I hated The Last of Us season 2 as much as any true gaming fan should. From the unimpactful way they adapted Joel's bludgeoning death to Ellie's cringeworthy "I'm gonna be a dad" scene, there's a lot that still haunts me about the HBO production. It's no surprise that the show's ratings declined season over season.
Despite my many complaints with the show, I was able to appreciate Kaitlyn Dever's attempt at portraying Abby's bloodthirsty vengeance and darkness. But, of course, I, too, have my reservations about The Last of Us season 3, which will heavily focus on Abby's story and give Dever more screentime.
Kaitlyn Dever played a vengeful daughter in Justified
However, a deep dive into the actress's acting resume proves she's no stranger to portraying dark and twisted storylines, and that's reassuring. Dever played a role eerily similar to Abby in the Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins-starring Western show Justified nearly 14 years ago.
Justified centres around Olyphant's Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, who's forced to return to his hometown to handle criminals, fugitives, and more. As a result, he faces the ghosts of his past, from his cheating ex-wife to a former friend.
The show went on for six seasons and has an impressive 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Dever joined the show in season 2 (2011) as a 15-year-old and portrayed Loretta McCready, the daughter of a murdered marijuana farmer, Walt McCready, played by Chris Mulkey.
There are many parallels between Abby and Loretta, the biggest one being that both their fathers are murdered, which propels them into a revenge mission. Both girls grew up without mothers and are close to their dads. Loretta even helps out her pot farmer dad by selling marijuana to her classmates. Love it or hate it, it's almost as though Dever was destined to be Abby.
Though one massive difference is that Loretta chooses mercy at the end of her bloodthirsty quest. We all saw where Abby went with that! RIP Joel. Loretta's story in Justified is equally disturbing and gritty like Abby's in The Last of Us. Her character is orphaned, sexually harassed, kidnapped, and worse.
Why The Last of Us season 2 disappointed me so much
The Last of Us season 2 gave us too many blood-boiling and insulting moments that were straight up a crime against gaming fans. Very few of them top Ellie's beyond embarrassing "no no no......" at the end of the season 2 finale episode, but they still make me wince after all these months.
Let's start with Joel's death scene. In the game, he dies in a dirty, dark, almost dungeon-esque room. You feel as though you are suffocating as you witness his tragic end, and the location plays a key role in it. The show, however, chooses a bright mountain resort-esque location with a picturesque view to give us the game's darkest moment. The location choice robbed the scene of the gut-punch impact it should've had, even on first-time watchers.
The next mind-numbing moment that left me seething was the timeline of Ellie and Dina's first sexual encounter. Why the show creators didn't put this scene in pre-Joel death episodes back in Jackson is a question that'll haunt me forever. It completely waters down Ellie's descent into darkness after Joel's death when she's cracking jokes, hopping around in an enemy-controlled territory, and also getting some action in the process.
Finally, Ellie getting captured by Seraphites in the finale episode and escaping easily because she's the luckiest girl that ever lived was another insult to gaming fans. The game version of Ellie is skilled at crafting, stealth, and more. The show Ellie, on the other hand, is either saved by others or keeps getting lucky cause she's the protagonist. If only they restructured the scene to show Ellie using her skills to escape the Scars, the show could've earned some respect from gaming fans.
Whether you're as angry about HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation as me or not, there is more on the way. The third season, which, as mentioned, will see Dever in a starring role, premieres sometime in 2027.
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