Review: Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning (2025)

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

Well, this is quite a contrast. I was ready to publish this review last night but instead opted to sleep on it and do further edits in the morning. It’s amazing how writing about different mediums can make you go from a chap with writer’s block to an enthusiastic energizer bunny. But personal writing stories aside, have you seen the latest and touted final entry in the Mission Impossible series? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

Up until this point, the Mission movies have been singular in being transportive cinematic experiences that mix spy intrigue and impressive stunt work (courtesy of main star- Tom Cruise). However, The Final Reckoning feels like a bug in the franchise machine. Cruise’s second round with A.I. is a self-important and indulgent experience that chases the worst trends of modern tentpole cinema. 

Picking up six months after the events of Dead Reckoning, the eighth Mission Impossible movie depicts Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) continual search for a means to destroy The Entity whilst dealing with the ever- escalating threat of nuclear annihilation from the A.I. program.

“You were always the best of men in the worst of times”, a grave President Erika Sloan (Angela Bassett) intones early on in The Final Reckoning. By itself, it’s an earnest means to get Hunt onside. However, it’s the start of a problem that plagues this latest instalment, namely a persistent attempt to mythologize its central hero and the events that he has experienced. What was once a solid set piece now turns into a moral quandary of whether or not Ethan has ruined the person who the stunt directly affected. 

This aspect is compounded by a series of flashbacks that play in a clip show reel fashion to remind the audience of nearly every little aspect of Hunt’s career. It makes the movie too self-serious in a manner that takes away from the weight of events and its ensuring consequences. This is a far cry from prior Christopher McQuarrie entries, which were able to be lighthearted, dramatic and even post-modern at times (especially Fallout).

At the same time, this quality also fundamentally breaks the spirit of the series. We were in on the fun of the spectacle, and now we’re reminded that it was burdensome for Hunt. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and up until this point, Hunt climbing a tall building was just precisely that. In this regard, it seems the Mission series has caught the bug of other tentpole movies, whereby nearly everything has to be connected and have meaning. It appears as though being the American tonic to James Bond was not enough. 

Despite this problem that’s compounded by an overly long run time, The Final Reckoning is surprisingly nimble in its editing. Exposition scenes are given a comic momentum due to a rapid cross- cutting of reactions that gets mileage out of its variants on bewilderment. It’s in the intimacy of the camera moves where Final Reckoning soars, whether it’s Film Noir esque close-ups of Gabriel (Esai Morales) or a medium shot that captures Grace’s (Hayley Atwell) horror at seeing Ethan’s violent actions up close. 

There’s also something deeply amusing about one of Cruise’s central set pieces being so anti-action. Instead, it’s a near-real-time sequence where the character swims amid the remains of a Russian submarine. It’s mesmerizing, ominous and everything in between. Finally, in a movie stuffed with portent and weighty exposition, it’s a credit to the screenplay that Sloan’s character arc registers as well as it does. Part of this comes from Angela Bassett’s subtle performance that goes a long way in illustrating the weight of her office and choices.

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Review: The Last of Us, Season 2, Episode 6: The Price

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

I’m coming to this preamble at the 11th hour insofar as editing before going to see a movie shortly. Despite being stuck after writing the first paragraph for this review (for a good long while), it’s amusing how that’s now become the case for this little intro. But anyways, have you seen Episode 6 of the Last of Us’s second season. Let me know in the comments below.

Review

So far, the second season of The Last of Us has not been afraid to wrestle with its source material insofar as adhering to its unique structure whilst adding to its themes. The season’s penultimate episode, The Price, is perhaps the boldest episode to grace the series and its preoccupation with parental love. Taking place over several years, the sixth episode depicts the ever-increasing souring of Joel and Ellie’s relationship as the young woman tries to navigate the complications that arise from being a teenager in a post-apocalyptic world.

