The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 3, "Long, Long Time," now streaming on HBO Max.

Episode 3 of HBO's The Last of Us, titled "Long, Long Time," is easily the series' most emotionally mature and subtly beautiful episode to date, as it tackles the decades-spanning love story of The Last of Us characters Bill and Frank. The series takes a detour from the games in this respect, and it's perhaps the best creative decision the show has made thus far. But this love story also feels reminiscent of one of Pixar's best films and its iconic opening sequence.

The third episode of the HBO adaptation introduces Bill and Frank, two characters who had little to do in the original game, with the latter not even appearing in the game but rather only being mentioned occasionally. However, this episode tells their story from the beginning of the apocalypse in 2003, all the way to 2023 when Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie are on their current mission. It makes for one of the best self-contained episodes of any series, and its Pixar influence only makes it that much more emotionally impactful.

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Long, Long Time Is Similar to Pixar's Up

The episode's Pixar influence comes from none other than the 2009 film Up, regarded by many as one of the studio's best films. The iconic opening of the Pixar movie tells a similar decades-spanning love story (just with a few less infected running around) between the characters of Carl and Ellie, from childhood to their elderly years. This opening remains one of the best in Pixar's extensive filmography, and The Last of Us's third episode will go down as one of the very best of the series for similar reasons.

While some may claim Bill and Frank's story is a side quest, it's a very purposeful one, and it replicates those same emotions that Up gave audiences while still standing beautifully on its own. And considering that the show is adapting a source known for its remarkable character writing -- that being The Last of Us video game -- it's no surprise that this episode is a powerful character study. Despite the similarities to Up, it never feels like The Last of Us is ripping off Carl and Ellie's love story but rather it's just taking a page from Up's beautiful storytelling to tell its own deeply personal and human story with Bill and Frank.

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Long, Long Time and Up Are Tackling Similar Themes

Old Bill and Frank looking at each other in front of a piano from The Last of Us

The themes of both Bill and Frank's The Last of Us episode and the Pixar film are universal themes that anyone can relate to despite the worlds that each on-screen couple occupies being so drastically different. The themes of love, the aging process and loss are all a part of the human condition, and both of these love stories capture those emotions so authentically in the little time that they have. It's these themes and ideas that connect both stories and are why both work as well as they do.

Both of these love stories are examples of exceptional character writing and they both make a huge impression despite both being only a piece of a larger story. This expansion of The Last of Us game offers a deeper look at characters who didn't quite get their due in the source material, and it uses Up's love story as a basis for that. But both Bill and Frank and Carl and Ellie's stories are impactful in their own right, which just goes to show how remarkable both are.

The Last of Us airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. on HBO and streams on HBO Max.