The Last of Us has been a hugely successful franchise. The first game was a hit, the show was a hit, and even now people are beginning to understand the second game is a hit despite how you feel about it. There are going to be some very unpopular opinions within this article but please understand these comments are just that – an opinion.
Now, if you’ve ONLY watched the show and have no intentions of playing the games, I’d ideally avoid this article. Judging by the small teaser we’ve had for the second season, this article will contain spoilers.
Due to this trailer coming out, I decided to go back and play the remaster for the second game. The experience was just as great as the first time I played it.
I couldn’t get on board with the second game initially because I couldn’t fathom why they’d kill off a major character so early on in the game. At the time, it was Covid – I was broke, my friend bought a PS4 for his daughter and it came with the game, due to his daughter being young, he gave me the game for free. I decided because I got it for free to give it a try.
I hesitated but as the game went on, I realised that maybe I pre-judged this game too harshly.
I’m not even lying when I say the story was one of the most captivating experiences I’ve had from a videogame. After Joel attends his golfing trip, you become immersed in both aspects of the story. When I say both aspects, I mean Abby and Ellie.
You have Ellie’s story enacted on revenge against Abby for killing Joel.
You then have Abby who is on a redemption ark and killed Joel because he killed her father in the hospital.
It’s one of those games where both sides are right in their actions but wrong at the same time. It’s why it’s so unique. There’s a hot take here – despite my negative feelings towards Abby in the beginning, I came to actually like her more than Ellie which I didn’t even think was possible.
This is why I’m so excited for the next season. The teaser was short but it already looks like it’s going to follow a similar path to the first season where it follows the games events. The reason I say this is there’s a clip of Abby who is held down by a fence by a bunch of infected, it’s less than a minute or so later that Joel and Tommy save her.
In the game though, after Joel’s hole-in-one, we follow Ellie’s story over 3 days until she comes head-to-head with Abby. After this, we go back in time to 3 days ago and follow Abby’s events although they seemingly happen just behind Ellie’s as we see the impact and devastation Tommy and Ellie leave on their path to revenge. I’d like to see the show follow a more linear path and follow the events as they happen.
If the show does follow the game’s events then we’re in for one hell of a ride. It’s going to be emotional and damn right intense for a large portion of it.
The cast looks great and I’m intrigued to see how Kaitlyn Dever portrays Abby and also how Bella Ramsey reacts to this different and older version of Ellie. I think the cast is great and I hope they do the games justice yet again.
I am also curious to see how fans of just the show will react to the second season. I remember the uproar when fans found out Joel was killed so early on. As I said earlier, I think this notion now has calmed but maybe I’m reading things wrong (I know people still hate the game just for the sake of Joel dying and Ellie sparing Abby at the end) – it’s still going to be interesting seeing social media when Abby takes the golf course to Joel. Plus, that scene was vicious in the game – I do wonder if they’ll follow the game scene within the show.
I did recently read a good Variety article which was titled; The Last Of Us Part 2: In Defense Of Abby and I think this article does a great job in explaining why Abby isn’t the horrific character people make her out to be. If you’ve played the game already, I’d recommend reading that if you’re currently in the hating Abby category (which is fine if you are, by the way) to see if it’ll change anything for you.
Likely, Pedro Pascal will still be in the second season a fair bit if it does follow the full game’s events as there is plenty of flashback scenes between him and Ellie. The most notable scene is when Ellie finds out what happened at the hospital.
I know I’m in the minority preferring the second game to the first, especially the story but I can’t help what captivated me more. Don’t get me wrong, the first game was an exceptional experience but the second edges it in my opinion.
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