The Last of Us episode 2

The show also stars Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Kelvonn Woodard, ...

The Last of Us–the HBO Max adaptation of the Naughty Dog video game–debuted last weekend to impressive audience numbers, and the second episode will air tomorrow, Jan. Check out the first-look photos from that chapter here on this page. Keep reading Horror News Network for further updates on The Last of Us on HBO Max.

The Last of Us episode 2 is almost here! Here's when the episode airs and how you can watch it online legally. One of the most well-known video games ever.

Nine episodes of the first season of The Last Of Us are planned. The official synopsis for episode 2 has not yet been released, but given that the series closely follows the first The Last of Us PS3 videogame, expecting to witness more of Joel & Ellie’s perilous trek across the post-apocalyptic world. This contains the time, streaming details, and more. The audience is going to adore Ellie (Bella Ramsey). It was a terrific idea to turn it into a Television series so soon, especially considering how great the story is. The Last of Us HBO Episode 2 Information:

The second episode titled Infected follows Joel, Tess, and Ellie as they traverse through an abandoned and flooded Boston hotel on their way to drop Ellie ...

As they explore downtown, viewers will see more of her and Joel’s partnership and the skills they have in their world of smuggling. A show adaption like HBO’s The Last of Us could have fallen down the cliché trap of infection outbreak storylines that many other shows did during a covid world, but Druckman and Mazin are the only writers that have used the past few years excellently. Fans of the game will have noticed that the fungi spores, a key element in the infection outbreak of the game series, are missing. Anna Torv’s portrayal of Tess has massively improved, but that may be because we see more of her and Joel as a partnership in this episode. The second episode is written by Craig Mazin and directed by Druckman who seems to be the perfect pair. Fans of the game were worried about the changes from the game, but Neil Druckman proves again that he is a master of storytelling.

The series debut stays true to the critically acclaimed video game it is based on, while also featuring plenty of surprises to keep you on your toes –and there ...

The series opener is approximately one hour and 25 minutes, while episode 2 is significantly shorter at 55 minutes. And, of course, you can always stream it whenever you want on HBO Max. As stated above, there are two ways to watch tonight’s episode: Tune in to HBO or stream the episode via HBO’s streaming platform, HBO Max. If you’re here to learn what time [The Last of Us episode 2](https://hiddenremote.com/2023/01/15/last-us-soundtrack-songs-play-last-us-episode-1/) is coming out, you’ve come to the right place! Not familiar with the game? [HBO (and HBO Max)](https://hiddenremote.com/hbo/) on Sunday, Jan.

The Last of Us returns to screens with its second episode tonight. When can you tune into it on HBO and what time does it become available on HBO Max?

Will you be watching The Last of Us on HBO or HBO Max tonight? The Last of Us returns to screens with its second episode tonight. Some countries are also doing a simulcast, with it airing at the same time on different TV channels around the world.

The Last of Us returns to HBO and HBO Max with its second episode. How long will viewers be sitting in front of their TV screens this week?

That’s in and around the standard runtime of a HBO drama, but the real story here is that it’s significantly shorter than the pilot episode. [With the help of HBO Max](https://twitter.com/InsideHBOMax/status/1615789880566779904), that premiere reached over 10 million viewers in just two days. How long will viewers be sitting in front of their TV screens this week?

Here come the Clickers... Everything you need to know about 'The Last of Us' Episode 2 on HBO and HBO Max.

