"The Last of Us" has so much good in it: The direction and cinematography, the performances, the production value, the plot - all of it is of an incredibly high quality, higher than one may expect from a seemingly typical post-apocalyptic television series. So what then garners a rating as low as the one I have given? Simply put, "The Last of Us" has some of the worst pacing I have ever seen in a mainstream TV show.

God, how I wanted to love this series. There's no denying that Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are giving their all here - both of them had me openly weeping at various moments due to the sheer emotional resonance of their performances. However, with all the quality and production value both in front of and behind the camera, "The Last of Us" suffers from a surprisingly rushed pace. The phrase "too much but not enough" comes to mind here, especially considering the amount of flashbacks that this series contains. I mean, two episodes are virtually nothing but flashbacks, and almost every single episode contains a flashback of some sort that grinds the current story to a halt. So, when a flashback isn't occurring, the writers need to catch the story up, leading to a two episode finale where the episodes are the two shortest of the entire show. I mean, what's up with that?

In a show about a proxy father-daughter relationship, it's unfortunate that said relationship takes up as little screen time as it does - Joel and Ellie are the stars of the show, and yet it feels as if they are the ones who are seen the least in the series. And so, when their inevitable bonding occurs, it is unbelievable simply because the show devoted so little time to them. And that, to me, is this show's biggest downfall; I simply didn't believe the relationship between them because the series spends more time in flashbacks and with other characters than with the two people the audience cares most about.

Truth be told, the show spends so much time in the past that it feels like the present is an afterthought; the reason the game series is beloved is because of the father-daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie - the show forgets that for two whole episodes, and ignores it for basically four to five episodes, leading to a climax that, while riveting, is unbelievable due to the lack of proper build up. And that's such a shame, because Pedro and Bella are phenomenal in their roles.

Additionally, for a zombie series, the show barely features any zombies - the first few episodes have all the undead violence you can ask for, but that all gets put on the back-burner for the remaining episodes to focus on the true villains: the people. And while that's a novel idea, it rings hollow, especially during the last episode when it is finally revealed why the Fireflies want Ellie. Let's just say that "The Walking Dead" did it better.

"The Last of Us" has a lot to like, but also leaves a lot to be desired. The production value and overall quality is through the roof, so it's a shame that the pacing is as rushed as it is; two or three more episodes would've worked wonders in building up the relationship between the two titular characters. What we got wasn't bad, per se, but it wasn't nearly as fantastic as it could've been.