Rather than doll out each Joel flashback in a piece-meal fashion, The Price uses them to weave a narrative about Joel and Ellie’s surrogate father/daughter dynamic. The result is something that feels thematically strong in getting to the heart of what the video game and show is about, namely the lengths we go to protect the ones we love. At the same time, the episode illustrates the hope that all parents have, which is articulated in an early scene involving a young Joel and his police officer father.

It’s the hope that each subsequent generation of male parentage can do better than the last insofar as a cycle of violence is concerned. The added back story suggests a capacity for violence that is at once an act of love as well as a means of discipline. The echoes of Joel’s father’s rationale for violent action are haunting in how they paint the character at his most cruel and merciful.

This comes to the fore in how Joel deals with Eugene insofar as taking him out before he’s a danger to him, Ellie, and the community at large. It speaks to how Joel correlates violence with love and how one cannot exist without the other. It broadens the scope of the cycle of violence exploration in the game by showing it through the character who ignites it in the first place.

The episode speaks to how much of a boon Pedro Pascal has been for the character of Joel. His best acting moments are the ones where there’s a push and pull between the stated and unstated. This is best shown in the porch scene where the character gives a series of nods to some questions posed by Ellie. It culminates in an outpouring of sentiment from the character that feels heartbreaking and emotional to witness. But it also shows how the shell of the character is fundamentally broken, that he has to resort to quoting his father’s words in what feels like an act of shame and an admission of guilt for his failure as a human being. It’s a very powerful moment, despite clearly underlining and putting the broader subtext of the show in bold.

This quality, along with some of the recreated video game moments not having the same weight does drag down the episode. However, some of the new material does work in illustrating a fascinating what if situation for Joel trying to raise an adolescent (given the age that his daughter Sarah died at).

Filmmaking wise, I liked how low-angle shots were used to depict a sense of awe for when Ellie sees a dinosaur. And the closing moments that have the young woman in a medium shot effortlessly portray to distance that Ellie feels from Joel.

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Review: The Last of Us, Season 2, Episode 5: Feel Her Love

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

This might be the quickest and meta preamble that I’ve ever written. Whilst I watched episode 5 at a reasonable time, my thoughts on it were slow forming. This was in addition to being absorbed with Doom: The Dark Ages during its early access period. It’s solid and engrossing so far, but it is a terrible distraction for a weekly schedule. Anyways, have you seen the latest episode of The Last of Us Season 2? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

At its worst, “Feel Her Love” highlights the problems that have permeated the sophomore season so far. The episode depicts Ellie and Dina’s continual search for Abby and her friends, as they close in on Nora, who works at a Seattle hospital. For all its new additions that have mostly worked for me, the lack of urgency is a major problem with The Last of Us’s second season. Whilst the game was fueled by Ellie’s singular and terrifying desire for revenge (for half of its running time), the show feels shockingly light on its feet. 

This comes from the Dina and Ellie relationship. While it’s mostly sweet and endearing, it takes the sting out of the show’s drama. Whilst there’s a moment where the pair connect on the notion of vengeance, I can’t help but feel that their budding relationship removes tension that they could have as a couple. It’s a problem that never really felt lacking in the game’s version of the pair. This is coupled with some awkward plotting that favours a surprising reveal as opposed to drama that’s built into the new changes and established dynamics.

Jessie’s shushing of Ellie is almost an emblematic quality of this problem, as the show feels it’s in a hurry to get to the next plot point. And Tommy choosing to leave Jackson matches the game but fails to capitalise on the show’s new element of Tommy seeing Ellie as a surrogate daughter whom he feels responsible for after Joel’s death. The same could be said for the episode’s inconsistent writing, namely instances where Ellie and Dina use their firearms when they try to hatch a plan not to do so. Contrivance city is putting it mildly.

On the other hand, the episode does illustrate how strong the cold opens can be in telling one-off stories that have pay-offs that hold greater significance. In this instance, the opening is a harrowing introduction to the spores, which parallels Joel and Ellie’s singular, violent choices with a gut-wrenching utilitarian twist. The opening also paints a very human portrait of the person whom the Seraphites deify, which further fleshes out the world in a fascinating way. It also introduces a potential theme of this season, which is the difference in perception versus reality insofar as the gap between how one person thinks of someone versus the reality, etc.

