The first season of HBO‘s The Last of Us developed a well-earned reputation for giving its guest stars and supporting players some of the meatiest material on the show. The Last of Us Season 2 only just premiered last night and we already have an Emmys contender roaring out of the gate. Catherine O’Hara, usually renowned for her comedy chops, gets to show off her dramatic flair as an unorthodox therapist who openly loathes her patient, Joel (Pedro Pascal). Gail is a fascinating addition to the world of The Last of Us and O’Hara’s performance is essentially Emmys-bait at its best.
**Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 1, now streaming on MAX**
Most of The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 1 takes place five years after the first season. It’s 2029. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is now a sulky 19-year-old who lives in Joel’s garage. They live in the protected utopia of Jackson, Wyoming. Oh, and Joel actually goes to therapy. In fact, he visits the town’s one therapist, Gail, early on in the episode.
The first inkling we get that Gail isn’t your normal medical professional is the fact that she gets paid in pot. The second is that she offers Joel whiskey and admits she’s already buzzed. Over the course of their session, it soon becomes clear that while Gail has a professional obligation to help Joel, she personally hates him. We learn that her beloved husband Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) was a pillar of the community before he was bitten by an infected and neutralized by Joel.
Gail still blames Joel for being the one who shot Eugene. Moreover, she calls bullshit on his “grouching” about Ellie’s antipathy for him. As Gail points out, it’s pretty normal for older teens to ice out their parents. Joel is not really suffering a great hardship. Then again, Gail can also intuit that Joel isn’t telling her the whole truth. He conveniently omits the fact that Ellie probably has learned that he lied to her about killing the Fireflies in Salt Lake City. When Gail asks Joel what he did to earn Ellie’s hatred, he just tearfully says, “I saved her.”
The reason this sequence is so gripping is because it’s two actors at their finest. Pascal presents Joel as haunted and armored, while O’Hara is bluntly vicious and cruelly vulnerable. You get the sense that Gail isn’t just mad at Joel for shooting Eugene, but that she also despises him for his dishonesty. After all, she can call a spade a spade and admit she’s mad at him. He can’t even own up to the real fracture in his and Ellie’s relationship.
Catherine O’Hara runs away with The Last of Us Season 2 premiere, which is saying something considering how many great performances are thrown down.