Whether you were an avid gamer, keen to see one of their favourite games get the prestige TV treatment, or just simply a fan of extremely engaging television, it’s safe to say that The Last of Us: Season 1 was a feast for the senses. With high stakes, deeply emotional moments and the skin-tingling terror of the Clickers, the show made its mark as one of the best video game adaptations we’ve ever seen.
Now, The Last of Us: Season 2 is here to continue Ellie and Joel’s journey – and while the pace may have slowed, the tensions are higher than ever.
Read: The Last of Us review – Season One – A strong, worthwhile adaptation
“Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true”
In The Last of Us: Season 2, we’ll be picking up five years into the future, exploring the uneasy status quo now that the duo have taken up residence in the safety of Jackson, Wyoming, with Joel’s brother Tommy and their community helping the pair learn to settle after a long time on the run.
But despite an initially happy-seeming facade, all is not well between Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie. There’s a clear underlying tension, a distance that had the opportunity to grow now that the threat of survival feels less pressing. Joel’s entire persona is shaped by the secret he’s keeping – the truth that he kept hidden from Ellie at the end of The Last of Us: Season 1 – and the show weaves in that rift through moments big and small.
But they’re not the only people in play here. With an opening shot of the iconic giraffes from the game, we meet Kaitlin Dever’s Abby, mourning the dead in a makeshift graveyard. With questions on their mind about Joel’s motive, Abby and her friends discussed what comes next – do they seek out other Fireflies? Do they find a friendly face, somewhere, somehow? No. Abby is hellbent on finding Joel and getting revenge, and despite the fact that there’s truly not a lot to go off, the rest of the team agree.
It’s an early show of how nuanced Dever’s performance looks set to be, laying the groundwork to contextualise her actions early. Fresh off a successful run as Australian sham influencer Belle Gibson in Apple Cider Vinegar, Dever was a popular fancast for the character and so far seems to embody her well.
“Oh, you’re part of the community now?”
After the twang of the opening credits cease, we land on a violent, bloody melee in a barn – now older, Ellie is grappling with a much bigger friend. It’s not a risk situation though, it’s training. She’s clearly working hard on developing her hand-to-hand skills, and after some discussion with Jesse (Young Mazino) about an impending event that evening, she strides off with a clear directive: “Don’t pull punches.”
Across the community, Joel is busy working on tech – doffing a fancy pair of specs now. An interruption gives us our first introduction to Isabella Merced’s Dina, who promptly takes a seat to learn how to mess with circuits. After some technical jargon, Dina cuts right to the point – “Why is she angry at you?”
But neither Joel nor Dina have context for why… or so it seems. Joel attributes it to figuring out their complicated guardian relationship – he knows he can be a hard-ass, but wonders what it is he did to have elicited this response from Ellie. As the scene closes, we get an admission: Joel has been in therapy, working through his feelings.
“Head shot?”
Our first sighting of the horrific Clickers comes soon after, but thankfully from a distance, as we see Ellie and Tommy do some sniping practice. Ellie’s sniping eye doesn’t seem to be quite there yet, but the real issue for her is that Tommy no longer wants her on patrols – she’s relegated to gate watch.
“He’s concerned about you,” says Tommy, alluding to Joel. Turns out Ellie’s been a tad reckless on the last few runs, and wandered off on her own. Over a discussion of how stubborn Joel can be and how sometimes it’s easier to let him have his way, Ellie drops the unbeatable defence: they don’t need to worry about her getting infected.
Of course, she’s absolutely not meant to be talking about her immunity, so when Tommy rightfully calls her out on that, she responds by hollering over the countryside, “I got bit, everybody!” Standard teenage practice.
There’s a nice callback there though, because when Tommy responds by telling Ellie she’s exactly the same as Joel, it gives her the perfect opportunity to remind him that he should know he’s not gonna win this then. They’re both as stubborn as each other – which, truthfully, is a big part of why their estrangement feels so inevitable. Ellie wins out in the end, and is given permission to return to patrol.
“Say it out loud”
Joel is clearly in a position of some power now, prioritising construction tasks and finding a way to house all the new people in the community while somehow keeping everything running smoothly. From the fleeing refugees to the windows that need caulking, there’s no shortage of important tasks to do.
Thankfully, there’s still enough time for him to drop in and see Gail (Catherine O’Hara), Jackson’s resident psychotherapist. Probably for the best, given his history – we love to see a man in therapy! Even if that therapy is paid for with a bag of weed! It still counts!
Through the session, it’s plain to see that Joel is struggling to make the relationship with Ellie work. He’s tried forcing dinners, he’s tried backing off. She’s treating him like a stranger and he’s not coping at all. He’s getting more from Dina, and he’s hurting because of it.
It’s rough on him, of course, except Gail has a better read on the situation. She can tell he’s obfuscating something – something big – and is done letting him skirt around the issue and lie about what’s really going on. And there’s something else bubbling under the surface, something that makes this whole thing even more tense.
Turns out, at some recent point within the five year time jump, Joel shot and killed Gail’s husband, Eugene – and while she’s figured out a way to be comfortable treating him, she’s unable to forgive him. She says as much out loud, even though it’s scary, and then dares Joel to do the same.
Recon patrol
Blasting music in the garage, just like any other 19-year-old, Ellie is prepping her gun when Dina arrives to pick her up for patrol. Helping with a holster gives them a reason to be in close proximity, and which clearly affects Ellie.
