The Last of Us Episode 2: What happened in Jakarta?

What happened in Jakarta in The Last of Us? Episode 2 has a stark flashback to the beginning of the outbreak, so let’s break down what we learned.

The Last of Us Episode 1’s opening segment was just as harrowing as the prologue, detailing the predatory, crazed path of fungal infections and how a pandemic was never a question of if, but when.

Early in the episode, Joel and Sarah hear murmurings regarding disturbances to the food supply in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, hours before the outbreak hits Texas and all hell breaks loose.

In Episode 2, before returning to Joel and Ellie’s story, we get another chilling flashback – this time, we’re actually in Jakarta, and we see the beginnings of the virus.

What happened in Jakarta in The Last of Us?

The Cordyceps outbreak originated in a flour and grain factory in Jakarta, with the mutated fungi contaminating the flour, which was shipped all across the world and used in many different products.

The episode begins in 2003. Police officers descend upon a café in Jakarta, where a seemingly random woman is finishing her lunch. This is Ibu Ratna, a professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia. They need her to examine a woman’s body, one with a bullet hole in her head and bite mark on her leg. 

HBO

When she cuts open the wound, mould seeps out like grew cotton wool. When she sticks some tongs into her throat, she pulls out tendrils looking to curl their way onto anything with a pulse. 

Soon after, he tells her the incident took place at a flour and grain factory on the west side of the city – fun fact, Jakarta is home to the largest flour mill in the world. Fearfully, she says it’s the “perfect substrate” – aka, an optimal place for fungus to nourish itself and spread.

“A normal woman, then suddenly violent, attacked four coworkers, bit three of them. They locked her in a bathroom, the police came, she tried to attack them, and they shot her,” he says, explaining how they took the victims away for observation, but were forced to execute them – and the person who bit the woman is still on the loose.

“Are any other workers missing?” she asks. “14,” he replies.

He asks Ibu to help them. “I have spent my life studying these things, so please listen carefully: there is no medicine, no vaccine. Bomb. Start bombing. Bomb this city and everyone in it.”

This confirms the theory from the first episode, with viewers noticing how Joel, Sarah, and Tommy all avoided eating items that could be contaminated: Joel forgot to buy pancake mix, Tommy eats leftover chicken wings, and they don’t eat any of their neighbor’s biscuits or cookies.

The Last of Us Episode 3 will be available to watch on January 29 in the US and January 30 in the UK. You can check out the rest of our coverage here, and the trailer for the weeks ahead here.