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Thomas & Friends
Over 24 seasons, Thomas & Friends has taught young viewers important lessons about being helpful, teamwork and admitting your mistakes.
It’s not viruses that scare Dr. Neuman. It’s fungus.
“Fungi seem harmless enough,” Neuman says. “Many species know otherwise. Because there are some fungi who seek not to kill, but to control…Viruses can make us ill, but fungi can alter our very minds.”
Of course, that’s certainly not a concern (Neuman tells us early on), since fungi cannot survive in any host whose body temperature is over 94 degrees. But, Neuman postulates, what if fungi evolved due to, say, the world getting slightly warmer? Well, then it could be a very real threat.
Like most warnings, that 1968 concern faded into oblivion after decades of security left the world complacent. Besides, who has time to worry about fungus? Certainly not Joel Miller in 2003, a single father of one from Austin, Texas. He’s much more concerned about getting his next paycheck than those growing reports of fungal infections and human aggression in Jakarta.
But then he can’t ignore it any longer. The fungal infection comes knocking. And when the military is commanded to shoot anyone on sight, it rips the life of his daughter right out of his hands. Though Joel survives, he’s about as dead inside as another franchise’s zombie would be.
Still, he keeps moving forward. A couple of decades later, Joel has become a smuggler in a Boston colony hoping to earn enough to get by. And that’s when his friend Marlene introduces him to a 14-year-old girl named Ellie.
You see, Ellie is special. Because while everyone else turns into a zombie upon receiving a bite, Ellie is immune. And given Joel’s skills as a smuggler, Marlene’s hoping he might be able to escort the girl across the ravaged country, where some doctors hope that Ellie’s immunity might produce a cure.
And despite his gruff exterior, Joel and Ellie may become like father and daughter.
By the start of the show’s second season, things have changed dramatically.
Joel did get Ellie to that hospital in Salt Lake City. But what he didn’t realize is that in order to have a chance to produce that cure, the doctors would have to kill Ellie and extract her brain. Joel can’t bear to lose another daughter. So before they can cut open the unconscious girl, Joel shoots and kills every last one of them.
Keeping his guilt to himself, Joel tells Ellie that the cure failed, that raiders slaughtered the doctors and that they’d start a new life in the growing colony in Jackson, Wyoming. But, after five years, that lie has festered, driving a wedge between the two of them.
And that lie is bound to come to light as the consequences of Joel’s Salt Lake City massacre trudge closer and closer. They take the form of another young woman: Abby, whose father Joel mercilessly executed just as he was about to begin operating on Ellie.
And as she crests a snow-covered ridge, Abby sees both Jackson, Wyoming, and revenge in the distance.
To call The Last of Us a zombie apocalypse would be a bit misleading, since “zombie” brings to mind undead shambling corpses. No, in this world, anyone infected by the Cordyceps fungus is certainly still alive, as the parasitic fungal host can’t allow them to die. They also just might still be aware of their actions—just unable to control them. (Try not to think about that when you’re shooting at them.)
Because shoot them you can. The show is based on the popular Naughty Dog video game of the same name, and it’s been lauded for how closely to the source material the series has stuck. Gamers will quickly recognize that some of the dialogue and scenes are very nearly shot-for-shot from the game.
But if you haven’t played the game, this is a world filled full of fungi and bad guys alike. So viewers shouldn’t be surprised if there’s a trail of blood, severed appendages and more on their journey. We even see some children die or succumb to the disease, and, at one point, Ellie must fight off a cannibalistic pedophile, too.
As for other issues, viewers should be aware that Ellie is canonically a lesbian, and we see a couple of her relationships onscreen. Other LGBT characters make notable appearances, too. What’s more, harsh language is prevalent, and a religious doomsday cult plays into the plot of the second season.
Those who’ve played the hit video game should know roughly what to expect from this show—provided it continues replicating the game’s plotlines. For those jumping straight into the deep end with the show, however, its fungal funk may be a bit too difficult to swallow.
Twenty years after the world crumbles to a devastating fungal infection, Joel, a smuggler, is tasked with safely bringing Ellie to an outpost outside the quarantine zone.
A woman convulses in the background of a scene. A man is found bleeding from a bite on his shoulder, and a woman is dead, her body being munched on by an infected woman. A “runner” charges at Joel’s daughter, Sarah, and it cracks its leg when it falls over. However, it stands back up, and Joel kills it by hitting it in the head with a wrench. Other infected people are hit by a car or shot. People fight in the street as a plane crashes to the ground. Other people are bitten by the infected. A soldier shoots a person, and we watch as they bleed out. The soldier is shot through the head.
A woman says people need to get right with Jesus: “Three nails, plus one cross, equals “four-given,” she says. We hear a reference to LSD. Sarah jokes that she sells hardcore drugs for money. We hear jokes about wearing diapers to counter incontinence.
Twenty years later, we see how the world has changed. An infected kid arrives at a quarantine zone, and the totalitarian FEDRA (the Federal Disaster Response Agency) euthanizes the child. Bodies are thrown into a fire, including the child’s. People are publicly hanged for leaving or entering the quarantine zone without authorization. An explosion set by a resistance group kills a couple people. We see other bodies, too. Ellie stabs a man, and Joel beats the man to death.
Joel smuggles drugs to a guard. He also drinks alcohol while taking pills. We hear a reference to getting intoxicated. A guard urinates on a wall. There’s a jump scare of a long-dead infected man, his body almost entirely overtaken by fungus.
The f-word is used more than 45 times, with “mother” preceding it in three instances. The s-word is heard more than 25 times. We also hear occasional uses of “a–,” “b–ch” and “h—.” Ellie makes a crude hand gesture. God’s name is abused six times, including twice in the form of “g-dd–n.” Jesus’ name is used in vain four times.
Five years after the events of the first season, Joel struggles to connect with a distant Ellie. Meanwhile, Joel’s past seeks him out with a vengeance.
Someone stabs a zombie to death. A few more zombies get shot and killed. Ellie suffers a bite, and she later cuts the bleeding wound with her knife to make it appear like a cut rather than a chomp. One person falls through a floor.
A zombie chews on the remains of an animal. We see a ravaged bear carcass with exposed entrails. It’s surrounded by many dead and dismembered zombies, apparently adversaries the bear took down with it. We see plenty of blood surrounding the encounter.
Ellie spars with a man, and she’s thrown to the ground and dragged. They choke each other before their sparring session ends. Someone forcefully pushes a man to the ground.
Ellie and her best friend turned lover, Dina, dance at a New Year’s Eve party and passionately kiss on the dance floor. But before the dance, Dina also tells Ellie that she should ask “the other” lesbian in town to the event.
They’re scolded by a man who tells them that the dance is a family event and being held in a church. The song “Ecstasy” by Crooked Still plays in the background of a scene, the lyrics of which talk about meeting Jesus in heaven.
Dina mentions being high from marijuana. Someone hands a woman marijuana as payment. Someone drinks whiskey. Another character talks about being “half drunk.”
We hear the f-word nearly 30 times, including three uses with “mother.” The s-word is used eight times. We also hear “a–,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is taken in vain seven times, including two instances paired with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is likewise misused three times. A man uses a nasty slur to describe Ellie and Dina.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Over 24 seasons, Thomas & Friends has taught young viewers important lessons about being helpful, teamwork and admitting your mistakes.
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