'THE LAST OF US SEASON 2 JUST HANDLED ITS TOUGHEST MOMENT PERFECTLY'

It's fair to say that The Last of Us has never been a particularly upbeat television show. It would be wrong, after all, for a survival story set in a world ravaged by a deadly disease that turns people into zombies to be a cheerful watch. But even in that context, the most recent episode was a downer for the ages.

Anyone who has ever played The Last of Us Part II will have been prepared for what happened in the second episode of the TV show's second season. The game came out in 2020 and so, for the more than 10 million people who bought it, the violent and shocking events of this episode happened long enough ago that they've recovered from the horror — just about.

Note: There are major spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2 episode 2.

At the start of The Last of Us season 2, TV audiences met Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and heard her vow revenge against Joel (Pedro Pascal) for the massacre of the Fireflies at the end of the first season. In episode two, Abby got a stroke of luck and tricked Joel — along with his friend Dina (Isabela Merced) — back to the building where she was holed up with her friends. 

Abby shot Joel in the knee and beat him viciously with a golf club. Eventually, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) arrived and was restrained by the group as Abby delivered a final killing blow by stabbing Joel in his neck with the broken club. This act of violence will shape the rest of the season, just as it does in the game, where players take the perspectives of both Ellie and Abby at various times.

Read more: The Last Of Us' 'Controversial' Death Differs From The Game In This Crucial Way (HuffPost, 2 min read)

Joel's death was enormously divisive when the game first came out — it was viciously "review-bombed" by fans who objected to the death and to the inclusion of numerous LGBT+ characters — and there's certainly flickers of that in the reaction to the show. At the time of writing, The Last of Us season 2 has an approval score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes among critics and just 55% among audiences. 

The TV version of the scene makes some changes. Dina is present at Joel's death in the show, whereas it was his brother Tommy who was there in the game. There's also more context given to Abby's desire for revenge right from the start, revealing to Joel that the doctor he killed in the first season was her father. In the game, this backstory is gradually revealed over time, encouraging more sympathy for Abby on behalf of players.

But whatever the reaction, the show's handling of Joel's death was perfect. Abby is a believably twisted character, curdled into vengeance by Joel's actions in the same way that what Joel did appears to have poisoned his relationship with Ellie. Those characters have been positioned as both entirely different and chillingly similar, creating a fascinating moral quandary to power the rest of the season.

It's also significant that Dina was in the room at the time of the killing, with her presence possibly set to affect her burgeoning romance with Ellie. Will a grief-stricken Ellie hold her responsible for not doing more to save Joel? Their dynamic is immediately more interesting and textured as a result of this.

Read more: Are You Angry with ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2? ‘Give Yourself Time,’ Says Showrunner Craig Mazin (IndieWire, 2 min read)

But that's not to say that Tommy has been short-changed by this. While everything was going on in the house in the mountains, Tommy was a key figure in defending the settlement of Jackson Hole from an enormous horde of infected. This was a gargantuan action sequence in the Game of Thrones mould, delivering some of the most thrilling action in The Last of Us to date. It ensured that the episode had more meat to it than just the scene involving Joel.

Most impressively, though, The Last of Us has spent two hours of storytelling preparing Ellie's character for this heartbreak. The Ellie of season two has been rebellious, solitary, and determined to go her own way, whether or not she knows the truth about the horrifying things Joel did in her name. She's refused to confront the conversation she obviously needed to have with him, and now it's too late to have it.

Read more: 'The Last of Us season 2 promises to be queerer than ever' (Yahoo Entertainment, 5 min read)

Bella Ramsey has done a tremendous job so far of conveying these conflicted emotions in their performance, and the rest of the season will rest squarely on their shoulders. But with all of the moving parts in episode two — controlled so beautifully by writer Craig Mazin and director Mark Mylod — all of the ingredients are there for The Last of Us season 2 to match the first season's nuanced, eloquent portrait of survival and grief — this time with plenty of revenge thrown in as well.

The Last of Us season 2 airs at 2am every Monday on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/last-of-us-season-2-pedro-pascal-joel-spoilers-150157131.html

2025-04-22T15:15:18Z