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      ‘The Last of Us’: What to Remember Ahead of Season 2

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      Where did we last leave Joel and Ellie? Well, it was a little complicated. It was also over two years ago. Here’s a refresher.Videogame adaptations have not, historically, had the best critical reputations; and zombie apocalypse stories are a bit played out. This is what was working against “The Last of Us” when HBO debuted Season 1 in 2023. A series based on a game, set in a postapocalyptic landscape populated by ferocious monsters? Did we need another show like this, given that we already have something like seven iterations of the “Walking Dead”?Apparently so, given the level of acclaim and popularity the first “The Last of Us” season enjoyed. Craig Mazin, working with the game’s creator, Neil Druckmann, reimagined and reinvigorated an exhausted action-horror subgenre, making it work for television by taking advantage of what the medium allows. They broke their sweeping, epic story into gripping individual episodes, filled with small but potent moments of tension and tragedy.It helped also that “The Last of Us” has such appealing lead characters: the gruff mercenary Joel (Pedro Pascal) and the foul-mouthed teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who travel together across a country populated by murderous gangs and rapacious creatures. Viewers very quickly became invested in these two, pulling for them not only to survive but also to make the most of whatever time they might have left on Earth.It has been over two years since the Season 1 finale aired, so some fans might need a refresher on what Joel and Ellie went through and where they are now. So before Season 2 debuts on Sunday, here is what you need to know.So there are these mushrooms …Some say the world will end in fire; some say ice. In “The Last of Us,” we fear the fungus. The story starts with an explanation of the fungi cordyceps, a parasitic genus that in the real world can infect insects, effectively seizing control of their brains. In the TV series, these parasites begin infecting humans in 2003 (perhaps through tainted flour). In a matter of days, the whole planet is overrun with mindless killing machines who can infect other humans with their bite.Most of Season 1 is set in 2023, after many of the noninfected have been clustered into scattered, isolated enclaves, each with its own rudimentary government and social structure. In the decades since the cordyceps plague started, the infected have gone through changes, evolving new powers and becoming stronger, while guided by an interconnected fungal root structure. The best way for humans to survive has been to seal themselves off as best as possible from the rampaging hordes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Rick Levine, Who Gave Commercials Cinematic Flair, Dies at 94

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      An award-winning director, he created ads for brands like Diet Pepsi (starring Michael J. Fox) and Wells Fargo by bringing a Hollywood sensibility to the small screen.Rick Levine, an award-winning television commercial director who brought a big-screen sensibility to the small screen with widely celebrated spots, like a Diet Pepsi Super Bowl ad from the 1980s featuring Michael J. Fox risking life and limb for love, died on March 11 at his home in Marina del Rey, Calif. He was 94.The death was confirmed by his daughter Abby LaRocca.Mr. Levine was a product of what is often called the golden age of advertising, rising in the business through the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s and founding his own company, Rick Levine Productions, in 1972. It was a time when network television held a hypnotic sway over the average American household, and advertising, like so many other cultural arenas of the era, was exploding in creativity.Often serving as his own cinematographer, Mr. Levine approached his big-budget commercials like a director of Hollywood blockbusters.“We decided to make our ads look as good as films,” he said in a 2009 interview with DGA Quarterly, published by the Directors Guild of America. “I would direct and shoot, so I would have complete control.”The Guild named him the best commercial director in 1981 and 1988, in particular for three specific spots.Most notable among them was the Diet Pepsi commercial with Mr. Fox, which Mr. Levine made for BBDO New York; it was one of many ads he shot for Pepsi.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump and ‘The Residence’ Share a Fixation on Water Pressure

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      Paul William Davies, the creator of “The Residence,” talks about overlapping themes between his series and the actual Trump administration.This week, as the global economy struggled to adjust to whipsawing tariff policies, President Trump signed an executive order to address another national crisis: weak shower head pressure.The order, aimed at reducing bureaucracy and regulation, reverses limits on how much water can pour out of a nozzle per minute, which were implemented by the Obama and Biden administrations in an attempt to conserve water.Mr. Trump, while signing the order, noted that, in particular, he doesn’t appreciate that weak pressure hinders him from getting a good hair wash.“In my case I like to take a nice shower, to take care of my beautiful hair,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”Weak shower pressure has been one of Mr. Trump’s longstanding pet peeves. But the whole thing may have sounded familiar — a little too familiar — for anyone who has been watching Netflix’s recent screwball mystery series, “The Residence,” in which President Perry Morgan, played by Paul Fitzgerald, has a similar pet peeve, with a White House usher explaining that he demands “pressure like a fire hose.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      From ‘The Last of Us’ to ‘The Walking Dead,’ How Well Do You Know Your Zombies?

