The following article incorporates spoilers for each Episode 2 of The Last of Us Season 2 and the online game The Last of Us Part 2.
Abby kills Joel. It’s the inciting incident of The Last of Us Part 2, developer Naughty Dog’s darkly violent sequel to its fungal zombie apocalypse hit. Unsurprisingly for a challenge that largely adheres to its supply materials like industrial power tremendous glue, HBO’s tv adaptation additionally options this stunning second rendered in reside motion. It’s the crescendo of the second season’s second episode, and so happens precisely the place it must in an effort to set the wheels of Ellie’s quest for vengeance in movement. But the present’s recreation of Joel Miller’s remaining moments falls in need of the sport’s brutal, stunning sequence on account of a number of inventive selections that weaken the bloody blow.
The issues start an episode prior. Season 2 opens with the reveal that Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) is searching for revenge on Joel (Pedro Pascal) following his rampage via the Fireflies’ Salt Lake City hospital within the finale of season one. As the primary episode’s opening scene, this acts because the season’s mission assertion: this story is about Abby’s pledge to kill Joel. There’s an unstated promise that we’ll be taught extra about her motives, extra about her previous, and construct empathy with a personality who desires to kill the lead protagonist. There’s lots the present must do to get us on board together with her quest, however hey, this can be an fascinating journey in direction of what’s positive to be a stunning season finale.
One week later, Joel is useless. It’s as if we hit the top of the road earlier than we’d even began.
The timing of Joel’s demise could also be trustworthy to the online game’s timeline, however the context by which it’s delivered modifications every part. In the sport, Joel’s dying comes with no warning. You do not know who Abby is, nor why she hates Joel with such venom. It’s a complicated, stunning second that units up Ellie’s mission to kill the evil lady who took away her father determine for causes unknown. It’s solely on the sport’s midpoint, when the attitude shifts and also you’re compelled to play because the “villain”, do you be taught that Abby has sympathetic motivations for her actions – Joel killed her father when he rescued Ellie from the Fireflies. It’s an ingenious twist that challenges you to empathise with a personality you’ve realized to hate over ten hours of play.
In this week’s episode of the present, Abby plainly explains her motivations to Joel moments earlier than she kills him. Bringing such revelations to the forefront is just not inherently a mistake, but it surely does change the form of the story. Rather than a straight-up villain, Abby is launched as one thing nearer to the protagonist she ultimately turns into within the second half of the sport, and in consequence, the second of Joel’s homicide is remodeled into a way more complicated occasion. In principle, this setup ought to have us torn between two conflicting viewpoints. But for that to work, these viewpoints have to be entire. And by killing Joel in episode two, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have did not solidify these viewpoints. Had this season delayed Joel’s dying by introducing extra authentic materials, we’d have had the chance to be taught extra about Abby’s journey towards this second. As it stands, Abby has up to now had lower than a handful of scenes to determine her character, whereas Joel has had a complete season and alter. When the golf membership strikes, there’s no escaping it: Abby is the villain right here, regardless of what you recognize of her motives.
Season 1 presents up a very good instance of what might have been. “Long, Long Time,” arguably the season’s strongest episode, depicts the turbulent romantic lifetime of Bill and Frank. It’s all model new materials, showcasing a time frame not explored by the sport. An analogous episode illustrating Abby’s life through the five-year time hole between seasons could nicely exist additional down the road, however its inclusion earlier than Joel’s dying would have higher supported the inventive determination to make Abby’s motives clear forward of the incident.
Such an episode would additionally assist deal with the difficulty of Abby’s physique. In The Last of Us Part 2, Abby is constructed like an MMA fighter. She’s tall and extremely muscular. In the present, she’s performed by Kaitlyn Dever and appears identical to Kaitlyn Dever. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Neil Druckmann defined that Dever had not bulked up for the function as a result of Abby’s measurement was associated to gameplay relatively than story: “Abby was meant to play extra like Joel in that she’s nearly like a brute in the best way she will be able to bodily manhandle sure issues,” he mentioned. “That would not play as huge of a task on this model of the story as a result of there’s not as a lot violent motion second to second. It’s extra concerning the drama.”
I’m stunned by Druckmann’s feedback as a result of Abby’s physique doesn’t actually present any significant gameplay distinction between herself and Ellie within the sport, except for having the ability to wield barely heavier weaponry. It does, nonetheless, play a major function within the dramatic heft of the story. During the primary half of the sport, her stature preys on gender stereotypes; the story assumes you’ll purchase into the concept that a lady with masculine options have to be evil. When the story flips, Abby’s physique tells the story of a lady who has spent 5 years sculpting herself right into a weapon with a singular objective. She has sacrificed every part in an effort to kill Joel. It’s a bodily marker of what the thirst for revenge will do to an individual, and represents simply how concrete Abby’s dedication to her aim is.
Had the present’s model of Abby been of the identical construct as her online game counterpart, it could have helped illustrate what occurred within the 5 years between the season’s first scene and Joel’s dying. Sure, it wouldn’t be an in depth illustration, however it could be clear that Joel’s actions took their toll and he’s about to pay the worth. In the absence of Abby’s bodily transformation, what we ideally want is an outline of how the character mentally sculpted herself right into a weapon. Again, this will likely nicely exist additional into the season, however together with it forward of Joel’s dying would higher capitalise on the present’s modifications to the way it presents Abby.
Mazin and Druckmann’s new strategy to Abby isn’t the one challenge with the present’s model of this tragic occasion, although. Much of this second episode is devoted to a Game of Thrones-scale assault on Jackson, with a whole bunch of contaminated breaking via the city’s partitions. In isolation, that is an unimaginable piece of tv, and a implausible instance of the present introducing authentic materials to the story. But the influence of this occasion is so robust that it nearly overshadows Joel’s dying, which is uncontestably the extra vital second. The inciting incident of Ellie’s journey shouldn’t be preventing for area, and the time main into it could have been higher served by constructing rigidity relatively than burning bloaters.
My hope for this season of The Last of Us was that it could have extra conviction to tread its personal path. As robust as Season 1 was, for a lot of its runtime it had the air of some (very well-funded) cosplayers performing reenactments of the sport’s cinematic cutscenes. Season 2 actually feels bolder than its predecessor up to now, however the modifications being made really feel rooted in a insecurity within the materials being tailored relatively than the bravery to tread its personal path. The sport’s unforgettable mid-story twist is exchanged for a cards-on-the-table opening within the title of constructing positive viewers really feel the “proper” issues about Abby, however the subsequent story beats all through the primary two episodes are usually not rewritten to take advantage of that change. The result’s a rendition of Joel’s dying that, whereas virtually a facsimile of the unique model when it comes to the bodily occasions, feels morally confused and dramatically stunted.
For followers of the sport, will probably be instantly clear which model of this story presents the stronger depiction of this occasion. But the actual challenge is just not Joel’s dying itself, however every part that occurs round it. If the season has bungled the framing of its very important inciting incident, will the story threads that spiral out of it stand as much as scrutiny? When it involves Abby, The Last of Us Season 2’s remaining episodes might want to tread a sensible path in an effort to justify its new design, not simply to outdated gamers, however to new audiences, too.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.
