‘The Last of Us’ Season Two Finale: No Resolution for the Wicked

By golly, I think they’re gonna do it. I think season three will be all-Abby. Certainly, that’s the way things seemed to be heading, as the final scene of the finale rewinds the clock to “Seattle Day One” from Abby’s point of view. And I imagine that decision may prove frustrating for some viewers, considering where The Last of Us left Ellie in the moments before that reveal: shouting “No!” while Abby aims a gun at her and a shot goes off.

Regardless, it’s the right move. As I’ve said before, it’s exactly how the game laid out its plot, and the finale, titled “Convergence,” dropped plenty of hints at the events in Seattle we haven’t seen yet. Why did Abby leave Isaac and the WLF hanging just before their big night raid on the Seraphites? Why was her hideout filled with bloody rags and a bone saw? And how did she manage to track down Ellie at the theater? Even as Ellie’s side of the story came to a (temporary?) close, we started to see the shape of the one to come — a story that will bring Abby right back to Ellie, with a gun in her hand. For now, though, this is still Ellie’s story, and there’s plenty more tale to tell about what Ellie did to deserve this threat on her life.

In fact, who “deserves” the violence inflicted on them was a big theme in the episode. Did Nora deserve to be tortured for information about Abby’s whereabouts? Even Ellie isn’t so sure, and when she confesses her actions to Dina she finally reveals why Abby and her friends came for Joel, what Joel did to the Fireflies in order to save her. If Nora deserved it, then so did Joel, so where does it all end? Dina, finally grasping the scope of the vengeance she’s involved in, tells Ellie that they need to go home now. Oh, if only.

Before they can leave, they have to find Tommy, so Jesse and Ellie leave Dina at the theater and go to the rendezvous point where Tommy should be meeting them. Jesse, at this point, has figured out that Dina is pregnant, which Ellie confirms, so he’s more determined than ever to leave Seattle safely. “I’m gonna be a father, which means I can’t die,” he says, and don’t you just hate it when characters you like say that? Anyway, their journey gives them a chance to hash out their differences, and it’s illuminating. Jesse thinks Ellie is selfish for putting all their lives at risk over revenge, when he’s been raised to put the community first. But who defines community? When they witness a young Scar being captured and beaten by Wolves, Jesse refuses to intervene because it’s not his war, even though Ellie wants to help. Everyone draws the line somewhere — who is worth killing for and who is worth dying for. Ellie sees his hypocrisy, that he’s not so selfless after all, but she still doesn’t recognize her own. And sure enough, when given a choice between going with Jesse to help Tommy, who they realize is the sniper they heard about on the radio, or pursuing Abby at the aquarium (when she finally realizes what Nora meant by “whale” and wheel”), she still chooses Abby. She still chooses Joel’s memory over her friends’ safety.

After watching Isaac and his team board boats and head to Scar Island, Ellie boards one herself and sets off for the aquarium. A huge storm has rolled in, though, and a wave capsizes her in the bay. When she washes ashore, she’s on Scar Island herself. A child not much younger than the one she wanted to save earlier witnesses her arrival and summons the Seraphites to capture her. They string her up by the neck, ready to disembowel her, but she’s saved when Isaac’s attack in the distance distracts them. She heads back to the beach, where she finds another boat and sets off again, ending her little detour into events we’ll surely see in more detail next season.

Inside the aquarium, Ellie discovers Owen and Mel arguing about whether or not to help Abby (with what? Next season stuff!). She interrupts, demanding to know where Abby is while holding them at gunpoint. Owen reminds Ellie that he’s the one who convinced the others to spare her life back in the Lodge, which is true, and Ellie, for her part, claims she won’t kill them if they help her. But when Owen surprises her by pulling a gun, she shoots him in the neck — and the bullet passes through Owen to strike Mel. As Mel lies bleeding out, Ellie sees for the first time that she’s pregnant. Mel even begs Ellie to cut the child from her womb to save it, but Ellie isn’t fast enough. Jesse and Tommy discover her in shock, still leaning over Mel’s body. In a single episode, Ellie argued with Jesse about saving a child, was ratted out by a child, and accidentally killed a child herself.

When they get back to the theater, Ellie finally seems willing to leave Seattle and all her unfinished business behind, perhaps realizing that her revenge is turning her into someone she doesn’t like — until she hears Tommy scream from the lobby. She and Jesse rush to help, but Jesse gets to the door first… and is immediately shot and killed by Abby, who has come looking for the intruders who have been killing her friends.

Did Jesse deserve to die? Did Owen or Mel? Do the Wolves or the Scars deserve it? It doesn’t matter. “Deserve” is just a pretty lie to absolve killers of their guilt, so Ellie tries to absolve herself in another way. She offers herself to Abby, to spare Tommy (and, elsewhere in the theater, Dina). She takes the rightful blame for the deaths of Abby’s friends — and even reveals that she’s the reason Joel killed the Fireflies in the first place. “I’m the one that you want!”

“I let you live,” Abby yells, “and you wasted it!” Then she raises her gun, and we hear a shot. And suddenly we’re with Abby at the WLF base three days earlier, on her way to meet Isaac about his next attack. Next season will almost certainly follow Abby’s journey through the same three days in Seattle, so we’re not going to find out immediately if Ellie lives or dies. We might even have to wait until the season three finale for payoff on season two’s cliffhanger, which is just some truly wild television plotting if you think about it. I know I said it might be frustrating for some viewers, but on the other hand, isn’t it exciting?

If season two proved that maybe Ellie isn’t the hero we (or she) thought she was, imagine what season three could tell us about Abby, the supposed villain of the show.