Everything about The Last of Us - both the video game and the HBO show - comes down to tough decisions. It all starts with Joel deciding to listen to Tess and take Ellie to get a cure made. That leads to him loving Ellie like a daughter and ultimately making the choice to kill the Fireflies and take her off the operating table. Now there's no hope for a cure.
The idea of tough and sometimes irrational choices affecting people didn't end after the first game. There were more decisions to be made, and the options were harder to choose from. On the HBO series, there were more things to choose from than there were in the game. We saw this all take place throughout the second season. But did the characters make the right decisions?
*** SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON 2 FINALE OF HBO'S THE LAST OF US ***
Jesse for voting no
Jesse made the right choice for the Jackson, Wyoming, compound. Sending a team would have left the community vulnerable to both raiders and infected people. Yes, it's a tragedy that Joel was killed, but he made his bed, and Abby came to make sure he laid in it.
Abby for killing Joel
There's a difference between Abby taking her team to search for Joel and both Jesse and Tommy leading one. The Washington Liberation Front (or WLF) has a plethora of soldiers while Jackson is a small community that needs everyone. Abby may be one of the few who can lead, but Isaac has enough cannon fodder to throw at a problem.
This is one of the more complex decisions on the show. You understand Abby's motivations and, logistically, it made more sense than some of the decisions made by the survivors in the Jackson compound. But there is no justifying Abby's actions.
Ellie and Dina for going after Abby
While this writer absolutely understands the decision that Ellie and Dina made to go after Dina, this was irrational. They were two people going against an unknown entity. They didn't know what they were up against when they got to Seattle or what they'd encounter on the way. And, as we saw in episode 5, they almost died. So, yeah, this was a bad move.
Ellie not telling Dina about Joel in Utah
Ellie was wrong for this. She brought Dina (someone she loves) on a dangerous mission without the whole truth. Would Dina have gone anyway, knowing that Abby was on a mission for revenge? It's easy to say yes. However, the story Dina told about her family being killed and what she'd do if she didn't get them should leave you wondering.
Owen for thinking about leaving Mel
Owen was going to leave his pregnant girlfriend to fend for herself in a dangerous world so he could get Abby. While he may have been right that Abby would do the same, the circumstances are different here: He had a child on the way.
Despite his feelings for Abby, Owen should have thought of his pregnant partner and child instead of the woman he's infatuated with. His priorities were off.
Tommy and Jesse for going after Ellie and Dina
This question isn't as clear as the others. On one hand, Ellie is Joel's daughter, making her Tommy's niece. She's also like a little sister to Jesse. And Dina is also someone Jesse loves. They probably didn't hesitate to go after them. That being said, they probably shouldn't have gone.
Jesse and Tommy are the present and future leaders of the Jackson, Wyoming, community. Leaving left their town vulnerable. And as we saw in the season finale, it got Jesse killed. Now, someone who was supposed to become Jackson's leader is dead. Who knows if that void can be filled?
Ellie for leaving Jesse
Let's call it like it is: Ellie was wrong for this. She left Jesse on his own to get revenge, and that decision got him killed. If she hadn't gone to the aquarium, Abby wouldn't have gone to the theater, and Jesse would still be alive.
The ironic thing is that, on the official podcast for HBO's The Last of Us, writer Halley Gross says that the universe kept giving Ellie signs to not seek revenge, and she ignored them.
Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow and their social media pages on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter, for more news, opinions, and rumors about The Last of Us as they come out.