A still from ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2’
| Photo Credit: HBO

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.

“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.

A still from ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2’
| Photo Credit:
HBO

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.

A still from ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2’
| Photo Credit:
HBO

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.

The Last of Us is currently streaming on JioHotstar