For a show about mushroom zombies destroying society, The Last of Us has done its homework. The first episode opened with an explainer about the potential dangers of the real-life cordyceps fungus, which was backed by scientists as theoretically possible (if very unlikely).
Along the way it’s been careful to plausibly show how the world might react to civilization crumbling, ranging from the brutal remnants of the US Government asserting martial law, lone survivors struggling to keep a low profile, and, as of the last episode, self-sufficient communities.
But one aspect has gearheads in a tizzy. Episode four saw Joel and Ellie travelling across the country in a gas-powered truck, with Joel having to frequently stop to refill the tank. His explanation was that after twenty years, any gasoline left in abandoned cars has degraded to the point where it’s closer to water, meaning he gets terrible gas mileage. But automobile site Jalopnik has pointed out that, after so long, this gasoline would be completely useless:
Fans of the show are rolling their eyes at this nitpicking and arguing that Joel himself may misunderstand what’s going on:
Maybe they simply shouldn’t have explained it at all:
Are they missing the forest for the fungal trees?
But, to be fair, the Jalopnik article is 100% right:
Degraded gas may not power an engine but it certainly generates a lot of interesting discussion:
We’re prepared to suspend disbelief here:
It’s also worth mentioning that the original video game doesn’t bother justifying Joel and Ellie using gasoline in any way, though at least there you could fan theory your way around it by concluding that FEDRA must be producing some kind of fuel despite the apocalypse.
Maybe it’d have been for the best that the show followed the same tactic, though we appreciate that they at least gave a nod to this often-overlooked facet of post-apocalyptic fiction.
The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO.