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      <!–>“We were called contractors … We were cool. Everybody loved contractors.”—Joel Miller–> Victor, a former businessman in “Fear the Walking Dead” Sheila, a former realtor in “Santa Clarita Diet” Joel, a former contractor in “The Last of Us” Glenn, a former pizza delivery guy in “The Walking Dead” Source: Television – nytimes.com More

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      ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 3 Finale Recap: The Wilderness Is Hungry

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      The episode finally revealed the full story behind the show’s very first scene. It also revealed even darker truths about Shauna.Season 3, Episode 10: ‘Full Circle’We’ve made it back to the beginning of “Yellowjackets.”The season finale gives us the extended version of the moment that hooked us from the pilot: A dark haired girl running through the snow as she is chased by a group of mask-wearing teens. She falls into a stake-filled pit and dies.Now we know for sure who the deceased is: It’s Mari, as many long suspected. After the survivors decide it is time for another hunt to appease the angry Wilderness, Mari draws the Queen of Hearts. Tai and Van’s attempts to make the newcomer Hannah the target are thwarted by a vindictive Shauna. Mari is the victim of Shauna’s meddling.While some suit up and join the chase without compunction, for others it’s painful to watch, as it is for the viewer. Mari is their close friend and teammate. Gen even tries to distract Tai in order to buy Mari some time. But the conclusion is predictable because we’ve seen it before. Mari dies, her fingers twitching as she bleeds out.Still, this familiar sequence is paired with something completely new, a cliffhanger that reshapes what a fourth season might look like. While Shauna is distracted, Natalie and Hannah outwit her. Hannah disguises herself as Nat, while Nat takes the almost-repaired satellite phone to the highest peak she can find and dials. At first, no one responds. But eventually, as Aerosmith’s “Livin’ on the Edge” cues on the soundtrack, she hears a voice. “I can hear you,” it says.Now there’s a real chance of rescue.Natalie’s moment of heroism, however, contrasts sharply with Shauna’s absolute descent into madness in both timelines. Teen Shauna is drunk on her own power, and it’s hard to know whether she truly believes in the Wilderness or is just out for blood to prove her dominance. Her cruellest moment comes when she demands to have Mari’s hair to affix like a medal to her robes. (She never really liked Mari anyway.)In the present, we get a glimpse into this mentality. Adult Shauna is done trying to bury the past or make apologies for it. It’s a bit of self acceptance that comes in the wake of this week’s other big revelation: Callie is Lottie’s killer, meaning that Shauna is not only a murderer but also the mother of a murderer. (I did not see this one coming at all.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Pitt’ Is Concerned About Your Health, America

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      The Max hospital drama is a TV throwback with an of-the-moment message about systems pushed to the breaking point.Ever have one of those endless days at work? For 15 hours in the Pitt, the emergency room that lends its name to the Max medical drama, a team of doctors and nurses, led by Dr. Michael Robinavitch (Noah Wyle), have been tackling every woe that human frailty and the city of Pittsburgh can throw at them.What do they treat? You name it. Mass-shooting injuries. Overdoses. Problem pregnancies. Heart attacks. Measles.What do they really treat? Despair. The flood of opioids. The lack of insurance. The lack of support networks. Male rage. Rage, in general. The breakdown of the public health system. The breakdown of the public.Over a long, stressful, yet reassuringly competent and entertaining first season, which wrapped up on Thursday, “The Pitt” generated old-school melodrama out of a simple understanding: The E.R. is where people end up when something goes wrong, either with the body individual or with the body politic.And what is wrong with the American corpus? Buddy, take a number; the waiting room is full.If the concerns of “The Pitt” are of-the-moment, its appeal is as old as rabbit-ear antennas. It’s a Big Fat Hospital Show, wringing suspense and jerking tears out of life and death weekly. It is a successor, almost a crypto-sequel, to a specific Big Fat Hospital Show — “ER,” the alma mater of Wyle; the “Pitt” creator, R. Scott Gemmill; and the producer John Wells. (The estate of Michael Crichton, the creator of “ER,” has filed a lawsuit accusing “The Pitt” of being an unauthorized reboot. Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces “The Pitt,” has called the claims “baseless.”)Three decades ago, “ER” was itself a new spin on a hoary genre, and “The Pitt” shares some of its predecessor’s hallmarks. There’s the adrenaline pace, with the camera chasing doctors and nurses around a fully built-out hospital set. There is the dedication to technical realism. (“Does [show] get [factual detail] right?” is my least favorite standard for judging art, but if that’s your thing, medical professionals give it high marks.) The season even bookends its beginning and ending with scenes on the roof, calling back to the site of several high-drama “ER” moments.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Comedian Josh Johnson Talks ‘The Daily Show,’ Specials and More

