Spoilers follow for The Last of Us, Season 2, episode 6The Last of UsSeason 2 has already shown that it is not afraid of diverting from the source material and, in most cases, changing the sequence of events from the original game. This is the case in this week’s flashback episode, which put the spotlight back on Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey).The Last of UsSeason 2, Episode 6 gave viewersa lot of contextsurrounding the deterioration of their relationship, and how it was finally mending towards the end of Joel’s life. However, this was a big change from the original video game, and the creative decision ensures that the HBO adaptation will have a different ending.
During an interview with Variety,The Last of Usco-creator Neil Druckmann discussed including the Joel and Ellie porch sequence in the penultimate episode of Season 2. The decision essentially changes the ending of the series from the video game, which culminates with the flashback of the two talking at Joel’s house. When asked if it will affect how they will handle the show’s ending, Druckmann said, “That’s right.” He elaborated on the decision to move up the porch scene an entire season or two. As with mostdeviations from the source material this season, it seems most are influenced by the amount of time viewers will have to wait in between seasons.
“No. When we were making the game, I knew that scene should exist. I didn’t know where it goes. That was true for all the flashbacks. Even pretty late in production of the game, we were moving those flashbacks around. In talking about it with Craig, it’s the first time I really thought about the time between seasons. So much of writing is set ups and payoffs, and we would have set certain things up that get paid off years later. That felt too long, especially because this season focuses so much on Ellie’s journey and this emotional truth of what did she know? What didn’t she know? To wait additional years until Season 3 will come out — or maybe even Season 4, it depends where all the events land and how many seasons we have — I was easily convinced by Craig that that would be too long.
Despite it being a key creative decision that would impact the emotional weight of the show’s ending, Druckmann revealed it did not take very long to come to the aforementioned conclusion. Of course, making such an important change meant the creative team had to go through the motions of understanding the ripple effect it would have on the rest of the story. Even then, Druckmann and company only spent a day talking about changing the porch scene.
“It was a day’s worth of conversation of us wrestling with it. The way I work is, when a suggestion like that is made, I say, ‘Let’s play it through.’ I just assume that it’s correct, and then we play it through and not only talk about this season, but talk about the future seasons, and then say, does it make sense? If the answer is yes, we go with it. If the answer is no, we either keep wrestling with it until we find another solution, or we just go back to how it was in the game.”
HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ Adapted One Scene to Perfection
The Last of UsSeason 2 is nota perfect adaptation by any means. Like its predecessor, there are distinct changes that work, while others feel like a step-down from the source material. Ellie’s characterization in the second season has been the subject of recent debate, specifically about the fact she is nowhere near as cutthroat as she is in the game. However, in Season 2, Episode 6, the stars aligned for perhaps the best moment yet in all ofThe Last of Us.
During a flashback, Joel and Ellie visit a museum on her birthday, and the two are able to reenact a space launch in an Apollo 15 command module. It’s an incredible sequence that shows the depths of Joel’s love for Ellie, while also tapping into her distinct imagination. It’s an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the scene from the video game, and it certainly helped that Neil Druckmann, who created the franchise, helmed this week’s episode. Talking to Variety, Druckmann talked about walking on set and seeing the museum come to life for the first time.
“I’m like, come with me, and we walk through this dark hallway with stars, and we got to the space capsule, and I’m like, “Lookat this.” I’m emotional, but I’ve been seeing it as it’s been built. I look at them, and they both have tears in their eyes. This thing that we worked so hard to perfect in digital forms with pixels on a flat screen, now you could stand in it, you could go into it, you could touch it. All the buttons are working. The seats are real. They creak when you sit in them. It felt like we went into the game. It’s this really wonderful feeling to know that this incredible crew that I worked with treated the source material with such reverence. It literally moved us to tears.”
Source:Variety
The Last Of Us
