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After about half of the second season of the video game adaptation of The Last of Us aired, we compare it with the original.
After the overwhelming success of the first season of The Last of Us – HBO’s most successful streaming series of all time – it’s no surprise that we’re not only getting a second season, but also a third, which was confirmed just a few weeks ago. While two years ago, the first season retold the events of Naughty Dog’s video game , he film adaptation of The Last of Us Part II, which was recently remastered for PC, will be split into several seasons. So far, two episodes of the second season have aired on Sky in Germany and on HBO’s Max streaming service and producer Warner Bros. Discovery has already given us the opportunity to watch the third episode. We’ll be touching on key events from both seasons, so spoiler alert for anyone who still wants to experience both the show and the video games.
Episode 1 “Future Days” picks up where the first season left off: Joel (Pedro Pascal) has fled to Jackson with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) after freeing her from the Fireflies in a bloodbath. Ellie is unaware of this, and they begin a new chapter of their lives in the colony in Wyoming. While the first season took quite a few liberties at the beginning, it largely followed the original afterward. Season 2 follows a similar pattern. The second scene already differs fundamentally from the video game, as we are introduced to an important new character: Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her Firefly colleagues are mourning their fallen comrades at a cemetery. They swear revenge on Joel, whom they blame for their deaths. In the video game, Abby’s intentions are only gradually revealed, much later in the story. After that, some of the scenes are strikingly similar to the video game, such as the party scene where Ellie kisses Dina (Isabela Merced) and is hit on by Seth. Psychotherapist Gail, on the other hand, is a new character who tries to support both Joel and Ellie.
The show is brilliantly staged: Jackson was brought to life true to the original, set against a spectacular landscape blanketed in snow and hordes infected with the medicinal fungus Cordyceps, who seem to be learning, hiding below each other and attacking sneakily and viciously. While in the game, Ellie discovers with Dina on patrol a weed stash belonging to deceased group member Eugene, in Episode 2 “Through the Valley” she seeks shelter with Dina’s ex Jesse (Young Mazino) in a supermarket full of the plants during a blizzard. While searching for Joel, Abby is separated from her group and she must contend with a massive group of infected people. This was already grippingly staged in the game, but in the show, this chase takes on a whole new dimension with the sheer number of adversaries she has to evade. Although she is rescued by Joel and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), opposite to the game, the horde’s attack on Jackson is visually stunningly depicted in parallel. In the original, we learn about this a bit after the fact. Furthermore, in the show Jackson’s residents repeatedly find strange plants that we haven’t encountered in the game.
One bone-chilling scene marked a turning point in The Last of Us Part II and it is also found in the show. We are treated to a fantastic cover of the folk song Through the Valley by Ashley Johnson (Ellie’s voice actress in the game), which was featured in the game’s first trailer. The first season already featured a decent mix of game score composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, which we were able to experience live last year at the Game Music Festival in Wroclaw, Poland and licensed songs such as covers of A-ha’s Take On Me and Depeche Mode’s Never Let Me Down Again. We hope for an equally beautifully crafted vinyl set for the second season. Episode 3 “The Path” (the titular iconic song from the first game plays during the credits) a picks up three months later and focuses on the aftermath of the attack on Jackson in the previous episode. The show succeeds even better than the game in portraying Jackson’s dire situation. Unlike in the game, Ellie doesn’t flee with the mayor’s consent; she sneaks out with Dina after a newly added heated townhall meeting. While in the game, on our journey to Seattle to bring those responsible for the attack on Jackson to justice, we stumble across human remains along the way and find the murals of a mysterious cult, in the show we accompany a group that turns out to be part of the Seraphites. While the show often stays close to the original, it continuously adds little details—from grand gestures we won’t mention for spoiler reasons to small references to Frank Zappa and Green Day—that make the show feel more lifelike. At the end of the episode, we see tanks and troops of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) marching through Seattle and we’re eager to find out what else the series will add to the game’s story.
So far, our impressions of the second season are quite positive: the pacing has improved significantly compared to Season 1, the additional or adjusted scenes largely add to the story and the new characters fit in well. While the supporting cast shines, special praise goes to Season 2’s protagonists Bella Ramsey and Kaitlyn Dever for their fantastic portrayals of Ellie and Abby. Both the set design and the visual effects are in full harmony, something we can also attest to the final version of Season 1. This was not the case in the first press cut, which still used some stock footage and unfinished animal CG models. We apparently won’t have that special treat for Season 2 and we will keep track of the show throughout its runtime.
Warner Bros. Discovery provided us with access to The Last of Us and the pictures of the HBO show.
