APOCALYPSE AGAIN

The Last Of Us - what to remember before Season 2

- NOEL MURRAY

Video game adaptations have not, historically, had the best critical reputations, and zombie apocalypse stories are a bit played out.

This is what was working against The Last Of Us when HBO debuted Season 1 in 2023. A series based on a game, set in a postapocalyptic landscape populated by ferocious monsters? Did we need another show like this, given that we already have something like seven iterations of the Walking Dead?

Apparently so, given the level of acclaim and popularity the first Last Of Us season enjoyed. Craig Mazin, working with the game's creator, Neil Druckmann, reimagined and reinvigorated an exhausted action-horror subgenre, making it work for television by taking advantage of what the medium allows. They broke their sweeping, epic story into gripping individual episodes, filled with small but potent moments of tension and tragedy.

It helped also that The Last Of Us has such appealing lead characters: the gruff mercenary Joel (Pedro Pascal) and the foul-mouthed teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who travel together across a country populated by murderous gangs and rapacious creatures. Viewers very quickly became invested in these two, pulling for them not only to survive but also to make the most of whatever time they might have left on Earth.

It has been over two years since the Season 1 finale aired, so some fans might need a refresher on what Joel and Ellie went through and where they are now. Here is what you need to know before you start watching season 2.

SO THERE ARE THESE MUSHROOMS ...

Some say the world will end in fire; some say ice. In The Last Of Us, we fear the fungus. The story starts with an explanation of the fungi