HBO The last of us I took it exciting game supported by intimate human moments and Made richly human drama It is supported by terrible actions. Returning in the second season, and now using the game with a continuation as the source material, Showranners Craig Mazin and Neil Drukmann received a little more work for them. The first season has significantly expanded the emotional depth and breadth of Joel and Elli through crossed terrain, at the same time highlighting the stories of many others that they meet along this path, and the cast (led by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) was outstanding.
It was more than two years ago, and now the time is for BIS. The premiere of the second season on HBO this Sunday, April 13, and I am again glad to report that the show is doing the right work to capture the first part of the difficult story, as well as the correction of several of the minor complaints that I had in the first season.
(Editor note: The second season is widely discussed in this story, but avoids specific details of the plot and spoilers. There are spoilers for the first season.)
The show raises exactly where the first season ended (and the first game). Joel and Ellie are returning to Jackson's settlement, Wyoming, where Joel Tommy’s brother is part of a peaceful, well-preserved communal oasis of relative security in the destroyed world. This happens about a year after the firefly – the police group, which is looking for a cure for the infection of the zombie – entrusted Joel to the smuggling Ellie throughout the country. During the next trip, Joel contacts Ellie and comes to her as a surrogate daughter, replacing what he lost at the beginning of the outbreak 20 years ago.
Ellie's immunity to infection gave the fireflies of hope that she was holding the key to finding the medicine – but when Joel finds out that it would kill her, he wipes a whole platoon of soldiers and a doctor who tried to perform the procedure before running back to Jackson. As far as she knows, there was no way to make a medicine, and Joel saved her when the raiders went down to the Firefly complex.
We will immediately learn that Joel’s riot against fireflies will have serious consequences directly after the jump when we meet with Abby (with the fierce intensity of Kaitlin Dever) and her small team of young fireflies in Salt -City during the murder. Then things jump forward for five years; Ellie and Joel are well integrated into Jackson’s community and live relatively normal life-Join sessions Joel with Gail (wonderful Katherine O'Hara) show that he and Ellie had a certain degree of falling out. Whether it is only a 19-year-old or something deeper, you still have to see.
Not spoiling anything, the game is continued, The last of us, part IIThis much less linear business than his predecessor. Events are shown outside the order after a few memories. Prospects are shifted. The playable character changes at different points. I spent most of the last year, wondering how Mazin and Drukmann will transfer this structure to television – what events will be shown in what order and what things can be reduced or expanded?
But it is surprising that the show carefully reflects the chronology of the game. The core of the season remains Joel and Ellie, the consequences of the first season and how it affects all around them. A handful of events, including the infamous city festival in Jackson and the disclosure of Abby's motivation throughout the season, earlier in the series rise to give the audience more context, why everything happens. This change, which, as the creators said, was made to compensate for the change between the interactivity of playing characters, such as Abby and Ellie, against their observation.
The structure of the season worked, the plot was never difficult, and I think that the show worked better this season in the balancing of actions and drama. As the actors and creators were mentioned, Ramsey and Pascal do not get as much time together as in the first season, which is a pity, given their absolutely fantastic chemistry. But both actors maximize the relationship between Joel and Ellie from fractures, and they also do wonderful work with other scene partners. Both Joel and Ellie spend a considerable time with Dina (Isabelly Merced), who ultimately becomes another daughter for Joel and the best friend / love for Ellie. She brings a completely different attitude to these scenes – like everything in the world The last of usYou know that she saw her fair share of terrible things, but she combines a cool confidence with vulnerability in such a way that Ellie was delightfully not balance.
One of the key new events in the show, which did not take place in the game, is a huge siege of an infected attack on the city of Jackson (what you see in various show trailers). At first, it was like a response to complaints of complaints that the infected people did not feel a big threat in the first season, but how a large -scale battle is combined with a much more intimate threat in the same episode is perfectly played out. This episode was followed by the one that was much more peaceful and focused on the character, the cadence that I appreciated after the intensity of the siege. Naturally, everything intensifies when the season is coming to an end, but the balance seems measured and thoughtful.
In general, infected this season are more present than the latter, and they are as deadly and terrible as before. In the game, the player may not think about taking five or six at a time, but in the series even the meeting one on one feels fraught with danger. Of course, as in the first season, people are a more unpredictable and threatening part of the world.
Other new characters and events, such as the fate of Gail and her husband Yujina (played by Joe Pantoliano), again serves to enrich and improve the world The last of usIn addition to individual characters, the field and the show are also deeply deepened into large warring fractions, similar to Kansas -City in the first season. We get a few views on how the groups unite and try to survive against the infected and each other, and the show copes perfectly, not depicting a single way as correct or wrong.
Ellie makes her own judgments as history develops, and she begins to lose herself in a cycle, from which she cannot get out, even when her friends distance from her actions. Ramsey plays it very well – although they have a small and small frame, they play Ellie's ferocity in such a way that it is convincing and frightening. This side is turned over on the head in more vulnerable moments, when Ella's weight begins to accumulate, and it is exciting and anxious to observe. Mazin said that the justification of the quiet passion for Ellie with violence and the protection that will be released in the second season, and many small moments will definitely begin to pay off here.
Unlike the first season, which is an autonomous business, the second season leaves very much in the air. Again, this is what the creators have already told us; Mazin said that the story of the history of the second game will take at least two seasons. There is still a lot of history, and therefore everything ends with a completely different atmosphere than the first season. I hope that Mazin, Drukmann and the cast will be able to return to the third season a little faster than the last time, since more than two more years will feel extremely long expectation of some resolution.
In total, with seven episodes, the second season has a shorter time to run than the first season, which already felt a little abandoned to me. The finale, in particular, broke through some of his script, quickly huge, which was almost sloppy. This could easily do with additional 10 minutes, without losing an impulse. And considering that Mazin has already said The next season will be “much more”, My hopes for a quick turn are probably not realistic.
In the end, it may not be bad for most spectators. The last of us It can be exhausting and emotional clock, the second season is even more than the first. There are several points of extreme violence that are difficult to observe. The show really leans to the thoughtful balance between the implied and graphic violence, but it can still be painful, and several moments made me feel almost sick (suitable emotion, but not the most pleasant).
It is a little difficult to evaluate the second season in a vacuum, given that this is only the first half of some rather dirty, nonlinear source materials. This is not a big knock; Many shows do not wrap everything in a neat package every year. And, given the quality, which is completely in every episode of this show, from acting to the script to the set -design and VFX, I am sure that anyone who enjoyed the first season should get on board, even if it takes a lot of time to get any resolution. As in the game on which it is founded, a journey The last of us The second season is intense and asks the audience a lot, but this is still a journey that is worth going.