‘The Last of Us' Season 2 finale review: A somewhat jumbled set-up for Season 3
The finale of the second season of Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann's The Last of Us, 'Convergence', tries desperately to tie the disparate elements from earlier episodes to partial success. While there is the sound and fury of the elements indicated in the title, it does not come together cohesively to complete any arc.
There are episodes including the second one, 'Through the Valley', featuring Joel's (Pedro Pascal) horrific death at the hands of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), in the midst of an attack by the ravaging hoards of the infected, that feel like a mini movie, and others were nothing much happens.
The Last of Us Season 2 (English)
Creators: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Kaitlyn Dever
Episode: 7
Runtime: 50 minutes
Storyline: Ellie finally catches up with Abby and acknowledges a terrible truth about herself
'Convergence' comes after the lovely, contemplative, achingly poignant 'The Price' where we see the bond between Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) flower, wither and promise to bloom again over Ellie's birthdays through the years.
On her 15th birthday, Joel gives her a handmade guitar. For her 16th, he takes her to an abandoned museum where Ellie is fascinated with the thought of space travel. On her 17th birthday, Joel gruffly exclaims at all teenage stuff coming at once — drugs, tattoos and sex. On her 19th birthday, Ellie goes out on her first patrol.
The way Joel deals with Eugene (Joe Pantoliano), who has been bitten, after swearing to Ellie he will take him back to town to say goodbye to his wife, Gail (Catherine O'Hara), finds Ellie figuring out the truth about the carnage at the hospital.
When nine months later after the New Year's Eve party in Episode 1, Ellie confronts Joel about the fate of the Fireflies at the hospital, Joel confesses the truth, insisting he would do it again. It is Ellie's reply that she could never forgive him but would like to try that creates the poignancy as Joel's death put paid to that rapprochement.
The introduction of Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), the former FEDRA officer who kills his squad and joins the WLF, and the Seraphite cult, is a sufficiently brutal lead-up to the big confrontation in the finale.
That the payoff is not as satisfying is putting it mildly. That bullet fired at the end and the fade to black is as clumsy a cliffhanger as there could be and the switch to Abby's perspective, while echoing the game, seems ill-judged as far as pacing goes.
Even though Mel's (Ariela Barer) death is cruel and underlines the causalities of conflict, it is good that Ellie does not kill Alice, the WLF dog, like in the game. There is only so much brutality one can take.
The production value remains gorgeous and the aquarium and island shots in the pelting rain are spectacular as is Ellie's desperate boat ride. Ramsey does their best to capture the hurt and hatred as well as the goofiness of a young person on the threshold of adulthood as Ellie, while Pascal's Joel is the brother, father, friend anyone would want. Wright's Isaac, while terrifying, is frustratingly underwritten. Isabela Merced brings fire and fun to Dina, proving an effective foil to the impetuous Ellie.
Season 2 of The Last of Us lurches from crisis to crisis, with long lulls of running and shooting doing nothing to move the story along. Maybe instead of splitting Part II of the eponymous game into many seasons, the makers could have opted for a longer second season with a mid-season break.
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Indian Express
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One of the strongest aspects of Mani Ratnam's script is how efficiently it omits the unnecessary and includes only what is needed to deliver the filmmaker's vision; unlike the current trend of overwriting and over-filming and mindlessly splitting a movie into multiple parts. Kamal Haasan's performance is undoubtedly exceptional, so much so that it has helped mask many of the film's flaws over the years, leading audiences to blindly believe that Nayakan is 'the one'. He won his second National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance here. Nonetheless, Nayakan proves that just because a movie is good, it doesn't mean it's great or free of flaws. And it's important to analyse cinema critically — to call a spade a spade — and point out its shortcomings and misrepresentations. After all… Cinema cannot exist in a vacuum; it's all about the discussions that follow. In the Cinema Anatomy column, we delve into the diverse layers and dimensions of films, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster continuous discourses. Anandu Suresh is a Senior sub-editor at Indian Express Online. He specialises in Malayalam cinema, but doesn't limit himself to it and explores various aspects of the art form. He also pens a column titled Cinema Anatomy, where he delves extensively into the diverse layers and dimensions of cinema, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster continuous discourse. Anandu previously worked with The New Indian Express' news desk in Hyderabad, Telangana. You can follow him on Twitter @anandu_suresh_ and write (or send movie recommendations) to him at ... Read More
Time of India
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