The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7 ended on a shocking cliffhanger. And when I initially watched this episode I was hoping that the Abby of it all would be tied with a little bow and done. I didn’t have a season 3 announcement. But here we are with a season finale that teases how we’re going to get Abby’s take of things in Seattle. And honestly I don’t care. I don’t care about Abby or her woes and have transformed into someone who is cheering on Ellie’s rights and her wrongs.
But before we dive into the Abby of it all, we have to talk about Ellie.
Ellie hit a couple speed bumps in The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7. She almost drowned in the ocean and then almost got sentenced to death by a small Scar child. Then there’s the fact that Dina is taking a step back after Ellie revealed the truth of what Joel did, Ellie is at a disadvantage at the moment where she is guided by rage with no one to pull her back. But I don’t think it’s for forever. Dina is a strategic woman and she needs time to process. In the meantime, Ellie is going to go out and cause all sorts of trouble because she’s angry.
In the midst of all of this, it continues to be abundantly clear that Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced are the strongest part of The Last of Us Season 2. Pedro Pascal’s Joel led the charge in Season 1 and made people fall in love with this show. But Ramsey and Merced are now the beating heart of The Last of Us. It’s not the rage, the revenge that we want for Joel’s death, or the incredible world that has been built here that keeps me watching. It’s Ramsey and Merced’s Ellie and Dina. They are the worthwhile human element in the midst of destruction and death. And even though I know there’s not going to be a happy ending here for most of these characters, I hope Ellie and Dina specifically share more tender moments together along the way.
But back to Ellie.
Ellie’s anger leads her to the aquarium. There she’s revved up and ready to take on Abby but like with Nora, she just encounters Abby’s friends. And through a series of unfortunate events, Abby’s friends end up dead. The guy, Ellie didn’t care about. Neither did we if we’re being honest. But we felt something for Mel. Or at least I did. I felt sadness that she was caught in the middle of all of this and that she knew this was the end. But also… this is the cost of living in this world and she wasn’t innocent. She made a choice to help Abby and so did Ellie, the latter being pulled out of her rage at the sight of the cost of what she was doing in the death of Mel and her unborn child.
But we only got a slight reprieve from Ellie’s rage before Abby entered the scene in the most disastrous way.
To be frank, I wish we had more Jesse and less Abby. Jesse is leagues more interesting than Abby; his position in Jackson, how he came to Seattle to help, and oh yeah he’s about to have a kid. Or he was. At the same time I think it does a disservice to Abby or anybody that would sympathize with her that we only saw her in the beginning of The Last of Us Season 2 and then at the end. But maybe that was the point when it came to the writers of The Last of Us Season 2. It’s almost like the writers made Abby our boogeyman and Ellie the one that was going to take her down.
I’m also really bothered by Abby’s reaction to Ellie coming after Abby in the first place.
Abby had the nerve to tell Ellie that she had let her live and that she had wasted her opportunity. My question is, what makes it so you can get revenge for the cruelty against you but Ellie can’t do the same thing? Because that’s the heart of my problem with Abby now. It feels like a holier than thou attitude that “I can do it but you can’t.” What Ellie is doing is continuing a dangerous cycle. There’s no denying that. Hurt people, hurt people. But Abby came into Ellie’s world for revenge so it’s only right that Ellie gets to do the same thing. And if Abby was this “just” person who understands vengeance, or she pretends that she understands, she would have taken seeing Ellie just like Joel did, with his head held high and no regrets in his heart. Abby is a self-righteous coward.
The abrupt ending to The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7 annoying because we know we’re getting more Abby but also… it’s kind of perfect.
I miss having a good cliffhanger, especially in a day and age where you can’t trust most networks to renew a show. But that’s not The Last of Us, as we already have a season 3 in the works. And this cliffhanger is made even more cruel knowing that Jessie is dead and Ellie had chosen to go home with Dina and Tommy. Nevertheless, I begrudgingly welcome what’s to come in Season 3. Because even though we’ll see Abby’s side of things, The Last of Us has to transform this content for TV and make changes. It’s not going to be like the game where you controlled Abby and spent an insurmountable time with her. That would tank the live-action version. So I’ll take a glimpse of Abby. But I want Ellie to come back strong and hit hard.
For Joel. And for Jessie.
MORE: Is there going to be a season 3 of The Last of Us?
The Last of Us seasons 1 and 2 are available on HBO Max.
