The Last of Us, season two review: Brace for more exquisite gut punches

There are two standout episodes in the new season of The Last of US. They’ll both leave you reeling, in different ways. Read our review.

There are two standout episodes in season two of The Last of Us. One might genuinely shock you, and the other will pluck – nay, torment – your heartstrings.

Nestled between them is a show whose baseline level of quality remains good-to-excellent. It is just as moreish and consistently compelling as before, with a couple of very high peaks and no serious troughs.

(When I say moreish, I mean it: I easily gorged on six of its seven episodes in a single day.)

The emotional potency of this franchise has always fascinated me. It is written to resonate far more with parents than those of us who don’t have children. But I’m as yet childless, and for some reason the key beats still just land. They land hard.

It’s the sort of story that was once described quite succinctly, by a parodic YouTube game reviewer of all people, as “sad daddy stuff”. And yes, it definitely is that. But there is a moral complexity here that elevates the material far above its basic premise.

Main characters Joel and Ellie in a moment from the trailer. Picture: Max

I am mostly judging this as a season of television, not as an adaptation of something else. That is where the score at the end comes from.

But if you’re interested in the opinion of someone who’s familiar with the source material, perhaps to an unhealthy degree, I will say this: most of it is a fraction better in the game. No more than a fraction.

That was true of season one as well. It was a faithful, competently made version of a more potent original. It succeeded in bringing the story of The Last of Us to a mainstream audience without ever compromising the spirit of the material that had inspired it, and ultimately, that was more than fans of the game had dared to hope for.

Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann manage to maintain that level of polish in the second season, which adapts a chunk of the game’s sequel, The Last of Us Part II.

If you enjoyed the first, I can’t see any reason for you to consider this a drop-off in quality.

A group of new characters for season two, led by Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby. Picture: Max

Here’s the set-up. We return to the lives of series co-protagonists Joel (the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (up-and-comer Bella Ramsey) about five years after the dramatic events that closed out season one.

They’re now living permanently in Jackson, Wyoming, the settlement led by Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna). It’s growing and thriving, largely because it is relatively safe from the Infected – its residents patrol the surrounding area to prevent any encroachments. Heck, given the state of the rest of this post-apocalyptic world, Jackson is almost idyllic.

There’s an unspoken tension, however, between Joel and Ellie, which seems to stray beyond what is normal, even for a rebellious teenager and her stern, interfering pseudo-father figure.

Joel’s actions at the end of season one – both his violent rampage through a Salt Lake City hospital and his subsequent lie to Ellie about what he’d done – loom over everything and set the plot in motion.

This is still, at its heart, a story about Joel and Ellie’s relationship, and the things love can drive a human being to do (plus some other themes, obscured for now, that I expect to come into focus next season). All the monsters and other bleak elements are just set dressing.

Jackson looks nice! Picture: Max

Joel even has a letterbox. Picture: Max

So, those two standout episodes I mentioned. One of them is action-heavy and filled with dread, the other dialogue-heavy and full of quiet pathos. Each approaches the pinnacle of what television can accomplish in those spaces.

That’s all I can say, really, without drifting into significant spoiler territory. Just know the quality of those episodes alone is high enough to justify season two’s existence. And I say that having come in with some serious doubts.

One concern was structural. The original TLOU game already had an episodic, TV-like cadence that made it ripe for adaptation. It was practically begging for HBO to come along with a bag of money. Its sequel follows a more convoluted structure that probably can’t be properly replicated on television.

The writers’ solution here is to make the story a touch more linear, and to feed viewers bits and pieces of key information in a different order.

Another worry was thematic. The Last of Us Part II is more confronting, emotionally, and its major themes are less straightforward. The meaning of the story is buried deeper. It asks more of the person playing it, to the point that many people bounced off it entirely.

Years after its release, Part II is still among the most polarising works of genre fiction out there, both loved and loathed by warring elements of the fan base who interpret its meaning differently.

There’s no way to change that without kneecapping the whole point of the narrative, so Mazin and Druckmann mostly commit to preserving it, and trusting viewers to digest it in good faith. They do tweak a couple of details, in their versions of the game’s more controversial scenes, to soften them ever so slightly.

Here is what I would say, if you are finding the above a touch too foreboding: the writing here is brave. It is unyielding. It does not pander to you. The story is brutal and, in its way, extraordinarily beautiful. It’s worth giving a chance.

Meanwhile the action’s pretty good too. Picture: Max

Joel. Picture: Max

Last concern: Bella Ramsey, the actor who plays Ellie. Ramsey nailed the role in season one, when Ellie was a plucky and delightfully foul-mouthed 14-year-old girl. Now the character is 19, and harder-edged.

Ramsey is hindered here by their physical attributes, more than anything to do with their talents as an actor. They’re of small stature, with a really youthful voice. That was actually helpful when they were playing the younger Ellie; now it is an obstacle, because the end product risks coming off as a tad more childlike than it needs to be at times.

Ramsey mostly pulls it off. They are usually believable enough as this older version of Ellie. It might even be that my opinion is being coloured by Ashley Johnson’s original performance as the character, and TV-only viewers won’t detect the slightest problem. But it feels less natural, less easy than Ramsey’s practically flawless turn in season one.

Ultimately, season two has eased those aforementioned worries of mine, and sometimes made them look foolish. It was a far tougher challenge for the writers, and they have risen to it.

The acting remains broadly immaculate, by the way. The emotional gut punches remain heavy. The action sequences have, if anything, improved.

Essential viewing, then, and easy to recommend.

The Last of Us, season two: 4.5/5

This season premieres on Max, which just launched in Australia, on April 13

Feel free to send through your thoughts on The Last of Us franchise; it will give your writer a welcome break from the monotony of covering Australia’s election campaign.

Twitter: @SamClench

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Originally published as The Last of Us, season two review: Brace for more exquisite gut punches