The Last Of Us (Season 2) begins where we left Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) in Season 1, back in Jackson Hole. 5 years have passed since then and Joel and Ellie seem to have a rather complicated relationship. Ellie is remarkably grumpy, even for a 19 year old girl. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out why. Joel didn't exactly tell her the truth after he saved her from the Fireflies hospital in Season 1.
Season 1:
Season 1 was a fairly good attempt at recreating a computer game story as a TV show. It could have been amazing, but it wasn't. The first 2 episodes and the last 2 episodes were amazing. Everything in the middle should have been handled differently.
Let me just mention:
- a rewrite of Bill and Frank (some of the best parts of the game turned into a pointless waste of time to please a certain segment of viewers),
- Sam changed to be deaf and wasting time with sign-language,
- Kansas City rebel leader Kathleen, who was the most ridiculously looking rebel leader in the history of rebellion,
- far too few infected,
- time wasted in the Jackson Hole commie settlement.
I could go on and on, but my point stands, Season 1 was pretty good but certainly not amazing.
Season 2:
Season 2 is a different beast to tame. The second game is fairly large with lots of stories to tell and lots of characters. Ultimately it is a story of hate and revenge and the price you might have to pay if you get obsessed with hate and let it consume your life. It also makes an important point of showing both sides of the story, the first part of the game is seen from Ellie's point of view, while the second part is seen from a new character, Abby's (Kaitlyn Dever) point of view. Right and wrong may be opposite things from the other side of the fence and both sides of a conflict may be right from their point of view, or they may just be equally wrong.
The TV show follows the same structure as the game. Season 2 is mostly seen from Ellie's point of view. We follow her in Jackson Hole and how a certain "golf event" sends her down a dark path of hate and revenge. Her friend Dina (Isabela Merced) travels with her to Seattle to kill those people who did her wrong. Season 3 will see things from Abby's point of view.
In Seattle Ellie finds herself in a warzone, where we see how destructive humans always are. Instead of fighting the Infected, the 2 major local groups are instead fighting each other, and they seem to have forgotten who started it and why. Washington Liberation Front (WLF/Wolves) fought and won against FEDRA only to become more of what they fought against. The Seraphites (Scars) are fanatics following the "Religion of Love" and they seem to be just as brutal and retarded as a well-known "Religion of Peace". Both groups are probably doing the right thing seen from their point of view.
Storyline changes that make sense:
- Abby's motivations are explained from the beginning. In the game it is long a mystery why she does what she does. It was probably a necessary change to do to make the story easier to follow.
- The character Eugene is used as a way to show how Ellie figures out how Joel makes promises and then breaks them and lies about it. In the game it is handled quite differently. It works okay with the change.
- The show has omitted airborne spores as a way to infect humans until this Season. They are a big part of the games. It is easy to see why they have handled it this way, because otherwise everyone would have to wear gasmasks a lot. The Episode 5 scene with the introduction of spores is really great.
- Dina is the brains while Ellie is the muscles. It makes sense to make Ellie's sidekick more involved in the action this way.
- The New Year's Eve porch scene happens much sooner than in the game. In the game it is the very last scene. I'm not sure I like this change to the timeline, but time will tell what it does to the story.
- The flashback to Joel's childhood with Tommy and their dad. Great addition and it works really well.
- Tommy uses a flamethrower on a Bloater. It doesn't happen like that in the game, but Abby uses a flamethrower on Infected in Season 2.
- The girl on girl scene happens differently than in the game. It doesn't really change anything though. Where, when and how is not important.
Storyline changes that mostly suck:
- The infected are quite different from the game. They are much smarter and more organized. They attack in hordes. They are connected as one organism by some sort of remote network connection. I think these changes are stupid. The game does it better.
- The horde attack on Jackson Hole is quite idiotic. It sums up everything I hate about the changes they have made to the infected. At the same time I understand the creators' motivation. It is a great action scene and some people will love this.