Plus, there is plenty of source material to adapt from the video game plot in The Last of Us Part I and Part II — with a [Part III](https://www.inverse.com/gaming/last-of-us-3-release-date-trailer-story-leaks-rumors-tlou3) potentially on the way. We see him pick up the body of a child in the same manner he carried his daughter and throw it into the bonfire. Trying to bring her neighbors’ spooked dog home, she wanders into their house to discover a gruesome scene of one neighbor dead and bloodied, with the elderly woman on the floor eating the other. The zone is controlled by Episode 2 of The Last of Us, entitled “Infected,” will focus on Joel, Tess, and Ellie as they sneak beyond protected Boston in order to deliver Ellie to a group of Fireflies. Later that night, Sarah wakes up to the sound of jets overhead and her dad out of the house. Coming in at a runtime of 55 minutes, the second installment will also shed light on the Later, she returns home after [repairing her dad’s broken watch](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/the-last-of-us-joels-watch-fan-theory) as a birthday gift and goes over to her neighbors’ house. Drawing 4.7 million viewers, The Last of Us is officially the second-most-watched premiere in HBO history. [why she is so important](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/last-of-us-episode-1-ending-scene-explained-is-ellie-immune), as well as her telling the teen that even if she is immune from the contagion, she’s not immune from being dead. With new stakes on the line and a perilous landscape to cross, Episode 2 promises plenty of post-apocalyptic action to unfold. Audiences will soon see just how real the dangers are that await the characters in the outside world, with zombie-like humanoids lurking in the shadows of the abandoned city ahead of Joel, Tess, and Ellie.

If you're subscribed to HBO through HBO Max, you have the same date and time to keep in mind. The premium cable network drops its premieres on its linear ...

The second episode of The Last of Us premieres on HBO and HBO Max Sunday, January 22. You can also use that same cable username and password to log into HBO Max, which will allow you to watch The Last of Us on most devices. And if not, get excited for one of the best casts on TV to make you cry. Refresh your browser or HBO Max app and the episode should be there. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch The Last of Us Episode 2. Based on the 2013 Naughty Dog game of the same name, The Last of Us is set in a version of Earth that has been devastated by the Cordyceps brain infection, essentially a zombie apocalypse but with more fungi.

We had witnessed in Episode 1 of the HBO series, “The Last of Us,” that Ellie was taken outside the quarantine zone by Joel and Tess. Joel still didn't have a ...

Now, this would have been done because the makers would have realized that if they entertained the possibility of airborne infection, then their cast would have to cover their faces and wear masks at all times. Bill and Frank were the only survivors in their neighborhood, and they were able to stay alive because they had some rules that they always followed. The threat was doubled as Joel, Ellie, and Tess would not only have to face the infected but also the army, which probably would have been given shoot-at-site orders. Joel, Ellie, and Tess would also be on the hit list of FEDRA, as the military would come to know about their escape sooner rather than later. Joel still didn’t have a clue about the whereabouts of Tommy, and he was probably trying his best to not get attached to Ellie. We still don’t know whether Bill and Frank were in danger themselves or if they were trying to warn Joel not to come out of the quarantine zone.

The Last of Us is back on both HBO and HBO Max with its second installment tonight. Here's when you watch episode 2 in your neck of the woods.

The Last of Us episode 2 airs in the US on HBO on Sunday, January 22, at 9:00 p.m. Are you ready for the second episode of The Last of Us‘ first season? ET on Sunday, January 22 ET, 6:00 p.m. But what dangers will they face along the way, and will the people they meet be friends or foes? News that will undoubtedly be music to the ears of fans who watched the series premiere last weekend.

Of course, the second game is already fairly controversial, so it'll be interesting to see if Druckmann wants to step back into the director's chair for the ...

The second episode of The Last of Us is directed by Neil Druckmann and marks his debut as a live-action director. When the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us was announced, many were relieved to hear Neil Druckmann was involved as both a producer and a writer on the series. The Last of Us is one of the most beloved video games of all-time and that's thanks to the very talented team at Naughty Dog.

Joining Pascal and Ramsey are Gabriel Luna (Terminator: Dark Fate) as Tommy Miller, Nico Parker (Dumbo) as Joel's daughter Sarah, Anna Torv (Mindhunter) as Tess ...

The live-action series is executive produced and co-written by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and original game writer Neil Druckmann, who is also serving as one of the directors. The series is led by Game of Thrones alums Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. HBO has revealed the first-look photos from The Last of Us‘ upcoming second episode, “Infected,” featuring Pedro Pascal’s Joel, Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, and Anna Torv’s Tess.

Warning: this story contains The Last of Us spoilers for Episode 1, 'When You're Lost in the Darkness.' There are no game spoilers.] ''80s means trouble.

