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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

As soon as the Indonesian policeman said 14 workers were missing and the whereabouts of the person who bit the woman were unknown, I knew it was over. By the time you start investigating an outbreak, the damage has already been done. 30 hours is enough time for an infection to travel far. through ppl.

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 :)

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*

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.

I rewarched that scene like 15 times, and still going 😂, never seen something more terrifying and serious before

She has the same age, body size and aura as my grandma who passed away in 2021 which makes it hit a lot harder for me. The way she says “please listen carefully” and “start bombing” gives me chills. No other language could’ve delivered those words like that. Incredible acting from Christine Hakim!

That doctor deserves atleast an Emmy nomination for that scene, just brilliant

I think it is worth noting that the fact that the Cordyceps was spreading through flour shows that the fungus is effectively unkillable: Breads, cakes, pancakes, just about anything containing flour bakes at over 300-350 degrees F. That means that the Cordyceps can withstand extended exposure to those temperatures. So, even if you burn it, it won't die, at least not right away. In fact, burning it could cause the spores to rise on the wind and spread through the air. This heat tolerance is extremely important, since most fungus don't find human body temperature (98.6 F) to be tolerable. This has long been our greatest defense against fungal infections. So, this fungus hasn't just adapted to human hosts, but to be able to survive at extremes of temperature so severe that it would kill most living things. So, even a human being with a high fever is still able to be infected. After all, if it can survive the inside of an oven baking bread, it can survive almost anywhere. It really is an apocalyptic scenario, since not only is it spreading through arguably the most commonly eaten grain on planet Earth. With that massive an initial foothold and any news about the source having been too slow to limit the initial spread, there was no way of stopping the disaster before it was too late. Even in a world where the concept of "Zombies" is well known and the military actually has strategies in place to fight a "Zombie Apocalypse" scenario (With mutated rabies being an example), these are based on an idea that the infection would behave, well, like a standard infection, passing from person to person. Zombie apocalypse scenarios, however, are based on the idea that there would *time* between the initial outbreaks and a worldwide spread. There would be chances to slow, halt, and contain the infection. The infection becoming widespread all across a country, or the nation, is essentially a failed state for the scenario. There's no real answer for what to do if suddenly every other human being just suddenly becomes a "zombie" with little to no warning. This scenario starts with the failed state, and escalates immediately.

After Jakarta was bombed, many other cities ere as well, and we can still see the traces of bombs in Boston later in the episode. That's the point of the scene.

the doctor was such a good actress, when she mentioned bomb i got all the chills

As an Indonesian based in Jakarta, i honestly shit my pants when she said “bomb the city”. This show really knows how to immerse viewers (My apologies if mentioning my nationality bothers any one of you. I only used it to state the fact that I was petrified of such an outbreak occurring right beside of my house and since this is the case in the show, it amplified the fear to a whole new level. Once again, I am deeply sorry if any of you felt like this was yet another patriotic overly-proud useless comment about being indonesian)

I love the flashbacks in the first two episodes. Hope they continue to start each episode like that.

The opening was amazing, having the scene and actors speak Indonesian with subtitles made it all seem so real. It was truly a haunting scene and they could easily make a short season about ground zero in Indonesia with all the actors and actress speaking indonesians with subtitles! it would truly be a different perspective of the zombie genre, considering most zombie films takes place in western society.

Bringing a zombie apocolypse down to earth and slightly plausible is what makes this story strong and this show is making sure we are all in on the possibility of this really happening even if it is not actually possible in reality. I love what they are adding to this.

Not only was Christine Hakim an absolute powerhouse in this scene but was so was the general... displaying the mannerisms of a military man right up until Ibu Ratna lets him know there is no way out. Another piece of amazing writing/attention to detail was the small scene where Ibu Ratna has to slightly walk-jog to keep up with the pace of the military men. This the kind of attention to detail which sets great shows apart from good shows,

This episode was so good and the Clickers was so terrifying.

In episode three when Joel is explaining to Ellie about how the outbreak started and he talked about "Flour" or "Sugar" was the food stuff, and even dropped "Pancake mix" into the list, throwing back to Sarah wanting to make him pancakes on the day of the outbreak, and the eggshell breakfast is what probably saved him.

Just a minor correction. Cordyceps are fungi, not viruses.

I was so excited to see Christine Hakim. She played her role beautifully.

