In the second episode of the current season, HBO once again succeeds in a balancing act, which is difficult for many adaptations: The Last of Us remains loyal to his template and still uses targeted deviations to emotionally deepen the story. The focus is particularly on a moment: the death of a main character.
Spoilerwarnung:This article contains central detail details from Episode 2 of the second season of The Last of Us and the game The Last of Us Part II.
The series shows what the game is out of
The scene, which is still heavily discussed in the player, is not defused in the series either: Abby kills Joel. But in contrast to the game, Abby gets the opportunity to disclose her motifs in a monologue.
At the end of(And in season 1 of the series) Joel Ellie saves from the Fireflies hospital. He kills several members of the organization - among themDr. Jerry Anderson, Abby's father.
He was the senior neurosurgeon, who was supposed to carry out the operation to Ellie to gain a cure against the Cordyceps infection. Joel knew that the operation would cost Ellie's life. So he decided against the greater well -being and for the life of the girl who was like a daughter for him.
Showrunner Craig Mazin wrote a monologue for Abby's revenge on Joel who shows deep into her pain:
It is really just about imagining how angry and hurt she is, but also how right she is in her thoughts. It is important that she conveys that what he did was wrong. The end. Guilty. Sentenced to death. No argument. No debate. No nothing.
I think it's great how Pedro presented this type of acceptance. The truth is what he has done is what it is doing now. We kill for the people we love. Joel has had an experience that neither Ellie nor Abby - and we will continue to research this in the course of the season - and that is the experience of loving a child what is different from being a child and love a parent.
Through these words, the moment loses nothing to hardness, but gains clarity. ABBYS action is not excused, but explained.
Another, apparently small but narrative change: In the game template it is Joel's brother Tommy who is a witness to the brutal scene. In the series, however, it is Ellie's girlfriend Dina who lies on the ground - unconscious, while Ellie is forced to see everything.
Mazin explains imInterviewWith Entertainment Weekly, why you have chosen this variant:
When Abby says:I will kill you because there are things that we all think is wrong
, they agree for a moment. Joel knows that what he has done is basic falsch. But he also had no other choice as he saw it. He did what he had to do. We already know from the therapy session in the first episode that he has feelings of guilt because of this.
If we know one thing about Joel, then that he is something like the ultimate father. We know that Dina is very important to him and that he would never let her suffer in any form to defend himself.
So the moment remains one of the most shocking in the series, but HBO manages to give it more depth. Instead of just showing what happens, the series viewers also know directly why it happens.
Perhaps this is exactly the fact that Abby does not experience the same massive headwind in the series as after the game was published. Because if you know your motives, you understand that revenge in this world is never just black or white.
