The Last of Us Season 2 Finale Review: Fate, Revenge, and a Cliffhanger

 

It has been a wild ride this season on The Last of Us. Catherine O’Hara as the hilariously witty Gail has been a treat. Her down-to-earth personality has brought the realism that the series needed. Jeffrey Wright has been a masterfully bone-chilling villain as Issac Dixon. When you bring on two multi-award-winning actors of this caliber to a huge platform like HBO for the biggest game adaptation to television you can expect greatness, and they delivered. The death of Joel Miller and the loss of Pedro Pascal has gutted us all. We knew it would be excruciatingly heartbreaking, and it was.

Young Mazino brought such maturity and strength to the role of Jesse, that I enjoyed him every time he was on screen. He never let Ellie (Bella Ramsey) or Dina (Isabela Merced) off the hook for anything. Their reckless behavior deserved to be put in check. And then there was Dina who I was pleasantly surprised with. She’s had a much bigger backstory than Dina in the game and it’s been great for television, and greater to see Ellie and Dina connect in new ways that have further deepened their bond. I loved how Dina and Joel had a daughter and father-like association before he was killed. It felt personal and organic. The togetherness and love that this cast has for each other off-stage shined vibrantly when they performed together on.

In The Last of Us Part ll game, Jesse dies abruptly after being shot in the face by Abby in the midst of helping Tommy at the theater. Do we see the same fate for young Jesse in the act of revenge? Ellie wants justice for the death of Joel, and so does the audience. Find out Jesee’s fate below.

Spoilers and the conclusion are ahead for Episode 7, “Convergence.”

In the opening moments, Jesse is tending to the arrow that pierced Dina’s leg. There’s no other option but to push it all the way through. When she refuses to take the liquor offered to dull the pain he figures out she must be pregnant. He doesn’t say the words but the realization is in his eyes.

What We’ve Learned And Thoughts On The Finale

• Isabela Merced’s acting is so on point with these dramatic scenes. Not every actor can pull off these horrifically painful circumstances. Sometimes they can come off as non-believable or overacting, but not Merced.
• I’m not a fan of the indecisiveness Ellie has for pounding the hell out of Nora(Tati Gabrielle). They are giving more of a humanness element to Ellie when she should be full of rage. I don’t know if the guilt needs to be there. The infection was taking over her body anyway.
• They are supposed to make Ellie so scary that she scares herself. Hurting Nora for answers was easy for her to do. That was an aspect of herself she never expected. The problem is Ellie doesn’t come across the screen as intimidating.
• Dina is giving off the vibe that this whole excursion hasn’t been worth it when Ellie confesses the reason Abby murdered Joel. She’s ready to go home and take care of the baby that’s inside her. For Ellie, I don’t think she’s done with revenge just yet.
• On a positive note, they’ve done such a great job with the set. Jesse and Ellie walking down the rain-soaked streets of Seattle makes you feel like you’re inside the game with them.
• Jesse has had it with Ellie’s antics. All he wants to do is find Tommy so they can get back home. Now he’s got a baby to think about and they can’t be stuck in this war zone Ellie brought them to. In fairness, Ellie didn’t know Dina was pregnant until they got there. Though I understand Jeese’s frustrations. Ellie can be a magnet for chaos.
• Ellie is doing the wrong things for the right reason while doing the right things for the wrong reason. Jeese’s job is to get them home in one piece so when Ellie tries to help a Seraphite in need Jesse has to stop her. It’s not their war to fight. She needs to understand that she’s not a one-woman army. Being immune from bites doesn’t make you Superman. If she’s as serious about Dina as she claims, she has to put her and the baby first.
• The connection between Issac and Abby is a strong one. She is missing in action which has Issac worried. Abby is supposed to be the one to take over the WLF if anything happens to Issac. Currently, that’s not looking so promising. In all honesty, I think she takes things too personally to be that type of a leader, even so, we will see much more of that next season.