[Consequence](https://consequence.net/2023/01/the-last-of-us-hbo-adaptation-explained/3/). In present-day 2023, Joel, Ellie, and Tess enter a building crawling with [Infected](/category/infected-s1-the-last-of-us/) — an encounter that could cut the trio down to a duo, as hinted by a conspicuous absence in ["The Weeks Ahead" trailer released by HBO](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-spoilers-hbo-releases-season-one-preview/). [Sunday's Episode 2, "Infected"](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-episode-2-infected-cordyceps-virus-origin-joel-ellie-tess/): look closely, and you'll see Episode 1 ended with a lightning strike illuminating a screeching Clicker in the darkness. After sneaking out of the Boston QZ, Episode 1 ended with the trio failing to heed another danger sign reading "DO NOT PROCEED" as they fled FEDRA forces into [a Biological Contamination Area](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-hbo-recap-spoilers-episode-one/). But watching the show, I wanted you to feel every bullet, every stab. Unlike the video game, there are no save points and no do-overs.

How can you watch the second episode of The Last of Us on HBO Max? What can you expect going forward? Find out right here.

Full details on how to watch the next episode can be found below. Let us know in the comments below. First, don’t get attached to anyone in The Last of Us. The Last of Us is back with episode 2. In one episode, viewers learned the plot of the show and who the main characters are. As we’re seeing in The Last of Us, that’s proving to be a smart strategy.

HBO has confirmed the length of The Last of Us Episode 2 and more episodes in the weeks ahead. The January 15th series premiere of HBO's adaptation of the ...

[0comments](#) Sunday's Episode 2, titled " [Infected](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-episode-2-infected-cordyceps-virus-origin-joel-ellie-tess/)," is shorter and clocks in just under an hour — but fans can expect another extended episode with a super-sized runtime to follow on January 29th. [The Last of Us](/category/the-last-of-us-tvshow/) Episode 2 and more episodes in [the weeks ahead](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-spoilers-hbo-releases-season-one-preview/).

After the premiere last week, HBO's TV adaptation of The Last Of Us looks to start Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie's (Bella Ramsey) journey.

HBO Max is not currently available in the UK. The Last Of Us lacks novel ideas, but when it’s this good it can get away with it.” NME is supported by you. [four-star review](https://www.nme.com/reviews/tv-reviews/the-last-of-us-review-pedro-pascal-bella-ramsey-3376317), NME wrote: “Gamers have been burned before by poorly conceived adaptations of their favourite titles, so they were naturally skeptical. When is the third episode of The Last Of Us available? How long is episode two of The Last Of Us?

That is because unlike the video game, there are no fungi spores in the television series, a key element in the infection outbreak. A new aspect of the ...

I specialize the latest on television, movies, professional wrestling, and video gaming Twitter: @Julianexcalibur Instagram: @Julianexcalibur Contact: [email protected] Entertainment Journalist.

Of course, Tess went out with a bang. Literally. And, of course, her final words changed the destiny of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Before we ...

And Ratna determines – wrongly, as it turns out – that wiping out the inhabitants of Jakarta will protect the rest of the world’s population from succumbing to the infection. It’s easy to assume that this is a cold act of compassionless rationalism, but it’s actually an example of The Trolley Problem in action. In the world that we’re creating, if we put spores in the air, it would be pretty clear that they would spread around everywhere, and everybody would have to wear a mask all the time. With those five little words, she’s advising Joel to do as much good as he can with the hand he’s been dealt – and, perhaps, to be a little bit selfish sometimes. On a weekend, you can usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea and playing boardgames with her friends. To divert the trolley and then run as fast as you can to knock that one other person out of harm’s way. “I would like to be with my family,” she says haltingly. Two police officers in Jakarta, Indonesia walk into a restaurant and unceremoniously escort Ibu Ratna, a professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia, into a waiting car. And, of course, her final words changed the destiny of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). There, she was shot in the skull. We all know the answer, of course. She quickly became violent, attacking four coworkers, and biting three of them, before they were able to lock her in a bathroom.

