‘The Last of Us’ Disappoints in Season Two

Pedro Pascal and Isabela Merced in The Last of Us | Credit: HBO

The Last of Us takes us into a world where a deadly fungus has broken out, changing everything. In season two, we follow Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as she seeks to survive and get revenge on those who have harmed her. We meet a number of characters along the way who will help or endanger her mission.

I was pretty disappointed by this season of The Last of Us. The first season was so great and introduced us to this world and the characters in it so well. Each episode was an exciting new adventure as Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie tried to survive and make their journey west. Though I was skeptical about the show at first, it eventually won me over, and I was excited to see the continuation of the story.

Unfortunately, the second season seems to depart from what made the first season special. The first season often introduced us to new characters and a new town in each episode. The season was fast-paced, always finding a way to use action to further the plot and reveal more about the characters.

The second season, at times, feels like a drag, with entire episodes that leave you wondering if anything happened over the runtime. There are so many interesting things to explore in this world, but those are abandoned for melodrama that feels out of place for these characters.

While I think all of the actors in this show do a great job, the writing really lets them down. Ellie, especially, feels like a completely different character than we had met in the first season. And there’s no explanation for her sudden change in personality. The really competent, headstrong person that we met in season one seems to have faded. While she talks about revenge a lot, this season doesn’t show her doing very much of that until the final couple of episodes. Then I was left wondering where this version of Ellie had been for the entire season.

Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us | Credit: HBO

The middle section of this season of The Last of Us feels meandering. Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) are palling around Seattle, but not a lot else happens. We learn of a couple of other factions that are in Seattle and warring with each other, but the show doesn’t give us a lot of time with either of them. And I really want to learn about the Wolves and the Seraphites. Both of these groups seem so interesting that I was ready to jump ship on Ellie’s storyline and go hang out with either or both of those groups instead.

But the show is uninterested in that. Sadly, I’m not sure what the show is interested in. This season was consistently answering questions that I wasn’t asking and setting up emotional beats that always came at the wrong time for me.

I might be the only one, but I was often annoyed at the choices that the show was making and the way that it stretched every moment to be far longer than I thought it should be. It felt as though they took one storyline, cut it in half, and added a bunch of filler in to make room for multiple seasons.

This feels like one of those seasons that will only feel complete once you’ve watched the next season, but the problem is that I have no desire to continue watching. This season has eroded my trust in the show, and I don’t want to waste another 7-10 hours of my life with these characters when I don’t know that it will be worth it for me.

I really hope that between seasons two and three, the team behind The Last of Us will rethink some things and return to more of the formula for the first season. But I’m doubtful that will happen.

It’s a real shame that such an incredible first season is now tainted by an underwhelming second season.