The best way audiences method the second season of The Final of Us goes to be very depending on how a lot time they’ve spent with their Playstations or PCs, as creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann stay devoted to their quest to adapt the post-apocalyptic online game sequence as faithfully as attainable to the display. With out mentioning spoilers, that’s about as particular because it’s attainable to get about what to anticipate from the present’s return — however it’s secure to say that the HBO drama continues to be a robust, emotional, and sometimes brutal story about what it means to outlive in not possible occasions.
Now, what number of viewers of The Final of Us are going into Season 2 at the least vaguely spoiled for what is going to occur? It’s laborious to say for sure. As of December 2022, initially launched in June 2020, Half II of the sport had bought over 10 million copies as of June 2022 — a quantity that’s undoubtedly bigger now, provided that the primary season of the present led to an enormous increase of sport gamers in 2023, and a remastered model of Half II was launched in January 2024.
Nonetheless, as of Could 2023, the primary season had already garnered practically 32 million cross-platform viewers per episode. That quantity is definitely larger now, and whereas not one of the above results in precise math, it feels secure to say {that a} good share of the viewers for Season 2 can be at the least vaguely unaware of what’s to come back.
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It truthfully doesn’t matter that a lot, although — talking as somebody who didn’t play the video games however adopted sufficient of the discourse round Half II to be conversant in at the least one of many massive plot beats… It was greater than somewhat tough to observe. Whether or not or not you realize what’s to come back, the second season is a demanding expertise, the depth rising exponentially with every tragic second.
Season 2 begins with a five-year time bounce, as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) have settled into their new, considerably secure lives within the revived township of Jackson, Wyoming. This far into the plague’s lifespan, the survivors have managed to construct one thing of a standard existence for themselves — Jackson residents work laborious to take care of the neighborhood in addition to maintain one another secure, however there’s nonetheless room for enjoyable, whether or not or not it’s having a hoedown to rejoice the brand new 12 months or relationship one (or extra!) of your favourite survivors.
Okay, that five-year time bounce does occur after we’re launched to Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a younger lady who we be taught rapidly has a significant beef with Joel, as a consequence of his actions within the Season 1 finale. Particularly, whereas rescuing Ellie from the Fireflies and their experiments, Joel killed somebody Abby liked, and Abby desires revenge.
In the meantime, ever because the closing scene of Season 1, Ellie has her suspicions about what actually occurred when Joel rescued her, which alongside along with her personal teenage angst has led to a significant rift between them because the season begins. Between this and different components, Ellie and Joel don’t get as a lot one-on-one time as they did earlier than — that stated, Pascal and Ramsey’s awkward parent-child bond stays as electrical as earlier than, with heartstrings pulling on the method their relationship adjustments over the course of the season.
The forged coming back from Season 1 contains Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley, with new forged members like Younger Mazino and Catherine O’Hara making a right away impression on the motion. O’Hara specifically turns in some exceptional work, as an acerbic therapist who calls for fee in weed and booze — we knew how humorous she is, after all, however the occasions of Season 2 verify simply how gifted a dramatic actor she can be. (Between this and her work on Apple TV+’s The Studio, her title deserves to be talked about greater than as soon as when this 12 months’s Emmy nominations are introduced.)
If the season has one particular flaw, it’s that some non-chronological storytelling finally ends up detracting from the narrative momentum. That is particularly compared to the primary season, which was propelled properly by Ellie and Joel’s quest not only for survival, however for the hope {that a} treatment for the plague is likely to be attainable because of Ellie’s immunity. Season 2 can also be with out query not the tip of this story (although it’s laborious to think about HBO not greenlighting a Season 3 at this stage).
All parts of the manufacturing are as sharp as earlier than, with the manufacturing design specifically actually working additional time to seize not simply the brand new neighborhood of Jackson, however the stays of the now-dead world from earlier than. It stays a present that’s so highly effective within the particulars, the wreckage of what was left behind, with one odd quirk: When wandering the ruins of civilization, Ellie positive runs throughout a lot of playable guitars.
Whereas it’s a tragic season of tv, issues aren’t solely bleak, as Ellie will get nearer with Dina (future Hawkgirl Isabela Merced), a spark of pleasure and lightweight in bleak occasions. And there’s a beautiful breakout episode that digs deep into key relationships — whereas it’s not a direct echo of Season 1’s “Lengthy, Lengthy Time,” it serves an identical operate, in reestablishing the innate humanity of this story.
For as a lot fungal zombie violence as Season 2 would possibly function, the present by no means disconnects from its most important fact: That this can be a story about individuals, generally at their greatest — however extra usually at their worst. It’s rattling laborious, in any case, to be your greatest through the worst of occasions. But it’s one thing these characters haven’t solely given up on. And within the bleakest hours, that generally can really feel like hope.
The Final of Us Season 2 premieres Sunday, April thirteenth on HBO and Max.