HBO’s The Last of Us quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, introducing the fungi-controlled world of a bleak future to the masses, many of whom never played the game. The series filled the void left by Game of Thrones and became event television. After two years, the series returned with shocking moments and rating highs, but another trend returned that has become all too common in fandom.
This story contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2.
Over on sister site Metacritic, Season 2 has earned a “must watch” badge and universal acclaim with a current score of 81, with reviews from over 42 established critics. On the flipside, the user score sank the show to a “generally unfavorable” status, with 542 user ratings, and 61% of them voting a 0 or 1.
The thing is, almost all of those reviews contain no actual critique and are still complaining about “woke culture” and asking, “Can we have just straight characters?” There is nothing of nuance or value.
The latest episode, Day One, has Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabel Merced) explore some of Seattle, and they recreate a famous moment from the game as Ellie serenades Dina with A-ha’s “Take On Me.” Afterwards, Dina confesses that she is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend Jesse (Young Mazino) and the young women embrace in an emotional love scene–something that also happened in the game, but some bits of the narration changed to move the story along.
The episode also gave us the origin story of Isaac Dixon (Geoffrey Wright), the future commander of the WLF, and when he left the FEDRA (including a scene with a Josh Peck jumpscare). We fast forward to present-day Isaac as he tortures a Seraphite for information on their next attack, only to kill him when he refuses to give up any information.
Ellie and Dina’s romantic day turns chaotic as they become sandwiched between a WLF squad and a horde of infected underneath the WLF’s hideout. It’s another recreation from the game where they have to make a harrowing escape running through subway cars.
This isn’t the first time this kind of review bombing has happened to the show, either. Fans will remember the homophobic hate that was focused on Bill and Frank’s episode in Season 1–the same episode that won Nick Offerman his first Emmy award. The show made major changes to both men, but was able to craft a brand-new story about finding love in the apocalypse.
