This article includes spoilers for The Last of Us season two finale and The Last of Us Part 2.
Summary
The Last of Usseason two has come to an end. Unless you’ve desperately been avoiding spoilers - and I’m assuming since you made it past the above spoiler warning, you’re not - then you’ll know fans of the show and the games have been left pretty divided by its ending.
As most who have playedThe Last of Us Part 2likely expected, season two ended with the confrontation between Ellie and Abby in the theater lobby. Having already shot and killed Jesse, Abby threatens to kill Tommy too if Ellie doesn’t do as she says. The scene ends with Abby pointing her gun at Ellie, and the screen cuts to black as someone fires a gun.
It was at that moment that a lot of fans, myself included, expected credits to roll, but the writers of the show had other ideas. There was a little extra after the theater scene, demonstrating that when we return in season three, we will have gone back in time 48 hours and will instead be focused on Abby’s three days in Seattle that build to the deaths of her friends and then finding Ellie in the theater.
The Last Of Us Season Two Ended With Abby In The Driver’s Seat
But Did We Need To Know Exactly Where We’re Headed Next?
It’s those extra few seconds of the show that have left The Last of Us fans divided. “Such an opportunity to end on an incredible, decade-worthy cliffhanger and they wasted it,“joelmillerrswrote on Twitter after the finale, coupled with a screenshot of video game Abby pointing her gun at Ellie, who is out of shot. I get the impression from their handle that they might be a hardcore The Last of Us fan. Just a feeling.
The replies show that some are in agreement with the sentiment that season two should have ended with the cut to black. An argument throughout the season has been that viewers have been spoonfed Part 2’s story, taking away a lot of what made the sequel great, and the decision to reveal where season three will pick up is the epitome of that.
Not everyone agrees, though. The main argument for season two ending in the right place is that even with the reveal that the focus will be on Abby pre-theater scene to kick off season three, the finale still ended on a cliffhanger. There was no resolution and no indication of who else got shot, and potentially killed, after it cuts to black.
The decision on where to end season two of the show wasn’t the only controversial decision made via the finale. Ellie didn’t need to kill Alice the dog while making her way through the aquarium like she does in the sequel. Writer Craig Mazin has already admitted the moment was cut due to he and Neil Druckmannthought it would have been too much for viewerson top of everything else Ellie did in the finale.
