This article accommodates spoilers for the The Final of Us season two. Please don’t learn until you might have seen episode one.
Hi there, and welcome to the primary of our weekly episode recaps for season two of The Final of Us (AKA dispatches from 12 months 25 of the fungal apocalypse).
The story to date
Season one in all The Final of Us, tailored from the favored 2013 PlayStation online game, launched in January 2023, so you can be forgiven for being slightly hazy on the small print. It was largely set 20 years after the US was shattered by a mutated Cordyceps an infection (mind hijacking mushrooms, principally) that remodeled people into zombie-like “clickers”. Scruffy smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal) was employed by a militia referred to as the Fireflies to move 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) from Boston to Salt Lake Metropolis. What made this child so priceless? She was resistant to an infection. However when Joel realised the Fireflies have been comfortable to kill Ellie to develop a doable remedy, he rescued her. An entire lot of individuals died within the course of however Joel hid that from Ellie whereas additionally pretending that others have been immune, so it was not simply her duty to avoid wasting the world.
Season two opens by reiterating that closing scene of Joel swearing to Ellie that he advised her the reality about what occurred, even when the very lengthy pause earlier than her cautious reply (“OK”) suggests she has some suspicions. However this time spherical we additionally get to see the aftermath in Salt Lake Metropolis, as 5 younger individuals collect across the graves of the numerous, many Fireflies killed by Joel. The angriest among the many mourners is Abby – performed by Kaitlyn Dever, star of Netflix’s current Apple Cider Vinegar – who is decided to trace Joel down. Owen (Spencer Lord) suggests they set course for Seattle to get assist from one other militia. However Abby appears obsessive about getting revenge: “After we kill him, we kill him slowly.”
5 years on
After the credit, a substantial time leap. It’s now 5 years later in Jackson, Wyoming – the fortified settlement the place Joel beforehand reunited along with his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) – and issues are difficult between our heroes. Joel, slightly greyer and with the occasional want for glasses, is diligently fixing up properties to assist Jackson home a gentle stream of refugees. Ellie, now 19 and with the intricate arm tattoo to show it, is practising combined martial arts and sniping whereas giving her surrogate father the chilly shoulder. Is it simply teen angst or one thing deeper? At the very least she has misplaced none of her sass, giving city patrol organiser Jesse (Younger Mazino) loads of backchat and emotionally blackmailing Tommy into getting her off boring previous gate-watching obligation.
Ellie has a devil-may-care equal in Dina (Isabela Merced), who additionally appears to be straining in opposition to the strictures of life in a close-knit frontier settlement. However maybe probably the most fascinating new character is Gail (Catherine O’Hara), a psychotherapist who accepts fee in weed. That the taciturn, self-reliant Joel has sought out a shrink speaks to the depth of his concern about his damaged relationship with Ellie. However his bourbon-fuelled session with Gail throws out one other curveball: he apparently shot and killed her husband, Eugene, a 12 months in the past. Presumably there have been some mitigating circumstances?
Outdoors the partitions
A tooled-up Ellie and Dina head out on horseback for recon patrol. After discovering a bloody bear carcass mauled by clickers they scramble up into the highest degree of a derelict grocery store to check their sneaking and fight expertise. After efficiently taking down a clicker, Ellie falls by means of a rickety flooring into the market correct, the place – in a supremely tense sequence – she encounters a brand new type of contaminated: one which appears quicker, smarter and, crucially, not blind just like the mushroom-faced rank-and-file. She manages to take it down however not earlier than being bitten (which confirms, at the very least, that her immunity has remained intact). At her subsequent debrief in entrance of Tommy, his no-nonsense spouse Maria (Rutina Wesley) and the remainder of the city council, Ellie says she felt as if she was being stalked, suggesting a terrifying evolution in humanity’s enemy.
Sad new 12 months?
Seems this has all been happening on New 12 months’s Eve 2028, with the townsfolk trying ahead to a group cookout and dance. Joel checks in on Ellie, who has moved into the storage. However the pleasure of seeing our two primary characters lastly share a correct scene collectively is undercut by their incapacity to attach with one another. As an alternative, Joel notices her acoustic guitar wants new strings and hustles away to handle it.
Even earlier than we noticed her journalling about it, it was clear that Ellie had a crush on Dina. On the shindig, she is scooped on to the dancefloor by her hedonistic good friend. “How dangerous do I scent?” jokes the sweaty Dina, however what begins out as a goofy sluggish dance turns right into a heartfelt kiss. It’s a stunning second, albeit one ruined by a homophobic previous dude who tuts at them. When that disapproval escalates into violence, with Joel charging in, the fallout is messy. “I don’t want your fucking assist!” shouts Ellie, in entrance of all the city.
If that flare-up left a bitter style, there have been different unsettling portents. The roots choking an underground pipe on Joel’s constructing web site appeared to twitch in response to a dropped sparkler – would possibly they join again to the broader Cordyceps community and entice extra contaminated? However much more ominously, the final scene noticed Abby, Owen and others in outside gear attain an overlook with a view of Jackson, lights twinkling within the darkness. Seems to be like 2029 could possibly be filled with disagreeable surprises for Ellie and Joel.
Lastly, slightly housekeeping. As famous within the opening credit, season two is tailored from the 2020 PlayStation sequel The Final of Us Half II, though with solely seven episodes it’s unlikely to cowl all the story of that sprawling sport. In case you’ve performed by means of it you most likely have an thought of the place issues are headed. This recap weblog will concentrate on what we’re seeing on-screen, so please don’t spoil issues for non-players within the feedback.
Notes and observations
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If seven episodes feels slightly meagre, relaxation assured there’s extra Final of Us to return: HBO confirmed final week that there could be a 3rd season.
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The tune Ellie was listening to whereas preparing for patrol was Nirvana’s 1988 debut single Love Buzz (a canopy of a tune by Sixties Dutch rockers Stunning Blue, who additionally wrote the superb Venus).
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Two passing mentions of Curtis and Viper this week: in-universe, it’s the trashy Nineteen Eighties motion film franchise that Joel used to look at along with his daughter Sarah, who died within the preliminary 2003 outbreak.
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We’ve seen clickers chomping on people – and now a poor bear – so turnabout looks as if truthful play: a few of the youthful forged members did a mushroom style take a look at.
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One musician in Jackson’s resident occasion band Brittany and the Jug Boys had a distinctive-looking white beard. That was a becoming cameo from Gustavo Santaolalla, Argentinian composer of the sport and TV present’s haunting theme.
What did you suppose? After all of the anticipation, did episode one reside as much as the hype? What do you make of the brand new characters? Have your say under, however please keep away from spoilers from the sport …
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