Another outstanding episode that focused on relationship & personalities of our main characters while also giving us some background on what caused the world-wide apocalyptic plague.
Some (briefish) thoughts about s1 e2 "Infected"
* we start the ep w/another flashback: this time to what appears to be the root cause of the fungal virus outbreak. This was hinted at in episode 1, with one of the largest flour providers in the world having fungal outbreak. This, as far as I remember, wasn't part of the video game but resulted in a very chilling assessment from a disease expert that was simply, in order to stop the spread to bomb the entire town & its inhabitants because there is no cure. In most zombie/zombie-adjacent movies/situations the root cause of the outbreak is rarely determined: maybe at best there is some speculation (ZOMBIELAND is one of the few I can remember that not only has a relatively happy ending, but also specifies some sort of mad cow disease as the cause of the zombie outbreak), but rarely do we see an explicit reasoning for the end-times infection.
Of course, we're likely given this information for the bigger, over-all reason of causing doubt that Ellie is indeed the key to saving humanity. This isn't necessarily the end-all/be-all definitive information about a cause for the virus, but it underscores the severity and is also thematically important. This dire assessment (in the pre-credit teaser to the second episode, no less), symbolizes where our main character, Joel, is mentally at this point 20 years into the dystopia (I'll get to that in a bit)...
* we get to spend _a lot_ of time getting to know our characters, primarily Ellie. And how cool is this: Ellie acts like a teenager in our own non-dystopia 2023! She curious, she has a goofy sense of humor, she has somewhat of a youthful innocence. This is a very wise decision by the showrunners: to show us _why_ we should care about Ellie outside of just "savior of humanity!" reasons.
We also get to know Joel's partner, Tess, a bit. Tess and Joel are hardened 'experts' when it comes to smuggling in & out of the Quarantine Zone, and it was interesting (I'd say fun, but I don't think "fun" and "Last of Us" are super compatible
)to see the contrast between the two characters. Tess showed a bit more empathy for Ellie as a teen, and seems more understanding with a 'newbie' out in the 'wild.' Joel seems all business: (relatively) calm & calculated with his actions.
* we get an idea of where Joel is mentally, and he's clearly still dealing with his daughter's death 20 years ago. I suspect he's in a place where he's not wanting to get too close to Ellie, and while he trusts & cares for Tess as a partner, he seems to 'keep his distance' mentally. This episode is setting up the dynamic between Joel & Ellie, where Joel is still suffering from PTSD and will likely struggle being the loan caretaker of a teenage girl on their journey cross-country. While this episode focused on Ellie & Tess, it slyly also centers on Joel's behavior: gives us confidence he can do this job, but he keeps people at bay. Even even barely reacted/emoted to
Tess' exit/sacrifice
.
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when they were outside after the massive explosion, he barely even turned around: he just calmly picked himself off the ground and kept moving.
* "The Kiss" Just...creepy!! I don't recall that stuff from the games either, but WOW was he a relatively simplistic but wildly effective moment!!! While I concede that the game came out roughly 3 years after The Walking Dead premiered, and almost certainly took some cues from the AMC series, Last of Us the series is striving to differentiate itself from the popular zombie show by focusing on the fungal stuff. The Clickers are creepy on their own, and both visually and audibly different from the traditional zombie. I look forward to what the SFX crew does with these moss-men zombies, but even doing what they simply did this episode (the 'vine' tendrils growing out of the corpse in the opening flashback; 'the kiss') is really cool and adds a layer of "ick" into the mix
* how about those production values! Obviously HBO budgets are bigger than AMC or traditional networks. The fact that our characters only spent _part_ of one episode in dystopia Boston, the flooded museum, etc. when you _know_ AMC would've forced the showrunns to spend the bulk of a season in that location after spending so much money, is fun to me. Obvs there are a lot of CGI effects to showcase the run-down mossy city, but that stuff is still expensive. This is an expansive concept, traveling cross-country, and while some locations will be expansive (first couple eps) some will be much more low-key forest wilderness type as well. But I appreciate a series that isn't afraid to spend money to establish a mood or create an effect.
