The Last of Us - HBO *Spoilers* See warning in post #1

Just watched episode 2 season 2. Great episode. Very hard hitting. Sad to see Joel go. That was hard and very sad more do because Ellie arrived just too late to safe him.

I liked the song at the end. Anyone know what it is?

Edit: I found it. Have to love and thank the subtitles for that :) .

I saw a spoiler that Joel was killed in the game, so kind of knew it was coming, didn’t expect it so early in the season though. I now want to see Ellie track down Abbey and make her pay.

Absolutely incredible episode. Having played the game, I knew what was coming with Joel but that didn't lessen the impact of it. Dever played a blinder.

The 'invasion' of the infected was brilliant to watch. The cinematography was top notch and real edge of your seat stuff.

Shame/strange that people are writing off the series now that Joel is dead. Plenty of cracking TV to come this season (with some crazy scenes and stories) and it'll be worth watching particularly with how well they're developing from the source material. Can't wait.

The only reason they didnt have earthwork defences is because they wanted a breach for dramatic effect, a TV reason rather then obvious logic.

Theres going to be a lot of questions as to why Joel got tortured to death….

I completed both games but thought they were going to take a different course regarding Joel given the big name actor pull, so brave decision to stick with the original plot.

They will probably keep him on for flashback scenes though.

I'm no expert on fungus controlled zombies but two questions:

1. Why did the cold not kill them?

2. Would there not be a risk of spores? After the fight the residents weren't wearing masks as they walked among the dead on main street. They did wear masks in S1E1

This is it. Joel's death is necessary for so many reasons, primarily that it drives all of Ellie's actions to come. There was no world where they could have changed course.

Honestly, the second game didn't need Joel after he was killed. Both Ellie and Abby have huge story arcs to come.

I generally do hate it it too and it's probably much of a muchness but for me Joel's death leads to an evolution of Ellie rather than a lazy way to get a simple reaction from her. It's a necessary plot point as Joel and Ellies story was done. It's brave storytelling to do what they did and as someone who can look back at the completed narrative, it works. So I think in time, viewers of the TV show will appreciate it down the line.

I'd agree that his absence does leave a hole in the show as it stands but there is so much more to come and so many more characters who are going to take center stage.

I don't think this counts as fridging, because Joel didn't die just to get a reaction from another character or to serve their story; he died due to his own actions. If it had been Dinah who died and then Ellie wants to go get revenge and Joel helps/follows her, that would be fridging, because then Dinah would have only died to give Ellie a reason for revenge.

Joel killed Abby's father as well as killing a dozen or more other Fireflies who were this group's friends, mentors etc. Joel's death was the result of Joel's actions and the culmination of his own story, given how he's admitted to doing some horrible things in the years following the outbreak that even caused Tommy to leave him. Sure, he was becoming a better man, and he killed the Fireflies to save Ellie (whether that was the right or wrong thing is very much a matter of perspective), but he was killed because of his actions, not just to serve as a plot point for Ellie's story.

It will obviously be the thing which will next drive Ellie's story regardless, but that's just natural cause and effect.

Well it is following the game where he dies early in the game, but even then, it's the main story plot point of Season 2. They would had to have done an awful lot of padding to push it out to later in the season. Even if instead of flashbacks later in the season they did an episode showing the five years since season 1, that would probably at most just have pushed Joel's death out by one episode.

I can see why people would be aggrieved about Joel's death, and especially considering Pedro Pascal was so great in the role, and how Ellie isn't as likeable a character to carry the whole show, but this was going to happen and artifically padding the whole thing out to do something like making Joel's death happen towards the end of this season and then Ellie going for revenge next season, I think would have killed this season and wouldn't have changed the majority of issues people may have with Joel's death.

He still would have died the same way, he still would have left the show, his death would still lead to Ellie being the main character and going off for revenge. If anything, it may have resulted in Pedro Pascal not taking the role considering how many other projects he has on. Clips of interviews they've done for this episode have been going around where he says he knew going into it that he'd be doing one full season, and then would be killed off early in the second.

Fair enough regarding the flashbacks. I guess viewers who liked season 1 will get a different show for seasons 2 and 3. Seems odd writing for revenge stories, usually we route for one of the two parties involve, but Abby is no villain for killing Joel. If that is the plot going forward it would seems a stretch to have it last two seasons.

Well that's the thing; Was Joel justified in killing Abby's father to save Ellie? Was Abby justified in killing Joel to avenge her father? Would Ellie be justified in killing Abby to avenge essentially her adoptive father? It's all a matter of perspective.

Trust me, you're not wrong in many ways for how you feel about Joel's death, because it was just as much a kick in the gut and fairly inexplicable to people playing the game when it happened (well, there were leaks released before the game came out which spoiled it for a lot of people but that's another story). I'm not going to say it ultimately ended up being the right or wrong decision, or that the story gets so much better or worse, because I can't. It's also all a matter of perspective and opinion. Some people will like the rest of the show/story. Some will look back at Joel's death and think "This is where the show fell apart".

Why was Dina the only character to suffer from frost bite?

Why not loose the dogs sooner?

Why did the protagonists return from the lodge with 2 horses instead of 4?