After delivering a heartbreaking and shocking (especially for those who haven’t played the game) Episode 2, HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 kind of fumbled the ball with Episode 3. As a result, the latest episode has come under a lot of fire from the show’s fanbase, as many believe that Episode 3 is nothing but a filler episode to set the foundation for Season 3.
There are several noticeable changes made by showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann in Episode 3 of the ongoing HBO series, adapted from Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II. One of the biggest changes you’ll notice is that Ellie and Dina leave Jackson first to find Abby and her friends, and that too after a long gap of three months.
In the Part II video game, Tommy leaves the settlement just one day after Joel’s death to hunt down Abby’s group and avenge his brother’s death. Ellie and Dina follow in his footsteps just days later. However, Mazin and Druckmann have taken a different and more realistic approach in Season 2.
Why? Well, the large-scale destruction of Jackson by the Infected ended up consuming the lives of hundreds of residents. Its impact on the remaining population was devastating. In Episode 2, we see them trying to get back on their feet and re-establish Jackson. Now, this is a time-consuming process, which is why Tommy, along with Ellie and Dina, decides to first prioritise Jackson’s wellbeing as well as that of its residents.
Although Tommy not going first doesn’t make a lot of sense — it’s hard to imagine the rest of the story without him — we hope to get this answer in the next episode.
Another big change from the source material is that Catherine O’Hara’s Gail — a new character in The Last of Us Season 2 and Joel’s therapist in the premiere — continues to be a presence after his death. In Episode 3, Tommy finds her at a baseball game, and their conversation, though not a formal therapy session, proves to be therapeutic for him.
Gail is an original character in the show and is not part of the video game. It’ll be interesting to see how she plays a larger role in the rest of the second season — and potentially in the third season as well.
It’s understandable why viewers found Episode 3 a letdown compared to the high-stakes battle between Jackson’s residents and the Infected in Episode 2, not to mention Joel’s shocking death. The events of Episode 2 were a lot to take in for many viewers, whereas Episode 3 shifts focus to setting up the rest of Season 2 and Season 3. That’s why it feels like a filler episode instead of actually accelerating the narrative. Plus, it makes some big changes from the video game, a decision which was bound to piss off the source material’s fanbase. Stay tuned for more updates. Indian viewers can stream The Last of Us Season 2 on JioHotstar.
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