Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Last of Us season 2 (including the big one!) and some details from the videogame about what’s still to come.
Gamers familiar with The Last of Us Part II and new viewers of The Last of Us HBO series are having two very different experiences right now. We’re all watching the same episodes but processing them differently. I remember my first time playing the game, the shock and the anxiety of several huge moments, including Joel’s death, and viewers unfamiliar with the game must be feeling those same emotions. But now, years later, watching an adaptation, as much as I want to be engrossed purely by the storytelling, there’s an extra layer. I can’t help but compare, to work out the decision making behind the changes to the story, and in this regard The Last of Us season 2 has left me a little confused.
We all knew changes were going to be made, more so than season 1. Part II is a behemoth experience, playing with dense themes and multiple perspectives across a much longer narrative, which will be split across either 2 or 3 seasons of television. Therefore I was expecting the plot to be sliced up and shuffled around. But I wasn’t expecting the emotional journey to be carved up quite so much. For me, the emotions and plotting are in perfect lockstep in Part II. My only notable complaint about the game is some of the pacing in the second half but even so, it’s a masterclass in manipulating the emotions of the player at any one time, making you go from hating certain characters to empathising and rooting for them later in the story based on key plot reveals.
That’s where the second season of the show has left me conflicted. I like the storytelling, the plot beats, and big moments like Joel’s death worked for me. It’s suitably hard to watch and heartbreaking. But I feel we’ve been given too much context already, that the emotional journey has already pushed past the literal journey of the characters in a way that’s going to damage the series later on. The pace of information delivered and the pace of the plotting are at different speeds and I can’t help feeling at the moment that the former is going to be exhausted long before the latter. The series is delivering a strong emotional punch upfront while potentially sacrificing the impact of the rest of the story.
I want to hate Abby right now. That’s how I felt playing the game. She killed Joel and I was right with Ellie on her quest. Then as more information is revealed, context becomes clearer, my allegiances got much more interesting and complex. I was begging Ellie to stop on her trail of vengeance, end the cycle of violence, as she becomes just as bad, if not worse, as Abby. Maybe new viewers do now feels disgust at Abby, that strong hatred. I hope so because such strong emotions are vital to the story working. But I don’t. I can’t separate my knowledge of what happens next but even so, I think the series has shown its hand too early, revealed too much already.
I think there’s already too much sympathy for Abby. The game was controversial upon release for killing Joel early, and it feels as if the series is trying to prevent some similar backlash by giving more context early on. The game teases the information, presenting Abby as a unknown antagonist until many hours in before finally beginning to peel back the layers. By contrast the season begins with Abby in Salt Lake City, mourning at a Firefly grave. From the first scene we’re feeling empathy for her. And then the reveal of who her father was, that Abby and Ellie are so similar in their journeys, is highlighted in the second episode.
Already we understand Abby and we’re only two episodes in to what could be a three-season storyline. The emotional endpoint of her story will be in reach long before the endpoint of the story itself. When we get to the Lev storyline, will we be revealing new sides to Abby, changing the viewers opinion, or simply enforcing what we already know? Ellie is gearing up for revenge and I’m already thinking, ‘eh, maybe leave Abby alone, she has a point.’ Player agency in the game certainly plays a significant role in this, physically controlling the player and eventually not wanting to push the buttons, perform the actions, the game wants you to. The series is already at a deficit by not being able to engross the viewer the same way.
It’s not just our emotional understanding of Abby that been given a kickstart but Ellie, too. I’m surprised Joel’s death was pushed into the second episode rather than the first, given how it’s the inciting incident of the game’s story. To do so we got a premiere full of all the various Jackson scenes delivered as flashbacks at key moments of the game crammed into one initial episode. As with the Abby reveals, these flashbacks give context at key moments that change our understanding of the narrative and the relationships up to that point. Frontloading the season with them is a strange call that leaves little revelation for the rest of the season, let alone next season.
Thankfully, the show is holding the porch scene back. When I saw Joel on that porch, holding the guitar, and Ellie walking towards him, I was outraged we were getting that scene, not shown until the end of the game, in the first episode. But she kept on walking. I imagine the final episode of the season will show us the rest of that scene, their discussion, which is the emotional heart of the game, and much better served as a later flashback altering the context of everything that has come before. Without that scene the story is a much simpler revenge story, Ellie mad Abby killed Joel, but I love the idea that Ellie is not just angry Abby took Joel from her but rather that she took the chance to forgive Joel away from her. That their relationship is forever left in limbo.
I have found this season surprisingly less subtle than the game so far. It’s been more overt and exposition-heavy in its themes and ideas. I thought television audiences might be more media literate than gamers but Craig Mazin seems to think the opposite. It’s as if those unnecessary ‘behind the scenes’ featurettes available after each episode where the writers just explain what happened in the episode in case viewers can’t think for themselves have become a part of the show itself.
That’s probably unnecessarily mean and negative because I’m generally not negative on this season so far. I’ve enjoyed both episodes. The show is appropriately affecting. But I can’t help but feel a little mystified by some of the choices made in adapting the game. I struggle to see how telling the story this way will be as ultimately fulfilling because emotionally we’re way ahead of where we should be in this narrative. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover but not nearly as much headspace. I’m concerned, but I’m not arrogant enough to say it’s the wrong call, the wrong path taken. It’s too early to call and I have to try and not be so wed to the game’s structure. I trust the creatives involved and I’m eager to see how this version plays out, even if it’s left me scratching my head along the way.
