[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for ‘The Last of Us‘ Season 2, Episode 1, “Future Days.” For a spoiler-free analysis, read our full Season 2 review.]
Joel (Pedro Pascal), always fronting with gruff bravado to mask his inconsolable sorrow, likes to keep things simple. When his nephew, Benji (Ezra Agbonkhese), sits on his lap and asks about the maps Joel’s looking over, Jackson’s slacking-off construction foreman cheerfully quizzes the young boy on where he lives. “What’s that?” Joel asks, and Benji replies, “The fence!” “And what’s inside?” “People!” “And what’s outside?” “Monsters.”
See? Simple. The fence protects the people because the fence keeps monsters out.
Except throughout the Season 2 premiere, “Future Days,” writer and director Craig Mazin repeatedly makes clear that the monsters are moving in, if not already here. There’s the stretching, straining tendrils of malevolent fungus living in the town’s pipes. There’s the newly evolved clickers, called “Stalkers,” so sneaky and patient when hunting their prey. There’s an obsessive villain in Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) — the former Firefly introduced at the top of the episode, when she swears “slow,” brutal vengeance on Joel — who’s now close enough to put Jackson in her crosshairs.
And then there’s Joel, floating between monster and man. Episode 1 begins by repeating the very last scene of Season 1. Five years ago, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is suspicious of Joel’s story about what happened in Salt Lake City. Were there really other immune people who could help the scientists find a cure? Was the hospital really attacked by raiders? If not, why would Joel lie? But he did lie. His story is a lie, and he lies again when Ellie asks him to swear to its veracity.
Even when he does, she remains dubious, and reminding us of her reluctant acceptance to kick off Season 2 feels pointed. Sure, it’s been two years since the scene first aired. Maybe Mazin just wanted to remind us what’s happened. Maybe it’s a framework for the season as a whole, rather than this specific episode.
But replaying the scene also tees up the premiere’s central, mysterious conflict: Ellie is mad at Joel, and no one knows why. Things seem pretty good in Jackson. The town functions like a town, with electricity and food, contracted workers and a town council. There’s even a New Year’s Eve party with live music, drinks, and dancing.
Ellie has grown from a 14-year-old survivor to a 19-year-old assassin. She trains in hand-to-hand combat with men much bigger than her, led by Jesse (Young Mazino of “Beef” fame). She practices her long-range shooting with her de facto uncle, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). She cherishes her patrol assignments, in part because they get her closer to the action than any town-bound duties would, and in part because they get her closer to Dina (Isabela Merced), her best friend and full-blown crush.
Although Dina recently dumped Jesse — in what’s described as an on-again, off-again relationship that’s leaning toward staying off — the couple’s flirtation is decidedly one-sided: Dina makes up jokes aimed directly at Ellie’s sense of humor; Dina moves in for “coincidental” bodily contact while helping Ellie get geared up; Dina makes her move on New Year’s Eve, asking Ellie to dance and then going in for the kiss when it’s clear her partner doesn’t believe there’s shared interest.
For any romantic out there, it’s enough to dream that “The Last of Us” Season 2 could just go on like this for another six episodes. (Yes, this season is only seven episodes long — consider this your first warning.) Dina and Ellie go on patrol. Dina and Ellie kill a clicker or two. Dina and Ellie go out, get stoned, and fall head-over-heels in love. But obviously that’s not where things are headed, just as that’s not all that’s going on in Episode 1.
Yes, life in Jackson is tantalizingly close to normal, but the monsters are knocking on the door. Or… are they already here?
Ellie seems to think so. When Seth (Robert John Burke) chides her and Dina for kissing at “a family event,” Joel is quick to knock the drunk down and throw him out of the party. But Ellie’s not mad at Seth. She’s mad at Joel. “I don’t need your fucking help,” she shouts at the man who only wants to help her; the man who then retires to his front porch to fix the played-out strings on her guitar; the man (or is it monster?) who saved her life by murdering dozens of innocent people in Salt Lake City.
But does Ellie know about that? The question haunts Joel so much he can’t bear to entertain it. When he goes to check on Ellie before the dance, he bails as soon as it’s clear things aren’t suddenly hunky-dory again. When he talks to Dina about it at the start of the episode, he tries to shrug off their silent feud, using the advice he’s been given in therapy. (“I can’t hold myself responsible for another person’s emotional state.”)
