The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 1 Review: A Chilly Premiere

This review contains spoilers for the season 2 premiere of The Last of Us.

The long-awaited return of The Last of Us is finally here, and it is already well worth the wait. “Future Days” may not be the tense, action-packed premiere episode we saw in season one, but it does an impeccable job setting the stage for this chapter of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) story.

Just as The Last of Us Part II starts off slower and more domestic than the first video game of the series does, so too does “Future Days” kick season 2 off on a slightly more measured note. Sure, the threat of infected is still very much there, but at this time in Jackson, the biggest threat Ellie and Joel are facing is the big rift in their relationship. At least for now.

Jackson feels even more lived-in and alive than when we last saw the town, and that’s also in part due to Joel and Maria’s (Rutina Wesley) efforts to expand the settlement and welcome in more refugees. This isn’t something the games really cover, but allows us to see not only how civilization tries to move on in the aftermath of tragedy, it also lets us see a softer side of Joel than we have previously. As much as he tries to talk Maria out of letting more people in out of fear of using up their resources, he has clearly come to love this town and cares about it. After being in survival mode for so much of his life, he finally has a chance to relax and be an uncle, brother, and father again.

Despite this softness, five years after we last saw Joel and Ellie, something has shifted between them. Ellie seems to have figured out at some point that Joel lied to her about Salt Lake City and is mad at him for taking that choice away from her. Joel, on the other hand, is still stubborn and steadfast in his belief that he did the right thing by saving her life. He’s at least giving therapy a chance and talking about his feelings with Gail (Catherine O’Hara), the town’s only therapist. But since he can’t and won’t give up the secret about Ellie’s immunity, he can’t really open up about what happened and figure out how to move on from it, something that Gail repeatedly calls him out on.

Even for fans of the games who knew this rift was coming, it’s hard to watch Joel and Ellie barely acknowledge or speak to each other. Pascal and Ramsey may have very few scenes together in this episode, but they still manage to play off of each other’s energy so well. When their paths finally cross during the New Year’s Eve party at episode’s end, it’s an explosive release

It’s heartbreaking to watch these two people who are so similar be so at odds with each other. Especially when you can empathize with both sides. Tommy (Gabriel Luna) calls Ellie out on it when they’re on patrol together, saying “I swear, you and my brother? Same Goddamn fucking person.” And Dina (Isabela Merced) clearly cares about both of them when she asks Joel why Ellie is angry with him. 

What makes this situation even more devastating is seeing Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her crew appear on the outskirts of Jackson at the end of the episode as well as an awakening of cordyceps within the town. We’re getting closer to whatever kind of revenge Abby has planned (if you know, you know), and a potential attack on Jackson by infected, so the clock has effectively started counting down on any chance of reconciliation between the two. Tomorrow is never guaranteed in the apocalypse, even in a town as utopic as Jackson.

But aside from the Joel and Ellie of it all, the rest of the cast, especially series newcomers Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, and Catherine O’Hara, do an incredible job of filling in the growing space between these two. They all offer new perspectives that either challenge or confirm Ellie and Joel’s beliefs about each other and how to approach the world and their interpersonal relationships. Ellie and Joel spent so much of last season with only each other to rely on, and now that they don’t even have that, they have to figure out how to let other people in.

This season might not be as much of a beat-for-beat retelling of the game as season one was thus far, but that’s not a bad thing by any means. We’ve already seen how well Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann can expand upon this world in meaningful ways with emotional episodes like season 1’s “Long, Long Time” and the chilling opening to the episode “Infected.” We can trust that everything added or changed from the game is in service of the greater story at large.

This episode proves that the heart of The Last of Us Part II is already alive and well in season 2, and we cannot wait to continue following these characters and the lengths they’ll go to to protect and avenge the people they love. Buckle up and get your tissues ready, The Last of Us is just getting started.

New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, culminating with the finale on May 25, 2025.

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