HBO’s Our last one bring An attractive action game Intimate moments and A rich human drama Supported by terrorist operations. To return to Season 2, the sequel game is now used as the source material, with presenters Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann giving them more work. The first season greatly expanded the emotional depth and breadth of Joel and Ellie’s off-road journey, while also radiating many other stories they encountered along the way, and the cast (led by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) was excellent.
That was more than two years ago, and now it is one. Season 2 will premiere on HBO on Sunday, April 13, and I am once again happy to report that the show faithfully captures the first part of the complex story while also addressing some of my little complaints about the first season.
[Editor’s note: this story discusses season two broadly but avoids specific plot details and spoilers. There are spoilers for season one.]
The show got the end of Season 1 (and Game 1) with exactly the same. Joel and Ellie return to the settlement in Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel’s brother Tommy is part of a peaceful, good commune, a rare oasis of relatively safe in a destroyed world. This is about a year after Fireflies, a militia group looking for a cure for zombie infections, ordered Joel to smuggle Ellie nationwide. On the subsequent journey, Joel and Ellie Bonds became surrogate daughters, replacing his lost daughter at the beginning of the outbreak 20 years ago.
Ellie’s immunity to the infection makes Firefly hope she can grasp the key to finding a cure-but when Joel learns it will kill her, he wipes the entire soldier and the doctor who is trying to perform the procedure, and then runs back to Jackson with Ellie. As far as she knows, when the raider landed on the Firefly complex, Joel was unable to heal and Joel saved her.
We immediately learn that Joel’s rampage on fireflies will suffer a significant impact as we meet Abby (Kaitlyn Dever’s intensity of anger) and her days after the massacre. Things then jumped for five years; Ellie and Joel merged into the Jackson community and lived a relatively normal life, although Joel’s therapy with Gail (the wonderful Catherine O’Hara) showed that he and Ellie had some degree of failure. Whether it’s her 19-year-old or something deeper, it remains to be seen.
The sequel game doesn’t ruin anything, Our final second part,yes There are few linear events Compared with its predecessor. Events show order through multiple flashbacks. The viewpoint has changed. Playable characters change at various points. I’ve been wondering most of the past year how Mazin and Druckmann will convert that structure into TV – in what order will what events be displayed?
But surprisingly, the show closely reflects the game’s chronology. The core of this season is still Joel and Ellie, which is the consequences of Season 1 and how it affects everyone around you. A few events, including Jackson’s infamous Town Festival and the season’s Abby motivational revelation, have been lifted faster in the series to give viewers a better idea of why things are happening. This is the change the creators have made to make up for the changes between characters like Abby and Ellie and the interactions of the characters watching.
The structure of this season worked – the multi-pronged plot was never hard to stick to, and I think the season did a better job balancing action and drama. As the actors and creators suggest, Ramsey and Pascal didn’t get as much time in season one, which is a shame given their absolutely brilliant chemistry. However, both actors make the most of Joel and Ellie’s split relationship, and they do a great job with other scene partners. Both Joel and Ellie have spent a lot of time at Dina (Isabela Merced), who ends up being another daughter of Joel and Ellie’s best friend/love interest. She developed a completely different attitude to these scenes – like anyone in the world Our last oneyou know she’s seen quite a few terrible things about her, but she combines a cool confidence and vulnerability in a way that keeps Ellie happy.
One of the main new events that didn’t happen on the show was a huge attack on the attack on Jackson Town (things you see in the various trailers of the show). At first it felt like a nose reaction to complaining, as the infected person didn’t seem like a threat in season one, but the way the massive battle juxtaposes with the more intimate threats in the same episode works perfectly. Then, the episode is more peaceful and driven, the rhythm I appreciated after the siege. Naturally, things get bigger as the season approaches, but the balance feels very measured and thoughtful.
Overall, being infected is more important than the last of the season, and they are as deadly and terrifying as ever. In the game, players may not have imagined five or six in a game, but in the show, even one-on-one encounters can feel dangerous. Of course, like Season 1, humanity is the more unpredictable and threatening part of the world.
Other new characters and events, such as Gail and her husband Eugene (played by Joe Pantoliano), once again help enrich and enhance the world Our last one. In addition to personal roles, the show delves into the larger warring factions, similar to the Kansas City “The Liberator” in Season 1. We have multiple views on how groups are united and try to survive with infected one another, and the show does a great job of not portraying either way as right and wrong.
As the story progresses, Ellie makes her own judgment and she begins to lose herself in a cycle she seems unable to escape, even as her friends keep a distance from her actions. Ramsey performed very well – despite their slight and small frames, they played Ellie’s ferocity in a convincing and terrifying way. When the weight Elle chose began to pile up, that side of her was tilted at a more fragile moment, fascinating and disturbing viewing. Mazin said the reasoning behind Ellie’s obsession with violence and protected quietness will play a role in season 2, and many of the hourly moments will certainly pay off here.
It was an independent thing from Season 1, and Season 2 surfaced in the air. Again, this is what the creators have told us. Majin said it would take at least two seasons to tell the story of the second game. There are still many stories to tell here, so the atmosphere of things is very different from that of season one. I hope Mazin, Druckmann and the cast will be able to return to season 3 faster than last time, as the other two years and more will feel like a very long waiting for a solution.
With only seven episodes, the second season has a shorter runtime than the first season, which has already made me feel a little shocked. Especially the ending blows in a quick shot, which is almost hasty. It can be easily done without losing any momentum. Given that Mazin has said Next season will be “big bigger”, My hopes for quick turn may be unrealistic.
Finally, this may not be a bad thing for most viewers. Our last one It could be a hard and emotional watch, with more season two than season one. Some extremely violent moments are hard to watch. The show does strike a thoughtful balance between implicit and graphic violence, but it can still be painful, and a moment makes me feel almost uncomfortable (a proper mood, but not the most pleasant one).
Given that it’s just some pretty messy first half of nonlinear raw materials, evaluating the second season in vacuum is a bit difficult. That’s not the main knock. Many programs don’t wrap everything in sorted packaging every year. Given that the quality infuses every plot from performance to script to set design and VFX, I’m confident that a person who enjoys the season should be involved in something here, even if it takes a long time to get any solution. Just like the game it is based on Our last one Season 2 was very intense and asked a lot from the audience, but it was still a worthwhile trip.
