Looking into some of the story beats of The Last of Us Part 2!
Hey guys and welcome back to the lab!
So if you read my post on last week (My spoiler free review on The Last of Us Part 2), you already know my general opinions of this game. However one thing i couldn't speak too much about was the story and the twists and turns that it takes throughout. In this post, I am going to break down some of the major moments from the game, what I thought worked and not so much. This is an Spoiler filled look at ‘The Last of Us Part 2’
Before we go any further, MAJOR spoiler warning. I will be spoiling the plot and what happens in this game from the outset, talking about them in detail and including some major screenshots from the game. If you have not played the game, leave; play it then come back.
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Still here? Let's get into it!
Going into Part 2, the gamer always knew that this was a game about hate and revenge, yet the player did not know why. The story was primarily kept a closely guarded secret (except for those that saw the leaks from a few months back). There were theories of course, some saying that Ellie’s girlfriend Dina was killed and she was out for revenge, some saying Ellie's mother came back and killed Dina herself, another fan theory was that Joel was killed. All the gameplay reveals we got since the initial trailer kept throwing red hearings and misconceptions to throw us off the scene, but last week we found out why we were on this revenge mission. Joel is killed in the first act of the game, that's right, Joel dies in Part 2.
Joel's Death
Joel's death immediately tells us one thing from the start. You do not know what to expect from this story. It completely subverts your expectations at every turn. Joel's death is brutal and heartbreaking.
For context, Joel and Tommy (Troy Baker and Jeffery Pierce respectively) are on a patrol when they run into a character named Abby (Laura Bailey) and save her from a horde of infected. They retreat to a lodge nearby where they come across Abby’s fellow friends, after revealing their names, Abby knocks out Tommy and starts to beat Joel with a golf club.
Meanwhile Ellie (Ashley Johnson) finds out Joel is missing and goes to find him, after discovering the lodge and breaking in, she barges into the room and is knocked and held against the floor. Joel is broken and bruised, Ellie pleads with him to get up but Abby deals the deathly blow. As a viewer, watching this is soul-crushing. Watching a character we have grown to love over the years get killed in such a brutal way really hurts to watch, yet - for me at least - it feels right for the set-up of this story. Ellie vows to get revenge on Abby, and this idea of revenge almost descends her into madness. One thing as a gamer that the viewer gets confused about is, at least at the time, we have no idea why Abby and her friends committed this act. No idea at all. So going forward we completely side with Ellie and her quest for revenge.
This is a key scene where every cast member shines, but Ashley Johnson is spine chilling. Her performance as Ellie made me cry. It really is a tough scene to watch, but that's a testament to her acting and this story being so strong. This one story moment alone deserves a whole post itself.
Ellie; Dina & Seattle
There are many key friendships and relationships in the game, but one that stands out is the relationship between Ellie and new character Dina (Played by Shannon Woodward). Before Joel's death their relationship is playful and flirty. For the gamer its nice to see Ellie have someone other than Joel in her life. Once Joel is killed this relationship becomes much more vital for both the gamer and for Ellie. Dina becomes the character who keeps Ellie grounded as much as possible and all scenes between them are a welcome breather for the player. After Joel’s death, Dina accompanies Ellie to Seattle, where most of the game takes place.
Ellie has sworn revenge against Abby and her friends that killed Joel, and the game does not hold back. Quietly moving along the desolate streets of Seattle we take out the members of the Washington Liberation Front whilst looking for Abby and her friends. Seeing Ellie be this ruthless is frightening. One moment that truly stands out is when Ellie finds a woman called Nora, she then proceeds to torture Nora for the location of Abby. As a gamer this is shocking to see and - at first - have to control. To see Ellie commit this act makes us question the lengths Ellie will go to exact justice.
The story does not then stop in shocking the gamer, if anything it's the opposite. Where we first were completely sided with Ellie after the death of Joel, we are now constantly questioning the decisions Ellie’s making, you want her to leave Seattle and try and move on with her life but the game makes you carry on with this mission she has her heart set on. Seattle reaches its peak for Ellie when she reaches an aquarium in search of Abby. She runs into Mel and Owen and tries to question them on Abby’s whereabouts, this reaches a climax where she kills them both, however Mel was pregnant.
For me as a gamer and viewer, this was where the story felt most uncomfortable for me, this was too much, I had to put down the controller and take a long breather. it's a lot to process for us and for Ellie herself. Although Ellie did not know before she committed these acts, it's still very hard to watch. You can see now that Ellie will not stop until she’s got justice, even if it means losing herself, everyone and everything she holds dear. I understand why the story goes in this direction, yet that doesn't mean I like this part of the story. We have grown with this character in both parts 1 and part 2, so when the game gives you moments like these, it’s shocking and even quite frightening for us to see.
Flashbacks
The game is not all dark and stomach churning, it is also filled with flashbacks that, for the most part, give the gamer a chance to breathe and go back to what we loved most about part 1, the relationship between Joel and Ellie. For me one flashback showcased this perfectly with one of the most beautiful sequences in the entire game. The Museum Sequence.
This sequence is between Joel and Ellie, around a year after the first game. Joel surprises Ellie with a trip to a museum he found for her birthday. You play as Ellie as you explore this museum filled with Dinosaurs, space and planets. The most beautiful part of the sequence is when they see a space shuttle, calling back to the first game where Ellie reveals she wants to be an astronaut. Joel and Ellie sit inside the shuttle as Joel hands over a mixtape of the Apollo 11 takeoff. Ellie closes her eyes and smiles as she imagines herself launching into space.
