THE LAST OF US S2x01 Recap: Something wicked this way comes

BEWARE! This post contains significant spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 1!

The Last of Us, HBO‘s acclaimed and award-winning adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name, returns for its second season this week. Over seven weeks, from April 13th to May 25th, The Beat will deliver episode recaps for the new season, deeply diving into what happens every week, how it reflects the game it’s based on, and how well the show is crafted.

The first episode of Season 2, “Future Days,” sees Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsay) relationship at its most tense, with a new threat on the horizon that will change things forever.

Craig Mazin (of Chernobyl fame) directed and wrote the episode.

What happened in The Last of Us season 2 debut, “Future Days”?

Season 2’s debut episode, “Future Days,” begins with the final scene of the first season, based on the iconic ending of 2013’s The Last of Us video game. In it, Joel promises Ellie that he’s telling the truth about what happened between him, Ellie, and the Fireflies—something viewers will know as a lie. This scene reminds viewers of where the show left off two years ago and sets the stage for Ellie and Joel’s tense relationship this season.

Immediately following this scene is a cold open set in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Season 1’s finale occurred. Here, we are introduced to the second season’s main character, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), and her friends Manny (Danny Ramirez), Mel (Ariela Barer), Nora (Tati Gabrielle), and Owen (Spencer Lord), as they discuss plans for how to move forward in light of the death of most of the Fireflies.

In this conversation, Owen mentions moving to Seattle, Washington, to follow rumors of a mysterious paramilitary group that has a community with supplies.

Abby, played with a quietly devastating rage and sadness by Dever, turns to the group and says that she’s dedicated to revenge at all costs and has to take down the man who killed her father, a man whose identity the audience is aware of (Joel). In this sequence, Abby comes across as relatively sympathetic until a tonal shift where she insists that Joel must die “slowly.” While a sequence like this isn’t seen in the video game, which introduces the character’s unclear motives later, the adaptation works better for a television show, creating underlying tension throughout the rest of the episode. 

Since Abby will be one of Season 2’s driving forces, the cold open introducing her immediately is a great change. 

We then cut to five years later. Ellie lives in a thriving Jackson, Wyoming community, and it appears to be winter. We see Jackson in the snow, with more houses than last season. In a brief montage, life around Jackson is shown, with everyone assisting the community in any way, including Ellie and Joel.

Ellie’s learning to fight better by partaking in a simulated conflict with a fellow Jackson resident.

We are introduced to her teacher and friend, Jesse (Young Mazino), whom Joel asked to keep an eye on her. When he’s concerned that she’s pushing herself too hard in this scene, Ellie reacts intensely and resentfully, telling him off for following Joel’s instructions.

Next, we are reintroduced to Joel, who repairs cars, and a new character, Dina (Isabela Merced), who approaches him for help repairing wiring. While he teaches her how to do it, Dina asks why Ellie is angry at him, which makes Joel defensive, justifying it as them “figuring this out for the first time,” referring to the fact that he lost his previous daughter, Ellie lost her parents, and neither of them have experience dealing with a pseudo-parental relationship.

Joel declares, “I try,” seemingly lacking regret for actions that caused his relationship with Ellie to break down.

In this conversation, Dina also observes that Joel is in therapy—another change from the game with interesting potential consequences as the season progresses.

Then, the episode cuts to Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), who’s teaching Ellie to use a sniper. When he tells Ellie she’s been taken off patrols, she reacts angrily because she knows Joel asked him for the favor. She proclaims, “I’m an adult,” before loudly adding, “I’m immune!”, a secret in Jackson. Tommy gives up in frustration, puts Ellie back on patrols, and points out her similarity to Joel. “You’re the same person,” he states.

In the following sequence, Joel discusses the realities of life in Jackson with Maria (Rutina Wesley), the local leader, and Tommy’s wife. He voices his distrust of outsiders and how they should stop letting strangers into the community. Comparatively, Joel is playful and kind to Maria’s son, asking him why they build walls: “To keep the monsters out.” Maria astutely points out that Joel and Ellie were strangers once upon a time, too, and they were let in.

When Tommy joins Joel and Maria, he lies about his conversation with Ellie.

Joel goes to therapy.

The next scene shows Joel visiting his therapist, Gail (Catherine O’Hara). It’s her birthday, so she’s had wine to drink. Their dynamic is strange, with an underlying tension. Joel is quite emotional with her, but she’s relatively hesitant and angry.

