technology back then. The entire prologue is so good because it builds so much tension and Sarah has no clue about what’s going on. But if it was set in 2023 she would likely have a phone and just be able to see whatever was going on, which would break the tension completely. But that’s just a theory, a series theory.

One reason I think why Tommy was suddenly in jail, aside from a ploy to get Joel away from Sarah for a moment, was to add another layer of tension as the outbreak begins. Note #1: Why was Tommy in jail? Because he was a bar and someone started to attack him, so Tommy fought back and knocked him out. I think it’s safe to assume, that person he knocked out, was an infected. But the police force had no idea. Understandably so. Note 2: Pay attention to the background noise of the call, it’s chaos in the jailhouse, because I bet the police force has captured the infected because they have no idea what it was, for all they know, the inmates are in a drug ridden frenzy. For those reasons, I’m okay with the change of putting Tommy in jail, I think that works out pretty well

In TLOS podcast, they mention that the opening is not a "definitive" explanation for the virus but a very "plausible" theory. One of many. Also, I think setting it on September 26th, 2003, adds a bit more emotional depth for the state of the country itself. Since that would mean it takes place JUST over 2 years after 9/11. Which adds more to Sarah's: "Is it terrorists?" line.

For the flour theory, think of it like this that one person in Sarah‘s class was twitching what do most kids eat before they go to school, breakfast cereal which has flour in it. Sarah and Joel ate eggs with no toast and you saw Tommy eating some chicken wings from the fridge.

I convinced my mom to watch the show with me a day before it aired, so she never watched any of the trailers. When Sarah died my mom just started SOBBING for ten minutes straight, like straight up bawling her eyes out. Safe to say she’s hooked and wants to watch more.

😂🤣 I love how you keep calling Jakarta a country when there's literally a scene in the show where Sarah specifically corrects Joel and Tommy - telling them Jakarta isn't a country, but the capital city of Indonesia. Great video - hadn't heard about the flour theory.

I liked how Tommy got arrested and Joel had to go bail him out with Tommy saying “It wasn’t my fault this time.” It’s building up the idea that Joel sees Tommy as his kid brother who he always has to take care of. It’s clear with Tommy joining the Fireflies and going out to Wyoming that he wants to be his own person, and not having Joel constantly looking over him. And with Joel having that PTSD moment at the end signifies that he still only sees Tommy as his lost kid brother that needs his protection. It’s going to be part of Joel’s growth for accepting the past and realizing he needed Tommy instead.

It’s implied in the game that the fungus is spread by crops as well. There’s a newspaper article in the beginning of the game when playing as Sarah that explains how the FDA is recalling more “tainted crops” or something along those lines.

One of the reasons I think they might have set the show in 2003 was the fact 2003 was one of the hottest years on record. In just Europe alone there was a severe heatwave that killed roughly 70,000 people

I think the director is setting up the violent and vengeful person Ellie eventually becomes when she's an adult as I imagine Part 2 will be adapted as well. Essentially planting the idea that Ellie always had this darkness in her so first time viewers don't see her torturing the WLF members as outta left field.

I actually cackled when Ellie slowly and clearly started counting to ten and then stopped after eight just to flip them off. It already shows how fed up and annoyed she is by all of these checkups.

the way i interpreted the line delivery in that scene was showing just how much joel doesnt want to deal with ellie. and while i think it fits, i also think about how much the trailers were pushing this whole “you are cargo” thing and this is just leading into that early. which i suppose will make it that much more of a “heartwarming” moment in that certain hospital scene down the road.

10:10 Joel is looking for Tommy in the game; he finds their base surprisingly, as they arrived at the Dam where his group was working on restoring electricity to their homestead. The key difference I find here is that Joel and Tommy don't have an "antagonistic" relationship as they do in the game, as they are keeping in touch. Then again, the entire telegraph system is novel to the show, so this is purely conjecture.

The 1960s scene is gold. We are the audience and host. Entertained laughing society. The threat is meant to show in that context

I think the change to the outbreak starting in 2003 helps explain why FEDRA was able to take over. 9/11 was still fresh, so the U.S. probably trusted the military more

In my opinion, the reason the line delivery hits differently is because of the tone of the delivery. In the game, it is delivered in a way as if Joel doesn't care what what she does or is impartial. However, in the show, he comes off as aggressive or annoyed. Anyway, awesome video!

I like the idea that, due to gradual and eventual global warming, the fungus evolved over time and maybe by 2003 we were just warm enough for the fungus to thrive and spread to humans. Love your channel!

