The discussions that started on the web after the premiere were not entirely substantive, and the controversy related to the characters or narrative decisions will begin again after the premiere of the second season of the HBO series adaptation. The adaptation, which deepens characters, develops the world and improves some gaps resulting from the difference between the medium, which is the game and what series. For sure, however He will take you on an exciting journey.
One you can be sure – If you think that even after passing the game you are ready, what awaits you, I will answer: briefly: you are not.
The second season of “The Last of Us” takes place five years after the events of the first series. After Joel (Pedro Pascal) chose Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and theoretically destroyed all hopes for finding a medicine, the couple settled permanently in Jackson. Ellie met a bit of normal life, made friendly, she sometimes has crazy ideas and ensures that Joel would know exactly what it means to raise a teenager. They both find support and moments of peace. But as you know, each choice has consequences that will sooner or later get everyone.
“The Last of Us” is no longer an intimate story about traveling through the United States and the bond between a man experienced by a man and a teenager, which he was to protect and ensure her survival. The world in the new season is bigger and it is not just about locations or new factions of opponents.
We meet more heroes (not only those introduced in the second part of the game like Abby, Dina, Jesse or Owen), but also heroes created for the needs of the new edition of the series. Craig Mazin, the creator of the series and the main screenwriter of the second installment, introduced several new characters, but in no case they have a negative impact on the reception of history.
Rather, they complement the story, They are used to show motivation and e.g. Joel’s emotional states, which due to the structure of the game have not been precisely specified or shortened due to the need to maintain the pace of action. And so, for example, the hero goes to talk to the therapist, which seems quite strange, but perfectly fitted into the story known from the game.
There are really many changes in the second season. Mazin introduces new characters, changes the structure known to players – we learn about the history of one of the characters much earlier in the series than in the original game. This procedure strips her from mystery, but again gains a story and character. Mazin has more time to tell stories than in the game, where we jump from one event to another, and uses it properly.
In many scenes, Craig Mazin adds dialogues (this is how the creator beautifully combines the beginning and end of one of the episodes), narratives of individual scenes, and some known from the game – changes, merges them with others introducing logical changes or throws them. Some of the characters appear faster or take part in fragments that were not in the original. Finally, all this is stories for good.
Mazin does not forget about characters either. One that He gains the most on the changes in the series, there is Dina (Isabela Merced, “Alien: Romulus”). The heroine not only is better inscribed in the narrative, her motivations are deepened, but she gets her own story, which makes her a more three -dimensional figure than in the game. Dina is also a heroine that was a bit lacking in the first part – she is full of energy, spontaneous, but she also hides a difficult past. For me he is one of the best characters in the second season.
Another new character, which belongs to my favorites, except Ellie, is Abby (Kaitlyn Dever known for many valued series, including the netflix “apple cider vinegar”). Although at the moment she has not yet had the opportunity to demonstrate and bite into the material, you can be sure that he will delight, hopefully, in a while. Like Ellie, he follows the path from which it would seem, there is no turning back.
The quality of production is again at a very high level, care for the details of the world delights. We feel that we are in this world together with the heroes. However, what is important, especially when the voice actors are still fighting for legal protection against AI (and without them most games in which the narrative counts and the heroes would never be so good), Mazin makes a nod to Ashley Johnson in one episode (she lent Ellie in the game) Using the song “Through the Valley”, which the actress performs in the second part of the game.
Another curiosity and an additional plus is that the director of one of the episodes, which Craig Mazin spoke about in superlatives, is Neil Druckmann, the creator of the game. It is impossible to disagree with Mazin, who in one of the interviews stated that The cast did a phenomenal work in this episode. Anyway, not only in this – because to be honest The whole season will grab you for your heart and destroy you emotionally.
There is still some time to end the stories about the fate of Joel, Ellie and Abby. Francesca Orsi, responsible for dramatic series in Max, predicted in an interview with Deadline that “The Last of Us” can wait for another or two seasons. I hope that four will be created – Mazin will certainly lead the story to the end in a satisfactory way, just as he did in the second season. The new episodes will probably cause hot discussions, but no one will say that this series is bad. It is emotionally and spectacular, and during seven episodes we will witness the best and worst human behavior.
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