Episode 3 of The Last of Us tells the love story between Bill and Frank. One scene in particular, with great support from Linda Ronstadt, changes the course of their relationship.
It is an episode that upsets and that will mark the history of the series: Long Long Timethird chapter of The Last of Us, has just been broadcast (on Prime Video) in France. Rewriting the story of Bill and Frank, this episode 3 is an extraordinary proposition plunging us into twenty years of a post-apocalyptic, confined life as a couple.
Each moment of this episode, worthy of a film on its own, carries meaning. But one scene in particular is a trigger for the rest of the story: a piece played on the piano.
The rest of this article contains SPOILERS for episode 3.
Long Long Time by Linda Ronstadt
After the first shared dinner, Frank comes across the piano in Bill’s house. He rummages through the scores — Letter to Elise (Beethoven), Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach). Bill specifies that these belong to his mother, then Frank grabs a third, declaiming ” This one is yours and adding ” it is my favorite “. This is where he interprets Long Long Time, song from the 1970s, by Linda Ronstadt. Then, it’s up to Bill to take over at the piano, performing a softer version, however.
Gold, Long Long Time is a song about loneliness and the unspeakable, first of all, which corresponds to Bill’s situation for so many years: ” there is no one by my side “, proclaims a verse, another evoking “ invisible wounds “. But it is also a ballad about love that fills this loneliness: ” And I think I’m gonna love you for a long, long time. »
For Bill, so shy, withdrawn, to sing this song with such intensity is a confession. A declaration. The message gets through, because after all, didn’t Frank himself declare, a few moments earlier, that this score was also his “ favorite explaining his choice?
” Who’s the girl you sing for? asks Frank. “ there is no girl “replies Bill. But, Frank knew the answer, and his question was only an invitation. This is where the connection is fully established between the two men, Frank touching his shoulder and accompanying this gesture with a “ I know “. Their first kiss follows, then, later, the first carnal experience that Bill shares with a man. At the end of the episode, it is also sitting on this same piano, 15 years later, that they will exchange their rings.
That the episode is named with the title of this song is not insignificant. Bill and his estate form a fortress against the brutal, antagonistic outside world. It is art, thanks to this song which has stood the test of time as much as this piano dating from 1946, which has succeeded in creating a human, romantic connection between two men.
This is how this episode, Long Long Time, like the song, is an ode to passing time and to this promise of a love that resists it. Which, in a post-apocalyptic world, takes on an even more dizzying grace.
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