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      He doesn’t have a tight five minutes like most stand-ups, but his up-to-the-moment, thoughtful sets are winning legions of fans.Josh Johnson is exactly who you think he is.Or at least very close to the wry, deeply thoughtful, country-mouse-turned-city-mouse persona of his standup sets. In real life, which in this case is a sushi restaurant around the corner from the Comedy Cellar, he’s wearing his stage uniform — fitted gray hoodie, jeans, sneakers, twists pulled back into a ponytail — and he’s speaking in circles, only to arrive at a sometimes funny but always poignant conclusion.After a decade of “up-and-coming” accolades, sets at major comedy venues, two hourlong specials and writing jobs on “The Tonight Show” and “The Daily Show,” the 35-year-old comedian is arriving right on time. Where once Johnson might have occasionally crossed your screen — take his superviral “Catfishing the KKK” set from 2017, about a brief online friendship with a white supremacist — his timely, topical material and fast-growing fan base are now inescapable.“I think a lot of stuff is kind of coming together,” said Johnson over lunch. “Some of it is me choosing to read certain things, learn certain things and pull from different people in my life. And some of it is just the accident of luck.”His sudden rise can’t be attributed solely to relentless touring or his ability to make people laugh. The fact is that no other working comedian is currently releasing the equivalent of new standup specials at the same clip: In 2024 alone, Johnson uploaded the equivalent of 28 hourlong specials to his social channels, and is on track to exceed that number this year, to the slight shock and complete awe of those who know him well.The comedian Jon Stewart returned to host “The Daily Show” last year around the same time Johnson became a correspondent on the program, and sums up the younger comic’s style this way: “You know the things that are bouncing around in your mind that you have neither the time nor maybe the facility to draw together into coherent and then really funny and surprising thoughts? Yeah, this guy’s doing it. He’s doing it actually for you.”Johnson draws on bizarre, terrifying or downright silly encounters that he gets involved in through no fault of his own.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Late Night Taps Into Trump’s Preoccupation With Water Pressure

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      Jimmy Fallon said the good news is that “more powerful shower heads are on the way. Bad news: They’re all made in China.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Making Showers Great AgainPresident Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday repealing Biden-instituted restrictions on water flow in shower heads.On Thursday, Jimmy Fallon said the good news is “more powerful shower heads are on the way. Bad news: They’re all made in China.”“America was, like, ‘What are you doing in our 401(k)?’ And Trump was, like, ‘Stronger shower nozzles.’” — JIMMY FALLON“Stronger showers are better than what Trump does now, which is lying on the hood of a Cybertruck and going through a carwash.” — JIMMY FALLON“That’s right, President Trump signed an executive order titled ‘Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Shower Heads.’ And tomorrow he’s signing another important one called ‘Installing the Toilet Paper So It Rolls Off the Top, Not the Bottom.’” — SETH MEYERS“Ah, yes, the war on showers: a fight Steve Bannon has been on the front lines of his whole life.” — DESI LYDIC“Now, most people probably didn’t even realize we were in a war on showers, because no one in the Biden administration ever accidentally added a reporter to the ‘war on showers’ group chat.” — DESI LYDIC“But, in all seriousness, I know the war on showers very well, OK? My uncle actually lost his leg from stepping on a bath bomb — it’s never been the same.” — DESI LYDIC“Trump is literally making it rain, removing limits on water pressure from shower heads.” — GREG GUTFELD“Trump said that he has to stand under the shower for 15 minutes before he gets wet. I think the problem is Trump wears so much bronzer, he made himself waterproof.” — JIMMY FALLON“Why does Donald Trump even need a shower? You’d think the three-hour tongue bath he gets every morning from ‘Fox & Friends’ would be sufficient.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Another Perfect Physical Edition)“Tomorrow, the president is scheduled to get his annual physical. They should do that in front of the cameras, too. They should have a public weigh-in. How much fun would that be? March him on a scale in a jockstrap like he’s about to fight Jake Paul.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Yep, Trump’s very excited. Today, he was handed a giant chart to pick what he’d like his weight to be.” — JIMMY FALLON“The physical is tomorrow, which means we should have the results tonight.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It’s not easy taking care of Trump. About halfway through, his doctor will be like, ‘Forget the tariffs — I think I need to pause for 90 days.’” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingThe “Saturday Night Live” star Bowen Yang discussed his new role in “The Wedding Banquet” while on Thursday’s “Daily Show.”Also, Check This OutFor the series “Next Gen NYC,” Bravo will follow the children of some of the network’s stars along with some of their influencer friends.Bronson Farr/BravoBravo’s Gen Z nepo babies star in the network’s new “Real Housewives” spinoff, “Next Gen NYC.” More