“The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4, titled “Day One,” begins 11 years in the past, though that is not initially clear. Having traveled with its young leads, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced), to post-apocalyptic Seattle at the end of last week’s “The Path,” this Sunday’s episode gives viewers a brief taste of the city’s violent past and present. It opens in the back of a Fedra truck where a loud-mouthed soldier (a surprise Josh Peck) tells a crude story, which is eventually interrupted by another younger soldier, Burton (Ben Ahlers), who asks why Peck’s Fedra goon keeps calling Seattle’s citizens “voters.” Before Peck’s character can answer, the squad’s sergeant, Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), answers. “We took away their rights. Took away their right to vote and someone started calling them ‘voters’ to mock them,” Isaac bitterly explains.

Moments later, he gets out...