I think that Tommy being in the military is setting up his skill as a sniper

As for this episode originally being two episodes - I think it was on the official podcast for the show (absolutely worth a listen, if you haven't yet) they said that they initially planned to end the first episode right after the scene where Joel dumps the body of the child into the fire. Apparently the HBO execs said they didn't like that ending because just a few minutes before that Sarah dies and hitting people with both of those deaths back to back only to end the episode is going to cause a lot of people to be depressed and not want to tune in the next week. Ultimately I think it was a good call to combine the first two episodes.

craig mazin is building up joel and ellies relationship to be some what toxic in the sense that ellie likes the feeling of being violently protected while joel likes being violently protective. craig has a point to make about how love isnt always a good thing. he mentions this in the hbo podcast that is released after each episode.

The Joel's line reading during that part kinda fits with how Joel see's the whole plan, like he doesn't want anything to do with Ellie but has to go along with it. His mentality is 'let's just get this over with so i can get back to what he really wants to do & that is to find Tommy'. In the game the delivery of the line is more of Joel being tired in general.

Tommy going to prison is a great change in my mind. Made no sense to me in the original game why Joel would leave his phone and Sarah alone in the house at the very start of an outbreak.

When Sarah first encounters the elderly infected neighbor, It reminded me of Jill's first encounter with the Zombie in Resident Evil.

I think the actors are doing great… but I absolutely agree specifically with your example scene. In the game Troy delivers the line like he’s responding to an ignorant little kid who he could give to shits about but the show version is like Joel’s the kid. Responding in a high school snobby girl. Yes nitpick but I def picked up on that aswell

You said you didn't understand the date change, but that's because irl 2003 was one of the hottest years in recent times in our planet, so it makes sense for the fungus outbreak to take place in 2003 rather than 2013 or 2023, also the time jump of 20 years placing it in our current 2023 it's a nice detail, makes you wonder how would be your life right now if some shit like that actually happened.

The first episode was amazing even the changes were very good and actually had purpose instead of being different for no reason. I love the extra scenes and the detail to the day of the outbreak only complaint I have is that Joel’s daughter looked a little too old to be Sarah but other than that 10/10 episode can’t wait for the rest of the series

The cutoff point was the "20 years later". Luckily an HBO exec told them that it wasn't enough to make the audience WANT to come back to watch the next episode. HBO made the right move here and asked them to rethink it over and they mashed it all into one episode. edit: also Joel isn't on the Atkins diet... he just doesn't want to eat the neighbors shitty food.

Man I’m so glad I found this channel. Always the best break downs. Keep up the good work dude!

In the tv show Marlene and Joel have a brief line about fireflies taking Tommy away. I think him being apart of the resistance and the bumper sticker on his truck are related.

This is such a great video and I heard that the cut off was suppose to be when Joel throws that little boy who was infected into the fire. I love your videos and this franchise and can’t wait to see you review the rest of the show!

My family is hooked and can’t wait to binge every episode the second they come out, this was a great way to tell the amazing story while also appealing to much wider audience, and I like how HBO changed and added certain details so that people who played the games still learn new things while watching

I’m not sure if it’s intentional but iirc 2003 was a record breaking year in terms of temperature, I think it’s like the third hottest year in the 2000s

The Tommy going ti jail thing makes sense, at first watch I thought he just got into a bar fight with a drunk , but after thinking about it , he was defending a waitress from someone showing the early stages of the infection.

Great analysis, I never knew about the flour theory that’s so dope of them to add. Man this is gonna be good.

Im glad you noted the line delivery! That scene with Joel and Ellie and the scene where Sarah gives Joel his watch feels really rushed compared to the game. They definitely could have slowed it down a bit.

This episode was REALLY GOOD! I mean that. I love how we get to see more of the world before the outbreak with more scenes of Sarah. Her death is obviously heartbreaking and I nearly started sobbing. Pedro Pascal is great as Joel. He manages to portray the grizzled cold Joel and the end where he gets PTSD and ends up beating that one soldier up showing that he’s haunted by his daughters death to this day was a good addition. Bella Ramsay actually does fine as Ellie sort of showing a more rebellious side while in the game, Ellie sort of had a rebellious side but not as hardcore as Ramsey Ellie. And also seeing what the post apocalyptic world is like now. I’m excited to see what episode 2 brings. And to anyone who hasn’t seen episode one yet; you definitely should. It will not disappoint!

