LAST OF US SEASON 2 PREMIER REVIEW

SLOW STARTS

The Last Of Us season two kicks off somewhat slowly, with brilliant writing and acting carrying a slower, mundane episode without much stakes. To be honest, maybe a slow start isn’t exactly the worst way to kick this season of television of. As a player of the games, I know that this journey throughout the course of the season is going to be a long, painful one to watch, in all the best ways possible. Which is why i’m happy to say that this first episode does a good enough job of setting all these characters up for that long season. Is it a perfect episode? No, not by any means, but it has it’s moments that shine through to make a memorable enough episode of television.

ADAPTING THE GAME

Adapting the second game of The Last Of Us was always going to be a difficult task, not only because of the challenging plot and story, but also because of the slow beginning. The first game (and episode of season one) opens with the literal world collapsing, fire, blood, tears and more were all on display for the premier of the first season, and it provided an unforgettable gaming experience for gamers alike.

However, the second game decides to slow things down to a complete stop, before anything has even happened. It’s one of my major gripes I have with the second game. It’s a slow, often uninteresting beginning that serves to set up the rest of the story. Well i’m happy to say that the premier of the second season fixes some issues with the first couple hours of the game, however, it still takes an absurd amount of time for anything to really happen. It’s one of the issues that the show is going to have because of how much it wants to adapt the game.

The rest of the episode however, is adapted beautifully, while the new additions to the show make for some interesting an complex character moments. The party scene is adapted basically one to one with the game, and it’s absolutely jaw dropping as a fan of the games to see how incredibly well adapted it is. The locations look similar, and everything, even the tone feels perfectly taken from the game. The new elements are also a welcome change, promising character developments for Joel, Dina, Jessie and more. They introduce Kat, a character only spoken about in the game. It’s a welcome suprise.

ACTION (OR LACK THEREOF)

Although I enjoyed the episode and thought the slower pace allowed for more character moments, I still understand that at times it’s easy to check out. I even did once or twice. It’s because of the lack of action scenes in this opening episode. Many enjoy the first season not only for it’s story and characters, but also for the action set pieces, infected running around, raiders, etc. This first episode has one action sequence and it’s found quite late into the episode. However, it is an intense scene and one that introduces the Stalker, a new smarter type of infected. It’s a very good, scary scene that really puts emphasis on the new dangers of the world. However, the rest of the episode has basically nothing in terms of fast paced action, which although isn’t necessary for a good episode of television, I felt was a bit of a missed opportunity. However, I reckon they’ve saved the action for next episode, which does look extremely good.

CONCLUSION

So, overall the first episode of the new season is a solid, re-introduction to the world of Last Of Us. It’s a slow, yet captivating episode that sets up the characters and mysteries to come. Although the lack of action set pieces hurts the episodes pacing, it still feels like a solid introduction back to the world, and the acting and production design is still stellar.