Major Spoilers Ahead

“The Last of Us” is a beloved game franchise turned tv series, and with its second season now finished I thought I’d share my opinion: I didn’t care for it. As someone who fell in love with the series from the start (2013), it’s easy to point out key differences in the show to the game. However, despite the obvious differences, I believe the second season was doomed from the start. 

When looking towards the game as source material, it should’ve been obvious before it was even confirmed that there wasn’t going to be much substance. This isn’t necessarily the show’s fault. Most of the first half of the game is very simple: Joel dies, Ellie is angry, Ellie tracks down the people who killed Joel and that’s really the heart and soul of it. The problem is HBO created a drama-series, not an action series, and unfortunately for them, action and violence is all the first part of this story is.

After Joel dies, Ellie is filled with rage and decides to track down whoever did this and get her revenge. The show hit this beat with stride showing almost one-for-one everything that happens in Jackson. Unfortunately, when Ellie reaches Seattle, the momentum dies off. The show becomes Ellie and Dina walking through a ruined Seattle with very little happening besides a few small encounters. Important events do happen, but without the tension that the game provides with many dangerous encounters, these events feel unimportant. 

It won’t be until we get to the second part of the game, which will now be season three, where the show can flourish again. The second half of the game is where we play as Joel’s killer, Abby, who up until this point has remained an unknown villain that Ellie will do anything to find and kill. It’s in this part of the story that Abby steps into the shoes of Joel, as she takes on a parental role and starts her own journey towards leaving Seattle. 

If you also watched season two, thought it was boring and are considering dropping it, DON’T! Season three should bring the franchise back to its roots with Abby’s storyline if they stop changing plotlines. 

Season two was purely a setup for season three, and that alone brings down everything that happened in it. It’s sad to see something I enjoy be changed to be the buildup to something else, when season two had all the potential to be great. I’m just hoping they don’t mess up the ending.