Spoilers ahead for The Last Of Us Part II and The Last Of Us Season 2
Unfortunately the The Last Of Us’ second season hasn’t been as revered as the first, as many believe it failed to expand on The Last Of Us Part II’s story in any meaningful way, and even worse it cut out/changed a lot of what made that story so compelling in the first place.
Personally I don’t think the second season was horrible but it definitely feels watered down compared to the game, especially Ellie’s character, as her rage at losing Joel was seemingly nowhere to be found.
One of the changes made to the story actually makes sense though. When Ellie goes to the aquarium in the game in pursuit of Abby she kills a total of three people, Alice the dog, Mel, and Owen.
It sucked to have killed the dog in the game but it sucked even more when you learn it was Abby’s dog and you actually play fetch with it in her part of the story, horrendous.
In the show though, Alice is nowhere to be seen, and there’s a good reason as the showrunner Craig Mazin decided that the kill was simply “one too many.”
Mazin said this in an interview with Polygon, going on to say “because it’s live action, the nature of violence becomes much more, well, graphic. It’s more graphic because… it’s not like there’s an animation between you and it, [and] it’s very disturbing.”
While I’m sure some fans would argue it’s a “necessary part of the story” I think this is one of the few changes that actually makes sense, and it would make Ellie a little too unlikable.
It’s one thing to commit such an act when a game forces you to do it, but it’s another see a character on TV do it without such an excuse.
Featured Image Credit: HBO Max
