HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 Review - The Skeleton Of A Story Without Heart

HBO's The Last Of Us was a feat of video game to television adaptation, telling the focused story of Joel and Ellie as they attempt to survive in the cordyceps-infected apocalypse and learn to trust one another. Much like the game's sequel, the scope of The Last of Us Season 2 expands the cast and scale of the story but does it manage to deliver the same emotional punches as the first season?

There will be story spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 as well as The Last of Us Part II contained in this review

The story of The Last of Us Season 2 picks up five years after the conclusion of Season 1. Returning to Jackson, Wyoming after Joel kills a hospital of Fireflies saves Ellie from dying, the mood is tense, and with Ellie growing into late teen-hood and wanting to be seen as an adult, it gets more and more tense.

Episode two features a horrifying moment for Ellie, witnessing the gruesome death of Joel sets her on a vendetta to track down a group, led by a woman named Abby, that traveled from Seattle on a hunt for Joel.

From there, Season two feels like a fever dream of quick moments, the travel and arrival to Seattle, days passing to night in an instant, all culminating in a tense cliffhanger to cap the season. Never enough time to linger on any moment, but with very direct dialogue and characters clearly speaking their mind, it felt more like being told the synopsis of a story rather than getting invested personally.

Story and Pacing Issues

Episode 1 and 2 of the season felt like a strong start. They gave adequate breathing room for the viewer to catch up with characters we're familiar with, be introduced and grow familiar with new characters, and to learn how some existing relationships have developed.

The Last of Us Season 2 attempts to deal with a lot of complicated themes; familial/community loss, making decisions for yourself vs factoring in the views of others, and most importantly revenge.

There are a lot of moments where they manage to nail this emotion. The anger and sadness at Joel's death and the happiness at learning of Dina's pregnancy are two that immediately come to mind. A lot of these themes and emotions tend to fall flat, especially when it comes to Ellie's revenge fueled hatred.

There were far more times when I was told that Ellie was angry, than actions were taken to prove that she was out for revenge. In those moments where revenge was taken, it almost seemed like Ellie was never truly steeled in her resolve, instead becoming shocked and withdrawn before she would continue her journey.

At all times it felt like Ellie was following the motions of revenge, but she was never fueled by it.

Only Half The Story

One of the largest pacing issues is, unfortunately, one that the series inherits from the game. The story of The Last of Us Season 2 is one that focuses on Ellie's side of the story, where Season 3 will retell the same few days in Seattle from the perspective of Abby.

I've talked about the story structure of The Last of Us Part II being, in my opinion, one of the weakest aspects of the game. Where narrative momentum is reset to force the player to relearn the events from a different side. While it was jarring as you moved from Ellie to Abby in the game, that issue feels like it's tenfold when we don't even know when we'll get to experience the second half of the story (let alone the murmurs of the story getting further split into a third season).

This splitting of the seasons has also forced a lot more exposition into Season 2, forcing Abby to reveal her motives via a monologue early, truncating all of the flashback sequences into a single episode, and showing us the scene on the porch. Each moment held back for peak narrative impact in the game is now shared when it's available.

Standout Moments

While I wasn't as much of a fan of the overall presentation of Season 2 of The Last Of Us, there were plenty of stand-out moments from the season, many of which were pulled directly from the game.

The claustrophobic moments for Abby in Episode 1 as she's crawling through a collapsed gate, Joel's death that I mentioned above, and the museum scene of Ellie getting to pretend to be an astronaut are all ones that immediately come back when I think about what I enjoyed the most in the story.

Pretty much any moment with Pedro Pascal was standout for me, especially the more dramatic moments in the therapy session between Joel and Gail, and the "Do a little better next time" sequence.

One scene I'm glad that they absolutely nailed is Ellie playing "Take On Me" on Guitar with Dina listening on. This moment is such a beautiful and serene time in what is otherwise quite a fast-paced adventure, and I'm so happy that it got the justice it deserved.

Set Dressing And Design

A large round of congratulations needs to be given to those who spent time creating the world of The Last of Us. The 'held together' nature of Jackson all the way to the overgrown streets of Seattle, it all felt like a world that had fallen apart and mostly been reclaimed by nature.

This lived-in world also gives plenty of opportunity for the characters to muse on just how strange the world is, finding 'relics' of a time gone by that we take for granted in the current day and age.

While the infected weren't a large part of the series, being featured in two to three major moments, they were as tense as ever. Not falling into the normal traps of letting a protagonist get too familiar with zombie-like enemies, The Last of Us Season 2 makes sure that humans are still very easily outnumbered and that the point is to get out.

While running from the infected, there are some excellent close-ups on different actors in beautifully terrifying makeup and prosthetics that do a great job of selling us on this terrifying reality of the world.

The Last Of Us Season 2 Review | Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, The Last of Us Season 2, while an entertaining season, was good but fell short of great. A lot of the issues stem from wanting to remain too faithful to the source material's format, while others come from telling the viewer what was going on instead of just showing it to them.

Performances from Pedro Pascal and Catherine O'Hara were highlights, and while Bell Ramsey is in her strong suit when delivering comedic and flirty (awkward) lines, the rage and revenge aren't as believable.

I'm looking forward to revisiting Season 2 once Season 3 has fully released to see if the complete package improves the individual aspects. This series definitely makes me miss the days where seasons would be longer.

TechRaptor was able to view The Last Of Us Season 2 thanks to screeners provided by Warner Bros Discovery.