FWIW this is said to be the most expensive series produced in Canada, and comparable to Game of Thrones' per-episode budget. A reason why The Walking Dead had issues was because they often cheaped-out on the budget, and that impacted story-arcs (yes, AMC 'forced' the show to stay at the farm for an entire season because they were trying to keep the budget lower, and that's a big reason why its original showrunner left the series). I'm glad HBO is giving this series the budget it needs to effectively tell its story and I hope that continues.
* non-Spoiler Spoiler: this story is thematically the opposite of Craig Mazin's "Chernobyl" miniseries. There, the series centered on a whole lot of people self-sacrificing for the greater good: a lot of people did things they knew would be their death (either literally or career-wise or both), knowing it was the only shot at saving humanity. Here, I'm not so sure humanity has much of a chance, at least based on information we've gotten through two episodes (yes, I know the story of the two games + the DLC but I'm keeping all that open and making judgements just on what we see/experience via the series). Chernobyl was one of the most intense series I've seen in a long time: one I def. couldn't binge, or even watch more than one 60 min. episode at a time/daily. I think it is one of the best dramatic miniseries of its time, and that gives me hopes that this series will be excellent as well. But at least w/Chernobyl you could see the good being done, even through the immense tragedy: with Last of Us, I'm not so sure I see hope (and I think Joel is at this point at least as skeptical as I am).
* this was an OUTSTANDING 2nd episode. Second episodes of a series are incredibly hard. Often a showrunner will have a great idea/hook to get the show out of the gate with the pilot, but the 2nd episode is where the hard part starts. Often a series needs several episodes to find its legs and its characters (Seinfeld famously took several _seasons_ before things started to click). Because of the relatively small main cast here, the showrunners don't have a ton of characters they have to delve into. The pilot centered on Joel, and the 2nd episode centered on Ellie and now we're off to the races. This episode wisely centered on getting to audience to like Ellie as a person while also underscoring the dangers of their journey and just how quickly things can take a horribly tragic turn for anyone. It both went "big" but also understated, and accomplished its directives well.
* this series moves at a fast pace. There is already sooooo much they could've done to slow down the journey a bit, but the showrunners are keeping things moving. I appreciate that, and while I firmly believe no series has 'episodes that tread water plot-wise' if you actually _LIKE_ spending time with characters, there are definitely too many times a series has episodes that don't feel compelling, don't move a story or character ark forward, and feel closer to "it's too early to get to the crux of the conflict/confrontation of this season so we have to 'fill' a few episodes however we can." Even Ted Lasso, one of if not THE best comedy on the air, even had a few of those in Season 2 when Apple told them mid-production they wanted to add two additional episodes. One was the incredibly cute Christmas episode, and the other was the Coach Beard-centric/Scorsese AFTER HOURS homage. Both episodes I adored, and the showrunners handled the situation great, but that's more an exception. While we're only 2/10 eps through this first season, the series already feels like it's moving fast, has explicit story purpose each moment on the air, and I'm looking forward each week seeing where it takes us next. There are VERY few shows I can say that about, both historically and currently.
I suspect we'll get a plethora of upcoming episodes that are 'guest-star of the week,' where Joel and Ellie meet some nice folks, some awful, along their way. There will be some run-ins with the Clickers, some run-ins with dangerous humans, and some legit warm and caring folks that greet and help our travelers. I think so far this is a GREAT start, and the balance between being faithful to the game's storylines while expanding and changing things (
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). This is a rare series where I'm tuning on the moment the series drops and not waiting a day or several to 'catch up.' The only other series I've felt that compelled to make 'appointment viewing' recently is Ted Lasso.
So far the series is off to a great start; we'll see if this series can sustain it's high quality (and my high expectations)!
