The Last of Us' Episode 2

2023 - 1 - 22

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Stylist Magazine"

Why those 5 little words in The Last Of Us are so important (Stylist Magazine)

Of course, Tess went out with a bang. Literally. And, of course, her final words changed the destiny of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Before we ...

And Ratna determines – wrongly, as it turns out – that wiping out the inhabitants of Jakarta will protect the rest of the world’s population from succumbing to the infection. It’s easy to assume that this is a cold act of compassionless rationalism, but it’s actually an example of The Trolley Problem in action. In the world that we’re creating, if we put spores in the air, it would be pretty clear that they would spread around everywhere, and everybody would have to wear a mask all the time. With those five little words, she’s advising Joel to do as much good as he can with the hand he’s been dealt – and, perhaps, to be a little bit selfish sometimes. On a weekend, you can usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea and playing boardgames with her friends. To divert the trolley and then run as fast as you can to knock that one other person out of harm’s way. “I would like to be with my family,” she says haltingly. Two police officers in Jakarta, Indonesia walk into a restaurant and unceremoniously escort Ibu Ratna, a professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia, into a waiting car. And, of course, her final words changed the destiny of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). There, she was shot in the skull. We all know the answer, of course. She quickly became violent, attacking four coworkers, and biting three of them, before they were able to lock her in a bathroom.

The Last of Us Episode 2 Review: Anna Torv Steals the Show as Tess (Den of Geek US)

The early death happens in the game as well, but the way the show gave us a few moments with Tess separate from Joel and Ellie in the first episode makes losing ...

And like the game, the episode can’t help but take a dark and sad turn by the end. Typically, when a game adaptation makes a direct reference to the game it’s based on, it’s cringe-y and distracting as all hell. It’s taken straight from the game, and even features a shot of Joel and Ellie crouched together behind cover as a clicker lurks around the corner, evoking all the feels for fans accustomed to that iconic visual of the duo in action. While this prologue is less compelling than anything we saw in episode 1, it does at least provide background as to how the pandemic started and underlines the sheer enormity of the cordyceps outbreak, which will likely pay dividends in the backs of our minds as the series progresses. Losing such a wonderful character so early in the show is tough, but the painful moment gives the story the sense of gravity and urgency that it needs. The look on her face when she advises the military to bomb the city and everyone in it to prevent the pandemic is chilling to say the least.

The Last of Us Episode 2 is a Thrilling, Nightmarish Glimpse at How ... (Esquire.com)

Joel, Ellie, and the gang go on a video game-style quest—and things get messy.

That’s certainly one of the ways they can spread the infection, but it’s nasty as all hell. So, I’m in the same boat as some of you newcomers to the story. The group comes across a hotel building that has become something of a swamp. Looks like we’ll have to find another way to get to the other side,” or, “Press X to climb, Joel!” I know the HBO series can’t have Ellie say lines like, “Joel, did you know that you can hold L2 to lock on to enemies?” but I still want her to say it. The city we saw with the slanted skyscraper at the end of the premiere episode wasn’t a good sign that anything is inhabitable outside of the QZ, either. He shines a flashlight in one of their mushroom faces and the beast doesn’t notice, so they seem to work purely on sounds alone. And The Last of Us just works. They still smuggled Ellie out of the QZ, though, and whatever’s happening to her may be the cure to this whole epidemic. So now, Joel was forced to make a deal with the Fireflies to smuggle Ellie out of the QZ in exchange for the car battery. Sadly, that car battery was sold off to the Fireflies by a guy named Robert. Say what you will about the Halo television series or the groan-inducing Sonic the Hedgehog movies, but HBO and The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann are truly working on a whole other level. Whether it’s because of Druckman's involvement, or commitment to the source material, The Last of Us’s premiere simply had the right sauce.

'The Last Of Us' Episode 2 Recap And Review: These Zombies Are ... (Forbes)

Ellie (Bella Ramsey) awakens to find Tess (Anna Torv) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) scrutinizing her, clearly unsure about what to do next. They offer her a scrap of ...

The fungus in the capitol building has activated and sent a warning to the horde of zombies they saw earlier. I’m so impressed by the level of detail here and even though they are making some changes from the game, it’s close enough to the source material in my book. When the general asks what to do, she tells him to bomb the city. We learn through conversation between Joel, Tess and Ellie that bombing is exactly what happened across the globe to slow the spread. As she examines the body, we see the tendrils start to grow out of the corpse’s mouth. When they reach the rendezvous, they find a bleak scene of death and violence. The zombies of The Last Of Us are a hivemind. Recall, Joel, Tommy and Sarah all discussing Jakarta in the kitchen in the series premiere. Fungal tendrils grow out of his mouth and snake into hers—and finally the lighter catches flame. But she explains that this was the entire point of the mission that Marlene (played by Merle Dandridge who also played Marlene in the video game) and the Fireflies were on. When she sees the front desk, she sloshes over to it and pretends to be the clerk checking guests into their room. They offer her a scrap of their jerky but she has sandwiches.

The Last of Us | Episode 2 review: The Infected (whynow)

In episode 2, Joel, Tess and Ellie continue their journey and face off against the deadly Clickers. Spoiler alert: These reviews will include spoilers for each ...

The Last of Us is becoming a very visceral experience and we’re fully digging it so far. They squirm and move and the idea of those burrowing into you is horrifying. Episode 2 of The Last of Us begins in Indonesia and chronicles the very beginning of the pandemic that would bring humanity to their knees. The entire sequence in which the gang hides from the infected is tense and riveting. While she initially held some hope that bringing Ellie to the Fireflies in time might help her, Tess has no choice but to admit that this is the end of the road for her. The Last of Us is purposely a little light on the zombie action; the focus has been shifted to humans, mostly to show how we, as a species, are coping with the shitshow that has become Earth.

'The Last of Us' Episode 2 Recap: The Scenic Route (esquire.com)

Back in the off-limits, open city streets of Boston, Joel (played by Pedro Pascal), Tess (Anna Torv, a gruff highlight) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are continuing ...

It colours the entire last sequence, in which they find the troop of Fireflies dead, with a desperate urgency. We learn that Ellie was bitten in a solo trip to an off-limits shopping mall (“You’ve got some balls on you, sister,” says Tess), that she is an orphan (with no boyfriend), that she can’t swim (there were no pools in the quarantine zone). Intriguingly, The Last of Us transforms the more boring tropes of a TV apocalypse – flashbacks to a former world, for example – into some of the show’s most intriguing elements. Back in the off-limits, open city streets of Boston, Joel (played by Pedro Pascal), Tess (Anna Torv, a gruff highlight) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are continuing their quest. There is no vaccine, there is no medicine, the professor grimly announces. Except, of course, the body is now a home to the Cordyceps infection.