Spoilers The Last of Us Season 2 - Spoilers

[CaptainWacky]

It's all just getting a bit too silly for me now. Ellie and Dina walking through the WLF-controlled city in broad daylight having a really loud conversation. The park being an area the WLF don't go to but they didn't even lock the gate or anything. The Scars doing their human sacrifice seemingly a couple of minutes into the park in a really well lit area just so our main character can stand and watch. Ellie effortlessly infilitrating the hospital and finding the person she wants without anyone else seeing her first. I'm not finding it believable!

 

[Jayson1]

I suspect we will see Joel again ( and again)

And what exactly is a "CW romance?" Any two people in a relationship?

Usually involving teenagers or pretty young people on the surface. Something where the romance overshadows the more interesting aspects of the show. What is amazing is this show has shown us a truly adult prestige level romance in season 1 during episode 3. The NIck Offerman show. But season 2 doesn't feel like the romance with Ellie is anywhere close to being that well written and what I would call prestige tv worthy romance.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Usually involving teenagers or pretty young people on the surface. Something where the romance overshadows the more interesting aspects of the show. What is amazing is this show has shown us a truly adult prestige level romance in season 1 during episode 3. The NIck Offerman show. But season 2 doesn't feel like the romance with Ellie is anywhere close to being that well written and what I would call prestige tv worthy romance.

It's a different type of relationship. I've been young and in love and I've been old and in a long term relationship. What I've see with Ellie and Dina and with Bill and Frank ring true to my experience. You're comparing two different things from a story telling standpoint as well. Bill and Frank is a done in one story. Ellie and Dina is something that's unfolding over several episodes.

 

[Jayson1]

It's a different type of relationship. I've been young and in love and I've been old and in a long term relationship. What I've see with Ellie and Dina and with Bill and Frank ring true to my experience. You're comparing two different things from a story telling standpoint as well. Bill and Frank is a done in one story. Ellie and Dina is something that's unfolding over several episodes.

Which would be fine I suppose if this show was set in a modern day setting but it's all happening in a zombie apocalypse and worst it's happening outside the protective sphere of their town which has at least been able to bring some semblance of society back. They are basically out in the wild all alone and until the last episode with no backup. Ellie went on what could only be seen as a suicide mission. No way could some realistically do what she did and expect to live. Which to me is where the focus should be.

If anything they should have already been in love and the mission is tearing them apart more than bringing them together. When I think of someone wanting revenge I think of someone with a single minded obsession that makes that revenge take priority over all other aspects of their life. In essence she should not be falling in love but instead loosing her humanity in the process of what she is doing. Plus they only had 7 episode to do all of this in because I believe they were one of those shows who had some of their episodes cut because of David Zaslav's penny pinching on even shows that were successful.

 

[Set Harth]

It's all just getting a bit too silly for me now. Ellie and Dina walking through the WLF-controlled city in broad daylight having a really loud conversation. The park being an area the WLF don't go to but they didn't even lock the gate or anything. The Scars doing their human sacrifice seemingly a couple of minutes into the park in a really well lit area just so our main character can stand and watch. Ellie effortlessly infilitrating the hospital and finding the person she wants without anyone else seeing her first. I'm not finding it believable!

Also how are the Scars not setting the whole park on fire with their giant torches ( which must be kinda hard to light in the first place if you're not using a whole lot of technology )? Why are they even there at all given that it seems like it would be super easy for WLF to just go in there and shoot them all?

Plus they only had 7 episode to do all of this in

Ugh. I had assumed it would at least be the same number of episodes as the first season.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Which would be fine I suppose if this show was set in a modern day setting but it's all happening in a zombie apocalypse and worst it's happening outside the protective sphere of their town which has at least been able to bring some semblance of society back. They are basically out in the wild all alone and until the last episode with no backup. Ellie went on what could only be seen as a suicide mission. No way could some realistically do what she did and expect to live. Which to me is where the focus should be.

What are you on about? We were talking about their relationship. What unrealistic thing did she do? Kiss someone? Talk about their relationship? Discuss the future???? Some how being in the wilderness means that can't happen???

If anything they should have already been in love and the mission is tearing them apart more than bringing them together. When I think of someone wanting revenge I think of someone with a single minded obsession that makes that revenge take priority over all other aspects of their life. In essence she should not be falling in love but instead loosing her humanity in the process of what she is doing. Plus they only had 7 episode to do all of this in because I believe they were one of those shows who had some of their episodes cut because of David Zaslav's penny pinching on even shows that were successful.

I think she can do both. Real people are complex, so why not fictional ones too? Love and revenge existing dichotomously in Ellie and in the show. I assume her connection with Dina will probably pull her back from the revenge driven loss of humanity. Which is much more interesting than seven episodes of a murder machine,

 

[Jayson1]

I think having sex in a city surrounded by bad guys and zombies would be one issue that doesn't make sense or taking time to play a guitar. Also they are just casually walking down streets in daytime making them a perfect target. To me they should look like they have been through hell and back after such a long journey and show better survival skills. Ellie in theory would be more at ease with this because she has been out in this world before where Dina is more of a liability because she grew up mostly in safety since that town they are from has been able to stay somewhat normal to what things were like in the old world.