Also, much like last week’s episode, the lighting takes centre stage in showing the cinematic qualities of the show. In particular, Ellie’s confrontation with Nora is haunting in its nightmarish use of reds and black that paint the young woman in almost demonic light as she descends into a space that’s reminiscent of hell. Bella Ramey delivers her best performance to date in this moment. She combines an almost machine-like disregard for human life and seething hatred that feels unflinchingly raw.

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Review: The Last of Us, Season 2, Episode 4: Day One

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

By the time credits roll on the two plus season adaptation of The Last of Us Part II, I will be sounding like a broken record. And that’s in relation to over stating the importance of each episode as a small part of the larger story. It’s a testament to how much I value the video game’s narrative. But with that said, have you seen episode four of The Last of Us Season 2? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

So far, season 2 of The Last of Us has surprised in its adaptation of the second game. With this in mind, Day One is haunting as much as it is intimate and touching in its depiction of the relationship between Ellie and Dina.

The fourth episode picks up with the young pair moving further through Seattle to reach Abby and her crew. Meanwhile, the leader of the WDF, Isaac, interrogates and tortures a member of the Scars (aka the Seraphites).

Day One returns to some of the interesting thematic material that pervaded Season 1 of the show, namely the emergence of leadership and power structures in this post-apocalyptic world. In a new scene for the show, we’re introduced to the central figure of the WDF, who gives a sense of who he was before the world went to hell. He also points to a karmic sort of equalitarianism whereby he got his wish of owning expensive kitchen utensils. This aspect had echoes of the ironies in Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake, whereby the least looked upon in the societal and job hierarchy becomes the most stable authority figure in a crisis. At the same time, the new scenes involving Isaac paint him as a ruthless person who can radicalise and inspire (illustrated in the opening scene where he blows up a truck full of soldiers and gives a choice of death or compliance to the last one left standing).

Along with a bit more fleshing out of the Scars and their deified leader results in the show tapping a rich vein of what the title truly means for humanity. In his reprisal of his video game character, Jeffrey Wright brings a great deal of casualness that hides a truly dangerous and determined nature. 

This aspect is juxtaposed with Ellie and Dina’s blossoming relationship. While I initially thought the pair stumbling on decayed Pride flags and decorations was a little overt. However, on reflection it was a good reminder of how much this relationship means to the LGBTQ + community. And in its unravelling, it’s endearing as much as it’s sweet. Like the best onscreen relationships, the emotional truth comes when one of the pair lets their guard down. And in this regard, Isabela Merced strikes a chord in her reaction to Ellie’s guitar playing as much as expressing the truth about her sexuality.

Visually, the set design proves to be the show’s secret weapon as long shots depict the Seattle streets with a beautifully faithful eye. The same could be said for the lighting that punctuates some of the episode’s most tense moments, such as a swarm of infected that attacks Ellie and Dina.

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Brief Consideration: Thunderbolts* (2025)

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

At this point, I don’t go into an MCU movie with my arms crossed and a sense of impress me bro energy. Despite a quality drop from the post Endgame era, I don’t think the subsequent movies have been all for nought. Thor: Love and Thunder resonated with me emotionally and provided some meta textual interest. WandaVision was shockingly good with a Twin Peaks esque lens of how it used Americana to explore quite potent subject matters such as grief and power. 

Even mixed efforts such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Black Widow had some solid elements. They both split the difference with directorial authorship and credible dramatic elements. 

So, I guess in my longish and rambling sort of way, I’m saying that I don’t expect Thunderbolts to be an indication that the MCU is back. To me, it was never gone but rather like one wise Hobbit once said, “Sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” With that said, have you seen Thunderbolts? Let me know in the comments below. 

