The postapocalyptic series adapted to cult video game is finally back! The first episode of season 2 of The Last of Us Was put online this Monday on Max after two years of waiting. Remember, season 1 followed the evolution of the relationship between two characters, Joel (Pedro Pascal), a quinqua hardened by the tests, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a teenager immune to the evil that ravages the planet, first foreigners, then weaving links similar to those of a father and his daughter. At the start of season 2, when they flow almost peaceful days in Jackson, Ellie avoids Joel at all costs, but why does she want him so much? This is not very explicit, 20 minutes take stock.
This season 2, always with Craig Mazin controllers (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann, the creator of the game, has seven episodes. The action takes place five years after the traumatic events of the last episode of season 1, in which Joel prefers to save Ellie’s life rather than sacrificing it in order to find a remedy that will save humanity.
Joel’s huge lie
At the end of season 1, Ellie was swearing in Joel that he does not lie to her about fireflies and what happened in the hospital. “Sight me that everything you told me about the fireflies is true,” asked Joel in the last sequence of the last episode of season 1. “I swear to you,” replied Joël. The first episode of season 2 opens onto a quick flashback that takes up this exchange, at the heart of discord between the two protagonists.
In the finale of season 1 of The Last of UsJoel and Ellie finally reached their destination: the Rebellious Faction Hospital of Lucioles in Salt Lake City. The fireflies wanted to use Ellie’s immunity to develop a vaccine against infections in the parasite which decimates humanity (a mutation of the real entomopathogenic fungus named the cordycepts). An operation that would have been fatal for Ellie, which Marlène, the chief of the group armed with survivalists, was well kept saying!
When he learns the truth, Joel, who has already experienced the pain of losing his biological daughter, cannot resolve to lose Ellie, with whom he has almost paternal relationships. He therefore saves in extremis the teenager under the anesthesia of the fireflies, and massacre a good part of them by fleeing by car.
Ellie almost offered her life without informed consent, Joel thought he was acting in his interest. When Ellie wakes up, he lies by claiming that the fireflies no longer need her.
Ellie finally discovered the truth during the five years which take place between the end of season 1 and the start of season 2.. It is this lie that provokes the rupture in their relationship.
Ellie feels betrayed
In adaptation, Joel follows therapy to manage the situation, a narrative element that does not appear in video games. During her therapy session with Gail (Catherine O’Hara) and her conversation with Dina (Isabela Merced), Ellie’s friend, Joel claims that he does not understand why Ellie is so distant with him. But when Gail retorts that he omits things, he simply replied: “I saved him” and leaves.
Ellie cruelly wants Joel for this lie. First of all, she felt betrayed by the only person in which she had confidence. Then, Joel removed him the possibility of choosing his own destiny, even if it had involved a sacrifice for the good of humanity. Finally, the blood shed by Joel on his behalf is difficult to digest. This season 2 will therefore tackle themes such as free will and the consequences of moral choices.
The confrontation expected in the next episodes
In the game The Last of Us Part IIEllie discovers the truth about what happened at the Lucioles Hospital of Salt Lake City by going back to the scene. In a flashback scene taking place two years earlier, she consults medical reports on her case and discovers a vocal recording explaining that “the only person who could develop a vaccine is dead”, referring to the Lucioles surgeon that Joel killed. Later, Ellie confronts Joel with her lie.
This confrontation will take place in season 2. “You had sworn it to me,” says Ellie to Joel in the trailer. “You do not know what he did,” says Nora (Tatie Gabrielle), (one of the allies of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a young mourning woman who wants to avenge the massacre of fireflies by Joel to Salt Lake City) in Ellie in the trailer. It is therefore most likely Nora who will reveal the truth to Ellie!
