The Last of Us: The Complete Second Season - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray SteelBook

Well, like a number of gamers out there, I knew as soon as I finished playing through The Last of Us Part II that it was going to make for a pretty dramatic season of television. As the first game was adapted so well, this second game set the stage for some intense story and character dramas. That’s all on top of introducing new lethal human factions and more deadly fungus zombies. More specifically, the game developers took a big swing with the story, putting players in an awkward position of empathizing with a supposed “enemy” while also forcing them to reckon with their own acts of violence. If you paid any attention to the basement-dwelling keyboard warriors at the time, some weren’t exactly happy about that. I loved it, though. I thought it was big, bold, epic storytelling that wasn’t just “more of the same.” Those hoping for a story pivot with Season 2 of the television series will be left in the cold. 

Without getting into too many specifics, The Last of Us Season Two is a story about the aftermath of previous events. It’s set years after the climactic events of the first season, and explores how someone squares with guilt while another reconciles their need for vengeance. We see Joel (Mandalorian) trying to build a life with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the reestablished settlement city of Jackson, Wyoming. With his brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Joel tries to be useful to the other residents while attempting to make peace with Ellie after the events in Salt Lake City and the Fireflies. But as the two patch up their differences, out of the snow rides hell on two legs when Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) comes looking to settle an old score. 

To say this season has a surprise in store for the uninitiated is a bit of an understatement. This season offers what I call its own Red Wedding moment that’s so shocking and distressing that if you hadn’t played the game, you’d be horrified - possibly even pissed off at what happened. Hell, even if you played the game, a good number of fans were left in that same rageful stupor and that won't change with this live-action adaptation. Like I said earlier, it was a big, bold swing in the game, and they took a crack at it in this series. 

Now, as much as I loved Season One, and I really did, I thought Season Two struggled. It wasn’t the story that did it in; I liked that they tracked close to the game, but it’s the world beyond Ellie and Joel that wasn’t as strong this round. Season One of The Last of Us made some brilliant world-building touches that fleshed things out and built this apocalyptic world into a lived-in hellscape. There was updated material and new characters to give that first run of episodes something special beyond replaying events of the game. We had that amazing stand-alone episode with Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. We had that entire multi-episode subplot with Melanie Lynskey and the Kansas City Rebels. Season Two doesn’t have a lot of that kind of material going on. There are touches with the WLF and the cultists, but they're evidently being saved for Season Three. We do have a lovely recurring appearance with Catherine O’Hara, and a fabulous guest appearance with Joe Pantoliano, and one incredible snow-bound sequence with a horde of infected, but that’s about it. Everything plays out just like the game. 

It’s weird to say this, but The Last of Us as a whole works better as a series when it’s not playing strictly to the events of the game. I’ve played through both games multiple times; I love them to death, but there’s a big difference between playing the second game’s storyline and watching it. I was hoping for something more akin to the first season, which played out similarly, but was new and different enough to feel unique and take some tantalizing new turns. Perhaps Season Three will have something in store for us that embodies that ethos enough that I’ll look back at this season and appreciate it a little more. As is, it starts out great. I was really grooving on it, but as it progressed, it became more plodding and expected rather than fresh and exciting. That cliffhanger ending was great in the game because it was the mid-point before the story switched gears, but in live action, when the next season isn’t supposed to arrive until 2027, it’s a real pisser to stop at. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The Last of Us The Complete Second Season takes a bite out of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a three-disc 4K UHD set from Warner Bros and SDS. All seven episodes are spread across three BD100 discs and housed in a stylish SteelBook set. No digital code was included. Each disc loads to a static image main menu, letting you play all the episodes or cherry-pick which one you want to jump into.  

Just like the first season, The Last of Us: The Complete Second Season is a looker in 2160p Dolby Vision. This season might rely a little more heavily on CGI scene extensions and some enhancements for the creature effects, but you can’t fault them for going big with the scale of this season. From the mountains of Wyoming (actually Canada) to the shores of Washington, the season looks terrific. Fine details in facial features, the practical makeup effects and creature materials, and the lived-in production design stand up beautifully in high resolution. The Dolby Vision grade is right on point, given the extreme weather conditions for the series. From bright white snows to warm, cozy spring to rain-drenched fall, the HDR highlights those contrasting extremes in bright whites and dark shadows and inky black spots. Colors are healthy, primaries get their time in the sun. Skin tones for our human cast members are healthy and natural-looking. Each episode looks terrific.

Scoring just as high as the video are the excellent Atmos tracks for each episode. From the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the Jackson settlement to the rampaging horde of infected to the creepy echoing of the clickers to the raging torrential downpours off the coast of Washington, the soundscape for each episode is immersively active. Dialogue for each episode is clear without issue. The big action sequence of the infected horde attacking the walls of Jackson is a huge highlight moment for this series and sound design. The screaming of the infected, the clatter of the bullets, the impacts of the big bloater crashing into the walls - it’s a wall-to-wall sonic delight with plenty of heavy LFE to thump away at the subs.

Supporting the A/V selection for this season is a nice selection of extra features. On top of the typical “A Look At” segments for each episode, there’s a nice range of production featurettes focused on production design, characters, set locations, and looks at our creepy, fungal-infected creatures. Each segment might not be lengthy, but they’re all better than the average EPK material and actually give a healthy, meaningful look into the production.  

4K UHD One

• Making of The Last of Us: Season 2:
• Episode 1 (HD 8:53)
• Episode 2 (HD 9:08)
• Episode 3 (HD 12:12)
• Growing the World of The Last of Us (HD 2:03)
• Welcome to Jackson (HD 3:24)
• Battle of Jackson, Deconstructed (HD 11:13) 

4K UHD Two

• Making of The Last of Us: Season 2:
• Episode 4 (HD 11:24)
• Episode 5 (HD 8:32)
• Joel's Journey to Season 2 (HD 3:39)
• Ellie's Journey to Season 2 (HD 2:58)
• Character Featurettes:
• Joel (HD 00:57)
• Ellie (HD; 00:51)
• Abby (HD; 00:54)
• Dina (HD 00:54)
• Mushroom Taste Test (HD 4:33)

4K UHD Three

• Making of The Last of Us: Season 2:
• Episode 6 (HD 11:06)
• Episode 7 (HD 12:07)
• Pedro & Bella Q&A (HD 6:34)
• Open Book: Isabela Merced and Young Mazino (HD 5:07)
• Stalker Showdown Deconstructed (HD 3:21)
• Camera Roll: Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced & Young Mazino (HD 3:13)
• In Action (HD 4:34)
• Ellie's Path (HD 16:39)
• Beneath the Surface: The Visual FX of The Last of Us (HD 16:41)

At the end of the day, The Last of Us: The Complete Second Season is a decent continuation of the excellent first season, but I wanted more from it. It plays well to the game that spawned it, but it doesn’t expand on the world and the characters in the same way the first season did. More frustrating is that we won’t see how this story plays out for over a year. That’s a hell of a long cliffhanger, especially if all we’re in store for is more of what we already played in the games. However, the great cast, incredible production design, and some deft storytelling make this season well worth taking a look at, even if I was hoping for more from it. And if you loved this season, you’ll be pleased as punch to see it looks and sounds fantastic on 4K UHD. The Dolby Vision/Atmos A/V presentation for each episode is terrific, and the package is complete with a healthy assortment of interesting extra features. Recommended