Yula Fernandes
Absence makes the heart grow fonder and it’s been just over two years since season one of The Last Of Us premiered which means that my proverbial cup runneth over with love for Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal.
Season one of The Last Of Us ended with Joel (Pedro Pascal) reassuring Ellie (Bella Ramsey) that he wasn’t lying when he said raiders attacked the hospital and he had to get her out of there. Hint; he is indeed a big, fat liar! Ellie, with a certain amount of skepticism that only a 14 year old can manage, accepts his answer.
Flashforward to season two, we rejoin Ellie and Joel in Jackson five years after their escape from the hospital.
Joel’s hair has gotten longer, his beard grayer and he’s gained some little old man glasses that are obviously not the right prescription if his squinting is anything to go by. Yet he is still as handsome and brooding as ever.
Ellie is 19, she acts like it, and I love her. She is all go, no slow (except maybe when it comes to her romantic pursuits.) What this means is that I felt like a worried mother about twenty times during the episode.
Over the five year time jump it seems like Ellie’s skepticism has festered and grown. There is an obvious wedge between our favourite father-daughter duo. They aren’t together for many scenes but when they are, it’s distant and awkward. Ellie and Joel’s relationship is so frigid that it makes the snowy Wyoming landscape seem like a desert.
Because of this we get to see a lot more of Jackson and the episode really gets stuck into the smaller, more intricate relationships between everyone that lives there. With the new season comes new characters. Some brought over from the game such as Dina, Isaac and Abby. But we’re also met with a new, original to the series character called Gail (Catherine O’Hara), Jackson’s very own psychotherapist.
This particular character introduction sets the tone for the episode which is surprisingly light on the action and heavy on the talking. In a world where the infected roam freely and where everyone has lost someone in horrific ways or even committed atrocities of their own, it’s no wonder people need to talk. And it’s nice that we get to see that.
Aside from the human drama going on we also glimpse a few infected throughout the episode. We get an up close and personal encounter with a stalker which made me want to turn myself inside out. The practical and special effects are disgustingly gorgeous and in lieu of massive jumpscares there was this heavy, sickening sense of dread. Unlike the runners and clickers we saw in season one, the stalkers do exactly what their name suggests and it’s this other level of intelligence that poses a new danger.
In the lead up to season two, one main concern fans (of the game in particular) had was about the casting of Abby, namely, Kaitlyn Denver’s physicality. In the games Abby’s stature is important to her character. She is tall and solidly built. Denver is fit, but does she pose a substantial threat? We see Abby in two scenes which bookend the first episode. Not a lot to go off but I’m interested to see if there’s going to be a work-around for this or if it’ll be glossed over.
Nevertheless, there’s gay panic, some wry chuckles, a whole lot of family drama and the constant fear of what comes next. If the series doesn’t deviate from the games I think I know what’ll be in stock for the upcoming episodes but I’m excited to see where they take it.
Bring on the rest of the season!
