‘The Final of Us’ Season 2 finale is a irritating letdown. This is why.

There is no sense beating across the bush: The Final of Us‘ Season 2 finale is a serious disappointment.

After seven episodes of game-changing deaths, heartbreaking flashbacks, and the occasional half-hearted gesture to the battle between the Washington Liberation Entrance and Seraphites, Season 2 wraps up with a baffling cliffhanger that is meant to stoke pleasure for Season 3. However in actuality, it is a misunderstanding of how finest to translate The Final of Us Half II to TV.

The Final of Us Season 2’s Abby cliffhanger will not work with years between seasons.

Season 2 ends with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) crashing the theater the place Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) have been hiding out since arriving in Seattle. There, she kills Jesse (Younger Mazino) and wounds Tommy (Gabriel Luna), then turns her gun on Ellie. As she fires, The Final of Us cuts to black and rewinds the clock. When subsequent we see Abby, it is days earlier. Extra particularly, it is “Seattle Day One,” when Ellie and Dina arrive within the metropolis. Meaning Season 3 will cowl these three days from Abby’s standpoint, displaying us what she’s been as much as since she disappeared from the present after murdering Joel (Pedro Pascal) all the way in which again in episode 2.

That sequence of occasions, together with the attitude shift, performs out fairly equally between the TV present and the online game. (Though Abby’s sections opens with a flashback to her time together with her father within the Fireflies, which the present has already explored in Season 2’s first two episodes.) There’s one key distinction between mediums, although. Within the sport, the change occurs instantly, instantly forcing you into Abby’s footwear and inspiring you to empathize together with her as you play alongside. Within the present, the change is teased as one thing to look ahead to. However given how lengthy TV takes to make now — we waited over two years between Seasons 1 and a couple of of The Final of Us — it is seemingly we cannot be seeing Abby’s storyline for an additional two years.

That very long time between seasons means The Final of Us is asking a variety of its viewers, together with the truth that we’re meant to attend all this time to select up with a personality whose greatest function within the story up to now has been killing one of many present’s beloved leads. The angle change within the sport challenges gamers’ sense of allegiance, and little question that is what the present goals to perform as effectively. However a part of the effectiveness of that turnaround comes right down to the way it occurs immediately. Gamers hold going as a result of they instantly get that alternative (and since they wish to discover out what occurs to Ellie within the theater). With a probable two-year wait between seasons, who’s to say viewers members will not faucet out completely? The present is stifling its personal momentum, even because it hopes to construct it.

The Final of Us Season 2 ought to have additionally coated Abby’s storyline.

Kaitlyn Dever in “The Last of Us.”
Credit score: Liane Hentscher / HBO

Effectively earlier than Season 2 aired, showrunner Craig Mazin introduced that it might solely cowl half of the occasions of The Final of Us Half II. That announcement mainly advised people who find themselves accustomed to the sport precisely the place the season would finish. Nevertheless, simply because the cliffhanger is no surprise does not imply it really works within the context of the present — particularly following among the adaptation selections The Final of Us Season 2 has made all through.

Season 2 kicked off by revealing one of many sport’s greatest questions proper off the bat: Who’s Abby, and why did she kill Joel? Within the sport, we be taught her reasoning after the change in standpoint, and the revelation is a right away step in our journey to empathize together with her. Within the present, the early information humanizes Abby proper off the bat, however the sequence does nothing else to construct on that. After spending a lot time with Abby in episode 1 and particularly 2, her absence in the remainder of the season feels much less like an intriguing thriller and extra just like the present stalling for time till we get to Season 3.

Including to that feeling are Season 2’s peeks contained in the internal workings of the WLF, like Isaac’s (Jeffrey Wright) torture of a Seraphite, or the finale’s hints on the WLF invasion of the Seraphite island. These are all puzzle items that can certainly come collectively in Season 3, however for now, none of those scenes join as a result of we do not have an emotional anchor on this world but. As an outsider, Ellie cannot be that anchor. It must be Abby, and she or he’s lacking. Plus, if the present actually needed to maintain us rooted in Ellie’s perspective, why even embody Isaac on this season within the first place? As nice as Wright is, his scenes really feel disjointed right here, with no payoff past the present saying, “Trust us, we can land this plane.”

The factor is, I do principally belief The Final of Us to stay the touchdown on future seasons, however the truth that that later, hypothetical conclusion comes at the price of present seasons is troubling. Now, the plain repair can be to have one lengthy season masking The Final of Us Half II. Take into consideration how a lot this cliffhanger would have rocked as a mid-season finale with a wait of some weeks between episodes, versus a wait of some years. However as an alternative, The Final of Us falls prey to bigger issues inside the TV panorama, like a worry of lengthy seasons and a bent to push key narrative beats down the highway in favor of overstretching the supply materials.

The Final of Us Season 2 finale is the Home of the Dragon Season 2 finale another time.

Bella Ramsey in “The Last of Us.”
Credit score: Liane Hentscher / HBO

The final time I felt so pissed off a few season finale was Home of the Dragon‘s Season 2 finale — one more instance of an HBO tentpole present that desperately wanted extra episodes so as inform a whole season-long arc.

Like The Final of Us, Home of the Dragon Season 2 ended on a cliffhanger that screamed, “Cool resolutions are coming next season, we promise!” (Shout out to the Battle of the Gullet.) However why not take extra time, and extra episodes, to flesh these resolutions out within the seasons the place they’d take advantage of sense, as an alternative of sending them down the highway? The only reply is that extra seasons means extra money, at the price of the standard of the present itself.

This mentality of hoarding materials for later seasons additionally comes with the facet impact of shorter seasons. It is ludicrous that The Final of Us, one of many greatest exhibits on TV proper now, is operating a seven-episode-long season. That is barely sufficient time to dig into the meat of Ellie’s arc in The Final of Us Half II. By the tip of the season, it seems like she’s solely simply arrived in Seattle, and but we have gotten so little from it! In actual fact, it is telling that probably the most impactful episode following Ellie’s exit from Jackson facilities not on her time in Seattle, however on her previous with Joel. That complete flashback episode is filled with key moments that get ample time to breathe, like Ellie and Joel’s museum go to, or their ultimate dialogue on Joel’s porch.

Against this, Ellie’s present-day quest for vengeance has been compressed into an oddly paced, unsatisfying journey. The letdown of the Season 2 finale is the cherry on prime of an underwhelming season that would have been a lot extra if it had simply had extra room to completely discover its story. If The Final of Us goes to be taught from its errors in Season 3, it’s going to should cease taking part in for time. However with showrunner Craig Mazin telling Collider the sequence will want a fourth season to finish its narrative, I am not holding my breath.

The Final of Us Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.