SPOILER ALERT: This article provides details from Episode 2 of HBO’s The last of us.
After narrowly escaping Boston’s strict quarantine zone in the first episode, on continues the dangerous adventures of Joel (Pedro Pascal), Tess (Anna Torv) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the second episode of HBO’s live-action adaptation from The last of us. Directed by video game inventor and series co-writer Neil Druckmann, “Infected” takes an almost beat-by-beat approach to the source material in its debut, while keeping both general audiences and eagle-eyed gamers enthralled. Druckmann’s use of witty camera techniques, such as manipulating depth of field and using close-ups with shaky camera movements, makes the audience feel like he’s alongside the characters on their frightening journey.
Speaking of which…what will the gang be getting themselves into? let’s discuss
Oh no, just when we thought the time jumps were over, we’re transported back to 2003 again. This time, however, we arrive in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Ibu Ratna (Christine Hakim), a distinguished professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia, examines a mysterious sample of Ophiocordyceps under a microscope. It’s just another member of the larger Cordyceps fungus family, but what was it doing here and why is everyone so afraid of it? When Ratna learns the sample was taken from a human, she quickly dismisses the thought; it is simply impossible for Cordyceps to thrive in humans.
And yet… when a team of government officials takes her to an observation room where the corpse of an infected dead woman is on display, Ratna has one hell of a wake-up call. When Ratna pierces the woman’s bite wound with a scalpel, she is greeted not by a gush of blood but by a patch of moss-covered cordyceps. Super gross. Still puzzled by what she is seeing, Ratna then examines the woman’s neck with her tweezers and is horrified to find another patch of filamentous fungal strands, squirming in search of a new host. She immediately drops her tools and walks out of the room, urging officers to “bomb the city and everyone in it.” No vaccine or drug can help combat this sudden, unprecedented outbreak.
Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Anna Torv (Tess) on HBO’s The last of us
Liane Hentscher/HBO
Now we jump back to the present timeline in 2023 where we last left Tess, Joel and Ellie as they continue on their way to the Massachusetts State House. Ellie wakes up to Joel and Tess watching, who point their guns at her. Once again, Ellie explains that she is not infected and shows them her aged scar as a reminder. See? It’s three weeks old and hasn’t mutated. Tess is fascinated by the phenomenon. As for Joel? Well, he’s ready to pull the trigger on her if she even flinches.
Ellie, under duress, reveals the rest of Marlene’s top-secret plan. Allegedly, a medical base camp in the west is trying to make a vaccine and she figured Ellie’s immunity would help her efforts a lot. Joel still persistently calls bullshit, but Tess convinces him to continue the mission because without taking Ellie to the State House Fireflies, they won’t get the supplies they need to track down Tommy – which was Joel’s original plan without Ellie anyway.
As they roam through the unkempt foliage of the derelict city, they come to a fork in the road. They can traverse the long walk to the State House by traversing collapsed highways and buildings, or they can take what Tess calls the “we’re friggin’ dead” route by taking a shortcut right through town, thereby they remain overexposed to wandering infected. Joel decides to take the girls on a tour of the city museum. (We love a cultured man.)
Before going inside, Tess explains to Ellie that the mushroom grows underground, so it’s important to be careful where you step. Because if they step on a Cordyceps patch in one location, they can wake up hordes of infected from elsewhere, and alerting the hivemind of their exact location would make them almost impossible to avoid.
The trio soon find out that entering the museum was a mistake. The building is infested with clickers, a specialized breed of infected who have lost their sight but use echolocation to find their victims. Joel warns Ellie as they continue into the museum, “From this point on, we’re silent. Not quiet. Shut up.” But of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. Split up and cornered in the museum, each trio member has a terrifying encounter with a clicker before they are brought back together. phew!
Director Neil Druckmann on the set with Clicker
Finally, the group makes it to the State House. But when they get there, something is wrong: all the remaining fireflies have just died from an infection. Who can you give Ellie to now? Disappointed with the botched mission, Joel suggests they all return to the Boston QZ. Tess then reveals that she can’t go back; She was bitten during her fight at the museum. Devastated, Joel forgets Zombie Fight Club’s first rule of never disturbing the hive mind of Cordyceps. Joel shoots a nearby infected firefly, whose death prompts a rabid horde of other infected to race to the State House. Joel and Ellie must act quickly or they’re dead. With the fireflies’ supplies, Tess creates a trap by spilling gasoline all over the floor of the building. In her last words to Joel, she asks him to protect Ellie and take her to her friends Bill and Frank. Joel and Ellie make it out of the building, as does a gang of the infected crush Tess. The building is successfully blown up and a rueful Ellie looks back at the rubble.
What a damn episode! Will Joel keep his promise to Tess? And if so, can Bill and Frank help Joel and Ellie with the next part of their mission?
What did you all think?