The Last Of Us episode 2 shows exactly where and how the outbreak started

The Last of Us was first released by Naughty Dog all the way back in 2013. Over the years, fans have dissected practically every single frame of the game but there’s one piece of lore that’s always remained a mystery. How did the outbreak begin? Well my friends, HBO’s The Last of Us series has finally given us the answer we’ve been craving.

Episode two, ‘Infected,’ marked franchise co-creator Neil Druckmann’s TV directorial debut and I think we’re all in agreement that it was another excellent episode. One major death spawned some controversy particularly because of how it differed from the game but for the most part, fans and critics alike were once again full of praise. Last week, eagle-eyed fans spotted that Joel and Sarah avoided flour on several occasions in the series premiere. Good detective work, because it’s now been confirmed that contaminated flour did indeed start the outbreak.

Take a look at this trailer to see what’s in store in the weeks ahead on The Last of Us.

Just like the premiere, episode two began with another cold open. This time, we were whisked away to Jakarta, Indonesia, on 24 September 2003 - two days before Outbreak Day. Ibu Ratna, a professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia is transported by soldiers to a secure hospital. There, she’s shown - to her disbelief - Ophiocordyceps living inside a human corpse. We know from last week’s opening that this shouldn’t be possible.

One soldier then explains that 30 hours ago, the woman attacked several coworkers at a nearby flour plant. Soldiers arrived and executed the women and later on, were also forced to kill all those that she’d bitten after they too began to exhibit erratic behaviour. The problem is, the soldiers don’t know who bit the woman and confirmed that a further 14 workers are missing. It’s at this stage that Professor Ratna explains that the damage is done and there’s no stopping the spread of the fungus.

There you have it. Just as fans guessed, the infection was spread through the worldwide distribution of the contaminated flour, but there were a few already-turned Infected running around out there in the world too. Creepy.