In the session, he praises Dina, saying she “treats him like a human being,” and talks about how he’s angry at Ellie for her emotional distance and lack of communication. Still, he struggles to reconcile with the potential causes of Ellie’s anger. Gail calls him out for this, stating that he’s lying and must be leaving something out. “You can’t heal unless you say it out loud,” she says. Attempting to prove her point, she then says that she hates Joel, hates their therapy sessions, and wants him out of her home. The reason why is quickly revealed: Joel killed Gail’s husband Eugene, for reasons yet unknown to the audience. Most of this is not in the game, making it an exciting and interesting new development for fans like me who might think they have the whole season figured out.

Then, Gail asks Joel if he’s done something to her, to which he responds, “I saved her,” and leaves. It’s an incredibly well-acted sequence by both actors, simmering with quiet tension until it explodes. 

We then see Ellie listening to music in her room, cleaning her gun, and modifying it—a brief reference to a core mechanic of the games. Dina visits her, and the two go on recon patrol together. They have a fun, flirtatious friendship acted out well by both actors, and their connection is immediately apparent.

The next day, the two are on patrol.  Because they’re talking about boys and not focusing their entire attention on their jobs, Jesse asks Ellia and Dina to take it more seriously because people look up to them, particularly the kids in the community.

Ellie asks Dina who she is taking to the New Year’s Eve dance, given her recent breakup with Jesse. Dina jokingly suggests Ellie take the only other outspoken lesbian in the community, which she shoots down. Their romantic tension is incredibly well done, feeling organic and understandable.

Ellie and Dina then run into a dear bear and a dead infected outside a rundown supermarket. After several awkward puns and dad jokes, they resolve to go into the supermarket to check out what’s happened. This sequence is taken right out of the games and works beautifully in the show. Plus, the horror of the Clickers is fantastically well done, with one of them being an unnerving and dangerous presence thanks to incredible sound design.

After taking out many infected, Ellie falls into the market below, where she hears strange, unfamiliar noises that aren’t quite a Clicker, but not quite a regular infected either. This sequence marks the introduction of the Stalkers, a terrifying brand of zombie from the games that follows the player’s exact location. Adapted to the show as a terrifying sequence of hide and seek, in which Ellie sneaks around a dilapidated grocery store whilst a Stalker plays mind games and follows her, it’s a horrific and exhilarating moment that feels like what many of the first season’s encounters with infected were missing.

Ellie kills the stalker and is bitten in the process, hiding the wound from Dina.

We then see them justifying their decisions to the Jackson council, expressing remorse, but confident that they made the right call. The council gives them a small punishment but lets them go, to set up the New Year’s Eve party.

In a particularly visceral sequence, we see Ellie slicing the skin where the bite was and stitching it back up, presumably to avoid suspicion that she’s immune. It’s an intimate shot with a quiet intensity and sense of palpable sadness.

Joel then visits Ellie. They make awkward, tense small talk until Joel notices her guitar needs to be restrung. He takes it and leaves. 

The episode’s final major sequence is the New Year’s Eve party. One of the most well-known and iconic parts of 2020’s The Last of Us Part II video game, the sequence is a much-needed addition of levity and brightness in what has been quite an emotionally taxing first episode. It’s intimate, beautiful, and incredibly well directed.

In the sequence, Dina and Ellie dance, and when Ellie claims everyone is staring at Dina, she responds that they’re staring at Ellie instead. “They’re terrified of you,” she says. And this bittersweet moment between them lays the foundation for their ongoing, tumultuous relationship dynamic, which will evolve throughout the season.

However, their moment is interrupted when a homophobe calls the two a slur, followed by Joel attacking the man. Ellie yells at him, angry at him for intervening and stating that she doesn’t need his help.

The episode then closes with a montage. Ellie visits Joel at his house, where he sits on the porch playing guitar (a moment sure to haunt game fans) before leaving; Abby’s group approaches Jackson from afar, with cold and terrible anger in their eyes; and a mycelium of the infected comes out of an opened pillar used for construction. Terrible things are coming to Jackson…

“Future Days” is an emotionally riveting, complex premiere

“Future Days” kicks off the second season of The Last of Us with an emotionally riveting and complex beginning episode that sets up the conflicts of the season well. The show clearly wants to take its time adapting The Last of Us Part II, which is a behemoth of a game, and this is the best call that they could’ve made because it allows moments to breathe and affords the complexity of the room to make an impact on viewers. While those craving a more explosive or action-packed debut might be underwhelmed, viewers will surely miss the premiere episode’s peace and quiet once things kick off in future episodes.

Join The Beat next week for a recap of The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 2. The Last of Us‘s second season is now available on Max.