HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 had a satisfying premiere episode, setting up conflicts that will drive the rest of the season’s events.
HBO’s The Last of Us live-action adaptation has returned after two long years away, and with a rather chunky premiere episode (titled ‘Future Days’) no less. This season picks up immediately after the events of the Season 1 finale, with Ellie and Joel now residing in Jackson and grappling with unspoken tension. While it wasn’t as fast-paced as the series’ pilot episode, this episode did hint at a whole lot of chaos brewing within–and without–Jackson’s walls.
A little spoiler warning: while we will strive to discuss this episode without mentioning the video game it’s adapting, we will include a section later on in this review to discuss any references to The Last of Us Part II that we spotted. TV-only viewers may wish to skip that section for now.
Ellie and Joel aren’t doing too well
This season picks up on a subdued note, following Ellie and Joel’s mountainside heart-to-heart in the Season 1 finale. Joel had slain multiple Fireflies to save Ellie from a life-ending surgery, which might have in turn saved countless lives if the Fireflies managed to engineer a cure for the Cordyceps epidemic. Joel lied to Ellie's face in the finale, telling her that the Fireflies had simply been unable to use her for a cure, and that multiple people had already shown up with an immunity to the fungal zombie infection. No killing was involved whatsoever, of course.
Understandably, this lie seems to have thrown a wrench into the two’s relationship. Season 2’s premiere episode makes it a point to hammer home that Joel and Ellie are going through a rough time. Ellie’s best friend Dina drops by Joel’s house, as he has ostensibly returned to his pre-apocalypse line of work in construction, to question him on Ellie’s sudden hostility towards him. Others note the same thing, that Ellie seems to be on the outs with Joel, but he argues that she’s just going through the ol' teenage cliché: “I’m 19, and my parents suck.”
Later, we learn that Joel isn’t exactly speaking the truth. In a conversation with a therapist named Gail, paid for with marijuana, Joel is well-aware that Ellie has a specific bone to pick with him, and one much too complex to be attributed to everyday teenage angst. Most tellingly, he clings onto the righteousness of his actions at the Firefly hospital. He even goes so far as to say that he’s a good guy, and he doesn't deserve to be treated this way. Does Joel actually believe that, or is he now lying to himself on top of everyone else? It’s hard to say.
Meanwhile, Ellie remains rather subdued compared to her younger self in Season 1. Around Dina, her would-be beau, she lights up and jokes around–perhaps rather inappropriately at times, considering her little miming skit during an Infected patrol section–and the same goes for her other friends, like Jesse. Around Joel and the rest of Jackson, however, Ellie has gained a reputation for being withdrawn and reserved, avoiding engagement with the community around her.
The Last of Us is not a happy show, and this is an episode that hones in on its frayed relationships and strained dynamics. Ellie and Joel are both struggling with their mutual parent-child-like relationship, and figuring out what they need from each other in the long run. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey continue to turn in incredible performances here as their conflicted TV counterparts. Joel is on the verge of painful self-realisation, but he refuses to accept the moral consequences of his actions. The distress drawn on his face when he attempts to guard Ellie from a homophobic neighbour is clear as day, as is his resignation when he is once again denied Ellie's gratitude, and rather harshly too.
Ramsey arguably has more to do in this episode. Ellie bounces from rash and poor decision-making in exploring a rundown supermarket and subsequently fighting a Stalker, and nursing a crush on her best friend Dina. Ramsey grounds the character in all their irrationality, to the point that one must believe Ellie to have a good reason for her bad behaviour. What's causing her to act out like this? Isabella Merced clearly steals the show here, however, as a spot of brightness in an otherwise dreary town. Merced’s Dina cracks jokes, gets high, and starts a potential love triangle all within the same episode, and her chemistry with Ellie pops right off the screen.
New threats are coming to Jackson
Joel and Ellie’s troubled relationship might be the least of their worries, come next week. Bad things are coming to Jackson twofold, with both humans and Infected bearing down on the town’s walls. Season 2 begins on a sombre note, with the introduction of a new character named Abby and her group of friends. Abby harbours a thirst for revenge against Joel for killing the Fireflies, and vows to kill him slowly when she finds him. At the end of the episode, we see her arrive at Jackson with her friends in tow, their purpose ominously clear.
