The Last of Us

First of all I'd like to say that if you haven't played the game before and have the ability to do so, I'd strongly recommend you to experience this story that way first. It's truly one of the greatest games of all time in my opinion and this adaptation does not capture it's magic.

First of all, let's talk about the acting: Pedro Pascal is solid as Joel. He looks the part and embodies the character pretty well but still come off as a bit stiff in comparison to Troy Bakers masterful portrayal.

Bella Ramsay on the other hand is completely miscast as Ellie. She neither looks nor plays the part. While she can't be faulted for the former, I don't think she has the acting range necessary to inhabit the character. Sure, I don't know what directions they gave her on set, but she seems to only possess a handful of facial expressions in total. Where Ellie in the game could come off as nervous, excited and childish, she mostly comes off as bored here. Bella simply fails to instill the character with the sense of life that she has in the game, which is ironic for a live action portrayal.

As for the other actors, they mostly do a good job. There are no standout performances but no really bad ones either, with the exception of Melanie Lynskey (but more on her later).

The major problems of this adaptation however are the pacing and deviations from the source material. All in all, we get a 9 hour long season to cover the event of the first game, which is already pretty tight. The matter isn't helped by dedicating an hour to Bill's gay romance story, which contributes nothing to the overall narrative while deviating completely from the game. The runtime is stretched thinner by adding additional side-characters that at best does little for the story. The worst offender in this category is Kathleen, awfully played by Lynskey in one of the most unconvincing roles I've witnessed. Not in a hundred years could I see her being a leader of a crew like that. I won't go through every little change but the end result is that the story feels very rushed. This, in turn, leads to the underdevelopment of the relationship between Joel and Ellie; the pillar of the story.

Another annoyance I had was the lack of brutality in the show. The violence in the game helped make the world feel bleak and gritty. Here, on the other hand, we get plenty of off-screen deaths and hardly any blood and gore, making the world feel way to sanitized.

Reading through my review, I realize my score may come off as rather generous. But I do think that it's still worth a watch, even if it fails to live up to it's excellent source material.

Season 1 was excellent-emotional, intense, and well-acted. I'd give it a solid 8/10. It stayed true to the heart of the game and delivered a compelling story. Unfortunately, Season 2 fell flat. It dragged, lacked real plot progression, and didn't add anything meaningful. I'd give it a 4/10 at best. The shift in tone and pacing just didn't work. Overall, I'd rate the series a 6/10. Like others have said, stop after Season 1. It tells a complete, satisfying story, and going further honestly just weakens the impact. It's really I give it a low rating because season 2 after the first 3 episodes was just boring!

Season 2 of The Last of Us is a textbook example of how a strong foundation can be squandered. What began as a series marked by emotional gravity, narrative precision, and grounded character choices has devolved into a hollow, melodramatic shell of its former self.

The shift in tone is jarring. Where season 1 built tension through moral ambiguity and careful pacing, season 2 leans into teen drama tropes, complete with romantic angst, overacted grief, and emotional scenes that often defy internal logic. The world these characters inhabit is supposedly brutal and unforgiving - yet their decisions increasingly ignore this reality.

Take the central revenge arc. The idea that two young adults - essentially still kids - would set out on a cross-country revenge mission against a group they barely understand, with no intel on terrain, no backup plan, and no clear objective, is absurd. The only rationale offered is "Ellie is immune" - as if that cancels out every tactical and survival risk. You could chalk this up to youthful recklessness, but the way it's presented lacks nuance, weight, or even basic plausibility. It feels lazy, not tragic.

Some moments are outright implausible within the established logic of the world.

Structurally, the season fails completely. Abby, a central character in the second game, only appears in the final scene - setting up "Day One" in Seattle. The game gained emotional complexity by letting players experience the conflict from both sides. The series opts instead for a full season of one-sided buildup with no payoff. It feels like narrative stalling: all setup, no substance.

I never played the games, but I don't need to. What's on screen should stand on its own - and it doesn't. This season abandons the brutal realism that made the world believable, and instead becomes a stylized coming-of-age story in a world that was never meant to be romanticized.

A generous 4/10 - purely out of respect for season 1, and the world that once was.

I think the tittle pretty much sums it up, but a summary of some of my reasons could be that it keeps piling up too many incongruences, or lazy plot delivery, or little originality (too much resident evil... too much), or miscasts... honestly, I'll keep watching (for now) just to see how deep can they dig a hole because honestly, now I can't see an episose without pausing at least 5 times to take a break because it gets painful an unnecessary amount of times.

As a side note for those who read reviews: do you also skip reviews of 10/10? How can you trust the judgement a person that gives a 10 to a Marvel movie for example?

The first season was very good and is definitely worth watching. Visually it looked excellent with lots of very good CGI. Pedro Pascal as Joel was a good choice.

Unfortunately, season 2 didn't meet expectations and if I'm honest it was far from them. I rarely find myself noticing bad acting however I would cringe multiple times an episode at Bella Ramsay . It may seem harsh focusing the blame on her alone but it was very noticeable and a recasting would have been a good idea. Furthermore the episodes were dull, uneventful and slow. The only reason I finished the season was because I thought that it would surely get better . It didn't.