New streaming service Max has burst on to Aussie screens with the blockbuster second season of The Last Of Us, reports streaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

It’s no coincidence that Max, the new player in the streaming game, launched just a few weeks before the post-apocalyptic thriller The Last Of Us returned for its second installment that millions around the world are hyped for.

Any viewers who watched the first season on Binge will now need to get a subscription to Max to continue the story.

Given that first season ended on a cliffhanger of seismic proportions, Max could not have timed its launch down under better. It will no doubt be hoping The Last Of Us will pull in an early wave of subscribers.

Is the show worth getting a subscription for?

Yes, it is.

This horror thriller series is set in the US 20 years after a virus has decimated the population by turning them into flesh-eating monsters. Not quite zombies, but pretty close to it.

Trying to eke out some kind of existence in this transformed world is Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler haunted by the loss of his daughter amidst the chaos of the outbreak.

His life changes irreversibly when he meets Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a girl he’s tasked with safely transporting across the decrepit country for a purpose that could change the world as they know it.

Being a show produced by HBO, the production of The Last Of Us is impeccable on almost every front, but it’s the characters that make it stand out. 

The relationship between Joel and Ellie is fascinating to watch unfold, given the implications it holds for all those around them. Pascal and Ramsey make it work. The roles demand full emotional commitment and this duo takes it all the way.

I’ll leave it there, so as not to go into spoiler territory, but the result is a show that provides all the thrills that a post-apocalyptic wasteland can provide, while also being more emotionally and philosophically profound than something such as The Walking Dead, which at this point feels more expired that the corpses that hobble around in its endless prequels and sequels.

The Last Of Us, based on a best-selling video game series, is far more concise in its story telling and that’s what makes it fresh. The second season will only have seven episodes but as the saying goes: leave ’em wanting more, not less.

SWEETENING the deal for anyone thinking about paying eight bucks a month for yet another streaming service is The Rehearsal.

Season two of the show will also be coming to Max on April 20. It’s one of the most peculiar spectacles on television.

Hosted by Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder, this show examines the lengths people will go to in order to reduce social anxiety.

Using a big TV budget, Fielder stages elaborate recreations of everyday scenarios that allow people to “rehearse” a social situation before facing the real thing.

Take a first date in a bar for example. Everything from the drinks, the staff, even the very smell of the venue is built inside a studio. The scenario is carefully crafted right down to the most obscure of details to create the ultimate simulation for someone who wants to practice how they’ll approach the romantic encounter.

The line between reality and fiction soon gets blurry. The relationship Fielder builds with those who have come on the show to “rehearse” become plotlines in of themselves.

With season two it looks like the budget to create these crazy scenarios had been lifted, allowing for recreations of even more absurd accuracy.

In an era where there is such an overwhelming volume of content out there doing something truly different has never been more difficult, but Fielder’s bizarre creation is one that is truly original. 

With The Rehearsal he’s built an uncanny mirror of our daily social experience. The reflection is uncomfortable to look at, yet impossible to turn away from.