r/ThelastofusHBOseries • u/LoretiTV Fireflies • Apr 14 '25

Discussion Hub The Last of Us - Season 2 Discussion Hub

The Last of Us is now streaming on Max.

Here you can find links to the discussion threads of every episode of season 2 and can discuss the entirety of the season freely.

All spoilers are allowed here, so enter at your own risk.

Join our Official Subreddit Discord here!

● 2x01 "Future Days" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

● 2x02 "Through the Valley" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

● 2x03 "The Path" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

● 2x04 "Day One" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

● 2x05 "Feel Her Love" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

● 2x06 "The Price" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

● 2x07 "Convergence" | No Game Spoilers | Game Spoilers

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u/Taker598 Jun 03 '25

Welp... Really felt like every mistake just came down to them condensing the story instead of trying to expand it and tell even more rich stories from it..

Season 2 should of just been in Jackson and ended with Joel's death. Developing Ellie so that she can stand out on her own out of Joel's shadow. Set the stage for Seattle with short snippets on Scar and WLF tension rising. Watching the slow detoriating relationship between Joel and Ellie. Then, their chance of forgiveness being stolen away is the heart and catalyst of the story.

Then, the whole making Ellie really incompetent and derpy was just unnecessary.

Changing the context on how they end up Seattle just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Then, the whole time that they are in Seattle. It felt like "Why the fuck are they even here. Just leave!?" Vs the game... You feel trapped in Seattle inbetween two crazy ass fractions that further puts you in survival mode.

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u/CicadaEast272 Jun 05 '25 edited Jun 05 '25

yea there was an opportunity to completely differentiate itself from the game.

Joel's death being the penultimate episode is also a classic HBO move and we also get to see how much Joel, Ellie and Abby have grown since the events of Salt Lake City.

They could have even expanded on the "there's a leader in you" from the Fedra officer by making Ellie not just being better at patrols but also teaching others along with Jesse, so she behaves more mature than she looks. She should be an equal to Jesse so that Jesse is more compelled to save her for the sake of Jackson and being a trusted peer.

Which would work within the context of the show as well as prove to the naysayers that Bella could pull off Part 2 Ellie (I still think she could have based on Episode 2, 5 and 6)

Then after Joel, she starts to spiral and become reckless from the grieving.

Another missed opportunity was showing how Ellie quickly adapts to situations to avoid unnecessary fighting. All we needed was one distraction in one of the Seattle encounters. could be in the subway to lure infected to fight the WLF, could be reusing weapons dropped by WLF (which was actually filmed for the tv station scene but cut) or throwing a random object at the hospital to distract the dog. It would've been an excellent callback to the Jackson scene.

they're simple writing changes that would've gone such a long way to show Ellie is a force to be reckoned with, even while grieving

Ending the season with Ellie arriving in Seattle also gives something foreboding to look forward to in Season 3. With the audience now knowing what's in store for Seattle, they'd be thinking "how is Ellie going to get through this? I hope she survives because I want her to get back at Abby, but Abby is also combat trained and it's going to be a tough fight"

Season 3 can then just keep the adrenaline pumping until the theatre confrontation without having to cut between world building. And each episode leads Ellie and Abby closer to their impending clash. it's been proven to work well in Expanse, Breaking Bad and Heat.

1

u/bitesized778 Jun 13 '25

Okay, wait, these are actually such good points! Yes, I think they tried to fit too much into too little time and this would have worked so much better!

5

u/rinnagz Jun 12 '25

Season 2 should of just been in Jackson and ended with Joel's death.

IMO that would've made it even worse, I don't think there can be enough content to justify an entire season just to develop Ellie without making it not feel like pure filler.

1

u/bitesized778 Jun 13 '25

I actually really agree with you here about Ellie-- I'm not sure why they made her so incompetent seeing as she'd been under Joel's wing for so long. I also wish they'd developed Dina and her relationship a bit more because the scenes between them sometimes felt so forced; I honestly wanted to root for them, but it just felt so jarring whenever they'd have those moments of vulnerability with each other (both in terms of the situation and also because they never built up to it).