[Essay] [THE LAST OF US 2] Revenge and Redemption in the Other Mushroom Kingdom

[CharlesPhipps]

https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-last-of-us-2-revenge-redemption-and.html

The Last of Us 2: Revenge, Redemption, and Regret in the Other Mushroom Kingdom

By. C.T. Phipps

THE LAST OF US 2 is a controversial game to say the least. I already did a review for Grimdark Magazine and gave it a nine out of ten. So, you can guess that I have a genuinely high opinion of the subject. However, it is a game that is controversial for a reason. People develop parasocial relationships with fictional characters and this game takes advantage of that to maximum effect. Because I've already reviewed the game in basic, this will discuss more detailed elements of the plot. So there will be SPOILERS ahoy and this shall be your last warning.

The premise of the game is simple: Ellie and Joel are living a idyllic life in Jackson after the traumatizing events of the first game. Ellie is the only known person immune to the cordyceps infection and the terrorist-scientist group known as the Fireflies planned to chop her up in order to manufacture a vaccine. Joel killed all the Fireflies and lied to Ellie about what he did. Ellie has held it against him ever since. Unfortunately, Ellie never gets a chance to reconcile with Joel because he's promptly murdered by a group of teenagers that are related to the Fireflies. Ellie proceeds to get her guns together and go on a mission of revenge but is her cause justified?

Revenge is one of the most well-used, perhaps overused, plotlines in fiction. Virtually all angles it can be examined have been examined. There's John Wick who simultaneously wants to avenge his dog as well as falls into the old pattern of murder-for-hire because it's something familiar. There's Lincoln Clay who murders hundreds of Italian gangsters while debating whether he's doing it for justice or the opportunity to become the new boss of New Bordeaux. Aiden Pearce wants to tradk down who killed his niece while ignoring that the person most responsible for his death is arguably himself. Dishonored is all about revenge with the caveat that you can sentence them to fates even worse than death by sparing them.

The Last of Us Part II's take on revenge is very different in that it doesn't go with the standard take of making your revenge cathartic. It also doesn't even make revenge a bit good and a bit bad. Lincoln Clay can spare a lot of the mobsters he fights and only kill his most direct targets. Aiden Pearce can end up sparing the hitman who directly killed his niece. Corvo Attano canonically spares Daud's life while slaghtering the rest of them. The Last of Us Part II has you carve your way through hundreds of soldiers, only to end up losing more people you care about and finally realizing you don't care about revenge in the end.

I don't mind this story in the slightest since one of my favorite movies if THE TRUE GRIT remake by the Coen Brothers. The premise of that movie is they took a revenge movie and proceeded to make it horrific. The consequences to Mattie Ross in that movie are horrific, resulting in her losing her friends as well as her arm. Perhaps the big difference is the fact that Mattie genuinely seems happy with her choice, no matter the cost, while Ellie clearly wishes she never went on her revenge spree at all. I'd argue that Abby suffers every bit as much since she loses her friends, faction, and gets crucified like Conan. Worse, ends up rescued by someone who actually saved her just to kinda kill her but doesn't even want to do that either.

It also reminds me strongly of Kurosawa's RASHOMON and I wouldn't be surprised if that was an influence. Basically, that movie is all about switching perspectives on events and how people present as well as view themselves. The big twist of Rashomon is that virtually everyone in the story turns out to be a coward and a fool with no dignity. They all just lie about what they did and what they wanted to make themselves look better. Abby and Ellie go through the motions of revenge but they also try to "heroically" spare each other, only for that to fail because their actions have made both even more pissed off at one another. Mercy doesn't have the same effect it does in Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings.

Oddly, I love this story BECAUSE it's dirty, messy, and grimdark. One of the most unsatisfying narratives that I ever experienced was ASSASSINS CREED V. It was attempting to recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Ezio Auditore's revenge quest against the Borgia family. However, the ending of Arno's quest for revenge ends on a nasty note where his girlfriend Elise dies killing the main bad.

She happily sacrificed her life to kill her father's murderer and reassures Arno via posthumous letter that it was for the best. Here, both Ellie and Abby's father figures both wanted them to live happy lives--because they're loving parents. Their quest for revenge is in direct contradiction to what their fathers would have wanted for them because it brings nothing but grief. Both Abby and Ellie lose more friends as well as their places in society because of their actions.

I don't think the ending is particularly bad either but I also like the uncertainty to it. Ellie has sacrificed her relationship with Dina and a child they could raise together for revenge. She's also been maimed and can no longer play the guitar. I think she's achieved closure, though, and can return to Jackson to make a new life for herself. Abby has lost her friends, faction, and been crucified but has a friend she's protected. She's also got place that might take her in if they still exist. Either of them could end up the protagonist of The Last of Us III and I'd be satisfied with that. Indeed, I'm eager to see who the protagonist of the upcoming DLC is and hope they start working on the next game soon.