Some info : Christine Hakim is considered a Grand Dame of Indonesian film industry, won 8 times for the best actress category since 1973. The producer and director of this $100 million project knew what they are doing for choosing her for this particular role. Just can't get enough of her, hoping for more of her in the future of this series. Example the US government in collaboration with Indonesian military bring her to Stateside at the beginning of the pandemic for more research and what she knew.

One of the hardest scenes Ive watched on any tv show in a minute. That actor playing the professor needs an Emmy yesterday.

Its great that you hear Sarah reference Jakarta from a radio news story on the day of Joel's birthday in episode 1, then they show what has happened in Jakarta next episode. Just a fantastic opening

Just saw this opening scene in episode 2 and I must say that it's the best opening scene I have seen. The Indonesian actress and the male officer talking to her capture that grim moment so freaking good, got my hairs standing up right.

3:48 jakarta also has the largest flour mill in the world, which makes sense as to how widespread was and fast it spread.

such a powerful subtle performance on her part. 10/10

Little pet peeve of mine in this episode: HBO messed up on the translation of the professor's name. Her name's Ratna. "Ibu" actually means ma'am/Mrs., so people calling her Professor Ibu Ratna is basically calling her Professor Mrs. Ratna, which is weird.

i was caught off guard with the intro to episode 2 i really like that we are getting more of a background on the spread of the virus, and not only that the fact the zombies can interact with eachother with those vines running thru their hands was insanely awesome

Jakarta is also the perfect place for it to start since it is supposedly the worlds largest supplier of flour. So for Craig & Neil to set Jakarta as the epicenter for the outbreak was genius.

This is why I feel a fungus is such a great instrument for a zombie outbreak. There is no cure for the cordyceps because a fungus isn't a virus, it's an animal. The only way you can remove it is to ensure that it goes extinct. This is why Ellie being "immune" is such a big deal. The fungus can't survive within her. Such a great way to adapt the original material!

I hope each cold open continues to follow the progression of the scientists until the finale where the cold open is from the perspective of the doctor

The only thing bothered me was the yellow haze effect which all the western media sets whenever they portray Asian countries, Mexico or Middle Eastern countries. Like omg believe it or not, we actually have blue skies. Not everything is a sickly yellow.

The opening scene was scarier than the rest of the episode to me, my heart was beating so fast.

As someone who was oddly fascinated with studying Fungi in middle school, it really is almost like an alien organism, and closer in biology to animals than any from of plant life... I loved the game partially because of the biological accuracy, and I'm really excited that the show is doing the same... Someone had said they are happy this is science fiction... I just replied "Tell that to insects..." 👁👄👁

Rewatched the episode so many times and still get chills on how real it felt. The look on the General's face when Ibu Ratna said to start bombing after realizing the gravity of the situation and that there was no hope. The acting was incredible

I'm liking the series so far. But they cut out some key parts, such as Joel dying 18 times in the first Clicker room because you didn't make enough shivs.

The opening for this episode.... Christine Hakim(Ratna) knocked it out of the park!!

Christine Hakim, Indonesian Meryl Streep, a seasoned actress no doubt she nailed this short scene, so impactful and powerful

I just realized; In episode one Joel and Sarah skip eating pancakes for breakfast, Sarah turns down her neighbor's cookies and Joel forgets to bring home a birthday cake. If the cordyceps were in the flour than every one of those missed meals was them dodging a bullet.

Brilliant opening scenes. Flashbacks are often overused and done incorrectly, but this was done right. The actors in the opening sequence performed perfectly. Masterpiece. The fear and confusion of the professor when she was taken from the restaurant was so on point…and her change to astonishment and then sheer terror and sadness…wow. I felt every ounce of the emotion those scenes gave. I cried with Grandma professor…her reluctant and pained acceptance of the gravity of the outbreak hit hard with me. Bomb. Bomb the city. So far, so good. I can’t wait for next week’s episode.

To be honest, the opening scene in this epsd is the best scene in the entire epsd

The part that gave me chills was when she just said she wanted to go home to her family. As a lifelong student of the fungal world, she knew what the conclusion would be before it even started.

The fact that TLOU opening shows the country of Indonesia is pretty much impressive considering that more zombie films often take place in the Western world or in the East Asian world

That actress absolutely _killed_ the role of Professor Ibu; I really hope to see her in more things!

how accurate everything is in this scene, the uniform used in that era, the ministry of health logo from that era, the formality of the language used.. i can even say the guy is a lieutenant general from kostrad (strategic command of indonesian army).