You And Me And This Bad Fucking Weather

It becomes evident why Jesse is not in love with Dina when he reveals he fell in love with a girl who came with a trading group to Jackson. He knows he doesn’t love Dina the way Ellie does, and wanted to go with the new apple of his eye. Unfortunately, he has too much loyalty to the town of Jackson and what they’d done for him.

Ellie and Jesse hit a fork in the road when they must decide whether to go after Abby at the wheel or Tommy who has likely pinned down WLF soldiers. Abby chooses the side of revenge over the family. Yes, it’s true that Tommy can probably hold them off for the time being, but Ellie doesn’t know that for sure. Jesse wishes her luck but ultimately they choose different paths.

Ellie Has Really Done It Now

After a mishap in the ocean, Ellie faces another run-in with the Scars. Without asking any questions they try to hang her until noise comes from the village. Jesse was not wrong when he refused to step in and save the troubled Seraphite—they sure didn’t have any mercy on Ellie. Finally, she makes it to the wheel and climbs the aquarium to come head-to-head with her most important battle yet. Abby.

At the Aqarium Ellie finds Owen and Mel, two people straight out of Abby’s crew. You truly start to see how easy it is for Ellie to murder in this scene when Owen (Spencer Lord) tries to fight back before giving up Abby’s location. It astonishingly only took her one shot to shoot through two people. Unbeknownst to Ellie, Mel (Ariela Barer) was pregnant and begged her to take the baby out. I guess Ellie was in shock and didn’t know what to do. Still, it seemed hypocritical of her to let the baby die when she just yelled at Jesse for the same thing.

Does TV Jesse Meet The Same Fate?

Yes, he does. Abby does ambush them in the theater and has Tommy on the ground when she shoots Jesse in the face. Tommy urges Ellie to run. She has no choice but to retreat to save Tommy’s life. “I let you live and you wasted it,” Abby notes with her gun pointed to Ellie. A shot rings off and the scene fades to black. Welcome cliffhanger. It’s not clear if Ellie dodges the shot or gets hit. We won’t know the answer to that until next season. 

The finale ends with Abby waking up on the couch and being summoned by Issac Dixon. As she walks outside, it is day one of Seattle at the stadium. Ellie’s nemesis looks down at the once athletic field that has been turned into an oasis of life and vegetation in a dead world. It’s safe to say season 3 will cover Abby’s story in grander detail, just like in the game. Catherine O’Hara also admitted that the next season would follow Abby’s story as well.

What didn’t work for the finale

The finale itself felt rushed. Almost too compacted. There was a lot going on with minimal time to get through it. I do appreciate Craig Mazin and Neil Duckmann’s vision for other characters to sparkle alongside Ellie, but we didn’t get enough of her mindset throughout the worst ordeal of her life. I could never complain anytime Merced is on air. Regardless of her intriguing backstory information, it left out a lot of Ellie’s story.

I would have liked to see a little more acting chops from Bella Ramsey in this episode. I’ve always been a supporter and I feel like she could have dug a little deeper during those final emotional scenes.

What did work for the finale?

I do like the scenes between Jesse and Ellie, even as awkward as it was at points. However, the show highlights two very different people in the same situation and how they react to insurmountable odds. You have a practical leader in Jesse and more of a Robin Hood type of personality in Ellie. It’s an interesting dynamic that represents how opposite responses can both be correct. 

When should we expect season 3?

HBO renewed Season 3 of The Last of Us back in April. Filming for Season 3 is expected to start this summer in British Columbia at Bridge Studios. If I had to guess fans could expect a release date around early 2027 or after. Keep in mind it’s occasionally hard to pinpoint accuracy in this business as things can always change. In any case, here at LORETTE, we are thrilled to cover the next season.

You can catch every episode of seasons 1 and 2 on HBO Max with a subscription.

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About the author: Shay has been writing as a journalist professionally for years. Her most common topics to cover are drama and horror but she looks forward to getting her feet wet with new and exciting genres and projects. @ShaySleighs