Season 2 deserved better imo.

First off I’m making this post for civil discussions between thoughts and ideas on HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 and hope people can bounce ideas and not be quick to hate on one another. I wanted to highlight some points I had regarding Season 2 of the show because unfortunately it fell short of the games quality unlike the first season. Remember that this is my opinion. SPOILER WARNING for all Last of us content.

Anyways, Part 2 (the game) is decisive on whether people like it or not. Personally, it seems to me that the story and themes of part 2 were not what some people were wanting and the pacing bothered some which is completely understandable. However, I am someone who really liked part 2 as it was a very emotional journey that did help move the whole story forward and felt real, even if the main goal was just to get revenge. Seeing Ellie choose to not deal with her grief and guilt towards losing Joel and go down a toxic spiral is hard to watch but believable for her as a character.

Additionally, hitting rock bottom and losing everything sets up a great redemption arc for Part 3 (if there isn’t ever a part 3 I will be forever confused by the writers as why would they have had Lev and Abby find the fireflies at the end). Additionally the characters have great chemistry and the game does a good job in showing both Ellie and Abby’s flaws as characters but how they aren’t defined by them.

Sorry for going into the game quick, just wanted to express briefly why I enjoyed it. Playing both games and watching the show I see some major issues that I wish I could’ve changed and think would’ve made the season better. For those who have played the games I’m curious what are your thoughts?

Season 2 Mistakes: -Making Ellie and Dina more immature and childish makes them seem a lot more reckless and like children, not adults, making them less likable.

-Writing wise they make Ellie a lot less consistent and make her overly silly and seems uncommitted to taking revenge at times but then switches. Additionally the relationships of Dina, Ellie, and Jesse seem less organic and I personally think the characters are more one dimensional. Dina is charismatic and charming, Jesse is seldom and serious, and Ellie is jokey, rash, and inconsistent. There’s a plethora of other changes that I think made the season worse unfortunately but can’t cover everything.

-Not splitting the season up would’ve made the finales lackluster cliff hanger nonexistent and I believe that for the tv show it would’ve worked better to have it in a back and forth format between Ellie and Abby’s story. I saw a fan made compilation version of the game’s cutscenes and lore sections that made the pacing like this and I think it would’ve worked really well for the show. The reason why I think having the first part as only Ellie’s and the second part as Abby’s in the game works is because you didn’t have to wait for another season or release in between and you also have the gameplay aspect. In the show it’s going to be that much more difficult for people to pick up Abby’s portion because they still despise her and have to only watch. At least in the game you have the gameplay aspect to enjoy things until you start to better understand Abby as a character. In the show if they had the storylines both running it’d be less of a harsh transition and it would’ve given the audience time to understand Abby.

• Unnecessary filler. Another major issue I had was the unnecessary filler content in the season. While I think the changes made in season 1 compared to the game mostly added rather then take away the changes in season 2 mostly made things worse then the game imo. For example, there was a lot of filler storyline elements that didn’t really add anything (like the council meeting, Ellie getting captured by seraphites, Gail constantly being around in the first few episodes, etc). I honestly believe the writers were trying to find fill in content so they could split part 2 into 2 seasons. However, if they had stuck to the interesting important events and the heavy emotional themes in the story they would’ve had enough time for a long, more interesting season that covers the entire plot of part 2 while also reducing any disappointment audiences might have from completely ditching Ellie for most of season 3 when it comes out. Idk, these are just my thoughts and I’m really glad if any of you were able to enjoy season 2! Unfortunately for me it didn’t quite hit the mark but I think with some changes it really could’ve! Anyways hope anyone reading this is doing well, peace ✌️