#like you can’t give me a canon nd character who learns to stop masking and have me NOT project on that mf like crazy…

[ssstarlighttt]

he’s lookin kinda comfort character coded lowkey……

[holydragon2808]

Credit to SaucyTendies for the video! Give him a like and subscribe! He seems like a really cool dude, even if I don’t agree with everything from this video.

Yo fellow gamers again! Just the dragon popping out of her cozy den to rant about all things geek culture yet again. I promised a part two for my initial The Last of Us Part II review after I finished the game. Well, I suppose what I’m about to say is less of a review (simply because I can’t say too much more than what this guy already did, or what I already did in my part one review), and so much as me trying to grapple with my utter disappointment with how this story of Part II was framed.

As I was watching this video yesterday, I started to think about how I could still see the potential behind the storyline, if only ND hadn’t been so caught up in shock value without the adequate suspense. I posted a pretty long reply in the comments of the above video, changing and reworking key moments in the story and how I personally would have framed it if I was out to tell some sort of revenge story. SaucyTendies liked the comment, and even added a good critique about how I framed Joel’s death (and I liked his take better so I’m gonna include it and give him a credit for it). I just figured maybe you all might would enjoy it too. Needless to say, there will be MASSIVE SPOILERS for TLoU One and TLoU Part II in this post. Last chance to turn back (though I suppose the video is a bit of a spoiler too....)

This is just personally what I would change/rework:

Have the player start the game as Abby, let the player see what her deal is, her backstory, her ties with her father (it could have been depicted as a loving relationship just like Joel and Ellie eventually achieve), see some familiar faces in the flashback from the Fireflies like Marlene and what not, their "look for the light" mission, get some more insight on their faction and all of that.

Just as the player is wondering what the hell is all of this is building up to, we see a very familiar flashback of Joel gunning down the lead surgeon in the operation room to get to Ellie. Then in the flashback, we see Abby realizing (in the sorrowful way she did in the current story) that her father is dead. And she then swears vengeance on whoever killed him.

We then see her spending the next five years training herself to get stronger (though not quite as absurdly buff as she was in the story) for the inevitable confrontation with Joel. Only that the one person that was suppose to cure humanity was taken from the Fireflies and not only did she lose her father, but "her life's purpose" as Neil said.

That alone could have been the prologue of the story. First hour or so maybe. And since Abby is supposed to be the same age as Ellie, it would make sense that she wouldn’t know about Ellie directly in the first game, but would know about Joel (who murdered her father). Abby would have been a 14 year old girl too, just as Ellie was, and probably not present so it could work. At this point, (present day) Abby is a different person from the flashbacks (though still nice deep down) and is wanting to seek out who killed her father and exact vengeance on him (she already knows his name: Joel Miller). She just has to find him.

Then we jump to Jackson where we're now in control of Ellie, we see what she’s been up to the past five years, get to hang out with the residents of Jackson for a while (play that snowball fight game still with the kids) and we eventually see her having her inevitable falling out with Joel over his lie in the first game. Their relationship is strained, and she eventually denounces him and strikes out on her own.

A bit later in the game, just as Ellie is about to be overwhelmed by infected, she meets Abby (who saves her life) and the two strike up a friendship (both unknowing who the other person really is), and they travel around the world, killing infected together and any other threats as they learn more about each other and deepen their friendship. Abby eventually introduces Ellie to her friends (and they're not as intolerable as they were in the main story), they all strike up some friendships and it soon becomes apparent to Ellie who Abby’s group is (former Fireflies) and she starts to feel guilt over her immune status and what she represents to the former group, but keeps it to herself and from Abby. Abby does eventually confide in Ellie that her father was murdered and that she’s out for revenge, but doesn’t quite elaborate on the specific circumstances, just a general statement that he was murdered while trying to save humanity. Ellie then says that the one person who filled that role for her (a father figure), she had a falling out with and can’t bring herself to forgive him after he broke her trust (but does NOT quite elaborate on the specifics or say Joel’s name).

