The Last Of Us Season 2 Review

[spoiler warning]

I promised to review this season when I finished it in my The Last Of Us season one review, and now that I have finished season two, I can confidently say that I was… kinda disappointed, actually. As much as I adored the first season, I never expected season two to be quite as good as the first, and, unfortunately, but not unpredictably, this season is worse on all aspects, and I finished watching the season feeling quite conflicted, honestly. I will preface this, I have a LOT of thoughts on this series, both good, and bad. So please, bear with me, since I have a ton to unpack here.

This season is set 5 years after the first, with Ellie and Joel having settled into Tommy’s settlement by now. We see old characters from the first season here, along with new, in the form of Ellie’s friends. And, in Ellie’s friends, we have my first complaint about the season. I just don’t care for any of these new characters. I don’t feel like any of them are given that much of a reason to care about them, other than being Ellie’s friends. They don’t particularly feel like compelling characters, like most characters in season one did. They kinda just feel like typical tropes, which isn’t good when most of the series relies on these new characters. They just feel like they exist to move the plot forward. Which, I feel, is a shame, as I’ve heard that these characters, within the games, are actually pretty great. I do still love Joel, of the little we see of him in the season, and I still think Tommy is a really likeable character. Ellie herself has her great moments, especially in that flashback episode with Joel, but unfortunately, I feel like I hate as a character in that first episode of season 2, as she is being an asshole to Joel. Like, I get why she is mad at him, for lying to her, but I just felt bad for Joel, as he’s just trying to be a caring father. Like, obviously, we see how their relationship then was complicated in the flashback episode, which is definitely my favourite episode in the season, but it’s still hard to watch when she’s being so mean to Joel in the first episode. Another issue I had with the show is something that obviously happens in the game too, but I still don’t think it should’ve happened blah blah blah, we all know what I’m referring to, what happens to Joel at the hands of Abby. Like, his dynamic with Ellie, and just his character as a whole is what made the show so good, and killing him off just ruins a key part of what made the first season such a great watch. Therefore, the show feels like it loses its spark without his presence. Especially when Dina, who is going with Ellie to find Abby, isn’t that interesting or fleshed out of a character. 

Finally, I feel like Abby, as a villain, should’ve been fleshed out and shown more. I feel like she would’ve been a really good and threatening villain, as she is shown to be ruthless and powerful, when she mercilessly beats Joel to death, but she just isn’t on screen after that at all, until a scene right at the end, and I’m just left thinking “why should I care” because there are no stakes in the main plot of finding Abby, because Abby hasn’t proven herself to be a threat on screen other than when killing Joel. They should’ve shown more scenes with her being ruthless, and showing that she IS an actual threat to Ellie, and getting revenge won’t be that simple. In its current form I think even the cult subplot has more stakes to it than the Abby subplot, because they showed her  killing a major character brutally, then she never showed up again, until the cliffhanger ending.

I think the concept is strong, I’m not against what they were trying to do, if only they executed it a bit better, with more fleshing out of Dina or Jesse’s characters, and increasing the amount of presence Abby has on screen, to make her feel like more of a threat. But as it is, The Last Of Us Season 2 is a strong five to a six out of ten.