TL;DR – This first episode lets us catch up with the cast and world and catch our breath before the world turns.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Max service that viewed this show.

End Credit Scene – There is a trailer and behind-the-scenes making off.

The Last of Us Review –

While the First Season of The Last of Us was a triumph, not just for Video Game adaptations but for adaptations in general, it was one of the rare works that fundamentally understood the source material, sometimes down to a shot-for-shot recreation. But also knew when some aspects needed to be refreshed or, in the case of Long Long Time, completely rewritten from the ground up. Yet, still, I came into Season Two with more than a bit of trepidation. The adaptation of the source material is going to require some hard choices, which is not going to be popular. I was there when it was released the first time and lived through that moment of ‘less than stellar’ online discourse. Yet still, I knew I had to sit down and watch, and here we are today.   

So, to set the scene, it has been five years since Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) walked away from the Firefly facility in Salt Lake City to return to Jackson. But the legacies of what Joel did, and very much lied about, live large in those who made it out of the massacre. Jackson is one of the rare places in the old America that has survived the Cordyceps Apocalypse without being under the thumb of FEDRA. But there are more than a few stragglers out there, and there are more people than construction can keep up with. Tensions remain everywhere, and the echoes of the lies we tell have started to reverberate. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

The first thing I want to praise is Jackson’s production design. We got a hint of it in Season One. However, they have taken it to the next level here. It has that feeling of a community trying their best but also holding on by their fingers. This is some of the best weathering that I have seen put on screen. Also, the prosthetic work for all the Infected is top-notch and helps bring this world to life. Then there are the ways that they give homage to the video game, but in ways that feel natural to the show. The use of the bottle as a distraction or the narrative event splits characters up, and one of them must find another way around. It is those small touches that make the show shine.    

When it comes to changes, one of the inspired choices this week is having Joel attend a therapy session with Gail (Catherine O’Hara), putting aside the fact that Catherine O’Hara gives a profound performance like there was any doubt that would happen. But from a narrative perspective, this scene does so much heavy lifting. It allows a way to clearly explore Joel/Ellie’s dynamic, going into a depth that you would not usually get through general conversation. We also get, in just a handful of sentences, some deep worldbuilding. It is a scene that I am sure you would have to fight for in other shows, and here, it is effortless.   

Deep down, this is just a catch-up episode to ground the audience in all the different things they need to know before things start falling apart next week. We get an update on all the various relationships that have been built and been worn down. Joel and Ellie are not really speaking. Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) are besties who can talk without words. Our action scenes are all about reintroducing the Infected, how they have changed in the last five years, and also that Ellie is immune. But even though it might just all be catch-up, the quality is there at every level. The stalking scene with the, well, stalker, was taut, and I loved how it played in the background. Then there was the build-up to the end of the episode, where the heartbeat music and the build showed us an oncoming storm approaching.    

In the end, do we recommend The Last of Us: Future Days? Yes, we do. This was an outstanding catch-up with all these characters and the world. What we got was a great grounding episode to get us ready for the calamity coming. This was shown through fantastic character moments and performances, and I am looking forward to where we go from here. Have you seen The Last of Us yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Last of Us
Directed by – Craig Mazin
Written by – Craig Mazin
Created by – Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann
Based On – The Last of Us Part II by Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross and Naughty Dog
Production/Distribution Companies – Naughty Dog, PlayStation Productions, Sony Pictures Television, The Mighty Mint, Word Games, HBO & Max
Starring – Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced & Yong Mazino with Kaitlyn Dever, Rutina Wesley, Robert John Burke, Spencer Lord, Tati Gabrielle, Ariela Barer, Danny Ramirez, Ezra Agbonkhese, Finn Higgins, Noah Lamanna & Catherine O’Hara and Rebecca Ferguson, Molly Scarpine, Samuel Hoeksema, Aoife O’Donovan, Brittany Haas, Greg Liszt, Corey DiMario, Miranda Menne & Gustavo Santaolalla