The original post: /r/television by /u/NoxSnow on 2025-04-07 16:03:11.
Metacritic: 91/100 (Universal Acclaim)
It’s tough to sustain a zombie show: It either gives us a zombie attack every week and risks becoming repetitive, or it strays away from that pattern and ceases to be a zombie show. It’s commendable how Season 2 of The Last of Us tries to advance the narrative in a fresh way, but it’s not entirely successful. And the deep sadness that permeates the entire show stubbornly remains. I can say I admire a lot of the craftsmanship that goes into making The Last of Us… but I hope you’ll forgive me if I take some time to recover before finishing the rest of the season.
Mazin has likened this season to The Empire Strikes Back, as both tell stories in which wins turn into losses and characters lose their way. Season 2 is in many respects a tougher and more upsetting season than the first. The cast, especially Pascal and Ramsey, does superb work, but what made Joel and Ellie easy to like and root for in the first season starts to erode here, another consequence of Joel’s actions in Salt Lake City. That makes Season 2 more difficult but also more complex and provocative.
The second season of “The Last of Us” feels destined to divide audiences more than the first, both by the very nature of being an incomplete story and for some of the incredibly dark places it goes. It’s a season that asks viewers to interrogate the cost of tough decisions, a masterful study in ripple effects from Joel losing his daughter in the prologue to how that influenced his commitment to saving Ellie. Being a hero for one person can make you a villain for another. That’s a tough thing to render, and for viewers to consider. But “The Last of Us” succeeded as a game franchise because it trusted the emotional intelligence of gamers, and the show does the same for TV viewers.
Even this batch’s narratively weaker moments (the last installment of the season is its shakiest) feel like a treat to take in thanks to the show’s stunning cinematography, score, production value, and direction by the likes of Druckmann, Succession‘s Mark Mylod, and Loki‘s Kate Herron. By altering certain aspects of the game, TLOU is able to nevertheless honor its source material while charting a uniquely brutal, heartbreaking, and poignant path, cementing its status as the most effective video-game adaptation, warts and all.
GameSpot: 9/10
Thankfully, it’s also the inheritor of another of the game’s qualities: its huge swings. The first half of The Last of Us Part II takes some massive chances that ultimately pay off, and the show is the beneficiary for having to adapt those moments. What works in a game already molded in Hollywood’s image such as this naturally translates well to TV. Where their goals or visual languages don’t always align, the series’ creators consistently find new ways to make it work for the adaptation, whether it’s by wisely toying with its winding timeline, relying on incredible performances from its cast, or introducing new and meaningful characters. Like its first season, The Last of Us Season 2 is a heart-wrenching examination of the ever-shifting distance between right and wrong, and as a whole, it’s well on its way to becoming the best video game adaptation there is.
IGN: 7/10
It was always going to be a challenge to adapt The Last of Us Part 2’s sprawling, twisting story into a television show across multiple seasons, and at the halfway point, the jury is still out on whether it will ultimately work. Season 2 of HBO’s Naughty Dog adaptation is not bad television, far from it. It’s incredibly well-made, often looks gorgeous, and is packed full of stellar performances. But the storytelling devices and choices made in terms of pace and placement for key events bump up against what works, ultimately not delivering the striking effect this story’s undeniable shocking events should. It’s good, just not a patch on its stellar source material (or its first season) so far.
The Last of Us has always been peppered with reminders that this world is bigger than Joel and Ellie’s personal predicament. The difference is that the nine-episode first season took the time to meaningfully explore subplots like Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam’s (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), or detours like the extended flashback “Long, Long Time.” This seven-hour batch is leaner and more focused, but at the expense of the restless inquisitiveness that yielded some of the earlier chapter’s most rewarding surprises. It’s also more open-ended, with more than one major plot development bubbling up simply to get shoved aside for resolution later.
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.
Many have described The Last of Us as a “game trying to be a movie” because of its cinematic nature and linear story, but thus far, the passive version of Part II has only made it clear that it was always more than cutscenes strung together by stealthy cover shooting. The intentional distance these games put between you and Ellie, Abby, and Joel was always something only a game could accomplish. But if you’re not making a player act out a role they’re uncomfortable with, why subject a viewer to any discomfort at all? The Last of Us Part II was always more than the sum of its parts, to the point where I tell most people not to cast judgment on the game until they’ve hit credits. In translating this game into a show, HBO has robbed it of some of its most crucial elements, and I don’t expect that to change when it finally finishes telling the story of Part II. Just play the game.
Not that The Last of Us has ever been, for all the breathless praise it’s received, a flawless work of art. It’s true that the performances are excellent and the production design astounding. These elements remain the show’s biggest assets in Season 2, even if the attenuated plot restricts the visual inventiveness somewhat. While her character is a bit of a dream girl, Merced (Alien: Romulus) makes a charming addition; Dever, Wright, and O’Hara are predictably wonderful, though I wish we got to see more of them. Amid goofy fan service like Twisted Metal and The Witcher, it’s still the best video-game adaptation on TV. Yet to pretend that The Last of Us completely transcends its original medium would be to ignore the hole at the center of the show where insight and complexity and rich supporting characters should be. What fill out the episodes instead are extended zombie-battle scenes and long, silent sequences where people explore gorgeously decaying spaces. At those moments, you might as well be watching someone play a video game.
The audience for The Last of Us has always been split between viewers who know the video game it is based on (a group less likely to be shocked by any twists) and those who don’t know or care about that. But the game can’t be treated as a sacred text if it’s going to work as television, and the first season brilliantly transformed it into a character-driven series.
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…
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