HBO’s The Last of Us is officially past the halfway mark of the second season. As expected, the fourth episode, titled "Day One", started the momentum towards the finale and did it with style. To make things more dramatic, it began by introducing a vile character.
Someone difficult to like, despite the brilliant performance by Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction, Westworld, and The Batman), and his name is Isaac.
*** WARNING! SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US SEASON 2 EPISODE 4! ***
As the episode progresses, you witness Isaac’s violent nature. He tortures an unarmed Seraphite for information and kills them when he doesn’t get what he wants. Meanwhile, a once kind and naïve person is now fully brainwashed by Isaac and happy with murder and extreme violence. This was the perfect way to introduce him to a new audience and show fans of the source material who he was beyond the cut scenes.
In addition to Isaac and his brainwashed soldier, there are the rest of the WLFs. You get to see that they’re organized, armed, and trigger-happy. They don’t seem to care if it’s the Seraphites or someone else. All they know is they have guns and ammo, and they’re itching to shoot someone. In some ways, that makes them more dangerous than the infected.
Ellie and Dina
While Isaac is abusing Seraphites, Ellie and Dina continue their journey to finding and killing Abby. So far, things have been going smoothly. That means something dangerous is about to happen. In this case, they’re hunted by WLFs and later chased by dozens of the infected.
During the chase, Ellie lets herself get bitten by one of the infected to protect Dina. Of course, Dina thinks she now has to kill her friend, but this leads to the reveal that Ellie is immune. That’s not all. This conversation turns into Dina revealing that she’s pregnant with Jesse’s kid.
A lot of what happens in this episode mirrors the game, but there is a major change to things. After they talk about Ellie’s immunity and Dina’s pregnancy, they make out and make their relationship official. In The Last of Us Part II, this happens before Joel is killed. After looking back at how it happens in the source material, things seem to flow better on the show than in the game. It’s the advantage of hindsight and a bigger budget.
Four episodes, no notes
So far, The Last of Us season 2 has flawlessly combined the original story of the video game with new tales. The origin of Isaac becoming a member of the WLF is proof of that.
In The Last of Us Part II, it was easy to tell that he was an uncaring monster. However, seeing that he had some morals at some point sheds new light on him. Thankfully, the creative team brings it back by showing his methods of torture, unwillingness to listen to the other side’s story, and how he brainwashed someone who was once a good person.
Like HBO's recent success story The Penguin, fans should expect to see the performers and creators from The Last of Us season 2 getting award nominations. After what Jeffrey Wright has been doing as Isaac, he could be at the top of the list.
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