REVIEW: ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Is Dark, Devastating, and Deeply Human

This review is based on the entirety of The Last of Us Season 2 and contains minor spoilers.

The Last of Us Season 2 continues to prove why this series stands as one of the best video game adaptations ever made. While Season 1 centered on survival and the early sparks of trust and love, Season 2 unravels that trust, fractures those bonds, and explores the emotional wreckage left behind.

The Last of Us. © HBO — *The Last of Us*. © HBO

After a significant time jump, we’re reintroduced to Jackson, a familiar setting, but one that feels new in many ways. We get a closer look at how this community lives, how it protects itself, and how it manages to maintain some sense of order.

This season, Joel (Pedro Pascal) mostly steps out of the spotlight, which allows the story to focus on Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced), and their relationship. The show gives them space to breathe and grow, and it’s one of the best decisions it makes. That said, Joel’s presence still looms large, especially the weight of his betrayal. It lingers in every scene they share, and when it comes back around in a devastating new way, it hits harder. Ellie already felt betrayed, but when it happens again, when the trust is broken a second time, it creates a deep emotional rupture.

The season also does a great job with introducing new characters who are far more than just plot devices. They feel lived in, layered, and human. Dina is without question the standout. She’s funny, sharp, confident, and instantly lovable. But more importantly, she’s written as her own person. She isn’t defined by her relationship to Ellie... She has her own desires, her own opinions, and her own moments of vulnerability. Their chemistry is electric, and their relationship feels so genuine that it grounds the entire season. It’s rare to see a queer relationship given this kind of depth and emotional room, and the show handles it beautifully.

Jesse (Young Mazino) is another great addition, even though he gets less screen time. He acts as Ellie’s foil: level-headed, duty-driven, and unwilling to take the same reckless risks. By the end of the season, you care about him a lot more than you expect to.

Gail, played by the incredible Catherine O’Hara, is another standout. She brings a surprising softness to the show without sacrificing depth. Gail is a widowed therapist who has a deep-rooted dislike for Joel, something she admits is irrational, and yet still shows up to help him. And once we learn why she feels the way she does, that supposed irrationality suddenly makes sense. It’s one of the show’s greatest strengths, it doesn’t make anyone fully right or wrong. It just shows people reacting to impossible circumstances in very human ways.

Of course, we have to talk about Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) , the daughter of the doctor Joel killed to save Ellie. Abby doesn’t know the full story, only that her father was murdered and that Joel killed everyone else at the hospital. Fueled by grief and rage, she trains for years with her group, preparing to track down and kill Joel. We see them before the time jump, setting out for Seattle, and in the present, as they quietly stalk Jackson. Abby becomes the antagonist, but it’s not simple. Her pain is deeply human. This is someone whose father was murdered so her fury, her drive to avenge him, is justified. We don’t get enough of her this season to fully connect with her yet, but the foundation is being laid. And everything we do feel about her? That’s all Kaitlyn Dever. Her performance does so much with so little, and it’s clear we’ll see much more of her in Season 3.

Ellie and Dina’s relationship remains the emotional core. In a world full of violence, betrayal, and death, their connection feels like a rare source of light. It’s comforting without ever feeling forced or idealized. Their banter, their quiet moments, their arguments… It all feels heartbreakingly real. That emotional depth carries into one of the most powerful scenes in the entire series between Ellie and Joel. It’s a conversation about mistakes, betrayal, and love… the kind of moment that doesn’t need anything flashy. Just two characters being raw and honest.... The acting is nothing short of stunning.

And yes, the Cordyceps are back, and somehow even more terrifying. This season introduces a new variant called the Stalker. These infected are smart, calculated, and far more dangerous than anything we’ve seen before. They hide. They wait. They sneak on you. There is also another addition that game fans will definitely recognize and dread.

What’s impressive is how this season leans even more confidently into its game origins. Some sequences are adapted almost shot-for-shot from The Last of Us Part II, but each one has its own emotional rhythm, its own visual identity. The show respects the source material, but it never feels trapped by it. It builds on it and improves it.

By the end of the season, you’re emotionally exhausted in the best way. Not because of monsters or jump scares, but because of what the characters go through. The moral grayness, the weight of grief, the aching loneliness… it’s all there. And just like the game, the show isn’t interested in easy answers. It’s not just about survival. It’s about what you do with survival. Who you become after you’ve lost everything.

The Last of Us Season 2 is just as dark, just as brutal as Season 1, but feels more emotionally raw. It’s a season about consequences, about love and guilt and revenge and forgiveness. It reminds us that in the end, the scariest part of the apocalypse isn’t the infected. It’s the people trying to live through it. And once again, The Last of Us delivers something emotionally devastating, beautifully acted, and utterly unforgettable.

Rating: ★★★★★

About The Last of Us Season 2

Premiere Date: April 13, 2025

Episode Count: 7

Executive Producer/Showrunner: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Carolyn Strauss, Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Evan Wells

Writer: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, and Halley Gross

Director: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Mark Mylod, Peter Hoar, Kate Herron, Stephen Williams, Nina Lopez-Corrado

Production: PlayStation Productions, Word Games, Mighty Mint, Sony Pictures Television and Naughty Dog

Distribution: HBO

Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Rutina Wesley, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Spencer Lord, Danny Ramirez, Jeffrey Wright and Catherine O’Hara.

Synopsis: Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.