HBO's The Last of Us did something no one thought possible: proved that video game adaptations can be good. Award-winning good. Fans of the video game by Naughty Dog weren’t shocked. The Last of Us has a story worth telling. It isn't all about the infected zombie-like creatures. There's a story here about love, survival, and the cost of revenge. Bring in Chornobyl creator Craig Mazin, Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann, amazing actors like Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Nick Offerman, and you have a hit.
Season 2 should be even better than the first. Ellie’s adventure across a zombie-ridden United States with Joel made The Last of Us one of the greatest video games ever. The Last of Us Part II swings even bigger with lots of new characters and twists, so many that HBO won't be able to fit them all into one season of TV. As Craig Mazin said, “The story material that we got from Part II of the game is way more than the story material that was in the first game, so part of what we had to do from the start was figure out how to tell that story across seasons.”
That means a lot of the big events from The Last of Us Part II won't happen in the second season of the show, but will instead be saved for later. Still, said, these ten moments are a must.
WARNING! Everything beyond here is a possible spoiler for season 2 of The Last of Us. If you haven't played the game and don't want to know what happens, stop reading.
1. A father-daughter musical moment
After settling in for a few weeks, Joel talks to Ellie about how proud she is of her. He also has a surprise. He plays the guitar for her and sings a song. This was a return on a previous scene when Joel once told Ellie he wanted to be a singer and that he’d never sing her a song. After he’s done, Joel promises to teach her how to play.
This tender moment between surrogate father and daughter would be the right way to start the season. You get to see how Joel and Ellie have adapted to their new life in Jackson, where they've settled after their stressful adventure in the first game. For just a little bit, they both let their guard down.
2. Jesse wakes up Ellie
The Last of Us Part II skips ahead five years past this moment when Ellie is woken up by her upset friend, Jesse. Dina (Jesse's ex-girlfriend) kissed Ellie during a town party. As Ellie flusters through an apology, Jesse says he doesn’t care and is messing with her. He then tells her to hurry up so they can go on patrol. Everyone in Jackson has a job, and theirs is to patrol the areas outside the town to make sure zombies don't get too close.
This scene will show an Ellie who's older but still snarky and awkward, as well as introduce us to Young Mazino, who you may have seen on the Netflix show Beef. It also leads directly into something else that happened the night before.
3. Ellie talks to Maria
Soon after Jesse and Ellie leave her place, more of the previous night’s events are revealed. Maria, a community leader played by Rutina Wesley in the first season of the show, wants to speak to Ellie. Maria says Seth wants to apologize for what he called Ellie and Dina after they kissed.
These first two sections may not seem important, but we learn something from them. Joel, who was also at that party, stepped in and defended Ellie despite them not being on speaking terms. Why they aren’t speaking becomes one of the biggest storylines of the game and the soon-to-be second second season of the show.
4. The snowball fight
This is a small but important moment in the second game. It's the first time people see Ellie interact with Dine, who will be played by Isabela Merced on the TV show. There’s a soft and awkwardness to Ellie when she’s with Dina. Her personality doesn't change. She’s still herself. Dina brings hopefulness and romantic love out of Ellie. It’s not something seen often in the games (or on the show, thus far).
5. Joel and Ellie's trip
The Last of Us Part II is interspersed with flashbacks where we see how Joel and Ellie's relationship evolved in between the end of the first game and the start of the second, leading up to an explanation for why they're on the outs. The first flashback is a happy one. Joel takes Ellie to the Wyoming Museum of Science and History. Ellie sees dinosaurs and Joel helps Ellie simluate flying into space. Absorb this moment. It’ll be one of the few joyful scenes in the season.
6. Meet Abby
The Last of Us season 2 will introduce us to a new character named Abby, a woman from a different community to be played by Kaitlyn Dever. When we first meet Abby, she's on a trip with her friend (and former boyfriend) Owen, to be played by Spencer Lord. He tells Abby he found something important he wants to show her. The reveal is that he found Joel, whon Abby has been looking for. Owen says to wait for their crew to go after him, but Abby goes ahead without them.
We don't know why Abby is looking for Joel at this point, but we find out her intentions before long. Along the way, you learn that Abby’s biggest fear is heights and that Owen's girlfriend is pregnant. Both come into play later in a big way.
7. Ellie and Dina on patrol
Ellie and Dina obviously like each other but both are scared to make the first move. Dina drunkenly kissing Ellie the night set things in motion.
The next day, they're on patrol. This gives them time to talk after the kiss and see where they are with each other. They plan a date and discuss their past and everything that led to their kiss. Eventually, they end up alone and make out. This becomes the official beginning of their relationship.
Okay, the next one is a huge deal, so I'll give an extra SPOILER WARNING in case you want one more chance to turn back...
8. Joel’s death
Abby kills Joel for reasons we won't fully understand until later in the game, and she does it in front of Ellie. Joel’s death sparks off the story of the entire game and it will do the same for the next couple of seasons of the show. This is the beginning of Ellie’s revenge arc. If you thought social media went crazy during Game of Thrones, wait until Joel is killed. People will hate Abby more than they hated King Joffrey Baratheon.
9. Joel tells Ellie the truth
At the end of The Last of Us season 1 (and at the end of the game), Ellie asks Joel to tell her what happened at the hospital, where Joel smuggled out a comatose Ellie rather than let her be killed by the Firefly paramilitary group, who were going to use Ellie's body to synthesize a cure for the zombie plague that had ended society. Joel lied about what happened, not letting her know that her death could have put the world back on the path to civilzation. However, Ellie knew something was off. Years later, Ellie leaves their compound and learns the truth. After Joel is forced to admit he lied, Ellie says she wants nothing to do with him.
After the first Last of Us game, people wondered how Ellie would react if she learned the truth. We find out and her reaction is justified. Heartbreaking, but justified.
Yet another warning here: the next section gets intense:
10. Ellie kills Owen and Mel
After Joel's death, Ellie sets out to get revenge on Abby. She ends up in Seattle, where Abby lives with her own community. Dina, Jesse and Tommy all end up in Seattle as well.
During her search, Abby comes across Owen and his pregnant girlfriend Mel (Ariela Barer). Blinded by rage and determination, Ellie kills them both. When she realizes what she's done, she has a panic attack. Who knows what would have happened if Jesse and Tommy hadn’t entered the room at that point?
This is the cost of vengeance. Sometimes you do things you normally wouldn’t. Now you have to live with it. Unfortunately, this isn’t the last time revenge costs Ellie.
11. Abby's back
Although Ellie is after Abby, we don't see her since the moment she killed Joel near the start of the game. She returns after Ellie kills Owen and Mel, looking for revenge. The finds where Ellie and her friends are hiding, killing Jesse and incapacitating Tommy. After a confrontation between Abby and Ellie, we switch away from Ellie's point of view and see the events of the story play out from Abby's perspective, which is where we expect The Last of Us to pick up in season 3.
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