My issue with this episode was Tess tryna use a lighter when she was surrounded by grenades….just use one

Wonderful scene, excellent acting. Also note that in one of the earliest trailers for the series, there is a brief section which shows bombers and fighters jets flying over rural areas as citizens look upwards. So I have a feeling we will see a flashback of one/many cities being bombed. Edit: Also, did anyone else notice the ever so slight theme song in the background the moment she said "bomb"? What a great touch.

fun fact, at the beginning of the scene we can hear music background plays ari lasso's song , and the lyric , "kini kau menghilang, bagaikan ditelan bumi" , or translated , "now you're gone ,like swallowed by earth" , i dont know why they put this song, but i think , it really perfectly fit the show

Just a note: Most cordyceps fungi species are in Asia, but you can find it also in the Amazon. ( I actually once travelled in the Amazon forest with a mycologist who studies this fungi). Thus, both the game and the serie have an origen of the disease that is possible.. Another note, it is unlikely that the mycologist of the serie has ever looked for a cure. Why looking for a cure if the fungi only attacks insects like ants, or other arthopods like spiders. As long if the fungi do not attack an insect considered to be economically important, like bees, it will be difficult to find funding. On the other hand, studies could be done to see it the cordyceps can be used as an insecticide, or even as a biological weapon. But it is a fact that looking for a cure would be difficult. Our best weapon against viruses are vaccines, our best weapon against bacteria are the antibiotics (antibiotics are produced by fungi to combat bacteria, routing out competition). So, scientist would need to start from scratch, and can not rely on the conventional remedies of vaccine and antibiotics.

One thing I really loved about this episode was that they kept the original voice actor/ motion capture actors of the Clikers( The zombie if anyone is wondering ) from the game. I felt like I was playing the game all along

There's a theory in the game theorists that propose that Ellie isn't actually immune, but instead "infected" by another species of cordyceps, the Tolypocladium inflatum, this one which doesn't infect the nervous system, acts like an immunosuppressant and ,as an added bonus,, is made into cyclosporine: antifungal medicine, thus explainin why she doesn't wear a mask (in the game) and the whole bite thing.

I had to rewatch the Indonesian scenes like three times 😂 it was so good lol

The opening scene is such a flip on what other pandemic/zombie movies do with the trope of scientists being pulled aside by the state to address the newly discovered virus or whatever. In most shows/movies the doctor or specialist is pulled away from their day to day life like we see in the opening moments, but instead of the specialist appealing to reason and hope to a gung-ho general it’s the complete opposite! The general is the one appealing to reason, holding out on hope for a cure and it’s the doctor that tells him that there is no reason for hope and that he should start bombing immediately instead. The gravity of the moment during their sit down over tea is immense! It definitely fits the vibe of the devs of the game that were trying to make a new but different “zombie” game. Can’t wait to see the rest of the series.

Good job man you explained it perfectly!! Even other big KZfaqrs haven't put it together yet of what actually happened and how it spread so fast

That opening scene in Indonesia was so good that it made me want to see an entire Zombie movie set in Indonesia with subtitles.

I love this show so much I really hope they continue showing more intros like this

My absolute favorite opening. The storyline, those actors. It was perfect, I've watched that opening at least 5 times now already.

I love the backing theme you use? Takes me back to the better call Saul episode reviews😢

The fear that Ibu Ratna conveyed was far more chilling than anything else on the show till now. I felt truly the hopelesness and tha magnitude of the tragedy that was about to unfold. Great writing, great acting.

This wasn't in the game but would be so perfect to be the origin of the infection. I'm a microbiologist and I'm so impressed on how they handled the fungi proliferating in a wheat factory.

It could be one of the greatest scenes in television history. Right up there with "I am the one who knocks". She gives me chills when she starts shaking and has to put her tea down. Than gives him the answer nobody wants to hear... Bomb

When I was watching the first episode I knew it would be that grandma to turn into an infected because earlier when Sarah was in their house looking over some photos or something, I could see that Grandma was twitching strangely in the background. Then later on in the series, Joel said it started with suppliers of flour or grain of some sort, then I immediately thought about how Grandma was having biscuits in the morning. Every tiny detail counts lol

*SPOILERS* i’m not sure if i’m late to this conclusion already, and i might be wrong, but since there’s no cure no matter what, then trying to make a cure out of Ellie really would be useless even if shes immune. I feel like Ellie, and anyone else who is immune, are just the next step in human evolution, and need to survive to procreate a new generation of humans who can survive against the fungus. This would make Joel’s decision to rescue Ellie appear as less selfish. Let me know if the was the whole point from the beginning tho.

