A bit of housecleaning before we dive into the review. I have not played The Last of Us and have (miraculously) managed to remain completely in the dark about the contents of the second game – upon which this and the third and final season of the series will be based. So, these reviews will not call out events to come in the story but will treat the series as a series and not an adaptation (even though it is absolutely an adaptation). If you’re looking for a review that will call out Easter eggs and hints of what is to come, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking to remain spoiler-free, well, I’m your gal. Also, don’t be a dick and spoil things in the comments.
What the fuck is wrong with Seattle, indeed. It appears that the plan for the remainder of this season is going to be to slow burn things until we get a confrontation between Ellie and Abby (which I can’t see happening this season – we’ve still got a third and final season to come and this feels like our final boss battle of the series), or until we get to a point that sees Ellie and Dina need to return to Jackson and wait until they can have that confrontation with Abby*. But, until we get there, I suspect we’re just going to get bits and pieces that answer Dina’s question: what the fuck is wrong with Seattle?
*While it could be nothing, it’s a bit odd that while the show took Pedro Pascal’s name out of the opening credits, it’s kept Gabriel Luna (Tommy) and Young Mazino (Jesse) in. What this tells me is that, at some point, we’re going to either return to Jackson or these two are heading out to Seattle as back-up for Ellie and Dina. After all, Ellie and Dina will need to let Jesse know he’s going to be a dad at some point, right?
We got a flashback to 2018 Seattle, introducing us to Isaac Dixon (the always great Jeffrey Wright, who played the role in the video game as well), a former FEDRA agent who turned on his team (RIP Josh Peck’s asshole solider) and joined up with what appeared to be the Wolves (I assume they were, as Dixon looked to be pretty all-in on torturing that Seraphite in the present day). Now the head of Seraphite torture (that appears to be the name for the cult we met and saw slaughtered last week – “Scars” to the Wolves as well), there’s a hell of a lot of anger in Dixon. Makes one think that the Seraphites must have killed someone very close to him in order to get him to rage against one of them like that.
And, considering this is Jeffrey Wright, I assume Dixon is also the person who trained Abby. And if Dixon has that kind of rage within him, I’m willing to bet Abby also learned that she can channel her rage in the same way against the “right” person. Hence her attack and murder of Joel. It’s justified because it’s revenge for what he did to her. Just like Dixon’s torture of the prisoner was justified because it was revenge for what the Seraphites did to him (and his family/people/loved ones). I guess if your season theme is revenge, you might as well show all the ways it becomes all-consuming until there’s next to nothing left of the person you once were. Because “getting revenge” just begets more revenge, starting a vicious cycle that cannot end until everyone has been destroyed. It’s a flame that cannot be doused until there’s no one left for it to burn through.
To be fair, now that we’ve seen just what the Seraphites are capable of, I’m less shocked at the shoot to kill order the Wolves have out on them. Those disemboweled bodies hanging in the radio tower were horrific. But again, the exchange between Dixon and his prisoner just reinforced that this is a fight that isn’t ever going to end until all of one side is eliminated. And, from what the prisoner said, it sounds like the Wolves are the ones hemorrhaging members. I’m not sure I believe him, but considering they have primitive weapons and can still do damage like they did? That’s shockingly impressive. Either the Wolves aren’t as strong as the series has shown us or the Serephites have something else on their side that’s allowing them the stealth necessary to make those kind of precision attacks. They might be easy targets while on the move, but if they can infiltrate a building like that and get the jump on multiple heavily armed Wolves, well, I definitely wouldn’t want to go toe-to-toe with them.
As for the rest of the episode, I’m still not sold on Dina as a fully trustworthy character. Sure, I get that the story needs us to believe she’s sincere in her declaration of love to Ellie – we need to care about her as much as Ellie does to make her eventual state of peril matter more than it would were she and Ellie not together. But I don’t love how she’s been so hot and cold with Ellie throughout the season. Now, this isn’t a comment on Isabela Merced’s performance – she’s spectacular and an incredible addition to the series. But I don’t want to trust Dina yet. Sure, she, Ellie, and Jesse are young. And yes, compulsory heterosexuality is very much a thing. But I don’t know. I just don’t see this ending well for anyone, because of the story being told (apocalypses almost never end with a happily ever after for, well, anyone) and because I just don’t buy the sudden decision to have Dina jump Ellie upon realizing she really is immune. I guess I’m probably reading too much into it and should just accept it – this is the end of the world and carpe diem, etc. – but yeah, Dina was a jerk and now she’s not and I guess I don’t want Ellie to get hurt. Again. Even though Ellie has also been a massive jerk this season. But Merced? Absolutely crushing it.
So, we’ve got two parallel storylines that are bound to converge sooner rather than later. On one side, it’s the Ellie revenge quest. On the other, it’s the escalating battle between the Seraphites and the Wolves, something we still know precious little about (and something we need to get a better understanding of before Ellie and Dina wander into the middle of it for real). And to be honest, I’m not sure I really care all that much about the story behind the Wolves and the Seraphites. Wright is one of the finest actors we have working today and his scene with the prisoner was harrowing to watch. But at this stage of the game, I’d rather be spending time with characters we know – and that includes the crew back at Jackson – than being introduced to entire new histories.
This is where a video game and a television show really turn into different mediums. With a TV series, we want to deepen our relationships with characters we know. I want to see how the rebuilding of Jackson is going. I want to know what Tommy and Jesse thought about Ellie and Dina leaving. With a POV video game, your story is your character – Ellie or Abby, as I understand it with this game – so wanting to know about Tommy or Jesse is less important than finding ways to stay alive as your character. But with the rich tapestry created in the series, I want to know about the people we have met and care about.
With Joel dead and Abby AWOL since episode two, throwing in a mini backstory for Dixon without much additional information to fully understand why he’s raging just adds another new character for us to puzzle over without a real explanation. Perhaps the idea is that we’re just like Ellie, our POV character, and we’re not going to learn about what’s really going on in Seattle until she does (which I suspect will be at gunpoint because her and Dina are bound to get captured before long with how reckless they’re both being). But I’m starting to feel more lost in this story than back in season one. And for the first time, I’m not all that sure this is a story I really want to see through to the end. I’m not jumping ship yet, but the writing needs to start tying these loose threads together a bit. Because I’m not quite sure Ellie and Dina are compelling enough characters on their own to carry the story, and Dixon and Abby absolutely aren’t. So, Last of Us, we’re getting to a tipping point that needs to be solved.



