SPOILER WARNING: The next article incorporates main spoilers for The Final of Us Season 2. If you happen to haven’t watched “Day One,” please take a step again and watch it together with your Max subscription earlier than continuing.
I’m not going to lie, I believe The Final of Us Season 2 has been a dud and a far cry from the unimaginable TV present we obtained a few years in the past or the excellent online game on which it’s based mostly. I’ve been discussing my points with the present just about because it premiered on the 2025 TV schedule, however the latest episode, “Day One,” is beginning to change the way in which I view the online game adaptation. Particularly after how the collection dealt with one in every of my favourite ranges from The Final of Us Half II
I nonetheless have some main issues with the collection, and one nice sequence in a superb episode of tv gained’t repair in a single day, but it surely did get me considering that possibly, simply possibly, I must be extra open to the adjustments and reintreptations of the supply materials made by co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. We will all change, proper? Properly, let me clarify anyway…
I Have not Been Down With A Lot Of The Adjustments The Final Of Us Season 2 Has Been Making
Whereas quite a lot of my colleagues have been down with all the adjustments The Final of Us Season 2 has been making all through the primary half of the second installment, I haven’t been as forgiving or as open to these adjustments within the first few weeks of its return. Whereas I perceive why Jackson, Wyoming, was such a significant focus of the primary three episodes, lots of it felt like filler in my eyes and felt like a manner of stretching one sport into two seasons of tv. The city council voting scenes, the pointless battle sequence with the contaminated, and different moments took away from Joel’s tragic dying and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) revenge plan, as a substitute of constructing the stress for her eventual encounter with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).
Don’t get me improper, Neil Druckmann is free to vary the scope of the story he first advised within the type of an unimaginable but divisive online game a half-decade in the past. However on the identical time, I really feel like I’m free to not like these adjustments or agree with them. And I haven’t been down with a lot of them, no less than till “Day One” got here round.
However The Manner The Present Recreated The Seattle Subway Sequence Has Me Singing A Completely different Tune
There was a lot to like about “Day One.” From the long-awaited introduction of WLF chief Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright) in two unnerving scenes to Ellie choosing up the guitar in a Seattle music retailer to Dina (Isabella Merced) discovering out she’s pregnant, lots of the massive moments from The Final of Us Half II made their manner into the present. The sequence that blew me away essentially the most was the chase via the Seattle subway tunnels as Ellie and Dina tried to flee WLF troopers and a large group of contaminated.
I do know, I do know, I’ve been considerably of a purist with regards to the present and its dealing with of the sport’s main occasions, however the way in which this sluggish but tense degree from the sport was was an intense chase sequence was nothing wanting superb. It obtained me fascinated by the way in which I have a look at the present, and even began to vary my notion of the characters and all the pieces that’s been adjusted from the supply materials. Once more, I’m not down with all the pieces, however that is progress.
Ellie And Dina Escaping The WLF Was One Of My Favourite Ranges In The Final Of Us Half II
Although I don’t like The Final of Us Half II as a lot as the primary sport within the franchise (I don’t assume I’m alone right here), the 2020 sequel did give players among the most formidable and atmospheric ranges of the eighth console era. The expansive and virtually open world sections of Seattle, free for exploration, the early chapters in Jackson, and the stuff in Santa Barbara on the finish have been extremely thought-out and crafted ranges with every kind of twists, turns, and areas to discover. And the Seattle subway tunnel part was on the prime of my listing.
With the pink glare of the WLF’s flares, the cramped subway vehicles, and numerous obstacles getting in the way in which of Ellie and Dina reaching the exIt (to not point out the shamblers alongside the way in which), this complete scene was a masterclass in stress, and it led to one of many largest moments in the whole sport: Ellie telling Dina she’s immune.
Ellie’s Massive Reveal To Dina Is Completely different In The Present, However I am Not Mad About It
One of many large adjustments in “Day One” revolved round how Ellie’s immunity to the codryceps fungus was revealed to Dina. Within the sport, Ellie’s fuel masks was shattered in the course of the tunnel sequence, and she or he had no selection however to inform her love curiosity to stop her from taking off her personal masks. Because the spores have but to be launched within the present at this level, this model of Ellie needed to reveal it differently: a chew on the arm. And you already know what, I’m not mad about this resolution.
It nonetheless led to Ellie revealing her secret, but it surely additionally gave us this unimaginable act of self-sacrifice that added so much to the character and her dynamic with Dina. On prime of that, we additionally obtained a really practical response from Dina, who thought she was going to should kill her finest pal and full her mission alone.
I Nonetheless Have Some Issues With The Present, Although
Regardless of my altering tune with The Final of Us Season 2, don’t get the impression that every one my issues with the collection are mounted. I’m nonetheless having hassle with the pacing, the characters aren’t as robust as they have been within the online game, and the place are all these nice flashbacks that added a lot richness and depth to the unique story? I’m positive lots of that will likely be labored out within the last three episodes of the season, however I really feel like we’ve wasted lots of time getting right here.
Hopefully, “Day One” is an indication of issues to come back, each for the rest of Season 2 and when the present makes its eventual return in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later. I imply, I’ll be right here regardless, however I’d like to see this momentum proceed…