HBO’s first season of The Last of Us (2023-) was a game-changer. It proved that if done right, video games can be an apt format to adapt to film and television after decades of failed attempts with countless properties. Not only was The Last of Us done right, but it became a prestige destination television viewing experience worthy of earning 24 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning eight.
Season one took everything that was already incredible about the game and elevated it, fleshing out the award-winning story in ways surprising to long-time fans while adding further depth in ways that exclusively fit the television format. This was most notable with the season’s third episode, which was a direct departure from the version of the story told in the game that became instantly regarded as “one of the best episodes in TV history.”
As a fan of the games, I was worried about some of the challenges the series would face heading into season two. The Last of Us: Part II (2020) is nearly double the length of its predecessor, packing a more dense and complex story in both its content and themes. Thankfully, it was revealed ahead of time by the series’ creators that the game’s story will be split into at least two seasons, taking the show through its third season, which was confirmed in the weeks leading up to the premiere of season two.
My second and more prevalent fear regarded how the story would be tackled in ways that would differ from the game. Without spoiling anything to come, the inciting incident that catapults the story in The Last of Us: Part II does not happen in this first episode. However, the groundwork has already been laid.
Writer, director, and creator Craig Mazin makes the smart choice to build up to the events that will carry the season and the series forward in this first episode.
The episode opens by allowing viewers to take in the aftermath of Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) decision in the finale of season one. Joel may have succeeded in doing what he thought was right by saving Ellie (Bella Ramsey), but we get a glimpse of those directly affected by the dozens of innocent lives lost in the process. Seeing the remaining Fireflies mourn their dead makes us further question whether Joel’s efforts were just. It allows us to begin empathizing with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a character who is quite literally a consequence of Joel’s actions.
When Abby declares what she intends to do when she finds Joel, we fear for him, but we also understand exactly where Abby is coming from, considering we witnessed Joel go through the same thing in season one when he lost his daughter. Violence begets additional violence, beginning a cycle with no end until everyone loses something they hold dear in the process.
The most notable way the episode diverges from the set path of the game is by fleshing out the events that immediately precede the start of the game, introducing us to several of the new characters included in this season while giving us an idea of how Joel and Ellie’s relationship has evolved since season one.
Not long after it’s revealed that this season takes place five years after the previous season, it becomes clear that Joel and Ellie do not have the same dynamic they once did. Ellie essentially ignores Joel and treats him like a stranger. Additionally, Joel has taken it upon himself to seek therapy in the form of Gail (Catherine O’Hara), a character with whom we quickly learn Joel shares a complex relationship. Their scene together establishes that Joel is hiding his guilt, and it’s affecting his relationships with the people around him. Pascal remarkably showcases the pain within Joel and the desperation under the surface of his yearning for things to go back to how they were before.
We don’t know yet if Ellie has any idea that Joel lied to her about the circumstances behind her ending up with him after they reached the Firefly hospital that would surgically extract a cure from her, potentially saving the world. Finding out whether or not she knows will be a crucial throughline for the season, and if it hasn’t happened yet, it’s bound to happen eventually. However, we know now that something happened that created a rift between them, which is noticeable by many of the people they regularly interact with in Jackson, Wyoming, including Dina (Isabela Merced).
Dina is a presence who creates an instant impact, just as she did in the game. Although the first scene we see her in is with Joel, in which she tries to make him share what is going on between him and Ellie, it’s in her relationship with Ellie that we get a sense of who she is as a substantial character.
Over the last five years, Ellie has hardened as an individual. She’s created a barrier between her and others that is difficult for people to break through. Dina quickly does so with ease. When she and Ellie interact during a reconnaissance mission tracking infected that get dangerously close to their Jackson settlement, away goes the tough and closed-off 19-year-old that Joel has become far too familiar with, and returns the optimistic, innocent teen we once knew.
When Ellie unabashedly laughs at a corny pun delivered by Dina, which is similar to the ones Ellie would read from her joke book to Joel in the past, it’s comforting to see that version of her still exists, considering everything we saw her go through last season. Ramsey continues to perfectly portray the character’s complexities. They capture Ellie’s strengths and weaknesses, her quirks and brutal sensibilities, sometimes all at once. Knowing where the story inevitably will go, it’s thrilling to speculate how Ramsey will portray Ellie’s arc from the game as the season steps into much darker and more dramatic terrain.
The star of the episode is the immaculate set design. In a lot of ways, this season already feels grander than season one. While the sets in the previous season were massive in scope in their own way, one of my criticisms was that they didn’t always feel convincing. Sometimes, obvious visual effects would distract from the setting the showrunners were working hard to recreate in a way that stayed faithful to the source material while operating within a clear budget.
At least in this first episode, this issue didn’t resurface. Not only does every set design feel tangible, but it’s thrillingly faithful to games, which is utterly satisfying to a fan like myself. Jackson feels like a living, breathing place, just like it does in the game. A New Year’s party takes place with a crowd and a live band playing under a massive tent lit by string bulbs is a loving recreation of one of the most iconic scenes from the game. Every layer of detail, from the way Ellie’s room looks to the way we see her cleaning up one of her weapons at a workbench to the inclusion of even the most minor location details in a tense scene taking place in a supermarket, there is a clear level of care here that fans will undoubtedly appreciate, with those experiencing the story for the first time will be equally engrossed in.
This attention to detail extends to how the infected are showcased as well. The most obvious example comes with the inclusion of a new type of infected ripped straight from the games, known as Stalkers. Stalkers are an evolution of the infected we’ve already become familiar with in the first season. Instead of directly running toward their prey, they hide and play mind games with them, which we see them do with Ellie in a horrifying sequence. The way this sequence is framed plays a pivotal role in creating unflinching tension. We see the Stalker moving in the unfocused background several times as Ellie continues walking the space around her before we see the monster itself. As dread builds within Ellie, that directly translates to what we feel as viewers.
In the games, Stalkers are an already established version of the infected that appear sparingly. In the show, their first appearance is teasing the fact that this may not be the only evolution of Cordyceps we see this season. Fans already know there is more to come, but this raises the question of whether there is anything brand new the creators are holding up their sleeves with how the infected behave and communicate, similar to the fault lines that connect hordes of infected introduced last season.
This first episode establishes that as the season continues, even fans of the game won’t quite know what to expect. If you’re familiar with the story, you know where it’s going, but the interesting questions are when it will go there and at what point the season will cut off, inevitably leaving viewers with a shocking cliffhanger.
No matter how or when these questions are answered, if this episode is any indication, season two has the potential to elevate the series further in the same ways The Last of Us: Part II elevated the first game. This season will inevitably prove divisive among many people. As someone familiar with how things went when this story was first told, I can only hope that viewers of the show will embrace the directions the story will take with an open mind and take the opportunity to participate in constructive conversations when the time comes, rather than turning on the property entirely.
With great risk came great reward in the game in the form of some of the most complex themes to ever be explored in video games as a storytelling medium. I expect nothing different from this adaptation.
Review Courtesy of Evan Miller
Feature Image Credit to Max via IGN