A worthy sequel to an excellent first season. Again lots of nerve-wracking action and good acting. The Last of Us can still be considered one of the better video game adaptations. After the success of the first season, it was of course no surprise that The Last of Us would get a second season. The second season is a film adaptation of the second part of the video game of the same name. For the second season, the source material is in my opinion really amazing since The Last of Us Part 2 is one of the best (maybe the best) video games I have played. In contrast to the first part, for Part 2 it was chosen not to film it in one season but in (expected) three seasons. Because of this there is (mild spoiler but very expected) an open ending at the end of the second season.
The second season consists of seven episodes, each lasting between 45 minutes and one hour. In broad terms, The Last of Us continues the qualities of the first season. Very strong performances by Bella Ramsey (who plays Ellie Williams) and Pedro Pascal (who plays Joel Miller), blood-curdling action scenes with more than enough tension and a reasonably faithful film adaptation of the video game. Just like in the first season, the story and drama are central. The new characters are also played by a very strong cast. The important new character Abby, for example, is played very well by Kaitlyn Dever and Jeffrey Wright is always a good addition.
Of course, there are adjustments to the story, for example Abby is not as muscular as in the video game, but those adjustments (for the most part) do not detract from the strong narrative. I do think it is a shame that you know from the start what drives Abby and why she makes certain decisions. In my opinion, that makes the impact of a key moment in the second season a lot less than it was in the video game. A good adjustment is introducing an important element in the way the global infection spreads that was (strangely enough) left out in the first season.
The Last of Us is, in my opinion, one of the best video game adaptations to date.
In the second season, the viewer is introduced to various (new) groups. One of them is the WLF, which Abby is part of, and the other group is the Scars, which is simply an extremist sect. The Scars believe in a holy woman who will lead the Scars, no technology is used, and the weapons used are old-fashioned (bows and arrows, for example). This does create an interesting dynamic in the storyline, because in a post-apocalyptic world, everyone has strong interests of their own and wants to act hard for them.
In short: The Last of Us is a good series with exciting action with an excellent cast and there is no moment of boredom. The Last of Us is in my opinion one of the best video game film adaptations to date. Some adjustments in the story compared to the video game are less well-done and the second season is a bit less emotionally charged compared to the previous season (in my opinion). Nevertheless a very good season and I will definitely watch the upcoming seasons!
Based on the above, the second season of The Last of Us gets a well-deserved 8.5.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
