As A Non-Gamer, I Was Disappointed By The Last Of Us' Season 2 Finale, But I Think It Could Have Worked With One Big Change

WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Last of Us' season 2 finale!As someone who never played The Last of Us games, I went into season 2 mostly blind to the story and big twists. The only event that I knew would happen in The Last of Us season 2 was Joel’s death. Since that happened relatively quickly at the end of episode 2, I spent the majority of the season being unaware of what would happen next, only knowing that Ellie would eventually travel to Seattle. Without the bias of the games’ original portrayals, I even expected it might be easier for me to like season 2 just as much as season 1.

Overall, I still enjoyed The Last of Us season 2 – it’s one of the most engrossing shows on TV, and its dark depiction of the loss of humanity in the face of desperation, survival, and the decay of civilization continues to provide a compelling watch. However, I found it less engaging overall than season 1, with this perspective having nothing to do with whether The Last of Us makes changes to the games. After The Last of Us season 2’s ending, I felt more disappointed than I hoped due to certain narrative choices regarding pacing and character perspective.

As Someone Who Never Played The Games, I Found The Last Of Us' Season 2 Finale Underwhelming

The Last Of Us' Season 2 Finale Was Ultimately Unsatisfying

I went into The Last of Us’ season 2 finale thinking there would be some incredibly dark twists in store for Ellie and Dina. While that’s true, as Jesse was shot dead by Abby after Ellie killed Owen and a pregnant Mel, the episode’s pacing made the impact of these events more underwhelming. Not to mention, The Last of Us’ season 2 finale leaves off on a sudden cliffhanger, leaving those who haven’t played the games to wonder who shot the gun and who, if anyone, was hit by the bullet.

While that’s clearly the intention, as season 2 feels more like “part 1” with The Last of Us season 3 as “part 2” of this story, I didn’t find the execution of that strategy compelling enough. Since I haven’t played the games, I’ve spent far less time with Ellie, Dina, Abby, Jesse, and Tommy as characters than those who did, and I still feel like the show itself hasn’t fleshed out their perspectives quite enough yet to earn much of what happens so quickly in the finale.

Dina wanting to go home, Ellie wanting to stay, Ellie being captured by The Last of Us’ Seraphites, Ellie killing Owen and Mel, Jesse dying moments after explaining why he saved Ellie, and Ellie trying to save Tommy from Abby – these are all huge narrative moments in a rushed execution, which ultimately lacks the emotional weight required for a satisfying story ending. By the cut-to-black cliffhanger, we’ve reached the end of a major chapter in Ellie's revenge arc, but there are too many under-explored elements at play to feel like these endings have been fully earned.

We didn’t need the cuts to Isaac about the war at hand. We didn’t need Ellie meaninglessly crashing on the Seraphites’ land for a few moments just to miraculously escape. Some of the musings on fate, mortality, and selflessness also felt too heavy-handed, focusing more on verbalizing the show’s overarching themes rather than showing them through their actions, dynamics, and narrative-pushing moments. That’s been the case for much of the show since Joel’s death, but doing so again during the finale, when the action and momentum should arguably be at its highest, contributed to an underwhelming conclusion.

The Last Of Us Season 2 Should Have Only Focused On The Jackson Characters' Perspective

The Story Felt Incomplete After Adding So Many Teases Outside Jackson's Perspective

Part of the reason why The Last of Us’ season 2 finale feels so unsatisfying is because of how incomplete Ellie’s side of the story feels. Rather than cutting away to show the backstories and perspectives for Isaac, his WLF soldiers, and the Seraphites, The Last of Us season 2 may have proven stronger by only revealing what Ellie and Dina know about these elements. Instead, those deeper explorations into the Seattle groups could have come alongside Abby’s The Last of Us season 3 story.

If we’re not getting the full story or exploration into the WLF and the Seraphites this season anyway, then why not wait until season 3 to reveal what Ellie and Dina didn’t learn through their experiences and perspective? Season 2’s decision to tease the WLF and Seraphites outside of Ellie and Dina’s journey led to some incomplete and unfulfilling setups just for season 3 to still need to fill in the majority of the gap. That ended up taking substantial time away from the perspective of Ellie and Dina, whose time in Seattle searching for Abby was much too rushed.

In the fallout of Joel’s death and Ellie’s revenge story, The Last of Us may have benefited by only showing the perspectives of characters from Jackson. Audiences simultaneously knew far too much and too little about the WLF and Seraphites, and it made remembering what Ellie, Dina, Jesse, and Tommy were aware of more convoluted during the season 2 finale’s biggest moments. We would still get glimpses of Seattle’s warring groups, but the truth of their conflicts may have been better paid off in the TV format if we learned about them at the same time as those from Jackson.

The Last Of Us Season 2 Didn't Spend Nearly Enough Time With Ellie & Dina In Seattle

Ellie & Dina's Story Needed More Focus Before Switching To Abby's POV

By having so few episodes and straying so often from their story in The Last of Us season 2, Ellie and Dina’s ending point in the finale wasn’t as emotionally resonant as it should have been. We’ve spent significant time with them, but not nearly as much as The Last of Us requires for where it’s heading with their relationship. There isn’t much time between their dialogue-light action scenes and more intimate, story-developing moments to feel as invested in their relationship.

In the same episode that they become a couple, Ellie is saying she’s going to “be a dad” to Dina and Jesse’s unborn baby. Just after Dina is shot by a Seraphite, Ellie reveals the truth to her about Joel’s massacre of the Fireflies. To be fair, their story thus far in Seattle happens over the course of just three days, but, even still, the big moments of character exposition are rushed too quickly amid the chaos of the war around them and cuts to other The Last of Us characters’ perspectives.

By the end of The Last of Us season 2, we should have spent more than just about two hours’ worth of time with Ellie and Dina together in Seattle. The Last of Us season 2 either needed more episodes to further develop their dynamic and perspectives on the conflicts at hand, longer episode runtimes to expand on their narrative, or to potentially cut out the moments of the WLF and Seraphites external to Ellie and Dina’s point of view.

Ellie and Dina’s stories and character explorations feel far too incomplete by the finale, given we’ll be cutting directly to Abby’s perspective in The Last of Us season 3. It makes sense that there’s no clear resolution for their story yet ahead of season 3, but that’s also complicated by the idea that we’re now going to be seeing Abby’s story. We might not even get back to Ellie and Dina’s perspectives until the very end of season 3, which may ultimately undermine the emotional weight and effectiveness of their fates and decisions after the season 2 cliffhanger.

The Last Of Us Season 3 Showing Abby's Side Sounds Like It'll Be More Fulfilling Than Season 2

Abby's Story Will Fill In All The Gaps

When The Last of Us season 3 arrives, we get to see those three days in Seattle through Abby’s point of view. This time around, though, it’ll feel like a complete story. We get to know the grittier details of Isaac, the WLF, the conflicts in Seattle, and the nature of the Seraphites. Abby’s story will fill in all the necessary gaps from Ellie and Dina’s story, while adding to the narrative with a more intimate look into her backstory and perspective on the morals of The Last of Us’ post-apocalyptic world before that cliffhanger gunshot.

By the time The Last of Us season 3 reaches the moment after Abby kills Jesse, her side of the narrative is bound to be more complete than Ellie and Dina’s portion. We already know the basics of the WLF and Seraphites, so Abby's focus won’t be taken away from to establish those Seattle details, and the show will only need more vague references to Ellie and Dina being in Seattle. After the different sides of the story truly converge, it seems Abby’s narrative will ultimately be stronger and more fulfilling than Ellie and Dina's at that point.