More tension, more monsters, and another stunning hour of TV. By Evan Romano Published: Jan 22, 2023.

Tess spills lots of gasoline and grenades on the ground, and knowing her time is up, plans for a blaze of glory. After much struggling, Joel and Tess manage to kill the clickers—named for the clicking sound they make as they move—and escape to the roof of the museum. They debate whether they're going to get where they need to go by taking "the long way or the short way," before they realize that "the short way" is also "the dead way." She's gotten bitten ("Oops," Anna Torv heartbreakingly delivers, still with just the right smidge of snark), and by hook or by crook realizes this is going to be the end of the line for her. As they arrive at what was once the Fireflies HQ, they instead see a bunch of dead bodies; Joel, at this point, is perceptive. They debate whether or not to shoot her (spoiler: they don't), and then climb up out of their dark shelter to get Ellie where Marlene needed her to go: a Some may be looking at this show from a point of comparison with the source material— [we've got a story doing that too!](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a42478320/the-last-of-us-hbo-show-video-game-differences/)—but my attempt is to look at this with fresh eyes. Ibu is incredulous at first of the Cordyceps growing in the body that the government official has her examining. Here, The Last of Us takes us to Jakarta for the origin of the outbreak—or, at least, as far back as this world's authorities might be able to trace. I am, however, a major fan of horror, sci-fi, and the post-apocalyptic genre, and have largely managed to shield myself from the major plot points. Episode 2, directed by co-showrunner and The Last of Us game creator Neil Druckmann, has just a few important plot-based takeaways, opting instead mostly for us to spend some time with the characters and world we're only now getting to know. [Halloween](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a41626593/halloween-movies-in-order/) isn't all Michael Myers stabbing people; John Carpenter and Debra Hill knew that for the impact to be felt, you have to build up characters and tension along the way.

Joel, Ellie, and the gang go on a video game-style quest—and things get messy.

That’s certainly one of the ways they can spread the infection, but it’s nasty as all hell. So, I’m in the same boat as some of you newcomers to the story. The group comes across a hotel building that has become something of a swamp. Looks like we’ll have to find another way to get to the other side,” or, “Press X to climb, Joel!” I know the HBO series can’t have Ellie say lines like, “Joel, did you know that you can hold L2 to lock on to enemies?” but I still want her to say it. The city we saw with the slanted skyscraper at the end of the premiere episode wasn’t a good sign that anything is inhabitable outside of the QZ, either. He shines a flashlight in one of their mushroom faces and the beast doesn’t notice, so they seem to work purely on sounds alone. And The Last of Us just works. They still smuggled Ellie out of the QZ, though, and whatever’s happening to her may be the cure to this whole epidemic. So now, Joel was forced to make a deal with the Fireflies to smuggle Ellie out of the QZ in exchange for the car battery. Sadly, that car battery was sold off to the Fireflies by a guy named Robert. Say what you will about the Halo television series or the groan-inducing Sonic the Hedgehog movies, but HBO and The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann are truly working on a whole other level. Whether it’s because of Druckman's involvement, or commitment to the source material, The Last of Us’s premiere simply had the right sauce.

Infected,” the second episode of HBO's dystopian drama, showed us how Joel and Ellie process a traumatic loss.

The bulk of the zombies are saved for the final sequence, but even with only a few of the monsters, the museum fight is intense and very well-constructed. Nasty all around, and if the fight sequence in a few spots perhaps drifted too close to feeling like a game level (the shots from Joel’s POV, for instance), for the most part, Mazin and Druckmann have a clear sense of how each action beat has to work as drama, rather than something interactive. The show does a good job of establishing the rules of play — the zombies track you by sound, not sight, for instance — as well as continuing to make the creatures feel distinctly gross in appearance and everything else. She is humanity’s potential salvation, but she’s also a girl who just lost someone she had grown to like a lot in a short amount of time. But perhaps the most important thing the episode does is to make sure we see Ellie as a person first, rather than a walking vaccine incubator. If The Walking Dead wanted to build a set like that, it would have necessitated situating most or all of a season there to amortize the cost. She is not only immune to the infection, but the Firefly doctors believe she may be the key to creating a vaccine to protect future generations from this plague. And it’s the strength of Torv’s work that in turn makes Tess’ death hit much harder than the loss of any character should after only two episodes. One step, then the next step, and maybe the one after that are all he can allow himself to think about. But in this case, the scientist’s certainty that there is no way to treat this infection serves as a contrast to the whole reason Joel is meant to take Ellie to parts west. She has studied spores and fungi all her life, and she understands instantly that there is no cure for this — that the only way to save humanity is, “Bomb. The zombie apocalypse is days away, and the government of Jakarta is finding this out before anyone else.