Brief Consideration

At this point, comic book fidelity is a tricky thing to come by. Unless you’re Sin City, Spider-Verse or even the first Avengers, then you’d be hard pressed to evoke the appeal of the medium. Despite not entirely escaping the problems that plague the MCU movies, Thunderbolts* still plays like a unique one shot comic book. 

On the surface, the 2025 film has the skeleton of team up movies in the sub-genre including a morally duplicitous boss, expendable team and giant beam esque third act battle. 

However, the difference comes in the emphasis. Crucially, Thunderbolts* wears its emotions and anguish on its sleeve. It’s front loaded as a form of therapy whereby Yelena (Florence Pugh) attempts to sooth the emptiness of her every day existence and guilt of her past sins. Pugh is excellent in taking the dry and straight talking appeal of her character and filtering it through an emotionally vulnerable lens. It’s also used as a means of manipulation whereby the team dynamic is called into question as it gets in the way of singular purpose and true potential (in regards to the central antagonist).

But the third act takes the cake in terms of showing the thesis of the film. This comes from the concept of “The Void.” It’s a looming shadow that sucks people up and forces them to relieve their most painful memories on an infinite loop. Much like comic books such as Barry Windsor Smith’s Weapon X, this idea takes the grammar and syntax of the medium to depict simple concepts such as daily and mental struggle. 

Even a sequence where we follow the after effect of the antagonist’s attack, feels comic booky in how it frames each ensuring incident like a Final Destination moment, as the audience follows destruction in a prolonged micro level.

The movie still can’t escape the looming shadow of the MCU’s humour that feels excessive (despite a few attempts to convey it in the framing of certain shots). But in a problem that feels unique to this film, certain plot point have a looseness that’s meant to mirror the messy nature of the central team.

Instead, they come across as playing into the worst impulses of universe franchise building, namely a hurried pace to lay down the tracks for future instalments. This mostly comes from the film’s final moments that paired with a sizable post-credits scene seeks to feel like an inorganic status quo. 

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Review: The Last of Us, Season 2, Episode 3: The Path

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

In writing this preamble, I’m almost reminded of the phrase of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted or run away. That’s how fast the tide of the internet turns whereby two days can make something new seem like old hat. Well, that’s enough old man esque shouting at a cloud. Have you seen the latest episode of The Last of Us? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

In contrast to the previous two episodes, The Path is a sombre and reflective episode that allows the audience to mourn the loss of Joel as much as the characters. Picking up three months after the tragic events of the last chapter, The Path sees Ellie recovering from her ordeal whilst the community of Jackson tries to heal and recoup after the Infected attack.

There’s a lot of silence and use of pauses in The Path, signifying how there are almost no words when it comes to loss and grief. These are juxtaposed with a lot of natural light that makes the pain feel resonate due to how nature and indeed life goes on. A death will not make the seasons cease or the world stop turning. Instead, it’s only our small orbits that will be changed by the event. Scenes such Tommy silently mourning Joel, along with Ellie going through his house beautifully illustrate this quality. At the same time, there’s also something almost Werner Herzog esque about the episode insofar as its depiction of nature is concerned. This aspect can be seen in a lot of scenic shots in the tail end, which make Ellie and Dina seem small in the grand scheme of things.

The episode also articulates what may be the central theme of the season. This comes from an extended section in the middle of the episode where the Jackson community express their views on the council vote about retributive justice for Joel (via sending a pack of sixteen people to kill Abby and her crew). The debate explores the notion of how revenge can be repurposed as community justice and the cost of one death weighed against community safety and longevity. It adds to the game’s singular depiction of revenge insofar as suggesting that it’s not just about how it can affect the soul but also our fellow man.

But in the episode’s most telling scene, Gail spells out Ellie’s character. She tells Tommy that the young woman is a liar whose nature may be ferocious as opposed to being fostered by the nurture of Joel. It’s an interesting addition to what made the second game so fascinating to me, namely the deconstruction of Joel and how both his good and bad traits are filtered and reflected in Ellie and Abby.

