The Last of Us Series, Season 2 Episode 1
my notes (long) on the episode below.
[Show spoiler]
I have a lot to say, get ready!
This has spoilers for the episode that just aired and for Season 1 and corresponding game segments. There are no future spoilers from the 2nd game. This was somewhat difficult because of the nonlinear structure of the second game (a strategy the show understandably is not using) but I think I managed it!
This episode covers the first part of the 2nd game taking place in Jackson. I have been both pumped and worried about this episode for weeks. But I have learned to trust after Season 1 whatever plan Druckmann and Mazin have for adapting the game and I think this turned out pretty well.
Isabela Merced as Dina: I have followed Isabela for many years and have been excited to see her as Dina ever since it was announced. I know some people think she is "too pretty" to play Dina but I think she matches the character pretty well physically. And she nailed it and was adorable to watch. I totally bought that she is someone Ellie could have an interest in. I loved her interaction with Joel. I think she captured Dina's humor pretty well though not as dry.
Pedro and Bella did a great job again playing Joel and Ellie. His scene with the therapist was both humorous and gut wrenching, and we can feel the guilt he has for lying to Ellie about the Fireflies, even as he is simultaneously in denial about it. He also did a great job portraying an exasperated parent dealing with an obstinate teenager, matching Troy Baker's convincing performance in the game. It is clear Ellie is upset about something and Bella did a great job portraying that frustration and anger, particularly in the scene fighting Caleb (scene and character not in the game), when she is mad that he pulled his punches. I loved that scene. Bella was also adorable when the situation called for it, e.g. in flirting with Dina. Note: if you didn't know Bella Ramsey uses they/them pronouns now (used any pronouns before) and I will try to be mindful of that going forward.
We've been hearing since season 1 that season 2 would have a renewed focus on the infected. While ever-present in the game, both of them, the infected are curiously missing in the 2nd half of season 1. They knew many fans were upset about this and have promised us plenty of infected in season 2, and they definitely delivered on that in the first episode. The supermarket scene with the Stalker was terrifying. The sniping scene with Ellie and Tommy was great too.
Maybe the biggest surprise for me was the decision to make clear from the opening that Abby is after Joel. In the game we don't find out for a long time why Abby and the group are present and this builds up the tension surrounding her presence in the game. We will lose that, and the moment when we find out why Abby is in Jackson. But perhaps it is needed to do it this way. The narrative structure of the 2nd game is just not something that can be easily replicated in passive drama. Mazin (showrunner) noted in the Behind the Episode segment that they wanted to show from the start that Joel's actions have consequences beyond the main characters of the first game and that people were affected by it. And that if you felt that scene mirrored what Joel went through with his daughter, it was intentional.
I found it interesting they decided to reuse the credits music from Season 1. It's the intro music to the first game (plays right after Sarah dies and the timeline jumps and the opening credits roll) so it made sense as the credit music, but it's not used at all in the 2nd game nor is any music from the first game. I guess there was no other good choice though, especially with how epic the opening credits are. Side note: none of the amazing music from the 2nd game made it into this episode, except for some pulsing sound effects that sourced from a tense gameplay sequence with infected. They did play some of it in the Behind the Episode segment. I think all of the great music from the first game was used in season 1 so I expect we'll get some soon in the how.
Some things I really liked from the episode:
Ellie's journal makes an appearance, her journal is present throughout the 2nd game. I imagine it's not the last time we'll catch a glimpse.
Ellie and Dina's dance, and the subsequent confrontations with Seth and Joel, was mostly a 1 for 1 recreation of the game and it was very well done. I'm very glad they did not change that scene too much.
I love the whole supermarket sequence. This was a really good adaptation. Most gameplay sequences were narratively cut from the first game, basically whenever they could not move the plot forward. The supermarket sequence is really cool so I'm glad they included it, even though it just serves as a gameplay tutorial in the game. I *almost* stealthed out the whole thing last night as I was furiously trying to play through everything I thought this episode would cover, but Dina got spotted by a clicker in the last section and messed it up. (I still didn't die though.) Also with that, I loved how they showed Ellie throwing the bottle to distract the clicker and then stabbing it with her knife. Bottle and brick throwing as distraction is a key gameplay element of both games but has never made an appearance in the series until now. I also loved how they showed the employee of the month board. In the game that board is needed to solve a puzzle for a safe combination, and involves the month the dog ("my good old boy") won employee of the month.
We got a pun, from Dina. Ellie's jokes are a recurring theme in the first game and also in Season 1, but are toned down significantly in the 2nd game with the more serious tone. I hope we still get some more though.
Shimmer the horse, who is in the game, was brought back. They introduced her in the Jackson sequence in S1 Episode 6 and I mentioned we would see her again! In the game, this was the first time we see her, when Ellie and Dina rode out.
Cat is now a fully fledged character that we meet (though now spelled "Kat" at least in the subtitles). In the game we find out about Cat, Ellie's former love interest, through side chats during gameplay segments and from Elie's journal but never see her in the game.
We got a good look at Ellie's chemical burn (to hide her bite scars) and the tattoo that Cat gave her to cover it up.
I loved how Dina cut off Jessie and teased him saying they need to hit the checkpoints and fill out the log books, in the game he just hands this down as an order. Nice turning of the tables there.
I liked the homage to Curtis and Viper, a fiction 80s action movie series Joel is obsessed with.
