Why The Opening Scene In THE LAST OF US Episode 2 Is SO Important

What did you think of the opening scene in The Last Of Us Episode 2? Comment your thoughts below!

Every time you use "virus" to describe a fungus, a biologist dies.

Not only does the cordyceps growing in flour make sense and explains how it could've spread so fast across the world, but it's also mindblowing when you remember how many meals with flour were in the first episode: Joel didn't want pancakes on his birthday Granny Adler ate biscuits which Joel and Sarah neglected and Joel forgot to bring home a cake. If they ate any of that they might have gotten infected. Joel unknowingly dodged the bullet on three occasions. That's so crazy and great storytelling.

The opening was absolutely incredible and felt as dark as Chernobyl

Also the fact that the largest grain/flour mill is in Jakarta, and Indonesia is one of the largest flour grain exporter in the world, it does make sense and realistic tho

For a small fact, the actress who take role as Professor Ratna is Christine Hakim. Put it simply, she is Indonesian equivalent of Dame Judi Dench, or Dame Hellen Mirren. Truly a legend

It really shows how helpless it is when she recommends bombing the city because there is no cure. and she knows there is no hope because she wants to be with her family

There was a comment someone made that I really liked on another video about how it was an interesting twist how it’s the military man asking for a medicine or vaccine and the scientific woman goes straight to a wanting the city destroyed. The man of war wants a scientific answer but the woman of science knew a violent response was needed. A bit of a change from the usual trope of the gung ho general not listening to reason and scientist saving the day with their scientific answer.

That moment when she learns how many workers are still missing, and she starts shaking. Because it hits her that fast, it's too late, far far too late. The absolute fear conveyed in that moment and the entire opening is absolutely incredible.

Opening was an absolute masterpiece 10/10. And the rest of the episode was a solid 9 with 10/10 ending

It was scary with how real the beginning of this episode made everything feel.

You can also hear a news in episode 1 (while Joel and Sarah taking breakfast), about a flour factory in Jakarta. It was subtle but noticable.

The directors explained they wanted the opening to be in Indonesia bc they wanted this show to make the audience see that it was in fact on a global scale and not just an American, as it was felt in the game. They also said that they wanted to do scenes of majors cities during the outbreak but didn’t have enough money 😢

That lady's acting was PERFECTION. Masterful. Me and my lady's eyes teared up bad lol

So I watched the interview of this actress. This was one of those scenes shot during CoVid (obviously), and her 13 year old relative really begged her to take the casting for this show, but she was very worried because her husband is comorbid and she worried that things would happen to her family if she got sick on the shooting process. So we have a senior actress shooting a scene in which a professor asking to be sent home to meet her family in the last days before a zombie pandemic about to happen, WHILE also really worried for her family on a global pandemic.

“Bomb” was never so terrifying. Her hands shaking after she was told 14 people are unaccounted for was amazing. Show and not tell.

If there are openings like this each episode, the show will be perfect

This episode that shows you the problem is infected flour makes you look back at episode one. They couldn't make pancakes, they forgot the birthday cake, she didn't eat the cookies because they had raisins, he's on atkins so no bread and the family next to them that got infected were feeding biscuits to granma. So much attention to detail.

Props to the actor that played the General for showing the absolute horror at being told by his expert that the only way to possibly give the rest of the world a fighting chance is to immediately raze Jakarta to the ground

small comment, her name would be Professor Ratna. The name "Ibu Ratna" translates to "Mother Ratna" but in Indonesia, the word "Ibu" (meaning mother) is also used as a respectful way to call a lady older than you, sort of like the equivalent of calling someone Ms/Mrs. A lil cultural lesson for everyone :)