Abby, (not knowing that Ellie is talking about Joel or that Ellie is even part of the reason why her father was murdered) persuades Ellie to go back to him and try to forgive him for whatever he did, because it sounds like he loves her. After all, some people would kill to have their parents alive and well again. Somewhat coming around to the idea of reconciling with Joel (even if Ellie won’t admit it), Ellie and Abby make their way back to Jackson avoiding/battling the crazy Scars and any infected and all of that along the way.

Eventually, before they make it to Jackson, they stumble into a spore infected nest with shamblers, runners, clickers, all of it. During the skirmish/escape, and while still in the spore infected area, Ellie’s mask breaks. Then it clicks for Abby exactly who Ellie is and Abby is PISSED and starts to go after Ellie. Ellie thinks the other girl’s rage is solely because she’s the walking cure the Fireflies wanted and lost. What Ellie doesn’t know (that the player does) is that Abby is now putting together exactly who Ellie’s “father” figure really is….but doesn’t tell Ellie that she now knows about Joel. Though Abby does eventually stop herself from killing Ellie in this moment, realizing that she can “use” Ellie to get to Joel. So they eventually make their way to Jackson after reconciling a little bit, though their friendship is clearly strained.

However, after befriending Ellie all this time, Abby is very conflicted about killing Joel now. She wants her revenge, but also wants to honor her father by not giving into violence (maybe the prologue could have had her dad tell her not to give into violence or something). Abby also doesn’t really want to hurt Ellie deep down, but is still upset that Ellie got the bond she lost, when by all accounts Ellie should have died for humanity and the Fireflies’ cause. Though it at first seems like Abby is going to let her vengeance go as she tries to settle down in Jackson. Abby makes friends, her friendship with Ellie is slowly but surely being restored, and it just seems like everything will be fine. Ellie/Dina are a thing now too.

Then one day, Joel and Abby go on a patrol together and that’s when she finally snaps and beats Joel to death in the same way she did in the game. (At this point, SaucyTendies said “Wow! I liked it until Joel died the same way, I think it would have been better for Abby to be put in a situation where she needed to save Joel and then she just doesn't. Maybe Joel could somehow escape the situation badly injured too, then the revenge quest could start.”) This could work too. But I personally think it would be more poignant if Joel’s death still happened in some way. I’d add that maybe Joel would stumble back into Jackson badly injured, carrying the note that Abby wrote, says her name, and then dies or something. 

But anyway, then Abby knows she can’t go back to Jackson, so by this point she steals away back to her friends to tell them everything. Ellie and Tommy mourn Joel’s dead body, and finally read the note Joel had in his hand. It simply says “An eye for an eye”. Ellie recalls Abby’s quest for vengeance and realizes that SHE’S the one that murdered Joel, before she could start to renew her bond with him. Ellie and Tommy then swears vengeance on Abby, and will kill anyone who gets in their way.

Eventually, after Ellie (and Tommy) kill all of Abby’s friends just like in canon (because they were in her way to Abby and were going to kill her for that lost cure cause and declare a war on Jackson if need be), she and Abby would fight the same way as they did in canon in the final confrontation. The player, (as Ellie) would then kill Abby by drowning her (Ellie still has all her fingers at this point).

Though again, the player would actually more than likely sympathize with Abby too, and not really know who they would root for in this scenario (the player is actually INVESTED in her as a character, or at least was given the room to be over the course of the narrative).

Ellie would then realize that vengeance (and her murder spree) only brought her even more pain and misery, nightmares, and just broke her completely. She does return to Jackson, but knowing that she’ll never be able to reconcile with Joel, she’ll always have nightmares, hatred, and pain in her heart over what happened. The only real solace she finds is when she plays guitar. The final shot of the game could be her trying to play a song, with a sad, utterly broken look in her eyes.

And that’s all. Let me know what you guys think? How would you reframe or rework the story if you could? Did you like this? Hate it? What would you change from my post? I’m aware that it’s sort of unrefined here and there, but hopefully this sounds better to the people that were disappointed than what we actually did receive.... But, either way, thank you very much for reading!