Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us has had a lot of emotional moments leading up to the season finale. Fans of the source material weren’t shocked by what happened, while the new audience couldn’t have seen some of the things coming. However, parts of the finale were surprising because they were altered to keep things fresh and further the story. That being said, was this the season ending that people deserved or was it a letdown?
*** This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS from The Last of Us season 2 episode 7 ***
Like the video game, this episode of The Last of Us showed us Ellie and Jesse making their way to find Tommy and, hopefully, get out of Seattle without dying. Sadly, Ellie didn't follow the plan. She saw an opportunity to kill Abby and took advantage of it. This left Jesse to go after Tommy by himself, leading to Ellie almost being killed by Seraphites and killing Owen and his pregnant partner, Mel.
That’s the long and short of what happened. Some major changes from the video game made sense, while others took away from the emotional aspects of what The Last of Us Part II created.
Ellie's journey
In the game, Ellie kills soldiers of the Washington Liberation Front (or WLF) on her way to kill Abby. That was designed for the game, but it wouldn’t be entertaining on this platform. Instead, the creators took the opportunity to feature a scene where Ellie is almost killed by Seraphites. This is where she learns that things aren’t as black-and-white as she thought after a small child gives a thumbs up to her cultish and sacrificial death.
This scene was good, but it felt out of place. If we're being honest, it ruined the flow of what Ellie was doing. The one positive thing that came out of it is that Ellie saw that Jesse was right; intervening in the WLF and Seraphite war would have been a mistake. She always thinks that she knows what’s going on and acts emotionally and irrationally. This is something Dina has mentioned, and the audience has seen quite a bit of now. And while the moment in this episode was good, it just wasn’t necessary.
We’ve already seen how bad the Seraphites are and that would have been highlighted further in season 3. It wasn't particularly necessary to the story now.
The best part of this episode was Jesse, played by Young Mazino. His interpretation of the character is an upgrade from the original version in the game. He has been tougher, smarter, and added more to the story. For example, having him be angry at Ellie for running away, admitting to voting against going after Joel, and later saying that he understood Ellie, all added to his personality. That made his death much more emotional. In The Last of Us Part II, his murder fell flat. Not here. It was emotional because it didn't rely specifically on his relationship with Dina and their child; viewers cared about him as a character too.
The death and the ending
And then we come to the scene with Mel and Owen. Mel (played by Ariela Barer) trying to walk Ellie through cutting her unborn child out of her as she bled to death was the most heartbreaking moment of the season. Yes, that includes what happened to Joel. And, as much as this writer thinks that the original scene from The Last of Us Part II that inspired this one was better, Ariela Barer made this brilliant and powerful with her performance. You couldn’t ask for more.
Lastly, we come to the reveal of Abby. She shows up looking like a badass with a gun in hand, wearing a leather jacket. The outfit was changed from the game, but this look worked better here with Kaitlyn Dever. But as cool as it was to see her, that wasn’t the best part; that came after the bang of the gun, when viewers are transported to Day 1 of Ellie and Dina’s arrival in Seattle. And while we know what Abby was going through, season 3 will show what happened on the other side of things.
For me, the best part was how the show recreated the Seattle compound. It looked bright and joyous, which is a change from what some people may think of the characters who killed Joel. It was a smart move that shows there’s more to things than what we know and it should get people excited for what’s next.
The review
Overall, this was a good episode of The Last of Us season 2, but only an okay season finale. The Seraphites and Isaac’s team showing up ruined the flow of it and it was hard for it to recover after that. It’s easy to see the goal to connect this all to Abby, the WLF, and the Seraphites in season 3, and it will eventually make sense, but for now, it just seemed off. And since we’re looking at least a year plus until season 3, people may not remember or even care.
As mentioned earlier, Jesse was the best part of this episode. There were other good scenes and memorable moments from the finale, but that’s just it: Everything was good. Admittedly, my excitement and high expectations coming into this episode may have influenced my opinion, but it doesn’t change the fact that this was only a good finale and not groundbreaking.
We should have gotten more.
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