The pair show up for patrol, with just a dash of sassiness towards Jesse on the way. En route, Dina asks Ellie if she’s going tonight (to the as yet unnamed event, which game players know will be the iconic barn dance). She asks if Ellie is going with anyone, and references Kat – Ellie’s ex, and the “only other” openly gay woman.
But Dina quickly catches on to the fact that actually, Ellie is interested in someone else. She offers to go with her herself, to “get baked” and “dance to the smooth tunes” of Britney and the Jug Boys (which, side note, is a great fake band name). She also admits that she and Jesse have broken up, again. Ellie doesn’t have long to dwell on this, though, because the recon patrol spots some blood and tracks, and the pair ride off to a nearby abandoned town to check out what’s happened.
Turns out it’s a bear – or it was a bear. A big one, even, but it’s been well and truly brought down by the Cordyceps-infected Clickers. Against their leader’s orders, Dina and Ellie make their way into the town, and when given the go-ahead, explore some buildings after hearing a pair of Clickers that they’ll have to face down.
In a funky little nod to The Last of Us game, Ellie picks up a bottle to throw as distraction, luring a Clicker towards her before leaping at it and stabbing it with her knife. As Dina approaches and everything feels quasi-safe, the floor falls out from under them – literally, as Ellie falls through the floor down into the room below.
She doesn’t hear anything, but she’s not alone down there. A Stalker lurks in the shadows of the room – a new type of infected that’s smarter, sharper than the regular Clickers. It seems to almost taunt her, crawling around with better vision and strategy. “Run at me,” yells Ellie, trying to make it finally come into range. After a hugely tense standoff, the Stalker finally launches at her, biting Ellie violently on the stomach before being shot at close range with her pistol. Fortunately, Ellie can hide the bite before Dina makes her way down.
Back at the town, Ellie and Dina debrief the council after the event, informing them about this new type of infected. Dina tells a bit of a fib, saying she’d seen it, but despite the council clocking the lie immediately, they believe Ellie – and decide it’s something to keep an eye out for.
In her garage, Ellie takes a knife to the bite wound, carving between the puncture wounds to make it seem more like a standard slice than a bite – regardless of her immunity, it’s not a good look to have yet another marker.
Joel pops in just as she’s writing in her journal (another cute nod to The Last of Us games), trying once more to broach a conversation with her to limited avail. He spots her guitar on the floor, clocking that it needs restringing and offering to replace them for her. It’s a small act of service, but it’s clear that he’s trying in his own way.
A curtain of lights
In a scene that feels almost shot for shot with the first The Last of Us game, we find ourselves at the New Year’s barn dance. The barn, laden with fairy lights, is a stunning backdrop for a showing of community. Ellie stands to the side, watching as Dina spins and twirls on the dancefloor, until Jesse approaches and commiserates. Dina breathlessly comes over to drag Ellie out onto the dance floor, and pulls her in close under the guise of asking, “how bad do I smell?”
As the pair dance closer and closer, Ellie’s face shows how much she cares about what’s happening. Dina suggests that the reason that everyone is staring is because they’re jealous of Ellie, who responds naively that she’s not a threat. But of course she is, and Dina makes that clear: “I think they should be terrified of you”.
They tentatively kiss under the lights, becoming more confident, until a drunk homophobic man interrupts them. “It’s a family event,” he says. Dina and Ellie start to walk away, before he mutters a slur under his breath.
Ellie immediately turns back, ready to arc up, but before she can get back to the man, he’s shoved to the ground by Joel. Turning to Ellie, Joel asks if she’s okay, only to be met with anger. “What is wrong with you?” she asks. “I don’t need your fucking help.” Chastened by the interaction, Joel leaves the barn, Gail watching as he goes.
After the party is over, Ellie trudges back home in the snow. As she approaches the house, she spots Joel on the balcony – noodling with her newly restrung guitar. He clocks her as she pauses, face full of cautious hope. They stay frozen for a moment, locking eyes with an emotional pause, before Ellie breaks away and walks past him into the garage without a word.
Happy New Year?
As the episode begins to close off, we’re faced with two confronting and threatening revelations. The first comes as some drunken partygoers hurl their sparklers into the air. As the light lands on the ground, it illuminates a sewerage pipe, which has been seemingly overrun with Cordyceps. Could Jackson be under threat of infection from the inside? Who knows how soon this could become a problem.
The second revelation, however, is much more pressing – especially to those who’ve played The Last of Us: Part II video game. On an outcrop overlooking the town, Abby and her crew have finally made it. They stand, watching over the twinkling lights of the town, barely a day’s walk away.
It’s an ominous close to the episode, which certainly worked hard to lay the groundwork for what promises to be a very intense season.
The Last of Us: Season 2, Episode 1 verdict
One thing that The Last of Us has always done well is building tension. Whether it’s emotional ties and awkward silences, or terrifying moments in the forced silence of a Clicker-infested building, the show (and games) have been a real standout in the prestige television landscape for that reason.
The Last of Us: Season 2, Episode 1 has tension in spades, and it’s going to make for an even harder gut punch as the rest of the season plays out. Will the next episode hold what game fans are dreading? Will the time come soon for the tension to finally break in the most dramatic way possible?
Regardless, it’s safe to say that The Last of Us has maintained its ability to hold and engage audiences. We still care deeply about Joel and Ellie, and seeing how far they’ve come in the past five years is a painful kind of treat. Inevitably, this season is going to devastate. We’re glad that this episode kicked off with the foundation building required to make that devastation hit home.
