The Last of Us 2×01 Review: “Future Days”

The Last of Us season 2 episode 1, titled ‘Future Days’, offered a strong yet somewhat slow return to the post-apocalyptic world where humanity continued to survive the ever-present threat of deadly zombies.

With The Last of Us 2 video game surrounded by a whole lot of controversy, I was looking forward to seeing how the writers were going to adapt the source material to live-action. Judging by how they opened ‘Future Days’, I think the events that will unfold this season will still be controversial. However, the uproar won’t reach the heights the gaming community had to experience back in 2020.

I say this because, unlike the video game, ‘Future Days’ actually opened with the new character Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) wanting revenge for Joel (Pedro Pascal) killing her father and the other Fireflies during the previous season to save Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The video game took time to reveal Abby’s motivation to target Joel, playing a major role in her character arc as well as how certain video game players reacted to her progression. It was truly a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

In contrast, the live-action adaptation seems to be looking out for Dever. In my opinion, the writing team wants viewers to understand Abby’s motivation from the get-go, be ready for what’s to come, and hopefully, be more empathetic about her actions. I personally didn’t like the creative team doing away with the mystery element in such a manner, but I see why they did it, especially with how toxic the TLoU fandom can get online toward an actress.

The writers didn’t just stop there. After the five-year timeskip between the two seasons, Joel got an entire scene with Catherine O’Hara’s Gail where she finally announced how she hated Joel for killing her husband Eugene. Gail understood why he did it, but couldn’t find it in herself to forgive Joel. She’s helping Joel as his therapist. So, at least, that’s some progress. To me, the point of that particular scene also related to Abby. It’s tough to forgive someone for killing your loved one. The five-year timeskip had clearly failed to simmer down Abby’s thirst for revenge. She’s still coming for Joel.

So, yeah, it will be interesting to see how certain fans will react as The Last of Us season 2 continues to tell a story focused on revenge and the cruel circle of violence.

As for Joel’s relationship with Ellie, it’s strained as heck. Though Ellie’s distancing herself from Joel as any 19-year-old girl would, you can tell there’s more going on there. Joel and Ellie were basically the same person and that caused friction when the older version of said person wanted to protect the rebellious younger version.

I did like Joel’s interactions with Dina (Isabela Merced). She’s able to connect with Joel and Ellie. Dina’s definitely adventurous, but she’s more joyful and straightforward in whatever she does, allowing Joel and Ellie to open up around her. Joel teaching Dina about fixing wires and repairing circuit breakers is likely going to play a role down the line.

In the queer romance department, the episode did a good job of depicting the dance and kiss scene from the video games. There’s some nice chemistry between Dina and Ellie.

With ‘Future Days’ taking the time to ease viewers back into the world of TLoU, a whole bunch of scenes helped give life to the community Joel had helped build. Joel’s conversation with Maria about slowing down accepting refugees when the community was running low on resources and space brought forth some interesting points mirroring real-world issues.

A major development in zombie lore dealt with Ellie getting attacked by a “smart” Infected. This particular creature didn’t run at Ellie as expected. Instead, she took her time stalking Ellie and luring her to a particular spot to attack. The Infected are evolving and things are only going to get tougher for the survivors as more Infected make their way to the shelter (they should have burned those roots! Ugh!) along with Abby closing in on Joel’s location.

Did you watch The Last of Us season 2 episode 1 ‘Future Days’? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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