The Last of Us: Season 1: Episode 2 "Infected": 2/5 Convenient Episode Yet Again!

-For the Uncensored!

In the opening few minutes, a doctor in Jakarta is brought into check out a dead infected, and it’s interesting to see how the doctor chose to bomb the city instead of saving it. Because they didn’t consider a vaccine to be possible. In “Infected,” Joel and Tessa surmise that Ellie is infected, but they don’t trust her. So the consistency in Joel and Tessa’s situation is similar. The distracting thing with Last of Us, the series, isn’t that the game wants to be told, but there are concessions in the series that are being bent for convenient viewership.

            Not to say that seeing Joel and Tessa being paranoid and considering whether to kill Ellie isn’t amazing to see finally on a screen itself, is still very stirring. It’s emotional, and being a fan of the series over ten years, it is quite tempting to be skeptical.

            But there are concessions again being made. The scene in Pittsburgh, where Ellie pretends to be checked into a hotel, is moved into the Boston scene, instead. Not to say that the scene doesn’t work, it’s just convenient. The scene itself plays out the same, except when Ellie moves the luggage cart, a dead body is holding onto it, scaring Ellie, as Joel comes out to save her.

            The museum scene is still there, but again, all of it happens in an hour, as in the game, Joel, Ellie, and Tess, don’t get to have the building scene where they fight a bunch of clickers in a dilapidated subway. It’s pretty great in the game but again, the Last of Us series was about concessions, not about accuracy.

            There is one major change the series did make. In the game, Tessa does get infected, but dies to Fedra, ambushing Joel as he has to make his way out, fighting FEDRA through their escape. In the series, they are attacked by infected, and have a sonar that if one infected hears through the ground, the others can hear. And Tessa gets kissed, as the Cordyceps move through her mouth, and then she lights the Boston Capital House on fire. It’s visually arresting, but again, it’s not the game.

(In the original Last of Us, it plays out differently. Enjoy in all the emotional damage).

            The highlight of the episode is seeing Joel, Tessa, and Ellie fight a clicker, and it’s still pretty great, too. I hope they go further and make the world more expansive.

Final Analysis: 2/5

            Pros:

o   Still visually arresting.

o   Clickers are amazing.

o   New infected sonar ability was a nice addition, but not from the game.

            Cons:

o   Convenient plotline (again)

o   The large building scene is completely missing from the series

o   Scenes from later on in Pennsylvania are moved to Boston

o   Tessa’s death is by Infected, not by Fedra.