The Last of Us Episode 2 Review + Infected and Fungus Stages Explained

After an exceptional premiere which gets you hooked instantaneously, hopes are really high for this HBO series. I mean you know a quality show when you see one and The Last of Us is definitely up there with the most quality shows ever made. It doesn’t matter if you have played The Last of Us games or not, this show is clearly for everyone. With the execution, direction, and performances we have seen so far and the  solid source material backing it, we sure are in for a exhilarating ride. Now without further ado, lets dive deep into our verdict for HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 2 and beware that some major spoilers for the episode follow below!

The Last of Us Episode 2 Review – Bye Bye Tess, Enter Clickers

Rating – ★★★★1/2

The Last of Us Episode 2 stays true to its title “Infected” as the fungus and infected were took the center stage unlike the premiere. The episode opens with a slight origin of the fungus and how it all began. Just as the first victims of fungus are shown a mycologist suggests that there is no way of stopping this spread medically as no such vaccine exists or will exist. So, it is decided to bomb the major cities where the fungus began to spread and that explains the burnt up world we saw in the previous episode. All that exists 20 years later in the world outside of Quarantine Zones is ash and fungus.

Here we follow Joel, Ellie and Tess, who continue their expedition beyond QZ but it is not that simple. The episode builds up a bit slowly but during that time we get a few memorable moments between the trio which is extremely important for their character development. We get to know that Joel has clearly lost all hopes and considers every “possible cure information” as false hope. Thus he doesn’t actually believe Ellie and considers it her good luck that she survived the first bite. He is quite clear about shooting her if “she so much as twitches.” We also get a little more insight into Ellie who has been wonderfully portrayed by Bella Ramsey.

Talking about Tess, her final sacrifice is as heartbreaking as Sarah’s death in Episode 1 and its clear that caring for characters on this show is a mistake. Anna Torv delivered a heartfelt and passionate performance in both these episodes and that’s why her death hurts so much :'( Some of you may like it more than the game version and some of you might dislike it in comparison. Either ways her sacrifice has cleared the way for Joel and Ellie as she basically took down all of the infected with her. She didn’t fight them off like in the games but took more of them along with her. For me, it was a better change but for many of you it might not be and that’s understandable.

The chase and battle sequences with the Infected were just as thrilling and spooky as we wanted them to be. And after all that buildup the designs were definitely not disappointing, so kudos to the designing, make-up, and VFX team! This brings us to the Infected and the stages of them being infected. So starting of with the first stage aka Runners, they are the ones we saw in Episode 1 with minor changes like disfigured tongue, high speed, etc. Next up, we have the Stalkers, like the one who kissed Tess at the end of Episode 2 with visible fungus on their face and some part of the body. Then we have the Clickers, like the ones which attacked Joel, Ellie, and Tess in the museum. Clickers have fungus all over their face and parts of their body, they cannot see, and they are highly sensitive to sound. Finally we have the Bloaters, who we haven’t seen walking around yet but they look exactly like the corpse Joel and Tess found in Episode 1.

Hope that helps in giving you a basic understanding of the Infected. One interesting thing in the series is how they have shown that all of them are connected to each other using an underground network of fungus roots spreading a few miles. So stepping on these roots, or killing an Infected near them will alert all the other Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters within a few miles. Lastly, Joel also informed viewers about the lifespan of the Infected which is usually 1-2 months but some have survived for as long as 20 years. Obviously, these must be the Bloaters who we haven’t seen in all their glory yet. As for the ending of Episode 2, it seems like Joel will not have to find another way to secure Ellie and achieve his goal of finding Tommy (his brother).

Final Verdict – The Last of Us Episode 2 carries on the good work of the premiere and presents a highly thrilling, somewhat spooky, and a heartfelt narrative which ultimately leads to more heartbreak. So, in a very Game of Thrones manner, it spends time attaching viewers to various characters only to kill them off in the end. The only minor complaint I have from this episode is that Joel and Tess didn’t seem like the badasses they were built to be in the premiere. They didn’t look very experienced in the craft of fighting the Infected and Joel wasted too many bullets with just a little return. So, yeah, HBO needs to up the action of the series and let Joel live up to his hype from the games. Otherwise, an exceptional episode and series, no doubt!

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