The Last of Us TV HBO

The online reaction to the final episode of The Last of Us season two has been particularly fierce, even from those who were originally loving the TV adaptation from HBO. With significant changes made to specific scenes and the tone of characters, it feels like the TV series has very much separated to become its own thing, even if the events of the show line up closely with the Naughty Dog game.

Episode seven of season two documents Ellie's pursuit of Abby, as it takes her to the aquarium and then back to the theatre for her showdown with Joel's murderer. The episode cuts as Abby fires her weapon, and then we receive a tease of season three, as Abby wakes up at the stadium on the same day Ellie first arrives in Seattle.

In amongst these sequences, the TV series includes a brand new scene that has to go down as one of the strangest in the entire show.

When travelling to the aquarium, Ellie stumbles upon two WLF soldiers, who join their leader Isaac on boats heading towards the Seraphite island for the war that's documented when playing as Abby in the game. In the show, Ellie then steals a boat left behind during a storm and is thrown overboard by a huge tidal wave.

She washes up on the Seraphite island and is caught by a group of them. As Ellie is being hanged and about to be lynched with a sickle, the alarm sounds to signal the invasion. The Seraphites then simply let her go, despite the torture scenes that were included earlier in season two. Ellie then gets back in the boat, still during the storm, and reaches the aquarium.

This scene has drawn a lot of confusion and criticism, as it seems a bit too far-fetched to actually happen. Why would the Seraphites let Ellie go, even though she screams she's not part of the WLF?

It's an odd inclusion, but it turns out this scene was actually going to be part of the Naughty Dog game. However, it was cut for "pacing purposes". Documented by Screen Rant at a press conference, Neil Druckmann said:

"So, here that sequence where Ellie like drifts to the Seraphite Island and almost gets lynched herself was something we used to have in the game and cut it for just production pacing purposes. And then now — now we had like three horrible things in a row, we had like that sequence, Alice and then Mel. And in our conversation, we're like this, probably one, one too many."

While the show chose to include this scene and the death of Mel and Owen shortly after, their dog Alice is not featured in the TV show. How do you feel about the scene in the TV show, and how it was originally part of the game? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

[source screenrant.com]