I loved the ending scene, with the foreshadowing of a major horde coming, with Abby and the group simultaneously arriving at Jackson. This was a haunting scene.
I liked how they pointed out Ellie is living in Joel's garage. I just noticed last night for the first time her room is a garage repurposed as a bedroom. No direct evidence in the game though that they live in the same house.
Significant differences from the game:
The biggest difference probably is that we know Abby's motivations up front (mentioned above).
The scene with Joel telling Tommy what he did at the hospital and lying to Ellie, is now replaced with an extended scene from the end of the first game, with Ellie walking away after Joel swears he's telling the truth. We never saw an extension of that scene in the games at any point.
The time jump between the end of the first season and now is 5 years in the show, it is 4 years in the game.
We start out right away with Abby out for vengeance, it's a while before you find out in the game that's what she's after. And we find out at Utah at the hospital, right after Joel and Ellie leave, and not Jackson. Mazin says he thought it was important to show up front that there were consequences of Joel's actions and the people it affected.
It's clear from the start that Ellie is mad at Joel for some reason. In the game it takes a long time before we find out she is upset with him. At most there seems to be some distance between them.
Joel is in therapy, and with Kate McCallister (from Home Alone, Catherine O'Hara did a great job as the therapist by the way), and seems to be in denial about why Ellie is upset with him. No evidence of these therapy sessions in the game. The character of Eugene, who is mentioned in the game, and has a secret underground weed lab that Ellie and Dina come across, has now been killed by Joel in the show, apparently after getting infected. And he was the therapist's husband. In the game he died of a stroke at age 73 ("may we all die of natural causes" as Dina says, "may we all live to 73" as Ellie says). Druckmann (game & show creator) said in the Behind the Episode segment this was an opportunity to exploit the character of Eugene for a greater narrative purpose. To create tension between Joel and his therapist. (I guess the only therapist in town?)
There is no interaction between Joel and Dina that we see in the game. In fact, Ellie doesn't want to bring her over to Joel at all because she's worried he'll think she's not a good influence. In the show it seems Joel really likes Dina.
Ellie sniping infected with Tommy takes place in the present day instead of during a flashback 2 years prior in the game. The argument she has about whether she should be careful about publicizing her immunity now takes place with Tommy, and in present day, instead of with Joel in the same flashback. I loved Bella's performance in that scene, yelling into the void that she's infected for no one to hear.
Maria now has a son. This is consistent with the first season as we found out she is pregnant. In the game she has no children and runs the entire city and power plant. In the show they have a council, as was mentioned in the S1 Episode 6.
The supermarket sequence now takes place the day of the dance instead of the next day. The dead moose the infected took down is replaced by a bear. When Ellie falls through the floor (and this surprised me even though I knew it might be coming) Dina does not fall with her. Ellie fights a stalker and it's apparently the first stalker they've seen. Stalkers are present in the first game and season 1 appeared to portray them sometimes though they were never mentioned, but now it seems stalkers are a new type of infected they've never seen before. In the game there is no stalker in the market, just runners and clickers. Ellie gets bit again! She has now been bitten 3 separate times in the show, vs. 1 time in the games so far to this point.
Ellie and Dina do not get caught in a snowstorm after the supermarket sequence. Obviously they do not find Eugene's secret hideout and secret underground weed lab and smoke weed there together. (Some of what happens in this scene may still be coming though in a different setting I guess.) In the game, Maria has a no weed policy. In the show, it seems lots of people have weed.
Dina brings up watching Curtis and Viper 2 with Joel, apparently without Ellie. In the game, Ellie suggest she might suggest they watch a movie together, as an overture to Joel.
The council discusses the stalker and the threat it might pose. That doesn't happen in the game as there's no council (Maria runs everything) and stalkers are not new to them. Mazin said in the Behind the Episode segment that they want to show an evolution to the infected during the show and to make them seem more dangerous. This happens in the 2nd game somewhat too though not in the same manner at all as stalkers are not new. But I like this approach.
The dance is a New Year's Celebration. No evidence of the date in the game other than its winter. As mentioned it now takes place the night of the supermarket sequence instead of the night before. It is presented in sequential narrative structure instead of as a flashback in the game. This again reflects the difficulty with adapting the odd narrative structure of the game with its many flashbacks.
After the dance, when Joel is playing the guitar, Ellie walks right past him. In the game they have a long and thought provoking conversation. However, this occurs in a flashback in the game and would not carry the same meaning at all if they had it right now in the show. So this makes sense I suppose.
The horde at the end is awakened by the underground mycelium network of the cordyceps. In the game it's just a random horde. But season 1 introduced the mycelium network (again a real thing for many fungal species) to give the infected an additional threat mechanism, since they decided not to use the spores which would not work well in a show adaptation. (Remember, it's Ellie getting bit a 2nd time in S1 Episode 2 that convinces Joel she's immune. In the game, it's her resistance to the spores that finally convinces him she's really immune.)
The episode ends with Abby and Owen approaching Jackson together dead set on entering. In the game Owen turns around at this point because Mel is pregnant and he tells Abby that (not clear yet if Mel is a character in the show) and tries to convince Abby to turn around too, saying the group wouldn't want to attack an entire settlement. Abby sees this as betrayal. But it's possible some of the interaction may be in scenes we haven't seen yet.
Overall I am pretty happy with this episode, I think it is setting up the tension well. I kind of wish I didn't know what was going to happen. Maybe they will change things up a little bit and surprise me!