This story contains spoilers for episode 5 of “The Last of Us” Season 2.
Jesse is angry. It also has an impeccable moment.
Just when Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) are cornered by numerous infected inside an abandoned warehouse in the last episode of “The Last of Us”, his reliable friend Jesse arrives at the time to save them.
But mutant fungal zombies are not the only threat of roaming in the world in the post -epocalyptic thriller of HBO, and the trio is immediately trying to avoid the attacks of the local militia, as well as a mysterious cult.
During a couple of video calls, including one in which he was surrounded by what seemed like the exuberant natural world of the show, actor Young Mazino discussed his rescue mission from Jesse Jesse to Seattle, as well as how “The Last of Us” has further promoted his rising profile in Hollywood. As for what happens in episode 5, Mazino summarizes Jesse's feelings, generally relaxed by Jesse, like Ellie and Dina stepped on questions about his unexpected arrival: “He is angry.”
“It's really angry because they are there to start,” says Mazino in a video call. “He knows bets. He knows how serious it can be. There are many s, in his mind, but … for him, it's about making everyone safe, surviving and then emotions come later. Then we can summarize it.”
A patrol coordinator in his Jackson settlement, Wyo., Jesse has a relationship again, out again with Dina: “A situation”, as Mazino calls it. After Infected's horde attacked Jackson, he became a member of the Council leading the community.
Jesse has come to the rescue, but “he is angry,” says the young Mazino.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Mazino describes Jesse as “a fairly happy guy” in the previous episodes of the season, as well as “a little boy scout.” But as the public sees in episode 5, he is also a fighter capable of firearms and equipped with key survival skills. Mazino says that co -star Gabriel Luna (who plays Tommy) joked saying that Jesse is a “gentle monster.”
“I couldn't agree more,” says Mazino. “So that these people survive until that moment, you have to have a little of that savagery and be able to turn it on. It is just a matter of being able to turn it off.”
Like Jesse, Mazino exudes a quiet and soft spirit through the screen of a video call. It refers to the stories of Anton Chekhov, the artistic philosophy of Pablo Picasso and the anime as “Jujutsu Kaisen.” (“If 'Vinland Saga' existed in this world, Jesse really f – with that manga” due to his themes, says Mazino). It is like a game to discuss a Roma Roma of dream among the members of the Jackson community, since it is to contemplate the Asian diaspora in a post -epocalyptic world.
“It's so cold and soft,” says Ramsey about his cast partner. “I got to know him quite well and is so perceptual and so attentive above all. I feel very lucky to have known him more than the cold and soft guy that everyone sees on the surface.”
Respect is mutual. Mazino calls Ramsey “An extraordinary individual” whose work ethics is number 1 on the call sheet. A vivid memory: standing under some PVC pipes with Ramsey on the set and enjoy a moment of artificial rain together.
“I was soaked and wet every day for hours,” says Mazino about the filming of the seattle-set episodes of the program. “And as soon as you are about to dry, they get wet again. What helps is to have someone like Bella Ramsey, who maintains this lightness. So, despite being wet, soaked and miserable all day, being miserable with someone as miserable and wet as it really helps.”
“The Last of Us” marks Mazino's highest profile project so far. After years of trying to convert it as an actor, Mazino obtained his role of rupture in the limited series “Beef” of 2023, where he portrays a lazy one who falls in love with the nemesis of rage on the road of his older brother. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination.
His familiarity with “The Last of Us” was initially derived from watching YouTube videos of the scenes in the history of the game. But before meeting the Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for the project, Mazino bought a PlayStation 4 used to play at the key moments of Jesse's story.
The young Mazino calls “The Last of Us” a rare opportunity.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
“When I told Craig that I played during the game in the hope that he was pleasantly surprised, he said: 'I wish you would not play the game,” says Mazino.
The preparation for paper included “crazy in the gym for a few months,” says Mazino. He also received arms training and learned to set up a horse.
“I have been in many sets in the last 10 years and I am aware of how strange this type of opportunity is,” says Mazino. “My expectation of writing and storytelling was very high after 'beef', and I was not sure if I could find something that coincides with that. But 'The Last of Us remained in my way and I love to explore different facets of myself through the character.”
Jesse has a weak point for Ellie, whom he initially knows as a thorny stranger of a similar fabric, says Mazino. Both are lonely who prefer to avoid the center of attention, particularly at parties. But Jesse also recognizes the internal fire and the potential of Ellie.
“Jesse finds Ellie so interesting, fun and endearing,” says Mazino. “To be this small and small girl and have both vitriol, fire and anguish. I think Jesse wants to help Ellie take advantage of all that intense energy she has and give her good use.”
The couple also shares an attraction for Dina, which is a bit more social, warm and apparently carefree. And although Jesse did not seem to import Ellie already sharing a drunk kiss at a party in an anterior episode, the couple's relationship has become more romantic and intimate.
Mazino believes that Jesse has been fully aware that Ellie and Dina have been dancing around their feelings for each other.
“I think Jesse is the type of person who understands that love is love, and it is not something that you can jile or deceive,” says Mazino. “I think the healthy way of love is to allow it to bloom … … love is a spectrum … and maybe he recognizes that Dina is not someone who necessarily wants to be exclusively together forever. But there. is love.”
Mazino insists that Jesse cares less the development of Ellie and Dina than the fact that Dina has followed her lover in a war zone.
“Love avoids common sense and rationality a lot, so it is only trying to be the deligerea one from beginning to end,” says Mazino.
Jesse (Young Mazino) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have different opinions about revenge.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Jesse clearly opposes the Revenge Ellie tour that has taken them to Seattle, and Mazino says that his different philosophies come from Jesse's appreciation for the Jackson community. Because he could find a house in Jackson, Jesse's response to the loss is to capture what remains.
“I think it serves as a perfect reflector of [Ellie for] How he faces death, murder and violence, “says Mazino.” Some people, all they see is red and want revenge. But the other side of that choice is to taste what remains and what is beautiful for you. “
Ellie, he adds, is “all about revenge, revenge, revenge for someone who lost. But Jesse wants the opposite of that. He wants to maintain what they still have, knowing how fleeting is being alive in this world.”
While the world of “The Last of Us” is gloomy, Mazino and his cast companions found forms among the shots to escape heaviness. A form of relief: a love shared by music. Mazino, Luna, Merced and Ramsey play the guitar.
“We all brought a guitar without even telling it,” says Mazino. “There was always a guitar on the set or we would steal one of the set and we would get into trouble. We would have jam sessions. Someone would be playing a melody or a song, and if we knew it, we join [or] We would learn it. “
Mazino says that everyone had eclectic tastes and the songs exchanged “as Pokémon.” (Mazino's contributions included Daniel César, Frank Ocean and “some R&B” things).
“It is very difficult to maintain heavy energy for 12 to 16 hours a day,” he says. “It really helps to have people who can laugh and make jokes and be light and play music … So a guitar is a lifeguard in a set like that.”
The young Mazino says that Jesse is a “person who understands that love is love.”
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