Now for the question of whether I think they should have killed Joel. I think that's a question built around personal attachment. Holy hell, did I hate Burial at Sea for Bioshock: Infinite. However, I should point out that Joel was already in his early fifties in The Last of Us. Any adventures he further had would have been in Old Snake territory. I also think Joel, of all people, knew he had it coming for all the terrible things he did during the apocalypse. He was a former Hunter and only cared to make sure Ellie lived versus himself. He, unlike Ellie, probably wouldn't have held it against Abby for killing him.

Would I have done the same thing for this game? No, speaking as a writer I probably would have started the game with Abby rather than Ellie. I would have made her escape as a child from the Firefly facility and let the players know that Joel is her target. I also would have made Joel die as a boss battle because I think it would have gone over better. Then I would have switched to Ellie and made the whole thing much more ambiguous. Give us an entire half of the game with Abby and her friends before you make us hunt her. I also think that Ellie's girlfriend doesn't really add anything to the story and the romance subplot is kind of a plot tumor that distracts from the much more interesting relationship between Abby vs. Ellie.

My .02.

[Winter]

In Angry Joe's review of TLOU2 he came up with the idea of Abby being Ellie's companion for a bit of the game, letting Ellie and the player get to know her that way instead of saving all her sympathetic qualities for AFTER she killed Joel at which point it's already too late. The enjoyment of this game pretty much hinges on how sympathetic Abby is presented and saving to reveal that she's a more complex character about 9 hours into the game after you've killed all her friends isn't a good thing.

To use an example of a series that did something similar that also has an LGBT cast that was well received by critics and audience alike, in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power the show manages to make you care about the villains of the show, Catra and Hordak are two people who do increasingly horrible things the world of Etheria and ultimately for petty, if not outright pathetic, reasons. And yet, most viewers sympathized with them, understood their motives and most wanted to see them get a happy ending. And please note, Catra nearly destroyed all of reality in Season 3 and most fans Still wanted her to be redeemed.

And even when Villains weren't presented as being overly redeemable they were still complex, interesting and charismatic. The Chief Example being Shadow Weaver, who's terrible parenting of Adora and Catra along with her being a rather $#!t mentor of Glimmer is the character who could be argued to be the one most chiefly responsible for how bad things have gotten. Everything she does is for her own interest and even her final moments she still does what she does for her own good.

These are some of the most complex villains I have ever seen and the show does a wonderful job of making you care for these characters. TLOU2 is the flip side of the coin in that while I would argue that Abby is more complex then people give her credit for her more redeeming features come in far to late into the game. Not helping matters is the fact that you kill most of her friends by that point (all of which is a result of self-defense I might add) which further undercuts what sympathy many might feel for Abby as we know how badly things are going to go.

She-Ra made the wise choice of developing the Protagonist of the Antagonist at the same time so when it came time for Catra to go from villain to hero the reaction from the viewer is them cheering up a storm. TLOU2, when Abby is captured many people are rooting for her captures and are annoyed because Ellie let her go.

There's also the problem of the game not letting finish her objective and the reason for her deciding to not finish her objective is rather contrived. In TLOU1 your main objective is to protect Ellie so when Joel decides to go "F the Cure" and gets Ellie away from the Fireflies the ending has some sense of satisfaction because that has been our main objective throughout the game.

Ellie's, and by extension the players, main objective is to kill Abby and her friends and in the end Ellie decides, for no given reason, to just let Abby go. This doesn't work for a lot of people because there was nothing to set it up before hand. Had their been some sort of connection between Ellie and Abby, (like revealing that the two are actually sisters like many fans had theorized) or had they become friends Before Abby killed Joel, or if Lev had regained conciseness and called out to Abby (which would hearkened back to when Abby spared Ellie and Dina) then maybe players would have been more okay with the ending.

As is, this game is a mixed bag as their are so many moments that work, good characters and amazing set pieces that keep it from being as bad as some say it is but those flaws will likely keep it down for years to come. Whether this game will be Vindicated by History I think will greatly depend on how well TLOU3 plays out. If TLOU3 can take give us a great game that is seen by everyone as something that both fans and critics can all agree is great that builds on the ideas from Parts 1 and 2 then TLOU2 might be seen in a better light. But if TLOU3 is just as controversial and part 2 or just straight up bad then TLOU2 will likely be seen as mixed bag for years to come.

[GreyICE]

Man, I feel like I recommend this too often sometimes, but if you want an AMAZING series on revenge, the cycle of violence, and how hard it is to break the cycle, you cannot top Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Literally cannot. Every complaint you have about simplistic revenge narratives and every revenge story being told? Saga tells you that any idea can have many more stories.