Ah, but that’s not all! The Cordyceps network has found its way into Jackson via the town’s piping, signalling that an Infected outbreak is imminent. We already know that the town’s resources are stretched thin due to its leader’s insistence on harbouring as many refugees as possible. Jackson’s walls appear tall and sturdy, but the Infected are coming to tear them down all the same. Can the town survive a battle with these monsters, and are we poised to get an all-out battle à la Game of Thrones’ Hardhome next episode?
If we are, this is certainly the season for it. Thanks to Ellie’s Stalker encounter alone, we know that Season 2 already has a better sense of how to portray its zombie-like Infected in the horrifying fashion that they deserve. The Stalker was gruesomely brought to life in its first-ever series appearance, with the makeup team adding stomach-turning flourishes, like long and ragged slashes across its half-turned face and torn-out nose, in a bit of visual storytelling that immediately tells viewers what must've happened to turn this human into a monster.
The Last of Us Part II references and video game tidbits
Spoiler warning: this section discusses events in The Last of Us Part II, with slight spoilers for future events in the TV series.
It’s safe to say that the creators of HBO’s The Last of Us are fans of the game themselves, and we’ve got the easter eggs to prove it. For example, we see video game and series composer Gustavo Santaolalla make a cameo at Jackson’s New Year party playing the guitar. In The Last of Us Part II, he is seen making a similar cameo on Jackson’s streets, playing a guitar. We also see Ellie reach for a glass bottle in the Stalker encounter, in a clear reference to bottles being used to distract or hurt enemies in-game.
Interestingly, we also see non-existent parts of The Last of Us Part II adapted in this episode. In The Last of Us Part II’s Lost Levels, players can play through unfinished cut content for the game–one of which is set directly outside Jackson’s big shindig. In the area outside the party venue, Ellie was once able to interact with a series of minigames that would better shed light on Jackson’s people and culture. While this level was eventually cut from the game to improve its pacing, we briefly see this exact same area in the TV series before Ellie and Dina share a dance. It does not exist in the game.
However, there are a few differences between the game and the TV series to note here. First off, the opening with Abby clearly showcases her intentions and motivations: to kill Joel for murdering the Fireflies, which is a clear departure from the opening of the original game. When we first meet Abby, we don't know exactly what she's after. We also see the entirety of the events leading up to the New Year party in one unbroken sequence, where they were originally peppered into the game as spread-out flashbacks. The only scene left out of the series is Ellie and Joel’s final conversation on the day of the party. Instead of talking to Joel on the porch as she does in the game, she leaves him behind. She could just as easily turn back around for a future flashback, however.
Other changes are perhaps a little less important. In the game, Ellie was only bitten again towards the end of the main story, and the Stalkers first appear much later in Seattle. Jackson was never in danger from Infected, and Ellie and Dina’s patrol was much lengthier, with the supermarket simply marking a halfway point. Sequences from the game have been rearranged to be pushed forward, or more commonly, further back into the rest of Season 2. We were expecting a heavier premiere episode this week, as were most fans of the video game, but it looks like the series is taking its time to build up to the game’s most pivotal moments.
Verdict
The Last of Us Season 2: Episode 1, ‘Future Days’, is a slow but engaging build to the absolute chaos that is likely to unfold over the coming episodes, bolstered by powerful performances from both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. The newcomers to this season’s cast also shine brightly, however: Kaitlyn Dever is immediately compelling as the revenge-driven Abby, while Isabella Merced instantly charms as Ellie’s best friend and romantic interest Dina.
This episode sees the series’ stellar creative team attempt to mount a lean premiere with little to no fat, exploring Joel and Ellie’s new status quo in Jackson while setting up future conflict at every turn. Whether it’s Joel’s inability to admit fault, Ellie’s impulsivity, or the outside threats looming on their collective horizon, it’s clear that bad things are brewing at Jackson. The show has always been capable of gripping character drama, but this episode makes a good case for the series continuing past an already satisfying nine-episode run.