In a season so far where co and guest stars have stolen the show, it was really nice to be reminded why Bella Ramsey is an excellent Ellie. The hints at darkness in Season 1 are paid off here in stark ways such as her anger filled facial expressions when hearing people downplay Joel’s death during the meeting. But her best moment comes from a speech she makes whereby it goes from her sounding fake to authentic, which goes to show the lengths the characters is willing to go for her revenge. She’s willing to reframe it benevolent ways that feel foreign to her but good to everyone else. It’s arguably the moment of the season so far as it clearly surmises Ellie’s character and her resolve to write a personal wrong.

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One Great Shot: Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

I’ve made no bones about the fact that Revenge of the Sith is my second favourite Star Wars film. Even with its flaws, the film is a beautifully tragic and enthralling end to George Lucas’s original six-picture saga. In fact, the 2005 effort has grown in my esteem over the years. But there’s one thing that I’ve wanted to discuss about it, and that’s what this blog post is about. Did you get a chance to see the re-release this weekend? Let me know in the comments below.

One Great Shot

In the twenty years since the release of Revenge of the Sith, there’s one aspect that I’ve come to appreciate about it. This comes in its use of emotional choreography. Simply put, it’s the acting beats between the lightsaber swings. In the Original Trilogy, it felt as though the laser sword bashing punctuated long-stated sentiments. However, in the Prequels (particularly ROTS), this is confined to silent acting moments. Lucas’ camera is surprisingly intimate whether it’s dueling close-ups between Obi-Wan and General Grievous or Mace Windu’s disgruntled expression when bearing down on Palpatine.

However, the concept really has lift off in the Obi-Wan and Anakin confrontation. There’s a stretch of the struggle where the pair are attacking each other without lightsabers. And Anakin’s anger and hatred are really expressed well when he strangles his former master before laying him down on the table (the one great shot in question).

The surprisingly intimate moment gives rise to Revenge of the Sith feeling the most like a silent movie where music and acting combine to create a purely visual experience. Even the words that Anakin seemingly utters under his breath as he attacks Obi feel like it is oddly missing a reel with an intertitle.

Although quite incidental in the grand scheme of things, Revenge of the Sith’s one great shot unlocks the saga’s cinematic potential. In so doing, it illustrates what appeals to me about some of the saga’s best lightsaber battles. They can be grandiose with galactic stakes but also intimate and humble in their filmmaking.

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Review: The Last of Us, Season 2, Episode 2: Through the Valley

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

This is one of those few preambles where I have no words. The review and discussion it hopefully garners should speak for itself. But for the sake of saying something, I feel we are now getting to the riveting part of the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us Part II. The shocking pivot is challenging but it’s only the start of what makes the game such an exemplary piece of art. With that said, have you seen the second episode of Season 2 of The Last of Us? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

Through the Valley is a powerful and poignant episode that in its deviations creates a fascinating reinterpretation of The Last of Us Part II’s most tragic moment. After the events of the New Year’s dance at Jackson, Ellie finds herself readjusting to her new reality, whilst Joel and Dina are on patrol. Things become complicated when a large army of infected march on mass to the community. Meanwhile, Abby scouts Jackson out to get a sense of how secure the place is.

In the game, the death of Joel is shocking with its suddenness and the seemingly lack of motive from Abby. However, in the show, the so called “speech” that Joel alludes to in the game is given vivid life by the young woman. It runs the gamut from condescendingly flirtatious to emotional and savage. Kaitlyn Dever easily balances these range of states with considerable authenticity. But her best moments are the ones where she shows vulnerability, whether it’s the physical reactions to being too cold or the instance where she asks her friends to help Joel and Dina. It makes her moments when she turns on a dime even more terrifying and deadly.

In this way, Abby’s humanity and empathy are front loaded within her worst moments as opposed to something that’s discovered as the player progresses through her story. As someone who prefers Abby’s arc in the game more then Ellie’s, I appreciate this change as there’s already a planted seed for change and warmth.

