In 2020, the devastating video game sequel, “The Last of Us Part II,” was unleashed into the world, boldly building upon a beloved story and tearing it apart. It did so by adding a brutal new layer of tragedy into a post-apocalyptic world that was already full of overwhelming loss, thrusting its characters into a morally fraught future where all that they love is destroyed.
It is one of the greatest — yet most grim — modern games ever made as, for all its gripping action, it confronts the terrifying potential that humanity’s greatest threat is itself.
“The Last of Us” Season 2 adapts that premise in uniquely haunting television form as creator Craig Mazin, the mind behind the outstanding miniseries “Chernobyl,” reveres the source material while critically diverging from it in key ways. It’s a faithful yet reflective adaptation, carving out new character beats that not only give the excellent duo of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey additional moments to shine, but further complicates some of the questions raised by the game.
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Working again with Neil Druckmann, the creator of the games, Mazin is interested in not just this troubled collection of characters, but the smaller textures of their lives and what happens when they become utterly consumed by violence. The HBO series is an often unrelentingly feel-bad experience, but one that captures humanity with all its beautiful and cruel sides. Changing significant parts of the narrative to add much-needed context, “The Last of Us” softens some of the agonizing blows while twisting the knife for other, more emotionally complex, ones.
This is felt right in Season 2’s opening moments, the aftermath of when Joel (Pascal) lies to Ellie (Ramsey) about what really happened back with the Fireflies in Salt Lake City. His deception is one that very well could have marked a fitting end to this saga, but tracing the ripples from this juncture is where the tragedy is then deepened. The first key ripple is the introduction to Abby, played with a fragile poise by series newcomer Kaitlyn Dever, whose sad story will become inescapably intertwined with Ellie’s.
Though Dever is far smaller in stature compared to the muscular character in the game, it is in her eyes that we witness the agony that’s calcified into anger. That she and Ellie, each cracked mirrors of the other, appear younger than the game’s versions only makes the weight they carry that much more painful. As the years pass and Ellie forms new relationships, namely with Isabela Merced’s charming Dina, she also discovers she again has much to lose as she sets forth to Seattle following an immense loss.
The context of this is best left to the show, but for those who know this story, this is also where the series takes its time in the aftermath. Where the game was tighter and more streamlined in guiding us through intersecting revenge missions, the show dedicates what is almost an entire episode to interrogating the ideological underpinnings of the journey ahead. An entire community meeting, one of several moments where we feel Mazin’s humanistic “Chernobyl” sensibility intervening in the story, is something entirely new and notable for how people speak about violence. It doesn’t change the trajectory Ellie is hellbent on going down, but it expands the story’s scope in a small yet critical way.
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“The Last of Us” gives itself room to breathe outside the action, allowing for longer conversations between characters that are both humorous and heartbreaking. Even as there is a magnificently staged and shot sequence early on that captures just how fragile things are in this world, it’s the reasons why we arrive at the fights that matter most.
From the moment we arrive in Seattle, the series finds fascinating ways of exploring the factions that have taken hold there with the reintroduction of the always great Jeffrey Wright, reprising his role from the game as the menacing leader Isaac. It’s disappointing the series did not actually shoot in the city, as some poor attempts to recreate it are noticeably off, but the overall experience remains shattering. Where the game is about taking on swarms of enemies in the city, there is an effectively melancholic feel to Ellie and Dina making their way through a quietly desolate Seattle. Their chemistry, more playfully flirtatious and compassionate, instills the episodes with a somber weight as you know every day they spend here is not just a threat to their lives, but their very souls. For every joyous scene, like when they shelter together briefly in a music store — with Ramsey giving a humble, heartbreaking singing performance that’s genuinely emotional — there is the inescapable sense they won’t get out of Seattle unscathed.
And yet they stay, with the series taking time to catch glimpses of the cruelty that has come to define the city, as further flashbacks show Ellie coming to realize that Joel is a more flawed person than she thought. It’s then about her not knowing what else to do with all of this information. There isn’t an episode like the standout one in the first season where we saw Bill and Frank lovingly building a life together at the end of the world, but there is an overarching commitment to finding these pockets of humanity amid the horrors. Be it with Dina and Ellie finding out how it is that they care for each other when death follows them at every turn, or when we see the way those in Seattle have gotten to the point they’re killing each other, it’s deeply human.
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Just like the game, “The Last of Us” Season 2 is well-constructed and engaging to experience, though the greatest impact comes from the cycles of violence continuing to unfold. In the moments like where Ellie looks out over Seattle as gunshots reverberate and explosions consume it in flames, it’s seeing the fear in her eyes as she turns to lock hands with Dina where we feel all it is they have to lose.
“The Last of Us” Season 2 premieres Sunday, April 13, on HBO and Max.
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