You sympathize with every villain in the piece, because you end up seeing them as people, flawed, brilliant, stupid, terrible, wonderful people. Every death is a kick in the crotch, one way or another, and oh boy. Oh boy. No one is pure good or pure evil, they're just complex tapestries.

Like, it's really hard to discuss without spoilers, but any fan of Science Fiction owes it to themselves to find all nine volumes and read it. Anyone who wants to know what a revenge narrative could be? Find it and read it. Vaughan and Staples just knock it out of the fucking park.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ellie's, and by extension the players, main objective is to kill Abby and her friends and in the end Ellie decides, for no given reason, to just let Abby go.

I don't think it's terribly hard to understand. Abby has spared her life, Ellie has already killed her friends as well as dog, and killing Abby after saving her from crucifixion just so you could kill her feels ridiculous. Ellie is doing this out of obligation rather than actual emotional fury at this point. It's also proven to be a mission that's fucked up her life as well.

[King Green]

Not just that but Joel did deserve to be punished for screwing humanity over and being an asshole to anyone who tries to sympathize with him. It be better in the aftermath he would hate the military than humanity, a commander ordered an officer to eliminate trespassers. Joel, learn to grow the fuck up!

[Winter]

I don't think it's terribly hard to understand. Abby has spared her life, Ellie has already killed her friends as well as dog, and killing Abby after saving her from crucifixion just so you could kill her feels ridiculous. Ellie is doing this out of obligation rather than actual emotional fury at this point. It's also proven to be a mission that's fucked up her life as well.

Hypothetically question, let's say that in the TLOU1, after Joel had fought or sneaked past all the fireflies in the building and ran with Ellie in his arms and then met up with Marlene. And here instead of killing Marlene Joel decides he agrees with her and let's her take Ellie back to the operation table to be killed and Joel just leaves.

Joel, and the player, fought through Hell to save Ellie and did so without any single regret in the years that followed. Give have him suddenly decided to just give up on the girl he had come to see as a daughter would be infuriating for most people who played the game.

And I think That's the real underlining issue here. Ellie killed hundreds of people, left her wife, her child and took down an entire organization of slavers just to get to Abby. But I think the real issue is this, the fact that there is a boss fight with Abby in the end.

Again, indulge me in another hypothetical scenario. The events of the ending start out the same, Ellie takes out the slavers, finds Abby, cuts her down, Abby cuts Lev down and the three of them make their way to the boats. Once at the boats Ellie has a flashback to Joel's death and Ellie tells Abby that they're not done. Abby refuses to fight and Ellie puts a knife to Lev's throat to force Abby's hand.

Up until this point every single one of Abby's friends that Ellie has personally killed were all in an act of self-defense. They were the ones who forced Ellie's hand, not the other way around. They all had a chance to live but instead choose to antagonize Ellie or tried to kill her which resulted in Ellie killing them to defend herself.

But Lev is an innocent, he's done nothing wrong and yet Ellie is threatening him just to get Abby to fight her. And Abby, who's dehydrated and weak from weeks of being tied up to a pillar, begs Ellie not to kill Lev. Offering to just let Ellie to kill her on the spot and promises not to put up a fight. Only asking that Ellie take Lev to the Fireflies who aren't that far away.

Lev regains consciousness for a few seconds looks at Ellie and Ellie looks back at him and sees the fear in his eyes. Ellie then flashes back to herself when she was begging Abby to not hurt Joel, then to Joel on his porch from when they last talked to one another. Ellie, thinks for a moment, and then makes a choice.

"Go. Take him."

Abby doesn't say anything but just goes over to her and Lev's boat. Before starting it up Abby looks down at Lev and then back at Ellie and then says two words.

"I'm sorry."

Abby takes her boat and goes off into the fog as Ellie, emotionally and physically executed just sits in the water and cries as Abby sails off. The rest of the game then proceeds to play out just like it did in the core game with no alterations.

This I think would have worked a lot better as having Ellie fight Abby and having it were Abby caused Ellie to lose her connection to her surrogate father (with the lose of her fingers) and her biological mother (she loses her switch blade) while Abby still has Lev and the hope of meeting up with the Fireflies is rather unfair. Drunkmann has said that Abby was his favorite character and because of that the ending of the actual game comes across and creator favoritism rather then doing what's needed for the narrative.

Still this is just how I see it and speaking as someone who's written up a Revenge is empty and meaningless story that also ends with the protagonist not avenging their parents killer (and in fact ends up avenging their parents killer (though that is largely unintentional)) I might now be the best person to judge this. I'm just a gamer with an opinion.

[MrL1992]

Need to ask though, I've heard a lot of people say they should've had Joel's death later in the game rather than the beginning. I have to ask, what would the plot have been up until that point?

It sounds kind of like people wishing they had more time with Joel, much like Ellie.