This moment - for me - is my favourite moment in the game because it's a still and peaceful moment. You get to witness just how much these characters have grown to love one another, and yet it's also completely heartbreaking. As a gamer we realise that moments like these Ellie has now lost, she can’t ever get these back or have them again and that's what makes this moment in particular a perfect moment for me. There is just so much too unpack. Even if you don't play this game, I urge everyone to go and watch this sequence because it is beautiful.
Abby and her Journey
Throughout Part 2, the story does everything it can to subvert your expectations. Perhaps one of the most interesting twists in the game comes at the halfway point. This is when we spend around 10 hours of the game playing as Abby. For me as a gamer this was very surprising, as I had come to hate Abby for killing Joel, i didn't want to know anything more about her, at the end of this section of the game however, my feelings had changed slightly.
Abby is a very complex character, who at the start of the game, commits actions without any justification to the player, so to then play as her for a large portion of the game allowed me to fully understand the reasons behind her actions and to a degree start to sympathise with her. That's not to say i'm fully on her side, yet i do see the reasons behind her actions.
The gamer learns that Joel kills Abby’s father in Part 1 and ever since she has been on a mission for revenge. The gamer then plays the Seattle sequence of the game again but in Abby’s shoes. This way we start to learn and care about the characters we have been hunting down and killing as Ellie and get to see how Abby reacts as she finds out about their deaths. We also see her befriend two young adults named Yara and Lev who she takes in and ultimately cares for, especially when Yara is killed.
This all culminates at a fight at a theatre between Abby and Ellie, in which Abby fights and defeats Ellie and tells her to stay out of her way. After all of this and playing this section of the game, I felt sorry for Abby for what she’s been through. However, unlike most players, I didn't and still do not completely side with her. To me I still side with Ellie. That’s not to say I agree with the choices she is making, or even that she is in the right, but I sympathise with her more than I do Abby. That's the beauty of this story, everyone will have a different opinion.
The Final Act of the Game.
The final act of the game doesn't stop in shocking its audience and making them think with the twists and turns the story takes, some more shocking than others.
The final act begins with Ellie settling down with Dina and her baby on a farm. You see Ellie living a domestic life, happy and healthy with those she loves, yet the horrors of her past still play havoc in her life. Often having panic attacks and suffering PTSD of what she has been through, especially Joel's death. This culminates in Tommy revealing that he has found where Abby is hiding, and Ellie decides to go, meaning the end of her relationship with Dina. For me, this was one of the most heartbreaking moments of the game. I wanted Ellie to stay and the game to end there. As much as I wanted justice for Joel, I was happy that Ellie was finally living a normal life, to see her lose all of this because of her obsession was devastating, i wanted to scream at Ellie to stop.
We then get to Santa Barbara. This part of the game is unrelenting and brutal. It really takes it out of the gamer. We first follow Abby and Lev as they try to locate the fireflies which in result gets them kidnapped and held hostage. Cut to Ellie a couple months later and she is in Santa Barbara hunting for Abby, killing anyone and everyone who stands in her way. She fights her way through a hideout where Abby and Lev are being held, killing everyone she comes into contact with. For me playing this, I felt exhausted. Ellie is beaten, bruised, covered in blood and yet she’s not stopping, which in turn means i as a gamer had to carry on. I had to see how the story was going to end, however the ending was not something I expected.
Once you have killed everyone in your path the final person left is Abby. This is what the game has been building towards, nearly 30 hours of gameplay. Ellie finds Abby and Lev, and challenges Abby to a fight by threatening Lev’s life. As they fight in the sea, Ellie gains the upper hand and starts to choke Abby. This was it, Ellie was going to get her revenge, she was about to fulfil everything she set out to do only to let her go. After everything, Ellie lets Abby live, and I was over the moon.
I wanted justice for Joel as much as most players, but I didn't want Ellie to lose herself in the process. Yes some will argue that killing Abby would have brought justice for what she did, but then everything we know about Ellie, everything we have grown to love about this character would have been lost, in that very last moment, she had an ounce of humanity left showing there could yet be redemption for this character and also saying violence is not the answer. Some part of me was also glad Abby survived. I had grown to sympathise with her and understand her. I did not agree with her, and was angry with her for killing Joel, yet her surviving, at least for me, makes the story that much more impactful.
Abby leaves and Ellie returns to the farm only to find that Dina has left. Ellie then takes one last look and leaves to areas unknown and this here is where the game ends. For me it's a beautiful ending to a very powerful story. Don’t get me wrong, i wanted the game to end with Ellie happy and healthy yet that is not realistic for the world this is set in, the closest we can get to a happy ending is this one, and i'm okay with that.
Final Thoughts
Overall i love this game and its story. The game has a lot too unpack, not all moments are nice to play or even to watch, but the story is a powerful one. What i have spoken about barely scratches the surface. This is a story that really needs to be experienced first hand, it has moments of shock, violence, horror and yet also moments of peace, love and humanity. It makes you happy, heartbroken and exhausted and thats a testament to the writers and the story they have created. It’s a story that is going to stick with me for a long time to come, a story i am still unpacking a week after playing, a story that ultimately challenges future stories to beat.
It's a story that is going to be the talking point of conversations for years to come.
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So there you have it, it’s not every moment in the game, more of some moments that i wanted to talk about most!
Have you played the game? What did you think? Let me know!
Come back next week for my next post on a topic completely different!
(You’ll have to wait and see what it is!)
Stay Well & Stay Safe,
Harry x