The Last of Us (2023)TV series

The first episode of HBO’s The Last of Us slotted itself nicely below “just OK.” However, the other shoe has dropped, and the quality has dipped sharply in episode 2, “Infected.” This episode is rife with tropes, clichés, empty character development, meaningless dialogue, and long, drawn-out conversations that ultimately add nothing to the story. It’s almost offensive to label this as a CW-esque walking-and-talking drama. Just because recent years have been rife with some of the worst television ever seen doesn’t mean that the rampant flaws of The Last of Us should be forgiven just because it’s slightly better than the rest of the garbage spewed upon audiences. Once again, the biggest problem with “Infected” is how slow and tedious it is. Hardly anything of note happens...