‘The Last of Us' has a ‘Bear' problem. The show's biggest Emmys hurdle, explained

Los Angeles Times

a day ago

Why do you watch 'The Last of Us'? For the postapocalyptic horror? Because you played the game? Or for tips on how to be a good dad, save for the part about lying to your daughter that you didn't slaughter a bunch of innocent people to save her?
How you answer might determine your feelings about the HBO series as it looks to repeat the success its first season achieved at the 2023 Emmys. I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope newsletter and a guy who knows the downside to eating a clock. (It's time-consuming.) Let's talk about 'The Last of Us.'
If a TV series delivers two of the best hours of the television season, how many Emmys should it win?
I'm not talking about 'The Bear,' which caught a lot of grief for its third season last year, even though it boasted a couple of episodes that were among its best. This is about 'The Last of Us,' which ended its second season Sunday with a reset that left some people unsatisfied, even with the promise of more Kaitlyn Dever to come. (Never a bad thing.)
But then, that's what happens when you kill off Pedro Pascal's Joel, the character Dever in our recent conversation called 'the love of everyone's life.' Imagine if a couple of episodes into the next season of 'The Pitt,' Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby got in the middle of a fracas in the hospital's waiting room and ... no. I can't even finish this sentence. I'm not putting that out into the universe.
'The Last of Us' was hindered by the same structural issue that left many people growling about 'The Bear' last year. Both series delivered arcs that were essentially the first parts of two-season storylines. When we next pick up with 'The Last of Us,' the focus will be on Dever's Abby, seeing Seattle's dire, dangerous world through the point of view of the young woman who killed Joel to avenge her father's death.
By the end, we will presumably see the fruition of the showdown between Abby and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a resolution many were expecting in the Season 2 finale. We're just going to have to wait.
How much of the show's audience will stick around is open to question. Viewership was down for this year's finale, with many casual fans tapping out of the series now that Pascal is gone. For them, this season's soul-crushing sixth episode, 'The Price,' covering Joel and Ellie's years between their arrival in Jackson and his death, was The End. When did you cry during that episode? Better question: When weren't you crying?
HBO has submitted Pascal once again as a lead actor, even with his diminished presence in the second season. He and Ramsey were the faces on the series' marketing, and Pascal dominated the two episodes mentioned at the outset, the two hours that elevated the season, if not into greatness, at least into appointment viewing.
'The Last of Us' earned 24 nominations for its first season, winning eight. That's not going to happen again, but the series still should be a force in the categories it took in 2023 — visual effects, editing, sound and prosthetic makeup. It also won both drama guest acting Emmys, with Nick Offerman and Storm Reid winning. That could happen again as Dever and Jeffrey Wright are strong contenders for their intense efforts. Like Offerman and Reid, they both had death scenes, but they were the ones dishing it out.
Look for Catherine O'Hara and Joe Pantoliano to join them in the guest races. I'd love a Season 3 flashback episode detailing that married couple's lives in Jackson. What would have been Gail's last words to Eugene? Did he want her forgiveness? What exactly did he do? Or maybe she's just really good with words? She is played by Catherine O'Hara. I'll be raising a glass to both of them Emmy nominations morning.
Bold prediction: 'The Last of Us' Season 2 ends up with 20 nominations and six wins.
It's 6 a.m. in Brisbane, Australia, and Kaitlyn Dever is thinking about going to the beach. Except it's pouring rain outside, which is the only reason she had the option to check out the waves in the first place. The deluge has delayed her call time for 'Godzilla x Kong: Supernova,' the monster movie she's been shooting for the past couple of months.
Just how hard is it raining? Like a normal downpour? Or is it the kind of deluge we see in the final minutes of the season finale of 'The Last of Us'?
'It's actually pouring like the finale of 'The Last of Us,'' Dever says, laughing.
With the beach off the menu, we had plenty of time recently to settle in and talk about the bruising season finale of 'The Last of Us.' Dever shot the episode more than a year ago, capping an eventful stint on the show that began just four days after her mother's funeral.
'I was terrified,' Dever told me. 'I had spent so much time contemplating my mom's death before she died, thinking about how I wouldn't be able to go on. I couldn't imagine. And then it's a heartbreaking thing to think about, how life moves on. And you have the choice to keep going or not go to Vancouver and do the show that she was so excited about me doing. And then after she passed, I realized there's no part of me that couldn't not do this. I had to do it for her.'
You can read the full conversation here.