As for the other changes to the moment, I really appreciated Dina being there as opposed to Tommy. It could imbue her subsequent interactions with Ellie with a much more profound sense of shared grief and loss. And in perhaps the most interesting change, Ellie crawling to Joel’s dead body and lying with him feels quite primal and animalistic. It’s akin to a baby cub returning to a state where it last felt truly loved, protected and sheltered.

The events surrounding the “big event” trades in fan favourite intimate moments for something that feels far more expansive and interesting insofar as the stakes for the rest of the series is concerned. This comes in the form of the infected attack on Jackson. It ensures that there’s a possible debate to Ellie wanting to seek revenge on Abby and her friends. Does she turn her back on a community that took her in, gave her stability and a chance to grow up? Or does she abandon all that for the sake of justice for a man whose the closest that she’s had to a surrogate father? I look forward to the conflict that this elicits in the rest of the series.

Less impressive are some directly adapted moments from the game that lack punch and weight due to the passive nature of the television medium. Chief among them is the opening sequence where Abby has a nightmare. In the game, it’s a recurring situation that illustrates the character’s deep seated fears that are buried within a traumatic memory. However, as adapted it feels quite clunky and oddly obvious in its use of two versions of the character. The same goes for the scene where Ellie is exploring the mansion before discovering an injured Joel. The horror comes less from the tension of the character’s discovery (via various unsettling sounds) then oddly placed camera moves that highlight incidental creepy details of the big house. This is most apparent with the use of a fixed medium shot of a roughed up teddy bear.

Mark Mylod is the director of the episode. He’s no stranger to shocking HBO fare, having been the director of the pivotal episode that changed everything in the final season of Succession. Whilst there’s some clumsy camera moves as previously alluded to, I do like his filmmaking choices during the “big event.” This comes in the form of the darting back and forth close-up reactions to the death. What felt quite static in the game is now given even more emotional texture as Abby’s friends are given more presence with their silent expressions. It also hints at the possible theme that could underpin the season, namely the strife between singular interest and the loyalty to a community or a band of brothers (united in a cause).

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Brief Consideration: Sinners (2025)

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Preamble

Is it weird that I’m having writer’s block over this particular preamble? All there really is to say is that this is my first post about a film in yonks and that I’ve been relishing the prospect of a blank page again. With that said, have you seen Sinners? Let me know in the comments below.

Brief Consideration

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is full of life. It bursts at the seams with community spirit, kinship and a rare reckless abandon, that’s usually reserved for vampiric antagonists in other genre pictures.

On the surface, it’s story of twin brothers, Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) returning to rural Mississippi to open a juke bar has echos of From Dusk Till Dawn.

However, unlike that film, it’s screenplay enlivens its supernatural tropes with a cultural and racial dimension. For one, the vampires absorb music and culture as a form of preservation. But because they’ve not had a lived experience of it, they can be seen as appropriating it as a form of seduction to entice future victims. As the leader of supernatural clan says to a young blues singer in the third act- “We want your music and stories.”

Even the typical convention of vampires requiring invitation to enter an establishment has racial tension. This is evident in a prolonged scene where the white vampire clan demand entry into the brothers’ bar. Along with an insert shot of KKK garb and the clan having a subtle presence, results in the racial disenchantment simmer with wily power.

Coogler’s camera work in the Black Panther movies often made my eyes roll with its quality of drawing too much attention to itself. But in Sinners, it’s ambitious and engrossing. In particular, his long takes depict such a lived in quality that I could not help but feel like a passer-by. And in the sharp cross cutting, Coogler and editor Michael P. Shawver achieve a raw passion that’s animalistic in its carnal power.

In this way, Sinners makes us feel what the central creatures can’t, the lingering of the sights and senses of our youth that we carry with us to the grave.

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Review: The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 1: Future Days

Posted on April 15, 2025 by Sartaj Govind Singh

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.

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