The world of The Last of Us is filled with life, blooming amid rot. The HBO series (and the Naughty Dog game franchise on which it’s based) sports some of the most beautiful set design and cinematography the post-apocalyptic genre has ever seen. In burned-out buildings, flowers turn their petals toward the sun and creeping vine tendrils turn gray concrete green. In this version of the future, even the rotting corpses of the undead are organic — possessed not by the traditional zombie virus, but by fast-growing fungi.
There’s a message somewhere in there about civilization, or rebirth, or perhaps about the peace that comes with a true neutrality of nature. Whatever that message is, though, the frustrating, morally messy, and occasionally lovely second season of The Last of Us doesn’t care. It’s more focused on the people who stomp through the undergrowth, and the endless excuses they make to hurt each other.
