HBO’s The Last Of Us Season Two, Episode One Review – We’re back, once again, to the world of The Last Of Us, with the second season of HBO Max’s adaptation of the games into a TV series. The first season, from episode one to nine, covered the plot of the first game in the series.
It covered all the important bits of the story, and took the extra time it had, without having to leave bits open for gameplay, to do some wonderful, deep character development, that’s missing in the first game. We know a lot more about Pedro Pascal’s Joel in the show, than we did at the same narrative point we’re at now in the games, with Troy Baker’s.
That point being the beginning of The Last Of Us Part II, the entirety of which will not be covered, in totality, between the seven episodes that make up season two. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann hint they’ll need a total of four seasons to get the job done, so we begin with a lot of questions as to how fast things will move here.
Wondering when what I’ll just call, ‘the event’ will happen has been something I’ve been going back and forth on leading up to seeing the first episode. But perhaps more importantly, the thought that rang out when I hit play, was wondering if this new season would be able to keep things going. If it could be at least as good, and hopefully better, than the first season.
We’ll need six more episodes after this first one to find out, but I can say that it at least starts off strong.
Spoiler warning! This review will contain spoilers for season two, episode one of HBO’s The Last Of Us. If you don’t want to be spoiled, come back and read this after you’ve seen the episode.
HBO’s The Last Of Us Season Two, Episode One Review – Slowly
Salt Lake City, And Jackson
The episode still starts, like in the game, with a look back at the last moment from the last time we saw Ellie and Joel together. When Joel swore that everything he said about the Fireflies was true, and Ellie knew he was lying, but didn’t say.
But instead of starting with Tommy and Joel talking about what happened, and then opening with a nice horse ride into Jackson, we cut back to Salt Lake City, for our first introduction of Abby and her gang.
Abby is looking out at the same giraffe’s that Joel and Ellie saw, three days prior to the moment where Abby is staring at them here. I really liked this moment, as it immediately pressed on Ellie and Abby seeing the same event from completely different perspectives. Because Abby isn’t just staring at the giraffe’s out her window, she’s doing it with the graves of everyone Joel killed behind her.
Kaitlyn Dever shines in her introduction as Abby, as she places a Firefly necklace over one last grave. If you’ve played the game, then you know whose grave it is, but for those who’ve not played it I’ll not spoil that little fact here, since we’re bound to find out soon enough.
Also, this feels like the right point to say that ‘the event’ does not take place in this first episode. The majority of this episode is spent setting up the new characters you’ll need to be aware of, and a bit about where Joel and Ellie are in their relationship. Again, if you played the game, you’re well aware of the unspoken context here.
Jackson definitely looks incredible, but the only new character introduction from the town is Gail, the therapist who takes a plastic bag with some dry flowers in it as payment for her services.
As good as the first season was, the best parts of it came from where the show veered off from the game, sometimes that was with new characters, sometimes that was with new portrayals of characters we knew. I’m not saying that every change they made landed, but the best parts of the show were the ones that were drastically different.
Gail is, so far, the best change, and that’s due to Catherine O’Hara’s wonderful performance. I’m really hoping we get more time with her, and Joel’s therapy sessions as the story leaves Jackson. It’ll be a downright shame if we don’t.
Joel’s Secret
While we don’t get Joel’s big talk with Tommy, we do get plenty of moments with Joel where the unsaid layer of context to the conversation, is the choice Joel made at the end of season one.
His conversation with Maria about letting people into Jackson, for example, and his insistence that they shut Jackson’s doors so that the town doesn’t collapse. Joel has never been a ‘save everyone you can’-type person, and there’s a specific emphasis in this episode on how he makes that same choice every time, and every time he makes it, he’s hurting himself, and others.
That’s why Maria reminds him that he wasn’t around when Jackson started up – he was someone they let into the fold. Instead of being just as vulnerable with Gail, as she was with him about her husband’s death, Joel says “I saved her,” in a much more vulnerable tone than how he tells it to Tommy in the game, and then storms out.
And of course, his choice to save her is the one that has ramifications he can’t yet imagine, but will soon discover, as the episode’s ending tag is Abby and her friends overlooking Jackson in the night.
It’s all being set up really, really, well, both on the page in the writing for Joel in this episode, and in Pedro Pascal’s performance. Pascal continues to prove why he was absolutely the best choice for this adaptation. Troy Baker can’t be in everything, and honestly, to get the same Joel again in the show would’ve just been boring.
There’s so much more depth to Pascal’s Joel, and he’s a great actor to watch.
Ellie And Dina
Apart from Joel and Abby, the other big character focuses here are, of course, Ellie and Dina. I can’t say I was immediately in favour of how nonchalant and jovial they are with each other, but the more I think about it, the more I appreciate the levity they added to the screen in what is more often than not, a very intense show.
Bella Ramsey is still great as Ellie, but, also, still lacks the intensity and intimidation that we feel from Ellie in the game. Not that she exactly needs it in this first episode. The scenes where that side of Ellie comes up are still to come, but at this point, it’s still a question as to whether or not Ramsey can pull it off.
Isabela Merced’s take on Dina fits perfectly into this adaptation, and for what players know about Dina in the games. A strong, mature young woman who is instantly likable, and can keep pace with any of Jackson’s best infected killers.
I’m really looking forward to how Ellie and Dina grow in their relationship over the course of this season, I just wish I didn’t have my doubts about Ramsey being able to live up to the whole other side of the character she wonderfully portrayed in the first season.
Off To A Strong Start
Overall, it’s a very solid first episode. It lines up the obvious, and not-so-obvious ways in which all hell is about to break loose in the coming episodes, and it feels good to be back in Craig Mazin’s version of this world.
I still have plenty of concerns about how Bella Ramsey will be in Ellie’s more intense moments, with where this story is going, but for now, I’m optimistic that this season will keep the momentum and quality bar the first season reached.
I’d also still like to see more big changes in the coming episodes, but the first episode in a season can only do so much.
You can watch the first episode of HBO’s The Last Of Us Season 2 wherever it is streaming in your region, right now.