I travel the world and the seven seas, everybody’s looking for something.

We begin back in 2003, this time in Jakarta, for some first class slow-burn exposition. Despite the fact that we all know how this ends, there’s still tension and horror as the significance of the very first of the infected is uncovered. We experience this through the eyes of an expert scientist, and incredulity, curiosity, terror and sadness are writ large in her every word, her every movement, as she begins to shake in fear, rattling the teacup in her hands. It’s a devastating cold open, and it lays the dramatic groundwork for a couple of important conversations later on, so we understand what’s being discussed before even realising that we do.

This episode belongs to Tess, Joel and Ellie in 2023 as they begin their brave journey through the wreckage of Boston. With Ellie very much an unknown, it’s Tess who persuades Joel to stick to the plan as they process the alarming truth about their ‘cargo’. I love the humour that is injected into this dystopia, as we learn just how feisty, funny and brave Ellie is, beyond her 14 years. We get to fall in love with her in real time as we watch Bella Ramsey’s terrific performance.

The unspoken and unlabelled bond between Tess and Joel is front and centre, and again, shown not told. From her clear leadership to her brief, kind orders… “put the gun down, Joel” she calls as he hears her arrival behind a door and is immediately on guard. Then there’s Joel’s caution and (badly) hidden fear… and it’s subtle… The first time we see him touch her, he snatches his hand back and looks at his fingers with a worried frown, even as he presses on through a flooded lobby. His guarded back-and-forth with Ellie is laced with curiosity and the beginnings of some gentle mocking that I’ll take an educated guess we’ll see much more of, and be glad to.

Going back to that subtlety, Pedro Pascal’s Joel is an understated masterpiece. Are we going to have our hearts broken every week? As we witnessed the loss that made him who he is in the first episode, then saw how it had hardened him, we see further evidence of his broken spirit and hard-earned resilience and pragmatism. The juxtaposition is obvious and striking.

Anna Torv’s Tess doesn’t disappoint either, as she teaches Ellie, and us, more about the ways of the infected and what to be aware of when navigating the torn city-scape. We see that the infected don’t like the sun as the pale rays sweep across the ground, which lends more weight to the Firefly’s rallying cry of ‘look for the light’.

Verdict: Plenty for game-fans and ‘newbies’ alike as we travel this world – hold your head up, we’re moving on. 9/10

Claire Smith