Preamble

To quote Gandalf- “We come to it at last.” Despite being mostly satisfied with Season 1 of The Last of Us, I was always like a little eager beaver about how the show runners would adapt the second game.

In my mind, The Last of Us Part II is the most challenging piece of art since Twin Peaks: The Return. Its dual story line creates meaningful parallels about the singular pursuit of revenge and how we may become like our enemies in subtle and meaningful ways.

So, with that in mind, I’m eager to get stuck into Season 2. These episodes reviews will be a little slower to publish then my ones for the first season. Rather then a mad dash to the finish line of Monday evening, these will going up on Tuesday/Wednesday. This is to ensure a fresh perspective that marinates in the episode a little more. So, with that said, have you seen the Season 2 opener? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

Much like the series pilot, Future Days is an ambitious and efficient episode that lays the table interestingly for its adaptation of The Last of Us Part II. Season 2’s opening episode takes place 5 years after the ending of the first series. During that time, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) craves independence from Joel’s overbearing protection. Meanwhile, the older parental figure has entrenched himself in the community as one of the members of its council. At the same time, Joel is trying to seek therapy for his frosty relationship with Ellie. The pair will be tested as an ex-Firefly called Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) seeks vengeance against Joel (Pedro Pascal).

To its credit, Future Days effortlessly sets up its new characters and status quo with dramatic weight and a surprising amount of lightness. My favourite instance of the former comes in the pre-title scene that introduces Abby. The scene opens with a picturesque wide-angle shot of nature, where the viewer is treated to seeing several Giraffes. You could be fooled into thinking that we’re seeing a similar scene from Season 1, when Joel shows Ellie a similar sight. However, it’s a subtle subversion of expectation as the view soon has a melancholic tinge as we come to see it through Abby’s eyes, who has experienced a profound sense of loss.

It’s the first instance of how Abby and Ellie might see similar if not outright the same things, but experience them in different ways. Even the way that Abby is blocked insofar as being solitary and away from her group of friends tells us so much about her character. She’s singular in her rage and feeling of revenge towards Joel. And Dever commendably portrays the bubbling sense of anger whilst never forgetting about the freshness of her loss.

Writer/Director Craig Mazan juxtaposes these instances of tragedy and intent with a lightness that goes a long way to putting the story of Part II on an appealing footing. These come courtesy of some of the newer characters. The first is Joel’s therapist- Gail (Catherine O Hara) whose looseness speaks to one of the themes of the game (namely the deconstruction of Joel) and how emotional self-care is dealt with in a post-apocalyptic community. O Hara’s almost fidgety sense of candidness results in some of the episode’s starker humour along with its more emotional moments. In particular, Pascal’s delivery of “I saved her” line from the game is as understated as authentic to Joel’s emotional state towards Ellie.

The second character who injects a sense of lightness into the episode is Dina (Isabella Merced), a surrogate daughter figure for Joel and Ellie’s best friend. Aside from injecting the biting charm that made the character so indelible in the PS4 title, Merced’s silent comedic moments go a long way to portraying a sense of authenticity and trust between Ellie and Dina. In particular, her gestures in dealing with a Clicker in the middle of the episode are amusing and sweet in their play-acting quality.

From point-of-view shots that are framed via sniper scopes to tracking shots that reveal the breadth of the Jackson community, Future Days certainly expands the cinematic ambitions of the show. But much like the episode’s humour, the best filmmaking moments are the ones where Mezan is playing with the audience. This comes to the fore in the scene where Ellie comes face to face with a Stalker variant of the infected. Like a well-orchestrated tense horror sequence, Mezan knows when to be subtle with the frame and uses large open spaces to make the audience squirm. Much like the source material, it’s challenging the audience with not only the expanded scope but with what’s possible to do with said scope. In this instance, the simple becomes the sublime.