The Last of Us, season 3, episode 2 review: can Bella Ramsey carry the show alone?

Telegraph

28-04-2025

The Last of Us video game has always been in touch with its feelings. From Joel's acoustic guitar-strumming and sultry crooning, to Ellie's emo-phase tattoos and the pair's 'father-daughter' bonding trips, the franchise leavened its many, many moments of austere violence and near-constant sense of dread with enough flashes of soul and beauty to stop you switching off your console. It was necessary. Playing as Joel, Ellie or Abby you dispatch countless humans – undead or otherwise – while some scenes are downright disturbing (lose to one particular giant foe and you are treated to a cut scene of your character having their head torn in two).
The creators of The Last of Us (Sky Atlantic) TV series, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, were aware that such levels of baroque gore could not fly in a prestige drama and set about trying to make the show with as few acts of violence as possible, something we can all be grateful for. Yet what they have left in place is the sensitive, soulful side, which results in a third episode like this one – an hour of TV in which before our heroes can enact bloody revenge they must first have therapy, seek permission of their peers, disentangle town-hall bureaucracy and cry meaningfully in a cupboard full of plaid shirts. This is a zombie show that moodily gazes at its own navel before it rips its intestines out.
After the thrills of episode two, we returned to the curiously paced, golden-hour drenched, folksy atmosphere of the opener, as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) tentatively began her hunt for those who killed Joel (Pedro Pascal). Which meant we spent a lot more time in Jackson, Wyoming, a sort of model village for the Trad Wife movement, in which all the men have luxurious beards and luxurious plaid shirts and enjoy nothing more than healthy, wholesome, communal manual labour. The only thing they like nearly as much is town hall meetings, and we got another one here, as Ellie beseeched the townsfolk to sanction her revenge mission. 'Forgive and be forgiven,' said one wise old owl. We thought the zombies had done for these Gap-model villagers last week, but no such luck. Stylishly, wisely, they live on.
There was near-universal acclaim when it was announced that the great Catherine O'Hara would be joining the cast, yet her character, alcoholic psychotherapist Gail, is a drain on viewers' resources. O'Hara does a nice enough job, but Ellie and Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Joel's brother, are introspective enough without having to sit down with a shrink and justify red-hot murder. The intended effect, presumably, is to humanise the pair, but there's little more human than revenge and this week's soul-searching brought no more than some Monty Python-esque feelings of 'Get on with it!'.
Things improved immeasurably when Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) finally mounted a horse and set off through endless verdant National Parks for Seattle, where they hope to find Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her Washington Liberation Front. Along the way, they saw apparent evidence of WLF savagery – dead members of the Seraphite cult, shaven-headed Hare Krishna types who speak softly and carry a hammer and sickle. Seattle itself – broken and reclaimed by nature – was a thrill to witness, albeit briefly.
As for last week's big question – can Ramsey carry the show with Pascal gone? – the jury is still out. Her performance as a petulant, hotheaded, immature 19-year-old is on the money, but her Ellie is hard to sympathise with and even harder to love. Indeed, she's this adaptation's ideal Ellie – moody, folksy, prone to soundbites, a bit frustrating. The sooner she catches up with Abby, the better.