The opening to the second episode of this series did something that similar flesh eating zombie series/movies always seems to gloss over. While those stories tend to put its audience in the middle of the mayhem already in progress, this breaks the mold in its first 9 minutes and places us at ground zero. This opening shows its viewers the helplessness and hopelessness of the situation, and by doing so it highlights the importance of Ellie and the ultimate hope her character brings to this bleak remainder of civilization. By taking the time to show the audience the bleak early stages of the Cordyceps Infection in Jakarta, The Last of Us is steadily becoming a much needed breath of air to the whole zombie horror genre.

The more that guy in the military talked to her...the more afraid she got because she knew it was too late. They didn't know who or what bit the initial carrier, 14 employees where the first outbreak was missing...it just got worse and worse the more he talked.

These key moment flashbacks are so great for world building. And a great way to give information without having to exposition dump. I hope it carryover to season 2.

I vaguely remember in episode 1 that Sarah heard news over the radio or tv about Jakarta

The show is just fantastic so far. My wife has never played the game, nor does she know about it. While I have the ps3 and remaster platinumed and know the game inside and out. It stays faithful to the source material as much as possible to keep those who know the game inside and out engaged, and keeping my wife engaged the entire time as well. It is so hard to not spoil it for her.

The prologues in both episodes one and two are brilliantly done. I never played the game but some younger family members have, and even back then I remember how shaken they were by the story. When we got word about the show they insisted we all needed to see it. So far I'm really impressed, but my highest marks so far go to those prologues, especially this one. The first set the stage for how it could (hypothetically) happen, backing up its plausibility with real existing scientific information (and John Hannah is wonderful full stop). Episode 2 takes that and adds a real human feel. When the professor wipes her eyes and gives her solution it is a gut punch. I hope they keep that format; it has acted as a pre-action meditation to guide us into that world.

This is even more scary and disturbing when realizing Twinkies have an average shelf life of ten thousand years.

Here's my theory It does not originate from Indonesia because 2 days isn't enough time for the products to be shipped out worldwide,p ut on supermarket shelves and then immediately used in cooking/baking to be consumed. Shipping the product itself to the US would take a month by containers. Plus nobody exports flour because pricing wise doesn't make sense and i'll explain why. I believe the grain itself is the source of contamination. Flour mills worldwide use the same grain to produce flour. The number 1 exporter of grain is the US, canada being number 2 (we're talking worldwide supply) Hence it was already in the US before it even happened in Jakarta and also why it happened instantaneously across the globe.

Ain't no way you ship flour and grain within 4 days all around the world you would need at least 4 weeks to let it reach the US from Indonesia through the ocean. It spread through the world just like how COVID did. Planes, human to human. Also, you can't get infected from cooked food because fungus can't survive the temperature but you can if you're handling raw material.

I was so hyped by it, love to rewatch opening and the whole 1 episode again and again

I absolutely love how they're expanding on what happened, and how it happened. And that the OG creator is involved.

Kinda scary these days, where cordyceps is literally sold as a health product

This scene probably saved lives from any future cataclysm from maturing fungi organisms..like honestly after that intro fungi are probably the last thing I ever want to get close too. Also felt real like “Iam the captain now” scene 😂. Beautiful acting just that Oscar winning performance

Parasitic Cordyceps definitely exists in South America. I have a few photos I took myself of dead fungal ants while I was in the rainforest.

Both opening scenes from the 2 episodes gave me chills. We get glimpses of how things were from the game through the collectibles/notes and things like that. However the pre outbreak flash backs in the show are great and really compound on the gravity of the situation. Not everyone knew what was happening but people like that doctor knew and seen the inevitable asteroid of a different kind at the doorstep. Scary shit.

When she said you have to bomb this city and everyone in it and asked to go spend time with her family I was sooooo sad watching.

Mushrooms don’t hit the same after this episode 😭

I loved how it was a perfect explanation as to why every major city was bombed, and therefore taken over by foliage for 20+ years.

and this video reiterated the importance of why the opening scene of episode 2 was so important by reiterating the importance of each scene

This opening was a masterpiece. It was so chilling, it was a surprise when the scientist, who is supposed to be one of the greatest mind of the country just advise the general to bomb the city and everyone in it, in hope to have a chance to fight the spread of the cordyceps. It was the scariest thing of the whole show. True psychological Horror.

The accuracy of the scene on the road is even more incredible in which the production team take it to James Cameron level of perfectionism detail, all of the cars and motorbikes shown are from the 90s and early 2000, I can't spot any latest cars and motorbikes on the road in the scene.