- Ellie's boat scene is very inspired by the game, but then Ellie ends up on "Scar island" in the storm and is almost hung and cut open by Scars. It is an idiotic scene and it has no place on Ellie's storyline.
Great scenes remade or inspired by the game:
- The New Year's Eve porch scene with Joel and Ellie's talk is nicely recreated. It is a key scene explaining Ellie and Joel's complicated relationship.
- Abby gets attacked by infected and has to escape behind a fence
- The "golf event". It isn't a 1:1 copy from the game but close enough. It is brutal and I like how they did it.
- The music store scene is very much like in the game, complete with Ellie performing A-ha's "Take on me" for Dina.
- The subway scene has great action and is inspired by the game but the remote controlled horde of Infected is again annoying.
- The theatre they use as their base looks a lot like in the game
- At the hospital when Ellie "meets" with Nora to "ask her nicely" for Abby's location. The game does it even better but the scene on the TV show isn't bad either.
- The Ellie and Joel birthday flashbacks are great. Joel performs "Future days" and we get to see the Dinosaur and the Space/Astro museum.
- Ellie's confrontation with Owen and Mel is different but the changes work great on the TV show.
- The confrontation with Abby isn't a 1:1 copy from the game but close enough. Really great scene with a big cliffhanger for non-gamers.
What to expect in Season 3:
- We will follow Abby's 3 days in Seattle and see the parallel events that happened at the same time as Ellie's 3 days.
- We know that WLF attacks "Scar Island".
- There was a bloody saw at the Aquarium, a hint for the gamers
- Tommy sniping? I hope so
- The motherfucking Rat King? It better happen!
- What happens after the screen goes to black at the Theatre? Will they follow the game's storyline?
3 actresses:
- Ellie: Yes, they could have chosen an actress with a wider range and someone looking more like game Ellie, but they didn't. They chose Bella Ramsey, and I think she does an okay job as angry Ellie. It doesn't bother me, I'm fine with Bella.
- Dina: Really great performance from Isabela Merced. TV show Dina is quite different from game Dina, and Isabela is easy to like.
- Abby: While her amount of screentime is limited, Kaitlyn Dever handles the character really great. She may look nothing like Abby Schwarzenegger from the game, but she seems to be a great actress. I look forward to much more Abby in Season 3.
Some great music on the show:
- Nirvana : "Love Buzz" (Ellie's tape in E1)
- A-ha : "Take on me" (performed by Ellie in E4)
- Troy Baker : "Future days" (performed by Joel in E6)
- Ashley Johnson and Chris Rondinella : "Through The Valley" (From the game, end of E2)
Final words:
I think Season 2 is a great adaption of part 1 of the second game. It may be a bit compressed with only 7 episodes, but that leaves little room for time-wasting derailed side-stories. Season 2 stays pretty much on the path and sticks to the storyline from the game. Yes, there are changes from the game, but most of these changes make sense and work well on the TV screen. I am not too happy with the changes made to the Infected, but at least we see more of them this season. In season 1 the creators sometimes seemed to have forgotten about the Infected.
All the actors, both old and new, do great jobs and I really look forward to Season 3. I wish they had filmed Season 2 and 3 at the same time though. Waiting 2 years on the next season is going to suck like nothing has ever sucked before. Well, you can always play the game again. TLOU-2 is a bloody great game and you are really missing out on a lot of story and action, if you only watch the TV show.
Rating: 
TV Series Title: The Last Of Us
Season: 2
Episodes: 7
Creators: Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
This Release: 2025
Genres: Horror, Action
Actors: Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Robert John Burke, Rutina Wesley, Danny Ramirez, Kaitlyn Dever, Spencer Lord, Tati Gabrielle, Ariela Barer, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Wright, Joe Pantoliano
Movie Format: Streaming
Movie Label: Max
Content Type: Movie Review
Language: 
Updated: 2025-05-29 19:29
Created: 2025-05-29 11:08
