History Recap / TheLastOfUs2023S1E2Infected

* BaitAndSwitch: At the beginning of the episode in Jakarta, the military takes a woman into custody. At first it seems she might be infected and she's being quarantined, but then it's revealed that she's Professor Ratna Pertiwi, a mycologist, and the authorities are seeking her help.

* GodzillaThreshold: During the Jakarta outbreak, Prof. Ratna Pertiwi, a senior fungal researcher, is brought in to investigate the new cordyceps mutation. After being fully briefed on the outbreak, she explains that no treatment or vaccine will be able to be produced, and the only solution is to totally wipe Jakarta off the map.

The trio set out into the ruins of Boston. The city was devasted by the bombs that were dropped in order to try and control the spread of the infection, and all this destruction and nature steadily claiming the remains has turned what two decades ago would be a ten-minute walk to the statehouse into two routes; the long but safe way and the short but 'We're fuckin' dead' way. The group elects for the former, which necessitates traveling through a flooded hotel and clambering to the roof in order to cross between buildings -- only to find the way has been blocked by debris since the last time Joel and Tess visited. While Tess scouts ahead to find a clear route, Joel and Ellie make awkward conversation where he quickly shuts down any questions about himself.

* BaitAndSwitch: At the beginning of the episode in Jakarta, the military takes a woman into custody. At first it seems she might be infected and she's being quarantined, but then it's revealed that she's Professor Ibu Ratna, a mycologist, and the authorities are seeking her help.

* GodzillaThreshold: During the Jakarta outbreak, Ibu Ratna, a senior fungal researcher, is brought in to investigate the new cordyceps mutation. After being fully briefed on the outbreak, she explains that no treatment or vaccine will be able to be produced, and the only solution is to totally wipe Jakarta off the map.

The trio set out into the ruins of Boston. The city was devasted by the bombs that were dropped in order to try and control the spread of the infection, and all this destruction and nature steadily claiming the remains has turned what would normally be a ten-minute walk to the statehouse into two routes; the long but safe way and the short but 'We're fuckin' dead' way. The group elects for the former, which necessitates traveling through a flooded hotel and clambering to the roof in order to cross between buildings -- only to find the way has been blocked by debris since the last time Joel and Tess visited. While Tess scouts ahead to find a clear route, Joel and Ellie make awkward conversation where he quickly shuts down any questions about himself.

Tess soon returns with bad news, inviting Joel and Ellie to come and see for themselves. She reveals that the route they had planned to take is now crowded with scores of infected people. As Ellie stares at this distant but still disquieting first sight of the infected, writhing on the ground and snarling when sunlight hits them, Tess explains that the fungus also burrows underground for miles at a time, connecting those it has infested into a hive mind. Step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, and dozens of infected will be summoned. Even if Ellie is immune to the fungus, that's no protection from being ripped apart.

With this route now unusable, the only other way to the statehouse is via the roof of a nearby museum. Fortunately the fungus covering it seems to be long dead and it's no longer a beacon for the infected. Unfortunately, fairly soon after they venture inside the building Ellie stumbles upon a freshly dead man -- not a victim of the fungus but of a savage attacker that mauled him like an animal. Ellie starts to wonder aloud what could have done that but is quickly hushed by a terrified Joel and Tess, who evidently know ''exactly'' what did it. But they have no choice but to press on and upwards through the building, carpeted with the desiccated remains of humans and fungus alike and combined, in complete silence. Inevitably their luck only holds so far and as they enter one of the exhibit rooms the ceiling collapses behind them, both robbing them of a retreat and drawing the attention of something in the dark.

* FromBadToWorse: While still recovering from the shock that cordyceps has spread to humans, and can apparently be transmitted through a bite, Dr. Ratna then learns in rapid succession that the dead woman worked at a flour and grain factory, which is one of the ''worst'' places to find a dangerous fungus; she went berserk and attacked her co-workers, biting three of them before she was shot by the police; the people who were bitten were taken into custody and within a few hours "it became necessary, according to procedure, to execute them"; the authorities have ''no'' idea who originally bit the woman, so that person is still on the loose... and fourteen other people who work at the factory are unaccounted for. It is this last bit of information that causes her hands to shake uncontrollably, as she now fully understands how dire the situation really is, leading her to recommend crossing the GodzillaThreshold below.

* BreakTheHaughty: At the start of the journey, Ellie is rather flippant and devil-may-care, not taking things totally seriously since she's immune to the fungus. At a certain point Tess shows her the scores of infected people in their initial path, tells her about how the underground filaments of the fungus work, and gently reminds her that she's not immune to being ripped apart and the adults are trying to keep her alive. Ellie is noticeably more serious and willing to follow directions after that.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Dr. Ratna explains calmly the deadly solution to the Jakarta outbreak, before asking politely to be taken to see her family one last time.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Joel mentions that while some infected live for years, most of them only last a month or two. Considering the infected are nothing more than mindless attack-animals with no sense of self-preservation, the idea that most of die of natural causes is a plausible one.

* SuprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Joel mentions that while some infected live for years, most of them only last a month or two. Considering the infected are nothing more than mindless attack-animals with no sense of self-preservation, the idea that most of die of natural causes is a plausible one.

-->''I don't know how I was supposed to know that…''

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the game, the Fireflies that the heroes were supposed to meet at the capitol building were killed by FEDRA, who returned to ambush the group and kill Tess. While writing the script for the episode, Craig Mazin felt that it didn't make sense for them to even be there and wondered why they would be patrolling so far beyond the QZ and the buffer zone, so in the episode the Fireflies end up [[MutualKill killing each other]] when some of them get infected. Tess stays behind to blow up an infected horde that was alerted to their location and dies in the blast.

* ScientistVsSoldier: A subverted example in the Jakarta flashback. Given the way the US military approached the outbreak, you’d expect the Indonesian military to be just as aggressive. The military leader, Lieutenant General Agus Hidayat, is asking the scientist, Ratna for a vaccine or a cure. Ratna informs him in no uncertain terms that there is no vaccine and that the only solution is to bomb the city and everyone in it. Including her. The poor man looks horrified.