If you’ve recovered from the emotional demolition that wasThe Last of UsSeason 2, Episode 2… you’re doing better than we are. Joel (Pedro Pascal) is gone — brutally murdered by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) in front of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) — and the audience is left shattered, furious, and somehow still glued to the screen. For co-creator and showrunnerCraig Mazin, pulling off this moment was never about shocking people for the sake of it. It was about consequence.
“I thought it was a brilliant choice. I thought it was incredibly brave, and I thought it was really smart,” Mazin said on the officialThe Last of UsHBO podcast. “Because in the end, you have to take plot armor away at some point. And if you’re going to tell a story about consequences, and if you’re going totell a story about a man who does a terrible, terrible thingfor the best possible reason…then you need the world to provide feedback. And the feedback here is brutality. That’s how the world works.”
Joel was always going to die — just as he does in the prologue ofThe Last of Us Part IIvideo game — and that fact was never up for debate. According to Mazin and fellow creatorNeil Druckmann, the only real question was how long it took to get there.
“There was never a question that we were going to do this. The real question was when.”
“Some Things Are Just Wrong”
Season 2 wastes no time in getting us to the Pain Station. Just one episode after exploring the complicated emotional fallout between Joel and Ellie, Abby strikes. The moment is as visually horrific as it is narratively essential —Joel’s leg is shot, he’s beaten with a golf club, and then killed with a spike to the neck, and it’s as agonizing as it sounds to watch. But what follows is what Mazin says truly elevates the scene, in the shape of the conversation before the end. And bear in mind, Joel doesn’t beg. He doesn’t fight it. Because deep down, he knows this is the price for what he’s done.
“Abby says, ‘We have a code, and the code is not to hurt people who can’t defend themselves. And that’s you right now. But I am going to kill you, because everyone agrees thatsome things are just wrong.’ And Joel gives the slightest nod, because he is acknowledging that what he did was capital Wwrong.Does he deserve to die by the rules of the universe? Sure."
The Last of UsSeason 2 airs on HBO every Sunday at 9PM.
The Last Of Us
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Source: The Last of Us Podcast