Great video! Love the depth , and your opinion on the line delivery is absolutely relatable, glad someone else feels the same

Oh hearing how it hit for someone who has played the game *and* someone who hasn’t was very satisfying, I subscribed at 3:54 and hope to hear more analysis like that. I’ve been looking for that point of view.

10:00 joel may have stumbled upon tommy by accident but it’s only accidental because he wasn’t expecting to find tommy at the power plant. joel was already headed to jackson because he thought he would find tommy there. so yeah, the show is probably gonna have joel bringing ellie to tommy because that’s what happened in the game.

I like the prologue interview because it basically reminds us what has *actually* happened in real life and then steps back to show what *could* have happened

I’m happy someone talked about some of the line deliveries. When I talked to my friend about it, he didn’t quite understand what I was talking about

Thriftttty, in the game Joel actually does go to Tommy on purpose, not on accident. It was Tess’s last request to get Ellie to Tommy. This was a great video, it’s so surreal to see this show and i’m loving every minute of it.

Everything you said was spot on with how I felt too. I loved most of the changes because it made sense to make it adaptable to a TV show. And I loved how the went in depth with way more detail and put Sarah in the storyline longer so the audience gets more attached to her before she dies. I also agree that some of the changes were a little weird, like in the TV show Joel wants to find Tommy and it's not indicated they are at odds like it is in the game, and that could bring big changes that I hope are good and not bad. And I also agree with your point how the lines were delivered too quickly and some scenes were rushed, definitely not picking but it seemed a little off. I guess this is what it's like when you read a book and notice every little difference in an adaptation as well.

Dude yes I completely agree about some of the line deliveries, especially the “killing time” scene! Like I knew when I was watching it that being a little bothered by it was a nitpick, but the way it was in the game seemed more fitting for their personalities ig. It’s my favorite franchise ever so while I still loved the episode and most of the changes, I do hope there isn’t too big of a difference in how the dialogue is executed in future eps Flour theory is also nuts. I thought something about the whole thing was a little weird when I was watching, but didn’t put the pieces together because I was focused on the other aspects of the show way more. Love your vids man, looking forward to seeing more

Great review. Subbed

I feel exactly the same way about the line delivery. I felt that very strongly like you in the scene where him and Sarah talking about the watch and again like you mentioned the scene where he took a nap- both times I remember pausing and kind of raising my eyebrow like huh?

THANK YOU. I noticed the Tommy stuff right away. A huge deal in the game is that Joel and Tommy had a big falling out over the things Joel did and got Tommy to do ij the early years of the outbreak. It made looking for Tommy tense because you didn't know if he even wanted to see you again. Nobody has mentioned that but it's a huge difference.

Great video! I took the Ellie "liking it" thing a little differently...so in the scene before they leave the QZ, Ellie kinda asked Joel, in so many words, if he knows what he's doing and if they'll be ok, right? And earlier she asked, "What are they capable of?" I think that was during the part with Marlene. So I took it as her seeing someone defending her (she's never had that before), defending themselves, and handling their shit. I just thought Craig worded it kinda weird. But that could just be my own ideas seaping in lol

I dont know how you got to remembering it wrong but in the game Jole doesn't stumble upon Tommy by accident, he is explicitly looking for Tommy since he ran with the fireflies. The only unexpected part was were exactly he found Tommy

I read somewhere where Mazin said the reason they wanted to show Ellie admiring Joel killing for her is to explain her actions that takes place in Pt 2.

I agree with you bro especially the line when Joel was laying down on the couch it bother me to because to use to the way he said it in the game.

Gustavo's music sets up 50% of the feel of the TLOU. Without it the game and story would not have had the same impact. His soundtrack has a lonely feel to it, which resembles the state of mind that the characters are experiencing within that world. If you listen closely some of the tracks are lonely and dark, while others have that lonely feeling with an undertone of hope and love. I like how they included the Easter Egg of the interview back in 1968. I believe it was a callout to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Night of the Living Dead was the first zombie.

