Following the first season’s success, fans were eager to see how HBO would adapt the second installment in the “The Last of Us” franchise. When it was released in 2020, “The Last of Us Part II” received considerable criticism from gamers for its pacing issues and out-of-order story beats.
While the show has corrected several of the game’s critiques, it has also created several new problems. “The Last of Us” follows Joel Miller in a world plagued by a mutated variant of the Cordyceps fungus. This fungus infects a human host and seizes control of their mind, effectively turning them into a zombie focused on spreading the fungus.
Following the grand finale that was the series’ first season, the story picks up five years later. Season two sees Ellie (portrayed by Bella Ramsey) and Joel (portrayed by Pedro Pascal) well-established within the fortified town of Jackson, WY.
The second season also considers the perspective of a victim of Joel’s rampage: Abby (portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever) and her group. Quickly, the show establishes their intent to kill Joel “slowly” for what he did to the Fireflies and by the second episode, we see their ambitions met.
Players were shocked when Joel died in the 2020 release, and it seems the same sentiment has carried over to HBO’s adaptation. While some were left cheated following the randomness of Joel’s death prior, HBO has done a great job at setting up Abby as a character that can be sympathized with and surrounding Joel’s death with more purpose.
When Abby murdered Joel in the game, no one knew why. It seemed like a product of lazy writing to force a generic revenge plot. Everyone hated Abby, which complicated things when players found out they’d be spending over 10 hours playing as her. By the time players learned her backstory, they had already grown a stubborn hatred toward her.
In HBO’s adaptation, they’re trying to pave the way for Abby to be more accepted, spending more time in the earlier episodes fleshing out her character and explaining what drives her hate. From the first episode, viewers know her backstory and motivations. While viewers still may not love Abby, they can respect her reasons.
Additionally, HBO has taken its time to fix minor errors, such as how Abby meets and recognizes Joel. Instead of how they tackled it in the game, where Joel and Tommy plainly introduce themselves, Abby learns Joel’s name more naturally. During an attack by the infected, Dina calls out to Joel, not knowing he’s with a stranger (Abby).
Fixing discrepancies like these makes the plot more believable and ironed out some of the issues players had with the 2020 release. In the end, viewers can’t argue that his death doesn’t make sense. Joel’s past just caught up to him, and in this instance, he ended up pulling the short straw.
However, while taking artistic liberties and attempting to satisfy everyone, HBO has faced a whole slew of controversy regarding drastic changes to the plot and casting issues. Namely, events surrounding Tommy (portrayed by Gabriel Luna) and some minor casting decisions regarding Ellie.
In the game, Tommy is with Joel when he dies. They had taken a patrol and eventually came across Abby. Being chased by the infected, Abby led the brothers back to her group’s hideout, where they murdered Joel. Instead of Tommy being present, it’s Dina (portrayed by Isabela Merced), Ellie’s friend. The emotional weight, as a result, is very skewed.
Meanwhile, the battle to defend Jackson, Wyoming, is added in. This serves as Tommy’s time to shine, mustering the town’s defenses to defeat the horde of infected stampeding their walls. The town and Tommy show remarkable resiliency and ultimately fend off the attack. Afterwards, he’d learn of Joel’s death.
While the Battle of Jackson was brilliant, it hinders the further development and fluidity of the story. In the game, Tommy left before Ellie and Dina, resulting in Maria (portrayed by Rutina Wesley) letting the girls leave for Seattle to get Tommy back (and kill Abby). Contrarily, Ellie and Dina left without Maria’s approval and before Tommy.
It will be interesting to see how HBO follows this up, as a significant portion of the game was Ellie following in Tommy’s tracks, observing the carnage left in his wake. Without Tommy leaving first, several artistic liberties will need to be taken.
Another criticism the media has had is of Bella Ramsey returning to play Ellie. The first season of The Last of Us takes place five years before the events of the second, yet Ellie looks the same. People find it difficult to envision Bella Ramsey as a 19-year-old when they were previously portrayed as 14.
Season one proved that Bella Ramsey is a very capable actor, and more than fit to play the role of Ellie. However, their youthful appearance has often been an immersion-breaker for casual viewers. With characters like Joel, Tommy or Nick Offerman featured in the last season, HBO has proved to be exceptional at aging their actors. So why not Bella?
Unfortunately, social media has taken things too far by patronizing the actor for their looks and how they don’t conform to modern beauty standards. The actor has been cyberbullied and harassed online, which they absolutely don’t deserve.
Social media has completely driven them off the platform. “I got quite fixated on the way that Ellie looks in the game… And I didn’t look like that. My body type isn’t that. It was a challenge for me to let myself off the hook for not looking computer-generated,” said Bella Ramsey in an interview with “The Hollywood Reporter.”
While it’s nice to see Bella handling the situation with strength and not letting it get the best of them, it’s still a shame. No matter what grievances viewers may have with the actor or their portrayal of Ellie, it will never excuse harassment.
This, however, brings up some of the problems with creating a live action adaptation. With these types of shows or movies, there’s usually an established fan-base. Fans are passionate about their favorite media and considering the controversy surrounding “The Last of Us Part II,” fans are hoping for the adaptation to be perfect, inevitably leading to disappointment.
As a result, situations such as the one revolving around Bella Ramsay will arise, where fans will lash out against those who don’t deserve it instead of taking the content they’re given.
In totality, people are concerned with some of the artistic liberties the second season is taking. While some of them are certainly valid, you needn’t only look at how the first season handled the source material to build expectations.
Many consider “The Last of Us” season one to be the perfect adaptation of the first game. The second game, expected to be adapted over two seasons instead of one, will take its time and iron out some of the inconsistencies faced with the prior. With tackling an especially famous and beloved source material, however, there’s sure to be controversy.
The Last of Us season two has released four episodes, with a new episode each Sunday at 9 pm EST. Be sure to tune in for the remaining seven episodes to see how Ellie will take revenge against Joel’s killer.