If I was doing the show I would have set this entire season in the town. Have them fall in love. KIll Joel in the season final. Then season 3 is when they do her quest for revenge and we see the romance developed in season 2 fall apart as Ellie's desire for revenge and the hardships of actually having to head out into this zombie world after years of somewhat safety consume them.

 

[JD]

What you're talking about is a very different kind of story from the one that they wanted to tell with this. I think the whole point of her relationship with Dina and scenes like playing the guitar is that they are trying to show that she hasn't totally lost touch with her humanity, and that she has these things to keep her grounded.
And for the people worried about their only being two more episodes left this season, it's worth remembering that this story will be continued into at least a small part of the next season. I hope it's not to much of a spoiler to say we'll probably see a shift in the show's focus, but we won't be totally abandoning Ellie and Dina and their relationship.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Lalo!

 

[FPAlpha]

And here it is - the long awaited flashback episode that lays out all the cards on the table between Joel and Ellie.

It's both a beautiful and equally sad episode much like Frank and Bill's episode and it's here where the show shines the most when it is about the characters and their relationships between them.

As Joel said Ellie will never truly understand until she has kids of her own. We see the deep love of a father in this episode and maybe one day she will understand that you can't ask a father ( or mother) to sacrifice their kid even if it meant saving the world.

 

[Charles Phipps]

My thoughts on this episode:

I feel like the homophobia moment isn’t terrible in the conception that Joel is the kind of guy who had two good friends (literally two of his ONLY friends) as gay men that he accepted and probably didn’t think of himself as prejudiced but reacted badly when it was his daughter. Particularly when it was associated with the realization Ellie was growing up and becoming a woman, which Joel isn’t ready for with the fact she’s (no matter how much he loves her individually), also a substitute for his dead daughter, Sara. The thing is that Joel almost immediately backpedals and attempts to make amends. Which is a contrast to, well, a huge number of RL parents.

Still, it’s jarring even knowing society was frozen at 2003.

Sadly, I'm sure Ellie is NOT going to be better than Joel and is going to be going down a very dark road trying to avenge him. Joel would be fine with Ellie giving up on the path of revenge and violence. However, she’s already crossed a lot of moral lines torturing Nora before killing her. I don’t see her as turning back despite given a dozen reasons to do so.

 

[Jayson1]

Best episode of the season and once again shows you just how important Joel was to the shows success. It's just another reminder of why killing him basically killed the show. Also it shows you the value of doing a show using mostly adults and not teens. What a lineup they had for this episode. Catherine O'Hara,Gabriel Luna,Rutina Wesley, Robert John Burke, Joe Pantoliano and Tony Dalton. That is a cast anyone would love to see on a weekly basis. Toss in rising star Isabela Merced and it's perfect. Not to mention Jeffrey Wright.

 

[StarMan]

It's just another reminder of why killing him basically killed the show.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

It's just another reminder of why killing him basically killed the show.

Looks like it's going to get a fourth season.

 

[Set Harth]

Robert John Burke

Wow, I had no idea that was the Thinner guy!

 

[Jayson1]

Wow, I had no idea that was the Thinner guy!

I know him first from "Rescue Me" and also the "Daredevil" tv show.

 

[Jayson1]

Looks like it's going to get a fourth season.

But will anyone still be watching? Also how are they going to drag 4 years of story out of this? IMO this a case where they should have ignored the game, embrace the setting and characters except with one idea being that you want Joel to die at the end and Ellie is now ready to move on to her next phase of her life. With a girlfriend/wife and child.

 

[Set Harth]

I know him first from "Rescue Me"

That's gotta be why I felt like I vaguely recognized him.

 

[StarMan]

Looks like it's going to get a fourth season.

Perfect (given the story left to tell).

But will anyone still be watching? Also how are they going to drag 4 years of story out of this? IMO this a case where they should have ignored the game, embrace the setting and characters except with one idea being that you want Joel to die at the end and Ellie is now ready to move on to her next phase of her life. With a girlfriend/wife and child.

How? Because there is still two seasons' worth of story to tell. You've made your mind up it seems and aren't willing to embrace the story the creators intended to tell, like ohhhh so many others over the years.

Tell you what - just erase S2 from your head canon. Or better yet, imagine that Joel and Ellie finally made it to the hospital, cue montage of doctors extracting the vaccine from only Ellie's blood. Fast forward a year to a world free of infected, with Joel, Ellie and the rest of the Jackson crew partying while Tess's force ghost watches over them smiling.

 

[Aragorn]

I know him first from "Rescue Me" and also the "Daredevil" tv show.

He also had the unfortunate task of replacing Peter Weller in RoboCop 3.