Anybody who has performed the video games on which HBO’s “The Last of Us” is predicated is aware of that issues are about to get intense. With out spoiling a single factor, the online game “The Last of Us, Part II” turns up the amount on the primary recreation’s themes of particular person duty set towards the higher good with blood and trauma. Creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann haven’t watered down any of the sport’s violent depth for his or her 7-episode sophomore season, delivering a present that they’ve precisely in comparison with “The Empire Strikes Again” in each its bleak tone and the way it units up a 3rd outing. The primary season had the privilege of telling the self-contained story of the primary recreation. However Druckmann and firm knew they couldn’t get all of “Half II” into one season, a choice that might lead some to name this yr incomplete. Whereas artistically satisfying in its personal proper, belief that it’s all setup for what’s to return in season three (and probably past).
The primary season of “The Final of Us” concluded with Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) saving his surrogate daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) from a therapy that may have killed her however might have saved the world. The ultimate dialog of that season, through which Joel lies to Ellie about what occurred, will naturally form the path of this one. 5 years later, the pair in relative consolation in a thriving Jackson, Wyoming—a rebuilt metropolis with energy, construction, and even a authorities of types. Joel is without doubt one of the leaders, in fact, however there’s emotional stress from the beginning of the season that’s mirrored within the fractured relationship between him and Ellie. We don’t know why, however classes between Joel and the city therapist Gail (a incredible Catherine O’Hara, really having a second between this and “The Studio,” respectively the perfect drama and comedy on TV proper now) trace at current selections that break up them greater than even your regular dad-and-teenage-daughter.
Thrust into this taut dynamic is Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her group of allies, who’re launched a lot sooner than within the recreation, although it’s tough to clarify how and why with out swimming in spoiler-filled waters. It suffices to say that Dever works because the controversial Abby, a personality who performs a big position on this season and can play a good larger one within the third. She is a counterweight to Ellie, one other younger girl despatched on a violent trajectory by way of trauma, somebody who will likely be compelled to resolve between favoring her private aggression or the wants of others. Dever is a incredible actress who is actually simply launched this season for the larger position she’ll play within the subsequent. However she does precisely what she must this yr to put that essential basis.
This season belongs to Ramsey, who will get to take Ellie to darkish locations that non-game followers received’t expect. If the primary season of HBO’s hit present bought flak for not having sufficient motion for players and even horror followers, these criticisms are eradicated by a 7-episode run that hardly lets up (and when it does, it’s to register the emotional injury these occasions wrought). The motion and horror are enhanced by the artistry of a present that seemed phenomenal in 2023, however is even visually stronger this time, with results, cinematography, enhancing, and different craft components that outclass most characteristic movies. A number of stretches of season two use the sport like a storyboard and match practically shot for shot. Nonetheless, there’s a shocking fluidity between these and those the Druckmann devised for the present, together with new characters just like the aforementioned Gail and different cameos we’ve been requested to not reveal. I’ve performed each video games twice by means of and constantly marvel at how the visible language of the supply and the necessities of tv are intertwined into their very own charming factor.
Two standouts among the many new characters warrant particular reward. Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright begins his arc because the villainous Isaac within the fourth episode, and he’s spectacular as you’d anticipate, imbuing the character with cruelty that comes from the horror of what he’s seen. How do you keep humanity while you’ve seen how simply others can destroy it? He additionally voiced the character within the recreation, so he is aware of this man right down to his empty soul. The opposite is Isabela Merced as Dina, Ellie’s romantic associate, whom the present expands on in obligatory methods. Merced is first a ray of sunshine in a present surrounded by darkness, however she neatly refuses to merely play Dina as a counter to Ellie, giving her a powerful persona of her personal.
The second season of “The Final of Us” feels destined to divide audiences greater than the primary, each by the very nature of being an incomplete story and for among the extremely darkish locations it goes. It’s a season that asks viewers to interrogate the price of powerful selections, a masterful examine in ripple results from Joel shedding his daughter within the prologue to how that influenced his dedication to saving Ellie. Being a hero for one individual could make you a villain for an additional. That’s a troublesome factor to render, and for viewers to think about. However “The Final of Us” succeeded as a recreation franchise as a result of it trusted the emotional intelligence of players, and the present does the identical for TV viewers.
“The Final of Us” returns to tv at a time when world headlines appear more and more ripped from post-apocalyptic visions of the longer term in leisure of the previous. The primary season was criticized by some for being too well timed, on condition that the world was nonetheless reeling from a pandemic. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see if the true world’s elevated instability impacts the best way folks reply to the second season, one that provides no consolation or escapism. Many individuals upset concerning the state of issues in 2025 have tried to deal with phrases about pushing by means of the darkness to seek out the sunshine. What “The Final of Us” proposes is that it may well at all times get darker.
Complete season screened for evaluation. Begins on HBO on April 13, 2025.