I remember hearing the flour theory in regards to how it spread to other nations from Africa through hints in the game years ago when the game first came out but it died in popularity as other topics of the game started being shared

I love that the man helping joel find tommy over the radios is Tommys original voice actor

I also found the delivery a bit awkward, but you’re right-it’s my gamer bias being like, **it’s not how it was in the gaaaaame wah wah wah**. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

(Game spoilers) I was also really taken aback when I heard them say that Ellie was "activated" by Joel killing the guard. Actually I was more than taken a back, I was a bit disgusted by the idea. Then I listened to the after show podcast, and I understood. People say that love brings out the best in people, but it also brings out the worst, most selfish parts of us. We don't need to get into the "Joel shouldn't have killed the fireflies" argument, but it exists because Joel loved Ellie so much he did some terrible things to protect her. Love and hate, death and birth, violence and hope. They have to coexist. I think this moment might be teasing part 2. Where Ellie both loves and hates Joel, she wants to avenge him and she wants to move on, she can never forgive him, but she becomes him. We all love the last of us, we all love how Joel and Ellie's relationship develops. We love how over the course of the game, Joel has a positive arc, he is able to open himself up to love again, But, what we don't like to confront, is that Ellie's arc is negative. She is in a worse place at the end of the game than she is in the beginning - she feels her purpose, becoming the cure, is gone. She has killed, she has hurt, and for what? A father-daughter relationship with someone who lies to her without hesitation? I have come to appreciate part 2, I don't think I will ever like it, or replay it, but I think the story it tells is so very bittersweet and tragically beautiful. As the best stores are. This moment from Ellie in the show, I feel, is preparing us more for the person she is in the sequel, if we get a season 2. They are a great combination, these two survivors - but also a dangerous one for one another.

I never played the game, but I watched people play it and I love the subtle changes and non changes to the Pilot. Can't wait for episode 2.

The cut off point was after the scene where the bodies were thrown into the fire

I completely agree with your line delivery nitpick it was extremely noticeable

I am so glad you also thought some of the line readings were off. The "Yes sir" 3X was so weird and the line when Joel is killing time felt really bitter. They seemed to make Ellie more mad then confused and Its not bad by any means just off putting.

I actually really liked the scene and change where Ellie goes into this trance state mode watching Joel beat the ever living shit out of that dude. Lol twisted psychotic characters are always my favourite 😂 I'm a bit excited to see if they do anything with that

I heard the original episode ending was seeing Joel throw the kid's body into the fire. They set it in 2003 to have no social media. I think the change in the tone of "I'm sure you'll figure that out" is to reflect he is not just being annoyed (in the game it was more don't bother me attitude) but actually angry at having to smuggle her (don't want you here). Joel is JOKING about being on Atkins. He declines because the man is touching the mouth of the old lady and then the biscuits. Also, it seems that Sarah is TROLLING when she says he loves biscuits, when in fact he doesn't like them. The Jakarta thing is a world fact mixed with the radio mention, a spoiler pic AND an audio from a BBC audiocast

good review and analysis. Mind you I did think CastleVania was handled superbly on Netflix

Actually, that opening scene with the scientists make me wonder: if humanity is brought down to a point where industrialization is no longer possible for a very long time, would it be possible that the earth could cool itself and then kill the virus in that way? Like a backwards evolution.

Ironically enough in game there’s a newspaper that says there’s a new mushroom (I think it’s mushroom) pizza at a restaurant And if the flour theory wasn’t obvious enough… also remember in game tommy said the police found a family brutally murdered in their own home? Remember that infected student what if…?

I like in the beginning the guy says “we lose” specifically. This are interesting words to use for the situation because the show is so much about loss.

Honestly, I'm hooked. I did agree with you on the line delivery, it just seemed more "sassy dad" than "exhausted man" kinda thing. But that was my main nitpick as well.

This is so cool…now people that never played the game would want to play it and it will still be challenging…and gamers that played the last game can enjoy because they won’t be sure of what will happen next in the tv show

Waited for your overview for this show. This is perfect substitute for TWD after is's end.

I think that thing they said about Ellie liking Joel protecting her is some kind of foreshadowing for all the despicable things Ellie does in tlou2. But yeah i didn’t really like how they did that.

I wrote a story like this many years ago except in my version the cordrecepts was a long lost species that used to infect humans and was responsible for eradicated most of the other humanoid species on earth but was then trapped in the permafrost of Siberia only to be released due to global warming. :P

I’m rewatching it with my mum and I just realised another red herring they pulled: the kid that enters Boston at the mid point of the episode has a red screen on the reader when they check if they’re infected. In the game red screen meant negative, aka not infected, and green meant infected

Geeked when i heard a light from the shore at 12:09 onward. bo4 zombies was so underrated

I think that we can all agree that the analysis at the end is much better than the walking dead's end credit analysis scenes.

while joel did stumble upon tommy by accident, finding him earlier than he thought he would, he was looking for tommy in the game because tommy would know where the fireflies were so he could deliver ellie to them. that was in the game all along.

