The Last of Us season two came out on April 13, 2025 and it has been amazing so far.
By: Gianna Liantonio
This review will contain spoilers!
It is now five years since Joel and Ellie left the firefly hospital and began living in the Jackson sanctuary, where Joel’s brother lives. However, we haven’t seen much that happened within those five years, such as the rift that happened between Joel and Ellie. Ellie moves to the garage and tries her hardest to avoid even a small conversation with Joel. We can suspect she found out the truth of what happened and is angry at Joel for lying to her. Joel is giving her space in hope that she will come back to him.
Ellie has been training with Jesse and going on patrols without Joel knowing. I have liked the second season so far and feel it is raising the stakes for all the characters. I love the different character dynamics, especially Ellie and Dina. They work well together and have funny banter as well.
In the first episode, the tension is evident between Joel and Ellie, and it finally breaks when Ellie and Dina kiss at the New Year’s party and get told off by a man who Joel pushes. Ellie doesn’t take it as a nice gesture and just yells at him, saying she doesn’t need his help. Joel doesn’t fight back and just takes it, knowing he can’t afford to lose her more than he already hasI loved the father daughter relationship Joel and Ellie had in season 1 and wish that could have continued in this season.
After the party, Ellie was walking home from the party where she saw Joel on the porch playing guitar. I anxiously waited, hoping that she’ll go on the porch, but she just kept walking. I wish she stopped so this could have been what they needed to fix their shattered relationship.
The next episode starts with Ellie getting ready to go on patrol. She plans on partnering up with Joel, which led me to believe they made up off screen. However, Joel went with Dina, so Ellie went with Jesse.
Unbeknownst to them, Abby and her team are harboring up in a cabin not too far from where they are. Still on her revenge mission against Joel, she spots him and lures him back to her hideout. Once Joel and Dina are in the cabin, they knock Dina out and shoot Joel in the leg so he can’t get up. She wanted to make his torture slow.
Ellie makes it there and is forced to watch as Joel dies. Bella Ramsey’s performance in this scene was incredible. She conveyed all the emotions so well and her scream was so heartrending. I was heartbroken when Joel died and will miss Pedro Pascal on this show. Even though I have never played the game, I felt he was perfect for this role where no one else could have performed the way he did.
The next episode starts with Ellie waking up in the hospital, Joel’s death fresh in her mind. Three months pass and now Ellie is healed and ready to enact her revenge. However, no one supported her idea of searching for Abby so she and Dina sneak away on their own. They take a horse and ride towards Seattle where they encounter new people. I enjoyed seeing different groups that have formed during the apocalypse such as the Wolves who Abby is a part of as well as Isaiah who we met in episode four.
In episode four, Ellie and Dina get chased by clickers where Ellie gets bit to save Dina. When they get back to their hideout, Dina is ready to shoot Ellie as per protocol. Hesitantly, she keeps the gun held while Ellie tries to explain that she is immune and won’t turn into a mindless monster. They wait the night out and when Dina realizes she will not turn, she kisses her. This is the moment when she realized she could not imagine a future without Ellie in it. I loved this scene and was happy to see these characters finally together.
Episode five was shorter than the rest but is definitely the most impactful. Jesse finds them and tells them they need to come back to the compound, but Ellie refuses to leave without finding Abby. Dina gets shot with an arrow and Jesse lifts her and starts carrying her to safety. However, Ellie spots the entrance to the hospital and finds Nora who was present when Abby killed Joel. This shows she will do anything, even leave her friends behind.
She corners Nora in the basement full of spores and Nora realizes that Ellie is the one who is immune. She refuses to tell where Abby is so Ellie starts hitting Nora’s leg with a pipe, similar to how Abby tortured Joel. This shows that Ellie and Abby are the same in the aspect of revenge. They both would do anything to get what they want, even if that means killing someone. Ellie will not feel satisfied until she is the one to find and kill Abby. Will this bring her peace? Only time will tell.
I have really liked season two so far and I am excited to see the rest. I have never played the game,so I am going into this show blind which has been fun. The next episode that is set to air on May 18 seems to be a flashback episode where we see Joel and Ellie within those five years. I am eager to see it, yet worried about the scene where Joel tells Ellie the truth about what happened at the hospital. The season finale will be on May 25, and I can not wait to see how it ends.
