The latest episode of The Last of Us delivered on a huge moment from the video games that long-time fans knew was coming: the death of Joel (Pedro Pascal). The lead character of the first game was brutally murdered newcomer Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who was getting revenge for Joel killing her father in the season 1 finale. Kaitlyn beats Joel to death with a golf club while his surrogate daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) watches. It's about as upsetting a scene as is possible to make.
But apparently it could have been worse. Speaking to USA Today, co-showrunner Craig Mazin said that the team "tried to show quite a bit of restraint in what people see." At the same time, it was important that Abby "go too far." You can see that even some of the people she brought with her to go on this mission are disturbed by her brutality. "There's justice, and then there's this other thing," Mazin said.
Ellie, obviously, is crushed. Bella Ramsey turns in a devastating performance; I wouldn't be surprised if it nets them an Emmy nomination. “I really struggle with crying in scenes. I can get a tear out, but that’s different than crying,” Ramsey told The Hollywood Reporter about playing the heightened emotions needed for the scene. Obviously, they found a way to make it work: “I remembered the happiest of memories that I’ve had with Pedro. The thing that is always the saddest to me is remembering the happy things. I was remembering us the first few times we met and shooting season one. I was remembering all of that and through the lens of losing him.”
Prepare to be "scared" of Bella Ramsey
So what happens now? Fans who have played The Last of Us Part II know that Ellie starts off on her own journey of revenge, although Mazin might take issue with calling it that. "Is Ellie going to do exactly what Abby did, pursue her and hunt her down at any cost?" he asked. "What does this toxic grieving do to us? This is not a revenge story. It's a story about grief and how people handle grief."
Ellie might not find the journey as satisfying as she hopes. In the video game, we also get to know Abby very well. As she walks away from the scene of the crime, we see an ambiguous expression on her face. "It's not remorse," Mazin said. "There is a sense of dissatisfaction. This thing she thought would fix the wound in her didn't fix it. She walks away no happier than when she showed up."
"The point of this story is that the entire concept of protagonist is flawed. The entire concept of villain is flawed. Our way of processing the world through heroes and villains is a mistake. It ends up creating these barriers between people that shouldn’t be there."
This is rich ground for storytellers to explore. In the game, the lines between Ellie and Abby start to blur in a disturbing way. I expect something similar to happen on the show. Mazin teases a scene coming up later where Ellie goes to a dark new place, and I'm not sure whether to be excited or nervous. “I was scared of her, and I didn’t like her, and I didn’t want her to do what she’s doing,” he said. “I look at her, and she’s breaking my heart. I’m just like…I’m telling you, Bella Ramsey.”
There are five more episodes left before the second season of The Last of Us wraps up; it's already been renewed for a third, and possibly one more beyond that. New episodes drop Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
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