This week brought a more in-depth look at post-apocalyptic Boston as well as more details about what exactly has happened to the planet.

A professor of mycology, Ibu Ratna (Christine Hakim), is brought in by the government to examine the corpse of a woman who had gone on a murderous rampage under the apparent influence of “cordyceps” — a mushroom with bad vibes that is generally unpleasant to be around. Even in the Jakarta prologue, the first real sign that something isn’t right is when the professor cuts into a subject’s leg and no blood spills out — only a fibrous white substance. But as Joel and Tess explain to Ellie — who only knows about the plague from what she has read in books and heard through the grapevine — there are still large numbers of mindless infected killing machines all across the city, writhing on their bellies in the streets in order to stay connected to an underground fungal network. There is a scene about halfway through this episode when Tess leaves the other two behind to scout for a pathway behind some rubble, and Joel and Ellie’s awkward conversation is almost painful to witness. In fact, throughout the episode, our heroes end up trashing a lot of the past. The fungal origin of this zombie-style apocalypse has also inspired some spectacularly creepy imagery, from the tiny tendrils that snake out of the infected’s mouths to the darkness-dwelling creatures whose heads look like split mushrooms. (Asked where she learned to juggle a sharp knife, she cracks, “The circus.” Told that their path to Beacon Hill can go “the long way” or “the ‘we’re dead’ way,” she replies, “I vote ‘long way,’ just based on that limited information.”) Because she talks incessantly, by the time the travelers hit their first big roadblock, she has explained a lot about what her life has been like up until now: spending her days in classes with the other QZ kids, learning about the culture they can’t see firsthand and spending her free time exploring the places she’s not supposed to go. Once again there is a pre-opening credits prologue, set in Jakarta in 2003, revealing the origins of the mayhem we heard about on Joel’s radio in Austin last week. This episode offers several good “get to know you” scenes for Ellie, who was initially introduced as a sassy detainee, aloof and angry. Only when the camera angle changes can we see that she is actually asleep indoors, in one of those rotting old buildings. This week features more of a grand tour — and honestly, it’s kind of awesome. A big reason so many people are drawn to movies and TV shows about the End Times is that there’s something both exciting and eerie about seeing the bones of our world, gnarled and repurposed.

One of the needs we had was to show how the infected take over a city,” Craig Mazin, the show's producer, said.

Then there are those who watch the show and see it as the product of hundreds of people’s work, and view the proceedings as borne of creators’ choices. Which is what makes settling on an interpretation so difficult — and reading the scene as grossness for its own sake so easy. Because The Last of Us franchise has existed for nearly 10 years, a lot of people are instinctively in the latter camp, having seen Druckmann in particular elevated from random game director to minor celebrity within video game culture. But scratching the surface a bit, both the kiss and its tendrils give the sense that Tess is being welcomed into a new “community” of infected. There are those who buy into the fiction of the show and interpret the stuff that happens on screen very plainly, as a story. (You can read this as thoughtful critique or thoughtless reproduction.) And perhaps the showrunners, who are men, did not think about whether it might be cruel or send a weird message to subject one of the show’s most prominent female characters (so far) to an even worse fate than she suffered in the game, and in a more lurid way at that. The kiss is clearly nonconsensual, a grim fictionalization of rape culture and the kind of brutish behavior so many people suffer even in our current non-apocalypse. It’s possible the showrunners of this horror drama TV show wanted a dramatic and horrifying body horror gross-out scene. “And I remember one of the annoying questions I asked was, why are FEDRA soldiers all the way out here? But this closeness comes at a cost: a loss of both her identity and humanity. As Joel and Ellie, the series’s protagonists, make a break for it, Tess stays behind to slow the zombies down by upturning a few barrels of gasoline and setting off a stash of grenades left behind by a group of smugglers and freedom fighters. If the open city is really, really dangerous, it seems like they’re really going way, way out of their way to find Tess and Joel.

