This Last Of Us Part II Off-Screen Story Would Make A Great Episode For HBO's Season 2

In The Last of Us Part II, Ellie stumbles across the bodies of a couple, Simon and Paige, who each died tragically trying to get back to the other — and their story would make a great episode of The Last of Us season 2. Simon and Paige’s story is easily missed; the player has to deviate from the main story, explore the open-world areas, and go out of their way to find them. But that deviation is rewarded with one of the most touching unseen stories from The Last of Us Part II.

On her way to the hospital to interrogate Nora, Ellie finds the hanged corpse of a pregnant woman named Paige, with a note she wrote before she died in which she expressed hope that her husband Simon would soon return. Closer to the hospital, Ellie finds Simon’s body with a note expressing hope that someone would find him and bring Paige the medicine he died getting for her. They both died holding out hope for the other. This would be a great storyline for The Last of Us season 2 to turn into a standalone episode.

Simon & Paige's Story Would Make A Great Episode Of The Last Of Us Season 2

Simon & Paige Could Be Season 2's Bill & Frank

Simon and Paige’s tragic story would make a great standalone episode of The Last of Us season 2. By focusing on two people whose love for each other transcends the conflict between the Wolves and the Seraphites, this storyline would help to personalize the Seattle civil war. The game had huge open-world spaces for the player to learn about this war through deadly encounters and scattered documents, but the TV show will have to find different ways to explore that mythology. Simon and Paige would bring a human perspective to the blood-soaked conflict in Seattle.

The Last of Us season 1 showed that the series thrives when it breaks away from the main narrative to focus on a relationship between two lovable characters. Episode 3, “Long, Long Time,” and episode 7, “Left Behind,” were two of season 1’s strongest episodes, and they each exhibited the strengths of this format. “Left Behind” rounded out Ellie’s backstory by showing her heartbreakingly short-lived romance with her best friend Riley, while “Long, Long Time” turned Bill and Frank’s teased relationship from the game into one of TV’s greatest love stories. Simon and Paige could do that for season 2.

Simon & Paige's Story Connects To The Core Themes Of The Last Of Us

Simon & Paige Held Onto Hope In A Hopeless World

The reason why The Last of Us season 1’s deviations from the main plot worked was because they reinforced the core themes. Bill and Frank’s love story took time away from Joel and Ellie, but it still tied back to the central message of Joel and Ellie’s journey: find something to fight for. Simon and Paige’s story similarly connects to the underlying themes of The Last of Us. Ellie gives Joel hope in a hopeless world, and Simon and Paige’s final words prove that they gave each other hope in a hopeless world.

This epic post-apocalyptic saga is all about juxtaposing love against violence. Joel’s undying fatherly love for Ellie drives him to massacre the Fireflies. In The Last of Us Part II, Ellie’s ruthless quest for revenge is all in the name of her love for her late father figure. Simon and Paige’s story makes that juxtaposition loud and clear. All they wanted was to be with each other — and raise their child together — but they got separated and slaughtered by the violence of this world. Simon was shot by a Seraphite’s arrow and Paige was executed by a Seraphite patrol.

Why Simon & Paige's Story Might Not Work In The TV Show

The Epistolary Nature Of The Story Is What Makes It So Powerful In The Game

While Simon and Paige’s story is undeniably beautiful and would make for compelling television, it might not be as effective as a TV episode as it was in the game. In the game, the epistolary nature of the story is what makes it so effective. Finding their remains long after the hope expressed in their letters has been brutally dashed is arguably more powerful than seeing it play out as a straightforward live-action storyline would be. Piecing the story together years after their deaths is deeply unsettling, and that wouldn’t translate to TV.

The TV show faced the same problem with Ish’s story from the first game. Some fans had hoped that The Last of Us season 1 would adapt the story of Ish building a community in the sewers, but the series ultimately left it out. Reading about Ish’s once-thriving community of happy families while wading through the blood-drenched ruins long after they’ve all been infected (or killed) is much more haunting than seeing the story play out in a more traditional format. Still, The Last of Us season 2 could do something great with Simon and Paige.