Internet users never miss an opportunity to express their anger on social networks as soon as their favorite series does not go in their direction. Once again, a large series does not consensus.
Be careful, spoilers! The following reveals key elements of the intrigue of the second season of The Last of Us. If you have not seen it and do not want to know the content, do not continue to read.
What are the criteria for a large series? You have four o'clock. And yet, this time allocated would be too short to provide a fair and measured response. But this interrogation seems to be going up wide since the end of the broadcast of season 2 of The Last of Us last week.
The adapted series of Neil Druckmann's video game, by himself and Craig Mazin, has aroused many passions since his return. Those who played games knew what was waiting for them and were already mentally preparing to roll in a ball at the fateful time so feared. And those who discovered the story of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) via the series had to find treasures of ingenuity so as not to be spoiled which was going to be the major event of this season 2.
A radical choice
How to continue a series without its hero? This is what it is about with this second season. The character of Joel dies, wildly murdered by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), in episode 2 and the impression that everything goes to Vau-l'Eau. With this radical decision, The Last of Us asserted itself as a daring and masterfully emotional series.
Admittedly, the first season has agreed. Faithful but never frozen adaptation, she has been able to transform a video game monument into an intense, humanist and overwhelming television work. And do not displease the annoying people who have poured their bile on the networks for four years, the duo Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey perfectly embodies the tragically beautiful link between Joel and Ellie. The series could have stopped there, in the comfort of an already assured success.
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But no. With its season 2, the post-apocalyptic series dares to take unexpected paths. Exit the familiar structure which was modeled a little too much for a narration of video games: place to a exploded, more mature, more risky narration too. By gradually focusing his story on the character of Abby, the series takes the bet to expand his emotional palette while exploring even more troubled moral areas.
This choice, which had already divided the players at the end of the second opus, is here fully assumed. And it is precisely this narrative courage that places The Last of Us above the fray. The series serves the spectator exactly what he didn't want. Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin do anti fan service and put themselves at the service of history. And history only.
An emotional shock at the heart of horror
What deeply distinguishes The Last of Us from other productions of the genre is its ability to make the great post-apocalyptic spectacle cohabit with moments of rare intimacy and depth of soul. The horror, well present, is never free: it serves as a backdrop for stories of love, forgiveness, loss and inner survival.
All during the season, the memory of Joel, although disappeared, continues to influence each Ellie decision. The pain becomes engine. Flashbacks with Pedro Pascal – who delivers here one of his best performances – maintain a poignant connection with this overview. A way to accompany the spectator in his mourning of this endearing character.
What strikes us here, in the heart as in the body, is this crazy will of the series not to try to alleviate the blows carried to its characters. On the contrary, it absorbs them and transforms them into narrative fuel.
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An already cult series … and it's not over
Because The Last of Us is not a series like the others. Halfway through her global arch, she continues to reinvent herself, to expand her universe, to dig her themes. She fascinates as much as she bothers, upsets as much as she captivates. And above all, it never yields to ease.
So yes, some may regret the Dynamics Joel & Ellie from the start. But the series does not look back: it advances, and takes us with it. Towards a season 3 centered on Abby, towards an uncertain but promising future. In a saturated television landscape, The Last of Us imposes its singularity and breath. What if, finally, was the best series of the moment also the most unexpected?