Tess, Joel and Ellie's journey takes a dark twist. Sean Keane headshot. Sean Keane.

Much to our relief, she manages light the fire and closes her eyes before the explosion kills her and a bunch of infected. They reach the Capitol Building and find the corpses of the Fireflies they were meant to bring Ellie to. She's quickly gunned down, but her sacrifice gives Joel and Ellie the chance to escape. They hope to replicate Ellie's resistance and restore the world. Several of these people were executed to stop the problem from growing, but it was too late. Fans of the [classic video game](/tech/gaming/sony-ps5-review-exclusive-games-power-playstation-5-sky-high-space-age-console/) will undoubtedly be pleased at how closely it mirrors the source material.

In “Infected,” the series' second episode, the late-'60s public affairs roundtable gives way to Dr. Ibu Ratna (a magnificent Christine Hakim), a scientist and ...

Aside from yet another example that no one in this world (outside of Joel and Ellie, at this point) is guaranteed to make it to the next episode, it makes sense that a short-handed fight against two angry opponents would only leave one of this trio unscathed. From top to bottom, “Infected” is about preserving dignity in the face of almost-certain failure. This is not the kind of show where everyone spends the first season getting out of tough scrapes and close calls at the last minute. Sometimes that relationship to sound is more playful (hello, new frog friend!) and sometimes it’s more instructive (just hearing the dead cordyceps root under the butt of Joel’s shotgun is enough to let him and us know that it doesn’t pose a threat anymore). Like the attack that plays out in the rear view window as Tommy drives the pickup out of their Austin neighborhood, the group of Infected that Tess shows Ellie is a set of consequences seen from a great distance. “The Last of Us” takes the middle road, where the destruction is the thing most preserved, as plant life of all kinds start to take their course. From Joel’s telling, this is the result of a success story — conceivably, mass casualties helped stop the cordyceps spread and set up the Quarantine Zone, a process that didn’t always play out in the major cities of 2003. “When You’re Lost in Darkness” focused on the collapse and the new semblance of order in a controlled area. It’s as matter-of-fact as the presentation of the bullet hole in the factory worker on the autopsy table. If last week’s first episode didn’t do enough to prime a viewing audience for a short supply of hope early on in “The Last of Us,” here’s an expert recognizing within minutes that nothing can be done. Everyone trying to stay alive is stuck in a dangerous game of Telephone, which would be hard enough even if the motives of everyone involved were pure. But it’s worth pointing out the first two cold opens in “The Last of Us” do just as much to build a sense of global unease as any overheard news report or Oval Office address or TV test pattern could.

In Boston, two decades later, Joel, Ellie, and Tess pass by evidence of that calculus's aftermath, a crater left by a bomb targeting Boston, just as other bombs ...

(And an [episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1BA-IIoWmM&list=PLob1mZcVWOagLL-shJOp-d5_qJOG2MvCJ&index=8) featuring the ruins of an amusement park I grew up going to chilled me to the bone.) (The book’s great, too.) And it looks like all of Life After People is available on the History Channel’s [YouTube page for the show](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLob1mZcVWOagLL-shJOp-d5_qJOG2MvCJ). • “Infected” was written by Craig Mazin and directed by the HBO series’ co-creator (and The Last of Us game writer) Neil Druckmann. Much of the pre-Infected world is made up of places and things she’s never experienced firsthand. There’s a reason the opening credits end on an image of just Ellie and Joel in silhouette, after all. The party does its best to stealth-mode its way through the exhibits, but they end up fighting the Infected and then making a hasty exit after a string of close calls that are maybe more than close calls. • Speaking of, this episode features the first scene of Ellie and Joel alone together. It’s excellent and a fine companion piece to The Last of Us.) As flames engulf the Statehouse, Joel and Ellie begin the next phase of their journey. The tension at the heart of The Last of Us is between the grim measures needed to survive and the desire not to snuff out what makes us human in the process. Then the clicking begins, a sound that Joel and Tess know means they’re among the Infected. [the cordyceps threat](https://www.vulture.com/article/the-last-of-us-fungus-infection-cordyceps-explained.html) and understand the cruel calculus needed to (maybe) contain it.