And, hell yeah, Joel is going to therapy! That being said, the excitement in seeing a terse, emotionally stunted, semi-elderly man (after the time jump, Joel is now 61 years old) sit down to better understand his emotions is muted by the fact he’s been lying in every session. Clearly, he’s been hoping to discover some other random issue Ellie is pissed about; one he could actually make up for, instead of his darkest, most heinous secret.
Luckily, Gail (Catherine O’Hara) isn’t having it. Turns out, not only is the weed-smoking, whiskey-loving psychotherapist sick of Joel’s “boring” cited issues, she’s also over-the-moon mad at him because Joel… killed her husband? Even if that yet-to-be-examined wound wasn’t still fresh (which it is, since this is Gail’s first birthday without Eugene, and she hasn’t even moved his boots off the entryway rug), that would be a big hurdle for even the most psychologically sound of us to get over. But Gail tries. To her immense credit, she faces her anger by expressing how she feels. “You can’t heal something unless you’re brave enough to say it out loud,” she says, as both advice to herself and to Joel.
Joel can’t follow her lead. In a scene destined to be replayed any time Pascal’s name is batted about awards circles, Joel’s eyes become a blazing window to his soul. “Say the thing you’re afraid to say,” Gail tells him, and Joel’s expression cracks open, ever so slightly, desperate to accept the invitation.
“Did you do something to her?” Gail says, and Joel musters the slightest of nods.
“Did you hurt her?” Gail says, and Joel quickly shakes his head, steering her away from any conventional assumptions.
“Then what? What did you do?” Gail says, and Joel’s lips part ever so slightly. His face quivers. A tear barely escapes his right eye. And then, as if he’s already relived the moment in question and arrived at the same, grim decision, Joel’s expression hardens. His eyes go dark, and he stands up. The man who was there a moment ago is gone, and the monster has returned. “I saved her,” he says, less for Gail than for himself.
After the Season 1 finale, I wrote that Joel became the villain. His actions take the form of heroism — a father doing whatever it takes to save his kid — but in that scenario, they’re selfish, destructive, and tragic. Ellie told Joel she was willing to die to save others. He refused to let her. It would hurt too much. Specifically, it would hurt Joel too much. Now, with the emergence of Abby and the drop-off in his relationship with Ellie, we can see how his choice continues to create damage, like a fungus all its own, spreading across anything he touches.
So is Joel a monster? Even writing the words “villain” and “monster” sound too harsh for a man who’s shown so much vulnerability in trying to grow as a human being, and in a show so disinterested in painting people in pure white or pitch black. Still, “The Last of Us” makes its own case. When Joel gets up to leave his office, he tells his nephew, “You keep shooting those monsters.” And Benji, bless his young soul, takes dead aim at Joel — and fires.
Grade: A-
“The Last of Us” Season 2 releases new episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
Stray Tendrils
• For as much as Pedro Pascal stole the show this week, Episode 1 is arguably more focused on Ellie — and one moment stands out: When she’s dancing with Dina, she tells her “friend” that every guy in the room is staring at her. “Maybe they’re jealous of you,” Dina counters. “No reason to be,” Ellie says. “I’m not a threat.” And then Dina takes a beat. She looks Ellie dead in the eye and breaks from their playful banter. “Oh Ellie,” Dina says. “I think they should be terrified of you.”
In the moment, Dina is telling Ellie she is a threat to those men because Dina does like her — like, she likes her, likes her. But the emphasis Mazin puts on the moment seems to go beyond their first kiss. Should the men of Jackson be terrified of Ellie? Is it because she’s so reckless on patrols? Is it because she’s immune? Is it because she’s with Joel, who’s the reason Abby & Co. have come calling? It’s hard to say yet, but it’s certainly not just because Ellie stole Dina’s heart.
• “Are you just going to keep grouching on like this, every session? […] I’ve done this long enough to know when someone is leaving something out. […] And you want me to validate that? No. Fuck no.” Oh man, I love Gail. Drinking whiskey, payments in weed — how can I book a session?
• “What do you call a grizzly’s ribs? Bear-B-Que.” With the power of puns, Dina won Ellie forever.
