Father’s Day 2021 was an interesting one, to say the least. As a new dad, I only have one other year to compare it to, but the day definitely didn’t go down as intended. This was mostly because I was sick and ended up spending the majority of the day on the couch, reacquainting myself with a little friend called television.

You see, I’m not an avid TV watcher. I figure if I have time to sit down and watch TV, that time could just as well be spent playing video games. However, on this particular Father’s Day, I really only had the energy to lift the remote and stay cuddled up on the couch in a heap of blankets.

The Netflix algorithm knows me to a tee, it seems, offering up wholesome anime titles, food documentaries, and dystopian tales. My time spent scrolling stopped much sooner than I anticipated when I came across Black Summer – a series from 2019 about a group of survivors navigating the early days of a zombie apocalypse. I dove right in and was immediately hooked.

There are some cliché tropes and relatively played-out moments in Black Summer, but the series has made its way onto my top ten list of zombie-related media. For the record, Army of the Dead does not quite hit the mark.

Maybe it’s because the premiere of season two coincided with the one-year anniversary of The Last of Us: Part 2, but while watching Black Summer, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between them. And while there are certainly parallels between Black Summer and The Last of Us 2, one thing in particular that stands out to me that separates the two titles is the way they showcase characters being chased by a zombie or zombie hoards.

I liked The Last of Us: Part 2 when I reviewed it, but my review score was definitely low in comparison to the rest of the industry. While I agree with every recognition and award won by the actors themselves, one year later, I still stand by my overall rating. However, having watched Black Summer, I have a newfound appreciation for the zombie chase scenes in The Last of Us 2.

In The Last of Us 2, the chase scenes were some of the most thrilling and action-packed moments of the game. As you run from hordes of the infected or the WLF, one missed headshot or ill-timed turn in the wrong direction would spell certain doom. Just when you think you’re in the clear, another group of infected blocks your path, forcing you to immediately change direction. You run into most rooms blindly, always expecting to find an enemy on the other side of the door.

To be honest, this sort of thing extended into the rest of the game. If you weren’t cautious upon entering a new room or area, you were probably as good as dead.

The same can’t be said for Black Summer, at least, not in the first season. It was episode four, specifically, that had me irked in its design of the zombie chase. Titled, “Alone”, the episode features Lance – one of the less composed survivors – as he finds his way around town after being separated from Rose and Spears. After escaping the school, Lance is hunted by a single zombie who chases him throughout completely empty homes and buildings. Throughout the chase, Lance blindly runs through random doors and alleys in an attempt to escape.

Every time he bursts through a door, I was hoping that there would be another zombie on the other side; some other terror that Lance would have to contend with that would have automatically upped the intensity level. That never happened though. Lance was able to make his way through the labyrinth of a town without having to worry about the single threat that was hunting him.

There are certainly arguments to be made as to why this may be an unfair comparison, whether it be differences in medium, or even that a 1v1 showdown falls more in line with the episode’s solitary theme. At any rate, Black Summer made me appreciate that aspect of The Last of Us: Part 2 that much more

As I near the end of season one, I can’t wait to continue my binge into season two, which premiered just last week. I’ll be interested to see if there are any other similarities between the two titles – specifically, if Black Summer draws any inspiration from The Last of Us: Part 2.