If you haven't seen the first batch of episodes, this show picks up five years after the ending of Season 1. Now, it's dealing with the ramifications of a crucial incident that happened in that Season 1 finale. What occurred in that ending was a man killing a whole group of people in order to save a young girl. Five years go by, but those murders aren't forgotten, so a kind of vigilante justice, aka revenge, becomes the ramifications and consequences that we see. The daughter of one of the men who got killed goes on a journey for revenge. What's ironic is that she's not the only one to do so. We get not one but two daughters, so to speak, who go on a mission of vengeance. What becomes clear is that this season underscores the aphorism, "He who seeks revenge digs two graves." However Craig Mazin (Superhero Movie) and Neil Druckmann, the creator of the video game on which this whole show is based, have decided to alter that quote to "She who seeks revenge digs multiple graves."
For those who don't know, this series is basically a post-apocalyptic zombie horror. Aside from a few intense sequences that up the ante with the zombie monsters, most of the horror comes from how humans have changed in the wake of the zombies existing. Many scenes involve horror that have nothing to do with zombies trying to hurt humans. The horror instead is humans hurting other humans, as evidenced with the mass murder that we saw in the Season 1 finale. It's very depressing and sad, but that's what the first season established. What the series also does though is develop relationships between people that are incredible and amazing, if not heartbreaking. If nothing else, it is thrilling and engaging to watch.
Pedro Pascal (Gladiator II and The Mandalorian) stars as Joel Miller, a man who lost his daughter when the zombie apocalypse first broke out. Ever since he and his brother have been trying to survive, as best they can. His brother went and settled in Jackson, Wyoming. Joel has been roaming as a lone cowboy or gunslinger. He was hired to protect a young girl who he was secretly told is immune to the zombie virus. Anyone who is bitten by a zombie or gets exposed to their spores will become a zombie themselves. However, this girl has a total immunity. Joel is hired to protect her and he ends up falling in love with her as a surrogate daughter to the one he lost. When some doctors want to use the girl to create a cure or a vaccine for everyone, Joel learns that the doctors can only do so by killing her. Joel decides to save her by killing all of those doctors and everyone else in their facility. That's the incident at the end of Season 1.
This season, the show introduces us to the daughter of one of those doctors who got killed. Her name is Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick and Last Man Standing). The loss of her father has obviously devastated her. If she wasn't a hardened soldier before, the loss has certainly made her one. If she was already a hardened soldier, the loss has made her an even more hardened one. She's like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984). She's become singularly focused on killing Joel and she won't stop or yield till she does so.
Bella Ramsey (His Dark Materials and Game of Thrones) co-stars as Ellie, the aforementioned young girl who is immune to the zombie virus. Five years have gone by since Joel rescued her from those doctors. Yet, she didn't know the real reason as to why he did that. Joel lied to her and said that the doctors couldn't make a cure or a vaccine, so she would've died for nothing. Joel then took her to Jackson, Wyoming, so they could live a peaceful and safe life. Five years go by, but the show does a flashback episode in which we see Ellie progressing through her teenage years, coming-of-age, learning to become more of a soldier who can guard against zombies, as well as normal things like falling in love.
Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus and Dora and the Lost City of Gold) also co-stars as Dina, a resident of Jackson, Wyoming, who has also learned to be a survivor and a so-called soldier. She frequently goes out on patrols with Joel to protect the town of Jackson from zombies that might wander toward it or marauders who might want to break into their town and do God-knows-what. In a lot of ways, Ellie wants to learn from Dina and be more like her. At the same time, Ellie is falling in love with her. Unfortunately, Ellie doesn't know if Dina returns her affections. Mainly because, Dina was dating a fellow soldier in the town named Jesse, played by Young Mazino (Beef). This season puts Dina and Ellie on a mission together, so that they get space to spend time together and potentially develop feelings.
The production design is always incredible for this series. The production design for Jackson, Wyoming, is fairly well done, but the characters don't stay there for long. This season has the characters spend a lot of time in Seattle, Washington. However, the show doesn't actually film on the streets of the real Seattle, at least I don't think they do. Even if they did, the streets or locations have to be dressed up to look like the post-apocalyptic place it is. The show has to do production design to create that post-apocalyptic look and they do an amazing job.
Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!
There have been several people discussing the big twist that happens this season. It's not a twist if one is familiar with what happens in the video game, but early in the season, specifically the second episode, Abby kills Joel in a brutal and bloody way just outside Jackson and Ellie witnesses it. Ellie then spends the rest of the season seeking revenge and trying to find Abby who has retreated to Seattle. People are upset because Joel was a very popular character and without him, many feel the show isn't what it was, which I don't understand. Yes, Joel was a main character, if not the main character. Killing off main characters isn't new for major television programs. It's been done in Game of Thrones (2011) and The Walking Dead (2010). Those programs could be considered ensemble shows, so losing a main character might not seem as big of a blow. Yet, for many, Joel was their favorite character.
As I wrote in my review of the first season, Joel wasn't my favorite character. I felt that Joel was an archetype, as described earlier he was a lone cowboy. There have been plenty of times when that archetype is partnered with an adorable or scrappy young person, a child often. Western films did it often. That archetype was even exemplified in Pascal's previous series The Mandalorian. I have been a bit disillusioned with that archetype. I more preferred episodes in the first season that didn't focus on Joel and Ellie like the third episode in Season 1 titled "Long, Long Time" in which Joel and Ellie weren't even in. That episode focused on two gay men of a certain age dealing with the apocalypse. My two favorite characters from last season were the two young African American boys, Henry, played by Lamar Johnson, and Sam, played by Keivonn Woodard. Not only was Sam African American but he was also deaf. I liked those episodes and characters because they weren't archetypes that you often see in these stories. You don't often see gay men of a certain age or Black and deaf characters in these narratives or genre stories.
Others had problem with the fact that this season ends on a cliffhanger. Many think that the cliffhanger leaves the season feeling unfulfilled or not satisfying. I personally think that it's the perfect hook to make people tune into the next season to see what happens. Yet, people's mileage may vary.
Rated TV-MA-LV.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 7 eps.
Available on HBO Max.