The Last Of Us Season 2’s Employee Of The Month Dog Easter Egg Calls Back To A Fun Game Moment
Includes SPOILERS for The Last of Us season 2, episode 1, and for The Last of Us Part II game!The Last of Us season 2’s premiere included a fun and easy-to-miss Easter Egg for the video game sequel. HBO has a reputation for putting out great television, but there’s always an advantage to adapting a TV series from an IP that already has an enormous fan base. The Last of Us is widely considered to be one of the best video games of all time, and it’s a clear trailblazer for narrative-centric games. That quality is a huge component of what makes it such an ideal game to adapt into prestige television, but the gameplay is also nothing to undervalue.
The Last of Us doesn’t offer an open-world experience like The Witcher or Skyrim, but the game still provides players withplenty to explore and discover. Each level is packed with small world-building elements that tell stories about characters from the games or even characters we’ll never meet. HBO’s The Last of Us season 2’s story is based on the sequel game, and outside of the main narrative, the show has included a few treats specifically in place for fans of the game to notice.
The Last Of Us Season 2’s Premiere Featured A Reference To The Game’s Employee Of The Month Dog
The Season 2 Premiere Offered The Show’s Most Fun Easter Egg Yet
When Ellie is in the supermarket, she shines her flashlight on the Employee of the Month board. Among the human winners Ellie sees is a portrait of an adorable dog. This could just seem like a cute detail to most TV viewers, offering a pleasant glimpse back at the world before the breakout, but it’s actually a reference to a similar board from the video game, which is also in the same Greenplace Market. The new season has done a fantastic job at replicating some of the sets directly from the game.
The abandoned buildings Ellie, her new love interest Dina, and the rest of the characters visit on their patrols look like they’re straight out of the video game. Ellie and Dina even use structures surrounding it to gain access from an upper-floor window, much like how a player would have to in The Last of Us Part II. These details aren’t of significant consequence to television viewers, but they go a long way in appealing to the long-term fans of the franchise.
Related
The Last of Us season 2 will feature a big debate about Joel’s character and his choices, with one moment from the premiere subtly setting this up.
The Dog Picture Ended Up Being Important In The Last Of Us Part 2 Game
There’s A Secret Code To Discover With The Dog’s Photo
Image via Max
The dog picture isn’t just there to be cute; it’s actually part of a puzzle in the video game, as the date the dog won employee of the month is the code for a nearby safe deposit box (07-20-13, if you need to crack it open). The Last of Us games are known for their keen attention to detail, making their barren world somehow feel vivid and lively. This is a brief moment of levity in a brutal game, and it was exciting to see it in the TV show.
8/10
- Release Date
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January 15, 2023
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Craig Mazin
- Directors
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Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
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Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
