HOLLYWOOD—There is a lot in the universe in the realm of zombies or the dead. It seems like the number of movies pertaining to the apocalypse or end of the world is a trend that is not going away anytime soon. I was a massive fan of “The Walking Dead,” but my investment changed after season eight, and the series lingered longer than what it should have.
I don’t want to talk about all the movies that have tackled the issue either, which brings me to the HBO series “The Last of Us.” I am familiar with the videogame, and I heard about the series over the last year or so, however, I never got invested into it until now.
Talk about a moment of chance, because the premium Cable channel was doing a binge of the first season in the wee hours of the night, and with me being someone who cannot sleep I watched the first episode, and then it became a domino effect where several hours later I watched the entire season and I was invested in this Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) dynamic. A tortured soul in Joel, who is grieving the loss of his daughter, fatally shot by the armed forces trying to prevent the outbreak from spreading further.
Amid all that, Joel encounters Ellie who is the one person who might have the cure to the deadly virus. She can take a bite from one of these creatures and guess what; she doesn’t turn. At the end of season one, the long journey for Joel and Ellie culminated with him taking those he was tasked with bringing Elli to out; after learning she would die as a result of the procedure. Season two picked up with Joel making a swear to Ellie that everything he mentioned about the Fireflies was true, but based on teasers from the series, that may all be a lie. Abby, one of the few reminding Fireflies was determined to find Joel and her quench for vengeance and take him out for taking out her father.
Yeah, I feel some terrible losses coming this season whether it’s Abby, Joel or Ellie, who knows, but blood will be shed. I’ve said it time and time again, human beings are our own worst enemies especially during a crisis because we are so quick to turn on one another. That scene with Ellie looked like she was in dire danger, but nope, she was just training, for what precisely I’m not sure. Ellie and Joel returned to Jackson, Wyoming, where Tommy, Joel’s brother, had made his stomping ground.
There is friction between Joel and Ellie as we discover five years later. She has some sort of animosity against him; something that he is struggling with, as Dina, Elli’s best friend, tried to get to the root of the problem. Looks like too many people are entering the base, and Maria pressed Joel about making plans to get things in order. Maria and Tommy now have a son, Benji.
Joel paid a visit to his therapist Gail portrayed by Catherine O’ Hara of all people. It was revealed that Joel, shot and killed Eugene, Gail’s husband. The therapy session she was granting him; she turned things on his head forcing Joel to acknowledge what he did to her. Damn it, just when I thought Joel was about to reveal the truth to Gail, he doesn’t.
Ellie is an idiot sometimes. I get that she can’t die after being bit, but that doesn’t mean you’re invincible, which she sometimes seems to believe as she decided to investigate a building after it appears that creatures may be nearby. Dina was not in any danger, but Ellie, not so much after falling through the floor. She encountered one of them and it resulted in her sustaining a bit to her stomach, one that she hid from everyone in town. Quite important because if they find out the truth I’m certain she might be in danger of being killed. Dina and Ellie aren’t great liars, and the ‘Council’ was not pleased with their answers. At last Ellie was smart enough to clean her bite with alcohol and her knife by digging into the wound.
Before the episode culminated, Joel paid Ellie a visit, but the tension was as cold as possible. However, what I suspected appears to be true. Ellie has a thing for Dina, and Dina has a thing for Ellie and before the season ends, I fear Dina will be no more. Heartbreak is coming as both ladies shared a steamy kiss while on the dance floor, that was interrupted by a bigot, and Joel came to Ellie’s defense annoying her more.
As the episode concluded, Ellie and Joel continued to see one another, but not speak, just as Abby and her crew seemed to be close to pegging Joel’s location. Oh, and that cracked pipes with roots, the fungi were growing and spreading. Not good, not good at all. Episodes of “The Last of Us” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