Great video as always Thrifty typewriter 👍

6:48 I can’t tell you how happy I was to see him take the m4. Too many shows and games disregard taking a better gun and it always frustrates me because why wouldn’t you want a better gun to arm yourself with. I’m really glad he took it

I love how in both the game and show our main protags aren't morally good. Like they are good people overall, in a sense. But that doesn't mean thier moral compasses aren't in the grey area

I’m a bit late to the video, but something I really liked about the first episode is that instead of it being typical ‘horror’, it’s focused on ‘terror’, which is much more emotional in my opinion.

6:13 the cutoff was supposed to be when Joel drops the kid into the fire right after the time skip. Very happy they extended it Edit: saw this in the podcast they did after the show

THE LINE DELIVERY that’s exact how i felt about it, it’s probably just because the game has been a part of my childhood but 🤷‍♂️

Fun fact there was a huge gobal heat wave which happened back in 2003

Apparently they said they’re cutting spores and adding in the tendril hair things that came out of the older Adler lady’s mouth, very interesting

They mention that he was a sniper in the military in the second one I believe, to set up why hes such a good shot later.

10:28 yes! Some of those lines and the delivery of those lines sound a feel very square. Also some of the music queues are strange. The second episode was better in terms of music queues. The show still seems great I’m super optimistic and excited for the show!

The thing I dont get is, now that the flour theory was basically confirmed in Episode 2 The grandma should still not have been infected. The Doctor in Episode 1 said the fungus cant survive at high Temperatures but it seems to have evolved to survive in a human body at 35-37°C (I dont know how warm we are exactly). But shouldnt it still die if you bake it at 200°C?

I mentioned this elsewhere but I’ll say it here too; Sarah’s teacher says “your homework is due after class tomorrow” but Tommy later calls and doesn’t want to “stay in jail all weekend” because it’s Friday. There would be no school on a Saturday.

Joel only said he on Akens as a way to politely decline the biscuits

I definitely looked funny at the TV and commented when the dialogue about "killing time" it sounded like a play and Joel read the line too fast as he was expecting her to say it

I will wait for the whole season (before people aks, i am watching the analysis of the first episode to understand how the show handles it, i will not watch more than that), but thanks to your analysis, and i liked that they really focused on infection origin while in walking dead robert kirkman confirmed that it was "space spore" (really shows who cares about the worldbuilding, huh)

I agree with you about the line delivery. There were also a few iconic lines in the trailers that just did not land like they do in the game... most notably, "Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me" and "you have no idea what loss is". By far one of the most emotional moments in the game but it felt very bland in the trailers for the show... but I guess we'll see if it sounds better in context when the episodes actually drop

Agree with most of this except the line delivery point. I think the way Pedro delivers the "You'll figure that out" makes sense. He has no interest in Ellie atm. She is just cargo waiting to be delivered. However... I don't like the line changes when Sarah was dying in his arms. The way that Troy Bakers Joel said "Don't do this to me babygirl"... absolutely killed me the first time I played it, and watching Pedro go through the scene and NOT say that line... I felt like it lessened the scene a little. Especially because of later in the game, when he then calls Ellie babygirl - showing the development of their relationship.

Of the outbreak happened in 2023 because of social media and the internet everyone would have know what’s going on in the morning and news would have spread quickly. 2003 things were different. It took longer to get information, that’s what adds to the suspense. It’s more realistic than 2013 even in my opinion.

2003 is one of the hottests year on record and makes sense that this is when cordyceps evolved to withstand a higher temp aka human body temp

the cutoff was when Joel puts the dead kid in the fire according to Craig. as for the Ellie liking it, it's a set up for the part 2 adaptation

I think when you listen to important dialogue over and over during the past 10 years, listening to it in a different way is going to naturally sound weird/dissatisfying. That's just my guess. Because I'm right there with you

I wish I could erase my memory and watch the episode without knowing the plot 😭 Someone said this episode was basically perfect, and aside from the teeny tiny nitpicks, this episode really was perfect, and im so pumped to keep going

6:51 love that but cause in post apocalyptic shows/ media they never take the gun!

I remember when my sister would play the game back in 2017, I was fascinated by the amazing story and always wished that they would make it a show so people who don't play games could also enjoy it. Take as an example, my girlfriend, she don't like video games but now she can't even wait for the next episode to come out. I was surprise by this cause she doesn't normally watch this kind of shows. I just hope they'll stick to the game as much as possible. As of right now I don't have any problem with the few minor changes so far.

I don't think they should have put any date on the outbreak. Just to help avoid any continuity errors later down the line eg they pass an old car or something that hadn't been released onto the market before the outbreak.