The Hard Questions
With introductions and set up out of the way, the second episode of HBO’s The Last of Us is able to get right into its world and the situation our three protagonists find themselves in. Infected doesn’t waste much time before asking Joel and Tess to make a decision about Ellie. They have evidence she’s been bitten and that the virus that turns people into monsters is inside her. They have twenty years of history telling them that she’s a lost cost, and treating her as a child no longer makes sense.
Yet here she is, alive and well. The bite looks old, just as she tells them it is. The evidence of twenty years is being contradicted by what’s right in front of their eyes, and a child’s life rests on that contradiction. No pressure.
Choosing what to do with Ellie is hardly the hardest choice these characters have to make during this second episode, Infected. Directed by Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of the game, for most of its runtime, it shows an exceptional understanding of the material and the motivations of these characters as they make their way through the remains of Boston, with history unfolding before their eyes and the past and present colliding around them. While no one lives in this part of the city, nor have they for many years, it’s hardly abandoned or unchanging. The dead take more of it every year, and even their memories from more recent trips are no longer reliable, forcing our trio into more dangerous situations than they hoped to face.
Speaking of the past, this week’s episode again starts with a flashback to the past and sets up how the world fell apart. It’s clear that the HBO series has more interest in the why of things, instead of the game’s approach of mostly just asking players to accept it so we can explore how such a world impacts those who are left behind. While some of the answers here aren’t entirely satisfying, the sequence that delivers them is heartbreaking and masterfully executed.
There’s some great action and a lot of tension in this week’s episode, but Druckmann never forgets the characters or that there’s still beauty in this world as well, that there’s a reason these characters fight so hard to keep living. We start to see the beginning of how these characters connect and form a bond, and Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are more than up to the task of delivering these moments. I can’t wait to see some of the following sections of the story that I know are coming.
For all the good this week’s episode does, though, it ultimately fails Tess, played here with great strength by Anna Torv. One of the most iconic sections of the game ends this week’s episode, and it’s the only significant change to the story in this week’s edition. It takes a moment which was incredibly difficult in the game, and if anything, ups the level of horror present. The problem is that the way they made this change is a disservice to the character and comes with a shift that makes it uncomfortably sexual, in a way that simply doesn’t fit the moment or enhance things.
I don’t want to make light of all the good things The Last of Us does in Infected because it’s clear the show’s creators truly understand the material, and I’m still incredibly high on the overall product being offered here. I also can’t deny, however, that I came away from this episode with a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully, next week will wash that away and allow me to focus more on everything I’ve loved about this series so far. While neither episode so far has been a home run, all the elements needed to deliver one are here. They just have to come together.
Final Verdict: 3.5/5
