The Last of Us – Through the Valley Review

A bit of housecleaning before we dive into the review. I have not played The Last of Us and have (miraculously) managed to remain completely in the dark about the contents of the second game – upon which this and the third and final season of the series will be based. So, these reviews will not call out events to come in the story but will treat the series as a series and not an adaptation (even though it is absolutely an adaptation). If you’re looking for a review that will call out Easter eggs and hints of what is to come, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking to remain spoiler-free, well, I’m your gal. Also, don’t be a dick and spoil things in the comments.

I knew going into watching The Last of Us that, at some point, the story would shift from Joel’s point of view to Ellie’s – I had been spoiled at least that much. And I had a suspicion that the arrival of Abby, a character hell bent on revenge for the murder of her doctor father at Joel’s hands at the close of season one, likely meant that Joel was not long for this world. But what I certainly didn’t expect was that Joel’s death would come so early in the season – and that it would occur against the backdrop of an all-out assault on Jackson Hole by scores of infected. What an episode, what an incredible set piece, and what a bloody death for Joel. (I think this officially means Pedro Pascal has the record for most bloody and violent death scenes on massive HBO hit series).

Before I dive into what worked about the episode – and a lot of it worked incredibly well – I wanted to touch on what didn’t quite work for me (as someone whose only knowledge of this story stems from what I’ve seen on the series). When it comes to having a character kill another in an act of revenge, it helps if we actually know something about the character doing the killing before the killing happens. We, unfortunately, know next to nothing about Abby. And what we do know was told to us via a classic villain speech moments before she started in on the killing. That, for my money, was a massive misstep on the part of the series. Sure, I suspect we’ll get to see more of Abby down the line – one act of revenge begets another, with Ellie promising to kill them all (which I assume will be her quest for the remainder of the series). But from our brief introduction to her in the season premiere to her single-minded focus on killing Joel this episode, she’s not much of a character at all.

This isn’t a slight toward Kaitlyn Dever – she did an awful lot within the episode to make it clear just how broken Abby still is over not only the loss of her father but the trauma of seeing his body on the floor of that operating room five years ago. But for that sequence to work the way I suspect Craig Mazin wanted it to work, we needed a bit more about who she is beyond a speech. Why did her friends agree to go on this mission with her? Why wait for five years to seek him out – she was training out in Seattle for a good chunk of time, and she presumably wanted to track him down immediately. We, the audience, don’t want to see our hero die. We love him. And we will hate his murderer. But we need to understand more about what led her here, now, to enact her revenge. Otherwise, Abby just becomes a villain whose death we’re rooting for. And that turn from quiet, brooding young woman to crazed angry killer? What an abrupt turn that didn’t feel organic at all.

What I’m saying is, looking back, I would have loved an episode focused on Abby. Learning what she did in the ensuing five years. How she came to the point where she and her friends opted to leave their militia and head to Wyoming so she could get her revenge. More of them casing Jackson Hole. More of what her team thought about this quest and why they came with her. It certainly seemed like they were wary – and if Abby hadn’t gotten lucky in being rescued by Joel, would they have succeeded in convincing her to abandon her goal? Mel certainly didn’t seem like she was on board for this particular journey – and I suspect we’ll be a touch sad when Ellie eventually kills her (although perhaps Dina will get that honor?). Revenge tragedies work best when you understand why someone is seeking revenge. We’ve spent so little time with Abby that outside of the basics of her motivation (he killed my father, prepare to die), I just didn’t feel any sort of emotional connection to her.

And yes, we’re supposed to hate her. We’re supposed to be mad at what she did. We’re supposed to root for Ellie to get her. But what The Last of Us excels at is creating complex characters where they could easily just craft two dimensional dummies for our heroes to fight. This was a pivotal moment in the series, and it was very well done. But it could have been absolutely sensational if Mazin had taken the time to flesh out Abby a bit. Would that have been tipping off non-gamers that Abby might succeed in her quest? Perhaps. But we would have been better able to understand her as a character. Revenge is a powerful motivator. But I have a hard time believing that Abby simply spent the past five years thinking of it alone.

Outside of that quibble, my god, what an episode. The unbelievable expansive work of the editing, cinematography, special effects, CGI, stunt work. Just exceptional. That assault on Jackson Hole felt like a sequence out of Game of Thrones. I was on the edge of my seat watching it unspool – and that was with only two named characters truly at risk. If you can make me worry for the safety of what should be a host of Red Shirts, well, you’ve truly done your job in setting up a sequence. I suspect, with Joel gone and Abby in the wind, Ellie is going to want to skip town ASAP and try to hunt her down, so I’m not sure how much longer we’ll get to spend at Jackson Hole. But what a way to showcase that set, those characters, and explore just how they have prepared for the inevitable.

The idea that there are smarter infected at this stage of the apocalypse is something I hope the series explores more as Ellie ventures out in the world on her own (or with Dina and Jesse). Yes, as with every zombie series, the moral of the story is that we are the real monsters. But seeing just how devastating the infected can be in this universe was shocking. Holding them back as a true threat on this scale until now was such a stroke of brilliance. Watching how they worked together to invade the streets – and made it through several of the choke points set up to stop them – really drove home the danger they represent on a large scale. And the danger one is in when they head out alone should they get caught up in a herd like that.

And, since this might just be the last time I get to write about his performance (although I wouldn’t be shocked if we get a flashback next week detailing just what happened between Joel and Ellie for them to fall out like they did), kudos to Pedro Pascal, the busiest man in showbiz. The deep love and care he put into this role, taking Joel from a broken, closed off man who didn’t want to open himself up to pain again to someone who was willing to do anything to save his surrogate daughter was spectacular. Ellie can be a bit of a jerk (no shade to Bella Ramsey, who does a great job with the role), and Joel’s slow softening toward her helped us to see her through his eyes. As he grew to love her, teenage quirks and all, we grew to love her as well. And seeing how broken he was to have Ellie closed off from him? Oof. Knowing that they’ll never get the chance to mend that rift? Double oof. Pascal’s chemistry with Ramsey was also something you can only dream of. Those two were so damn good in season one. And I had naively hoped that we would get more of that back and forth this season as well. But this isn’t a happy story. And Pascal leaves the series having turned in a hell of a performance. It’s up to Ramsey to carry the load now and I know they are more than up for the challenge.

So, an excellent episode that sets us up for a revenge tragedy tale to unfold. I’ve spent a good deal of time study revenge tragedies – seriously, I wrote my senior university capstone project about one – so I’m a bit discerning when it comes to seeing them play out. I know we’re ultimately headed to a showdown between Ellie and Abby, where only one gets to walk away (or, hell, maybe they’ll kill each other – this is, as I said, not a happy story). But I’m intrigued to see the path we take to get there. Will we get more time with Abby, seeing how getting revenge changes her? Because in all great stories, once you’ve gotten your revenge, you tend to find out how empty it makes you since it doesn’t fix that gaping sense of loss within you – and it often just inspires more revenge. Or will we stick with Ellie’s perspective, as she tries to find Abby and get her revenge? Either way, I can’t wait to see where we’re headed from here.