For those utterly unfamiliar with the games, The Last Of Us has been a rollercoaster ride that’s merged truly heartfelt storytelling with semi-regular gut punches as the show has strived to match the maturity of the original story. For those who have played (or should that be lived) The Last Of Us Part 2, they’ve been offered a front row seat to see how the showrunners have tried to adapt a morally complex and unpredictable story that takes some fairly controversial twists and turns. To be fair, it hasn’t come without its share of issues and the season 2 finale is pretty much a showcase for how tough adapting this game has really been.
Now, that’s not to say that the season has been a wash – far from it, it’s proven week on week to still be mostly superior apocalyptic television – but as the latest season ends with around half the story still to tell, there’s a sense that the powers that be may have sacrificed an entired season to build up something that’s not going to occur for quite some time…
While Jesse attends to the crossbow bolt lodged in Dina’s leg, Ellie returns the the theatre in the driving rain after her lethal one on one with Nora with a vague clue as to where Abby is located. While they all take a moment to get their bearings, numerous truths are finally admitted. Jesse figures out that Dina is pregnant with his baby, Ellie confesses to Dina the reason Abby wanted to kill Joel in the first place and Jesse admits that he actually voted against Ellie plea to go after Joel’s killers in the first place and it creates quite the awkwardness among the group. However, things take a far more vital turn when Ellie and Jesse leave Dina in order to traverse the rain lashed Seattle streets and rendezvous with Joel’s brother, Tommy who also made the journey to aid the two young women.
After discovering that Tommy is having troubles with the WLF, Ellie stumbles upon the meaning of Nora’s final cryptic words after figuring out that Abby must be located at an aquarium located just off the shore. This, however, bringing her into conflict with Jesse who is dead set on going to help Tommy while she is focused on going after her revenge no matter what. However, after going it alone, witnessing the WLF heading off to eradicate the Seraphites, almost drowning in the storm and nearly getting eviscerated in an encounter with the shaven headed cultists, she eventually makes it to the aquarium with murder on her mind. But while Abby is noticable by her absence, she does find Owen and Mel who were both present at Joel’s death.
Once again, Ellie holds life in her hands and once again, it turns bloody; but this proves to be more different altercation than the one Ellie had with Nora; and worse yet, the aftermath finally brings Abby out of hiding with yet more tragic results.
While Convergence is an episode that keeps the high quality that we’ve come to expect from the show in general, I have to admit that it doesn’t end the season with the elegance we’ve come to expect of the high class of writing we’re usually treated to. While the game obviously provided a layered, multi-tiered story that at one point even shifted focus the the point where you play the story from the point of view from the main antagonist, Abby, it seems that Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann intended to entirety of season to lead up to that exact point – and then stop. The result literally has me split between being genuinely impressed that they are trying as hard as they can to do the story justice and feeling fairly put out that the second half of the season dragged it’s bloody heels in order to ensure that it could start a potential season 3 afresh with Abby’s side of the story. While I do understand that many seasons television end with plot points and teasers for future events dangling tantalisingly in front of our faces to guarantee our loyal return, here it just feels like a story only half told which, of course, it literally is.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I wouldn’t be feeling this if I was unaware of the game. But even if I was, I’m actually genuinely unsure about how I’d feel about the ending anyway as we’re left with Jesse dead, Tommy and Ellie imperiled and their fates left up to Abby with a quick cut to black and a sound of a gunshot. What’s more, an epilogue which dials back the clock to “Seattle: Day One” and sees Abby waking to a city that’s looking far more prosperous than when we first saw it means that we might not get a resolution until a third season is well underway – but I just guess that’s for us to deal with. One more thing before I put the ending to bed; if the 3rd season really is going to be chiefly led by Abby, then a lot of the castings now make a helluva lot of sense now as I was truly worried that the show was inconceivably going to light on both Kaitlyn Dever, Jeffery Wright and the rest of the season’s newcomers.
Anyway, climaxes aside, the final episode proves to be just as solid as those of the rest of the season with the best bits unsurprisingly being the dramatic tension that’s going on between the cast. The main thrust comes from Ellie’s confession that Joel’s murder may have actually been justified considering what he did to earn it and as a result, Dina realises that a lot of things could have been prevented if the truth had been presented further. However, even after this, Ellie’s rage still won’t release her even if it only succeeds in bringing more unnecessary death into people’s lives.
Ellie’s brief showdown with Owen and Mel may rack her up two more victims, but there’s no sense of warped triumph her as a bullet fired in defence not only kills the former outright, but nicks the artery of the latter, causing her to rapidly bleed to death. The kicker is, Mel’s pregnant and as life quickly leaves her she begs a horrified Ellie to perform an emergency C-section before she dies which Ellie simply cannot do. Plotwise, it’s a masterstroke to finally snap our lead out the anger she’s been feeling in order to truly make her feel the repercussions of what she’s done – but if that’s not enough, Jesse is shot dead not long after both he and Ellie have an important conversation to clear the air and discuss morals. It’s still clear that Ellie is thinking only of her own pain, and now it’s not only cost more lives, but it’s called down the vengence of Abby once more as everyone involved is stuck on the runaway vengeance train as it ploughs towards its inevitable conclusion.
In closing, it’s a good episode, but I’d also argue that it’s not a great season finale due to the shuffling around the writers had to do to line up the ending to meet at this point. The same could be said of season 2 in general as it felt slightly unbalanced by the absolutely cracking second episode (one of the best of the entire series) and then having two or three episodes of featuring nothing but sneaking around Seattle. It’s not a bad season at all, not by a long ways, but it is decidedly inferior to the first one and probably suffers by the sacrifices made to set up an even more complex 3rd season.
While the finale still delivers all the heart and tragedy you’ve come expect from The Last Of Us, we’re still left with a taste in our mouth that distinctly carries the bitter tang of second movie syndrome. But with everything that’s still left to be said, hopefully a more focused and revealing third trip to Cordyceps town will tie everything together in a much more satisfying bow.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 