‘Can we take a minute and be impressed by me?’
I was wary going into The Last of Us as video game adaptations are normally cack, and I, like everyone, was fatigued with zombies in a post-apocalyptic landscape after season upon punishing season of The Walking Dead. I was pleasantly surprised as it soon became clear that the fungus monsters were a fairly small part of this world, and the relationship between Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and her surrogate father, Joel (Pedro Pascal), was the real driving force behind the plot. While season two is a definite step down in terms of quality, there are still moments of genius…
Episode one begins five years after the events of season one. Joel and Ellie are living safe in Jackson, Wyoming in a shared community, but their relationship has become strained. New additions include Isabela Merced as Ellie’s love interest, Dina; Young Mazino as Dina’s ex, Jesse; and Catherine O’ Hara as the community’s cynical therapist. Most pertinently, however, is the addition of the always excellent Kaitlyn Dever as Abby – Ellie’s nemesis.
There are two exceptional episodes in season two of The Last of Us. The first is episode two in which Joel is brutally tortured and murdered by Abby out of revenge for Joel killing her father. The second is the final episode in which Ellie murders a pregnant woman and is then captured by Abby. Both are heart-stopping, pulsating episodes that more than match anything in season one. The other high point is a flashback episode in which we see all the birthdays Ellie has shared with Joel. It’s a heartfelt, tender episode that serves as a reminder of how effectively their relationship was rendered in season one. This issue is that the rest of the season feels underwhelming in comparison. Without Joel, Ellie is just… kind of annoying. Her relationship with Dina doesn’t ring true, and the character becomes harder to like (perhaps by design) with each passing episode. It is also telling that the two high points of the season both feature Dever as Abby. The scenes that Ramsey and Dever share only drive home how better suited the latter is to this world than the former. If Abby is to be the main character in season three as is rumoured, we could be in for something very special indeed because she steals every scene in which she appears here.
The Last of Us season two never strays far from being captivating and compelling, but there are moments of tedium here, and while I would never align myself with the disgusting trolls that have taken against Ramsey online, I do believe that over the course of season two, she becomes more of a hindrance than an advantage.
