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There’s a lot to dissect with the second episode of HBO’s The Last of Us, and many character orientated moments and set scenes that are worth mentioning. The video game had important sections that the show has altered or done without, and the show has important sections that the game lacks.

8 Indonesia Flashback

HBO’s The Last of Us continues to lean into the past, and delve deeper into what caused the initial outbreak. In episode 2, fans watch a haunting flashback into Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 24th, 2003. Here, a professor of Mycology investigates the first recorded infected patient found at a flour-and-grain factory and advises the military to bomb the city with everyone in it.

This scene is rather traumatic, as it shows the helplessness and inevitability of the cordyceps virus spreading into humans. This scene and its importance is lacking entirely in The Last of Us video game, as the game follows Joel after the events of the outbreak and doesn’t delve into the origins of the initial virus conception.

7 Immune Debate

When audiences see Joel, Ellie, and Tess again for The Last of Us episode 2, there’s a lengthy and tense scene in which Joel and Tess ask questions to Ellie and debate what they should do with her. It further shows the fractured relationship that Joel has with other people and Tess’ desperation for a hopeful future in the world.

This scene is new for The Last of Us and gives audiences an insight into the minds of all three characters, whereas the game ignores the problem at hand and treats Ellie far more like cargo at the start rather than a potential threat and danger.

6 Boston During The Day

As Joel, Ellie and Tess make their way out of a building that they were camping in during the night, they find themselves in the middle of a desolate city. The landscape is beautiful and tragic, filled with overgrowing flora, blown-up buildings, and abandoned highways. However, the element of tension is lost in this scene, as it’s in the middle of the day.

In the original game, Joel, Ellie, and Tess don’t camp out the night after escaping the FEDRA wall and instead venture through the city in the night, leading to a much more intense and scarier encounter in the dark, rather than the bright and calming sights of the show.

5 Open Highway

There are many gameplay sections that the HBO show The Last of Us has decided to skip, and the Boston subway is one of them. In this section, Ellie encounters a clicker for the first time, and Joel and Tess use molotovs and other scavenged weapons to navigate through the two collided buildings to get through to the other side.

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To skip all the action and stealth, the HBO show completely avoids this and elects for the safety of conversation on an abandoned highway. Tess asks Ellie some interesting questions, all while the quiet and reserved Joel keeps a lookout on their walk.

4 Cordyceps Connectivity

Stealth was quite a big feature in The Last of Us games, as it allowed players to carefully plan and take out infected without alerting the masses. Each member of the infected was an individual and relied on their senses in their fungus-riddled brain. However, the HBO show introduces more science to the mix.

It’s explained in episode 2 of The Last of Us that the cordyceps virus serves as a hive mind, in which all those integrated with the fungus have a connective thread that binds them. When one infected dies and hits a tendril, it sends a signal to hordes of infected all over. This adds more tension and urgency if an infected die of fungus, but is different to the game.

3 Joel Gets Separated

The Bostonian Museum features in both The Last of Us and HBO’s live-action adaption. This museum harbors many infected in the game, and Joel, Ellie, and Tess must navigate through it to take a shortcut to the Massachusetts State House. However, in the game, a wooden beam crashes down and separates the gang, leaving Joel to fend for himself against clickers while Tess protects Ellie.

The show nods to this wooden beam breaking, but Joel, Ellie, and Tess all make it out together to fight two clickers. There’s less action in the HBO show in the museum, but it further adds to the threat of the clickers, how strong and how many bullets they can take.

2 Ellie’s Second Bite

The carnage of the Bostonian Museum leaves Joel, Ellie, and Tess fighting for their lives. Yet, one person that doesn’t have to worry too much about a scratch or a bite is Ellie. Ellie is bitten by a clicker, something that she just shrugs off, considering she is immune. Sadly, her gift is not shared by all.

Ellie’s second bite has an influence, as Ellie is bitten by a clicker, but not until The Last of UsPart 2. Ellie’s second bite helps her in spoiler-filled ways in The Last of Us Part 2, but it’s interesting to see that the show has already had her bitten twice, probably because there are no spores in The Last of Us show to emphasize that she cannot get infected.

1 Massachusetts State House

Episode 2 of The Last of Us comes to a disturbing and emotional end as audiences witness the goodbye to Tess. Tess was infected by a clicker and gave her life to save Joel and Ellie so that humanity may have a chance, and she could die for something heroic and redeem herself. Tess’ death in HBO’s The Last of Us comes from an army of infected, in which she blows the Massachusetts State House up, with the infected and her inside. Her death also marks a submission to the virus, featuring an ”infected kiss.”

The game plays out differently and has FEDRA agents hunting for Fireflies. FEDRA arrive at the Massachusetts State House, to which Tess decides to face them head-on to give Joel and Ellie more time to escape, as her luck had run out, and she was already infected. Tess is shot to death rather than blowing up after becoming one of the infected.

The Last of Us is streaming on HBO Max.

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