Bella Ramsey continues to be excellent as Ellie, granting humorous relief in a world that offers very little. She's dependent but resourceful and, crucially, ...

But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is finally ready to see if there’s a life away from The Prince of Darkness. There’s no irony lost that our first real meeting with one of them takes place in a museum - leading them to not only take over humanity’s present-day but also a place designed to preserve our past. It’s deeply effective and an ominous foreshadowing of the show’s hopeless present day as we're transported back to a bombed-out Boston. She's dependent but resourceful and, crucially, willing to learn as the true horrors of the wider world steadily become revealed to her. A scene filled with quiet dread, it ends with the loudest of suggestions - the bombing of an entire city. Although not essential to Joel and Ellie's journey, it offers compelling information that acts as an explainer of how the fungus works for newcomers, as well as fascinating new context for those familiar.

The second episode of The Last of Us takes us to the streets of Boston, as Joel and Tess attempt to get Ellie to the Fireflies.

But Tess remains determined to find answers as to where the Fireflies were taking Ellie, and Joel says that it’s over, that they should just go home. Tess stays back and Joel and Ellie look out at the city. When the other clicker comes to attack them, Tess sticks an ax in its head, and then Joel shoots the creature dead as well. After a gunfight, Joel finds Ellie and tries to lead them to safety, but after stepping on a piece of glass, a clicker comes barreling toward them. Ellie asks if it’s hard to kill the infected, knowing that they were once people, Joel says “sometimes,” followed by Ellie asking if it was hard to kill the FEDRA guard when they were escaping, but this questioning stops once Tess finds her way back to the group. While Joel wants to return her to the Boston quarantine zone, Tess sees Ellie as the best way to get the supplies Marlene promised. When Ellie asks if Joel and Tess are a thing and how he ended up in Boston, Joel bluntly says “pass.” Ellie then asks how long infected stay alive. While they continue down the long way, Ellie tells Tess that she was bit after she snuck into an old mall in the quarantine zone. Yet Tess wants to finish the job, and regardless of if it's true or not, Joel and Tess get what they want if they deliver Ellie—and that’s good enough for her. She shows that the bite isn’t getting worse, and states that she isn’t infected. Directed by Neill Druckmann, the creative director and writer of the original game, this second episode is much quieter as we leave the Boston quarantine zone and begin to see the world that Joel and Ellie will have to face going forward. After the credits, we find Ellie sleeping in an abandoned building, being watched over by Joel and Tess, who are both understandably unnerved by this girl who is seemingly immune to the outbreak.

The early death happens in the game as well, but the way the show gave us a few moments with Tess separate from Joel and Ellie in the first episode makes losing ...

And like the game, the episode can’t help but take a dark and sad turn by the end. Typically, when a game adaptation makes a direct reference to the game it’s based on, it’s cringe-y and distracting as all hell. It’s taken straight from the game, and even features a shot of Joel and Ellie crouched together behind cover as a clicker lurks around the corner, evoking all the feels for fans accustomed to that iconic visual of the duo in action. While this prologue is less compelling than anything we saw in episode 1, it does at least provide background as to how the pandemic started and underlines the sheer enormity of the cordyceps outbreak, which will likely pay dividends in the backs of our minds as the series progresses. Losing such a wonderful character so early in the show is tough, but the painful moment gives the story the sense of gravity and urgency that it needs. The look on her face when she advises the military to bomb the city and everyone in it to prevent the pandemic is chilling to say the least.