Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2 finale and The Last of Us Part II video game.
After The Last of Us’ season 2 finale confirmed the switch to Abby’s perspective of the last three days, I can’t wait for season 3 to introduce the new Joel and Ellie. The Last of Us’ season 2 finale deviated from the video game in a couple of ways. Ellie washes up on the Seraphites’ island and almost gets hanged before Isaac and his invading forces arrive, which never happened in the game. In the game, Jesse is a ride-or-die homie with plenty of compassion for Ellie’s quest for justice, but the TV show makes him absolutely furious at Ellie.
But the season 2 finale leads to an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the game’s biggest twist. Just as Ellie is about to give up on her mission to find Abby, Abby finds her at the theater. She holds Tommy hostage, shoots Jesse dead, and confronts Ellie. After a jarring cut-to-black, the episode comes back in on Abby waking up at the W.L.F.’s base on the day Ellie arrived in Seattle. This suggests that, much like in the game, The Last of Us season 3 will switch to Abby’s perspective of the past three days and explain how she got there.
The Last Of Us Season 3 Will Introduce Abby's Young Ward Lev
Lev Is A Young Seraphite Runaway That Abby Takes Under Her Wing
When I first played The Last of Us Part II, just like everyone else, I was taken aback when the story seemed to be wrapping up, the game took me back to the beginning of the Seattle timeframe in Abby’s point-of-view, and I realized I was only halfway done. Initially, I expected Abby’s three days to give us a different perspective of Ellie’s three days. After we’d spent three days chasing Abby, only for Abby to find us, I thought Abby’s days would show us that Abby was one step behind Ellie the whole way.
But Abby’s storyline shakes out very differently. She doesn’t even realize Joel’s family is in Seattle, picking off all her friends, until the third day. Instead of having a literal connection to Ellie’s three-day storyline, Abby’s story has a thematic connection. Ellie’s journey showed the devastating loss of humanity when someone becomes consumed with revenge. Abby’s journey shows what happens after someone has lost their humanity in the pursuit of revenge, and how they can come back from the brink. This is shown beautifully through Abby’s relationship with a young Seraphite runaway named Lev, who she takes under her wing.
Abby’s story kicks off when she learns that Owen has gone A.W.O.L. after becoming disillusioned with the Wolves’ fascistic cause. She knows where he’ll go — the aquarium — so she sneaks out and goes after him. Along the way, she’s captured by Seraphites and strung up to be executed. At the same time, the same Seraphites are executing Lev’s older sister Yara, a fellow runaway. After saving Yara, Lev reluctantly saves Abby, too, and they form an uneasy alliance. Over the course of the next three days, Abby comes to love these kids (and especially Lev) like younger siblings.
Abby & Lev Are Deliberately Reminiscent Of Joel & Ellie
Protecting Lev Is Abby's Redemption Arc, Just Like Protecting Ellie Was Joel's Redemption Arc
Abby taking Lev under her wing and protecting him from whatever danger comes his way is deliberately reminiscent of Joel and Ellie. In the first Last of Us game (and the first season of the TV show), looking after Ellie is what brought Joel back from the darkness after he’d become a hardened, cold-blooded killer — he “found something to fight for.” Taking care of Lev does the same thing to Abby: killing Joel didn’t make her feel any better about her dad’s death, but finding a new family did.
Giving Abby her own Ellie-like sidekick goes a long way toward making the audience sympathize with Abby as intended. What makes The Last of Us Part II such a revolutionary story — and such a difficult one to adapt for television — is that it boldly attempts to make its audience see the good in the character they hate the most, and that’s an uphill battle. Abby’s relationship with Lev shows audiences who are skeptical about loving her that she has a lot in common with a character they already love: the one she killed.
Where Joel’s relationship with Ellie is strictly a father-daughter dynamic, Abby and Lev are more like a big sister and little brother. But in both cases, taking on a young ward gives these stoic, morally gray antiheroes a much-needed redemption arc. When Joel met Ellie, he moved past his dark history as a hunter and rediscovered his true purpose: being an amazing dad. And when Abby meets Lev, she moves past her dad’s tragic death by passing on his warmth and wisdom to the next generation.
I Can't Wait To See How Kaitlyn Dever Plays Abby's Scenes With Lev
Abby Is At Her Most Vulnerable When She's With Lev
I’ve been loving how Kaitlyn Dever has played Abby so far. She captured her grit, toughness, and vengeful rage when she beat Joel to death, and later when she confronted Ellie at the theater. But she also showed Abby’s humanity in her tender scenes with Owen and when she sobbed at her dad’s graveside in the premiere episode. Dever might not have Abby’s muscles, but she has everything else down pat.
Why The Last Of Us Shifting To Abby's Story For Season 3 Is Risky
A Whole Season Focused On Joel's Killer Might Alienate Some Audiences
Abby’s “Day One” scene in The Last of Us’ season 2 finale all but confirms that the TV show will follow the game’s split story structure and focus squarely on Abby’s three-day journey in season 3 — and while I’m glad they’re adapting it faithfully like that, it’s also a huge gamble. The story works really well that way in the game, but some TV viewers might give up the same way some players did. Imagine the uproar if The Walking Dead did a whole season about Negan after he beat Glenn to death. A lot is resting on the execution.
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