HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Episode 2 Review - Farewell, Joel

Last week, after watching and reviewing the first episode of The Last of Us Season 2, I felt weirdly dissatisfied. Something seemed missing - I sensed a gap between the show and my reaction to it. Hence, I decided to play The Last of Us Part II Remastered on my laptop to see exactly what was the cause of my feeble response to this series. After spending almost four hours playing the video game, I can say that I truly understand why many people call this franchise great. From the moment Joel and his brother step out of the cabin (after the former delivers exposition regarding the events of the first game), I was mesmerized by the world Naughty Dog has created. The trees, the snow, the sun rays, and even the city in which Joel and Ellie stay look beautifully pictured and detailed. I never felt this kind of fascination with the world of The Last of Us while watching the HBO series created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. This doesn't mean the HBO series is bad. It's just that after playing the game - in which you, as Ellie, indulge in a snowball fight with some kids before continuing with your primary mission - when you watch this second episode of the second season, you feel as if the creators are in a hurry to reach the plot destination. There is no room for breathing space.

For instance, Ellie and Dina explore a building and discover a weed farm in the game. Here, Ellie just walks into the weed farm, and we don't feel the rush of coming across something unexpected. By pairing Ellie with Jesse, the series sacrifices a sense of surprise - and that sexual encounter that deepens Ellie and Dina's romance. But I also don't want Mazin and Druckmann to copy-paste everything from the video game. A part of me enjoyed noticing what tweaks, what changes they have made, and what they retained from the source material. The scene where Jesse comes to wake up Ellie in the morning remains the same (even the lines are the same). That moment where Abby is thinly separated from a crowd of infected through a fence is also straight out of the video game. The army of infected individuals, however, doesn't follow Joel and Abby to the mansion. They turn towards the city of Jackson. The series takes the storm to a newer, higher level. It increases the range, and the scale of the physical and emotional damage. In The Last of Us Part II Remastered, when I arrived at the moment when Joel was stabbed in the back, I was left shocked and speechless. I didn't expect this level to go THERE. While watching Episode 2, I was prepared for that execution, but the predictability didn't severely undermine the impact of this moment, thanks to Kaitlyn Dever, Pedro Pascal, and Bella Ramsey.

Based on outer appearance, Dever looks closer to the video game's Ellie. She is also a wonderful actor, so I have no doubt she would have become Ellie from the inside out. IMDb tells me that Dever was indeed the top contender for Ellie's role. But Ramsey brings her own energy to this show. She innately looks excited, volatile, and hyperactive - she charges the screen with dynamism. Ramsey's rebellious attitude sometimes intertwines with her sense of humor, and the ecstatic force that's generated sharply pokes you where it tickles. Look at her face when Seth apologizes. Ramsey's Ellie, with her pointed expressions and bitter sarcasm, imbues the scene with shades of subtle humor. Ramsey is a fantastic actor, and along with Pascal, who, as Joel, renders his pain palpable, offers The Last of Us a life of its own. Still, so far, the HBO series, despite all its strengths, leads you to whisper, "The game is better than the show." But let's not give up on the creators yet. Let's see what else they have in store.

Final Score- [6/10]