by Evelyn San Miguel ‘26

Since its smash hit release in 2023, HBO’s The Last of Us redefined the zombie apocalypse genre, telling a beautiful story wrought with grief, love, and loss. Adapted from the beloved video games of the same name, The Last of Us stretches beyond the typical end-of-the-world story, focusing not on the blood-thirsty zombies and the ruined world but instead deep-diving into love in all of its shapes and forms and just how far people will go for those they love. The second season, a certified masterpiece like its predecessor, expands the themes introduced in the first in the most heartbreaking of ways. This is not a zombie-show, let it be known. The Infected are merely a backdrop to tell a heartbreaking story, with a particular focus on the purest love that exists — that between a parent and their child.

For those who have not yet watched the first season or simply forgot, here’s a quick recap. The world ends as we know it in 2003. The entire globe is taken over by a type of fungal infection called Cordyceps that infects human beings worldwide, turning them into zombie-like monsters called Infected. Ruined by the death of his daughter on outbreak night, Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) spends the next twenty years closed off from the rest of the world, falling into violence working as a smuggler in Boston. Joel meets Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a fourteen-year-old foul-mouthed spitfire of a girl who just so happens to be the only immune person in the world. After being tasked with taking her across a ruined America to a hospital so that a cure for the infection can be made, Joel and Ellie develop a close father-daughter bond, finding comfort in one another amidst a world filled with loss. When they reach the hospital, Joel learns that the only way to make a vaccine is by killing her. Incapable of losing another daughter, Joel saves Ellie through means that have serious consequences. There are too many spoilers to say anymore than that about the first season.

This season can only be described as nothing less than absolutely stunning. Moving, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful, season two explores more of the complex world Joel and Ellie live in and how violence and loss can mold the path a person leads. New characters come into Ellie’s life, namely Dina (Isabella Merced) and Jesse (Young Mazino). Merced as Dina is a delight on screen. Her romantic chemistry as Ellie’s love interest and “ride-or-die” is the perfect picture of queer love and serves as the light in the darkest of moments. Mazino — coincidentally a Sherwood graduate — is excellent as Jesse and serves as a balance to Ellie’s reckless nature. Others, serving as Ellie’s brutal opposition, stun in their roles. Kaitlyn Dever, playing the daughter of the doctor Joel murdered to save Ellie, is excellent in one of the series’ most complex roles, bringing new life to her video game-equivalent who caused immense controversy upon The Last of Us Part II’s 2020 release.

In terms of set design, costuming, and cinematography, there is no crew more obviously dedicated to the story of The Last of Us. Massive visual undertakings including entire towns, hordes of Infected, and the stunning scenes of nature-overridden America are present in every well-planned scene. Each episode is perfectly paced, with award-winning writers, directors, set-designers, stylists, and actors all putting their entire selves into the series and its execution.

Already set for a third season, The Last of Us is expected to stretch across at least four With its seventh and final episode airing on May 25, The Last of Us season two is a spectacular introduction to Ellie’s new reality, where she must look for the light, or lose herself in the darkness.

Grade: A+