By Nick Nitkowski 

“The Last of Us” is a beloved video game that was turned into a mostly positively received TV series on HBO/Max. I was a little late in discovering the “The Last of Us” video game, but when I finally got around to it, I could see what all the hype was about. It was cinematic,and it was suspenseful, nerve-racking, and tear-inducing. It was beautiful. So much so that I knew that turning it into a movie would not do the source material justice. Luckily , he TV series worked out a little better. But when they announced a sequel to “The Last of Us” called “The Last of Us: Part II”, I was incredibly hyped! More zombie hunting adventures with Joel and Ellie? Count me in! I’m buying it on day one! Which I did! I preordered the video game as soon as I could , and as soon as it arrived, I started playing it immediately! I couldn’t wait to play this new sequel game of what is quite possibly my all-time favorite video game. 

I also didn’t want to run the risk of finding spoilers online before experiencing the story myself. I remember staying up very late just to keep going and see what happens in the story. Much to my surprise, once I finished playing the video game… I hated it… for a multitude of reasons. Not entirely because of the story, which is slightly part of the reason, but the choices that the creators chose to make with it. If you’ve played the game, then without spoiling anything, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve played “The Last of Us: Part I” multiple times. Hell, I replayed it within the week between episodes one and two of the TV series just so that everything was fresh in my mind. But “The Last of Us: Part II”? I only played once. I was done with it after the first play through. Now, here we are with Season Two of “The Last of Us” that is based on the sequel game that I hated. How does it compare?

At the time of writing this review, I have only been able to watch the first episode of “The Last of Us” Season Two, which isn’t much to go off of. So, I will be doing episodic reviews as the series progresses. This is a review for Episode One called “Future Days”. Right off the bat, there’s not much in this episode to discuss. We get reacquainted with Joel and Ellie and sseeingwhere they are in their new life among the zombie apocalypse. Between the last episode of Season One and this episode, they have found refuge in a secure society. We see how they operate and survive together. The only problem is… Joel,  who played once again by Pedro Pascal and Ellie, played again by Bella Ramsey, are not speaking to one another. 

In this episode, we are introduced to a whole bunch of new characters, one of whom is played by Catherin O’Hara which was a big surprise to me. A bunch of the new characters that are introduced in this episode are featured within the societal sanctuary trying to keep it secure from the dangers beyond the walls and a few other characters are found outside of the walls with nefarious proposes. As someone who has played the game and knows the story and knows where it’s going, I wish that the introductions of the nefarious group were handled with a little more subtlety for new viewers unfamiliar with the game, but perhaps revealing their intentions early on creates tension. I’m not sure.

Overall, there’s not much to report on this first episode without going into spoiler territory. An interesting thing about this particular season is that with most adaptations that you’re familiar with, you watch to see how the adapters handle certain aspects of the story. You want them to be true to the source material as best as humanly possible. But with this particular adaptation to this particular season based on a particular sequel game, I am very much looking forward to seeing what they change. “The Last of Us” Season One made a lot of changes, and most of them were very welcomed ones, in my opinion. But with “The Last of Us” Season Two, I want to see if they change anything and, if so, what and how? I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, but nonetheless, I will continue to watch this series on a weekly basis just to see what they do.

1/7 Episodes Review’d From Season 2

3 stars

Episode Two: “Through the Valley”

By Nick Nitkowski

“Through the Valley” is a big episode in this season, and if you have played the game like I have, you already know exactly what I’m talking about. But there’s more to it than that in this episode. A few updates and changes were made from the source material. Some bigger than others. For instance, Ellie spends more time with Jesse in this episode. Whereas in the game, Ellie and her love interest Dina go on patrol together and have some alone time, but here in the show version, Dina is with Joel on patrol while his brother Tommy stays behind.

Those are minor differences. The big difference, and one that I think is better than what’s in the game, is a hoard of Infected storm the sanctuary home base where everyone lives and it’s up to the townspeople, Tommy included, to defend it from the hoard. This was a very exciting addition to the story. One that kept me interested mainly because I had no idea what was going to happen. The first season made bold and drastic changes that, in my opinion, paid off very well, so I’m glad that they are keeping up with that trend. The next paragraph involves a major Spoiler, so if you have not seen Episode Two yet, read no further, go catch up and then come back to finish reading or skip to the next paragraph.

SPOILER ALERT!
This is the episode where something major happens. It is the very thing that caused the game to be either divisive or straight up hated by fans of the first game. This is the episode where Abby kills Joel in cold blood in front of Ellie. This becomes the driving force of the story. I personally think that this was done better in the game. Not only was it more surprising, even though I had a feeling it was going to happen, but it was way more impactful in the game than in the show. It didn’t help that in the show when they introduced Abby, they not only revealed her intentions upon her introduction but they also revealed who they were meant for which eliminated any sort of surprise for when this scene finally happened. I think they should have been more secretive about this and make it more shocking for those who have not played the game.

Overall, while flawed, it was still a very solid episode and based on my knowledge of the game, this might be the most talked about episode for a while as now it becomes a hunt for revenge. I’ll be very interested to see how they execute this story because it is very long explains why they are splitting this one game into two seasons. But in whatever way they choose to progress the story from this point on, watchers of the show will never understand the frustration of playing the game when it forces you to play as Abby after these events occur. Still I’m curious to see the stories progression in a different medium.

4 stars

Episode Three: “The Path”  No Excitement, but Essential

By Nick Nitkowski

Curtailing off of the previous episode, this one had a pretty strong opening that does a good job of setting the tone for what is to come. Ellie, waking up traumatized by the event she just experienced and screaming uncontrollably, was quite impressive. They even changed the opening title sequence to show only Ellie’s silhouette on the horizon without Joel’s beside her. I found that to be very intriguing. 

Now, this episode as a whole is what I would consider to be a slow burn of an episode. While it is significant to the progression of the story, there’s really nothing exciting that happens in this episode, which makes this a little difficult to review. Unlike the first game, which I’ve played multiple times, I only every played the second game once, which means that aside from some important key moments, my memory of the game is a little hazy. I certainly don’t remember any council meetings, therapy sessions, or town rebuilding levels in the game. Doesn’t really play well on the PlayStation. 

But we do see Ellie start her journey for what she deems as justice for what happened to Joel as she sets off on the Path along with her not-yet love interest Dina whose romance seems to be getting a major stretch in this series because in the game, they already established their interest in one another before the Joel incident occurs. Overall, it’s not necessarily a bad episode, but there wasn’t enough here to talk about. There is nothing here to spoil really, but the journey has begun, and all we can do is what and see where it goes from here.

3 stars