What exactly was Abby's plan when she stormed away from Owen into the snow? Was she just expecting to happen upon Joel in the streets of Jackson? What was plan B?
Why were the WLF group ready to attack the infected with molotovs as Abby, Joel, and Tommy were riding back on horses? They had no earthly idea how long Abby would be gone because Abby left without a word.
If the Rattlers really wanted to lure people into their false Firefly trap, shouldn't they -NOT- have Rattler graffiti everywhere in the neighborhood? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a trap?
To add onto the Rattler's false Firefly trap: shouldn't they make it a little easier for victims to find? Isn't it overkill to have your victims move a large cabinet leading to a hidden basement and activate a ham radio?
And how long have the Rattlers been employing this trap? Owen mentions the enclave of Fireflies in Santa Barbara in the flashback from 4 years ago. Have the Rattlers been using that trap for 7 years? (It's been 3 years since the events in Seattle. 3 + 4 years.)
What is the story function of having Ellie be impaled by the tree when she gets caught by the Rattler's trap? Is it so that Ellie has a reason to be stumbling around dramatically in the final confrontation? Or is the game just glorified misery-porn?
Jesse comments on Ellie and Dina sharing a kiss from the previous night. Ellie responds "That's just Dina being Dina." Ellie just called her new girlfriend a slut. Then they go on a suicide mission together because their love is so strong. "You go, I go." They have been hooked up for less than a week. What the fuck is this relationship?
Mel is visibly several months MORE pregnant by the time Ellie and Dina get to Seattle, but Dina has just begun showing symptoms of pregnancy. They were on the road for "a few weeks" says Ellie. Did Dina get pregnant the day Joel fucking died? Was Dina fucking cheating on Ellie?!
What the fuck was Ellie and gang's actual plan? Tommy ventures ALONE to kill Abby. Ellie and Dina follow after. And then Jesse shows up, also having traveled alone? Were these 4 uncoordinated misfits really expecting to take down a civilization? We knew the WLF were industrialized right from the start: they have weapons, uniforms, embroidered patches, and even a fucking motor vehicle. What the fuck were these 4 idiots thinking?
It is implied Ellie, Dina, Tommy, and Jesse waste 3 good horses to get to Seattle. Don't even fucking tell me that Jesse walks to Seattle in a matter of days, even though there is no mention of Jesse's horse.
On the subject of horses, how exactly do these 4 idiots get back to Jackson without all dying? Tommy has a crippled leg and is shot in the face. Dina is debilitatingly pregnant, was shot by an arrow, and had her face smashed in. Ellie was beaten to a pulp and had her dominant arm broken. Jackson is 800 miles away. Part I would have never glossed over this. Part I took great care in telling you exactly how our heroes muscled over long distances.
Speaking of long distances, Ellie decides to trek 950 miles to Santa Barbara ON FOOT. Seems like characters in this game can just blip around the country as they please. It's not like it's the apocalypse or anything. Again, contrast this with the last game, where journeying is actually shown to be an endeavor.
Death is treated with respect in The Last of Us 1. Bill's partner, Tess, Sam, and Henry... They are all mourned and mentioned even after their deaths. Contrast this with Manny's swift death in Part II. He is never mentioned again. Ellie knew Sam only for a day. Abby was friends with Manny for 4 or more years.
In fact, Abby had a phenomenal opportunity to mention Manny. Namely, when she confronts the man who LITERALLY killed him in front of her eyes. When she's beating Tommy to a pulp she should be screaming "I KNEW MANNY FOR YEARS, HE WAS A GOOD FRIEND" but I guess the writers just forgot.
After traveling for several long months over 950 miles of wasteland, Ellie manages to find out Abby's location via a comedy of errors. Ellie makes it to Abby moments before she's going to die. To say this whole situation is ridiculously lucky would be the understatement of the decade.
Tommy "I've been putting out feelers for MONTHS now." Tommy "I have found Abby's location." Tommy "Will you kill her?" Tommy "Well I sure as shit can't go!" Hang on just a second Tommy. Why would you make it your personal mission to find Abby's location WITHOUT consulting Ellie? You couldn't have mentioned that you were "putting out feelers" to Ellie in the "months" you've been trying to find Abby? Man, you've got a lot riding on Ellie saying "Yes"! So WHY would you act so butthurt when she replies "No?" She has a CHILD and a WIFE. What the fuck were you expecting? You're just expecting a wedded mother to go on your revenge mission for you? It's been three years since the events in Seattle. You're all incredibly lucky to be alive.
Ellie's lifestyle after Seattle is picturesque, even by today's standards! Literally all they do all day is play with a cute baby, listen to music, and cultivate livestock. Their bedrooms are covered in homemade art. Even Tommy mentions how they're "sitting pretty". So many of us thought this was a dream sequence. The idea that Ellie would give it all up and destroy her relationships for (someone else's) revenge mission (from 3 years ago) is so laughably stupid I don't even know how to fucking process it. It's the APOCALYPSE. The fact that you're alive at all is a miracle.
The writers attempt to draw a parallel between Joel coming to love Ellie and Abby coming to love Lev. Joel's story works because it happens over a long period (over a year) and there's logical reason why Joel will come around to finding love again (Ellie is a surrogate daughter). There is literally no reason for Abby to move mountains for two random cultist kids she has known for less than a day. Yeah, so they're children, big fucking deal. Don't tell me Abby never once capped a teenaged Seraphite soldier. She's willing to drop everything for two strangers in the army she's warring with? She's known as "Isaac's top scar killer." I just don't buy it.
And gee, Abby's face turn against the WLF's sure doesn't make sense. She's been with this crew for how long? Four years? And she's prepared to take a bullet... even destroy all the friends she has ever known just for Lev? Why? They saved your life once... so? The only logical reason I could possibly imagine for Abby's actions is that she's a pedophile. Yara and Lev are the hottest things Abby has come across in recent years. It makes sense because after she has hot sex with Owen, she falls asleep and dreams of those two sexy children strung up and disemboweled. What could be hotter than that? And then when she wakes up she sprints directly towards their last known location, killing everything in her way. It's obvious where Abby's mind was at!
The seraphites. They mutilate children. They're transphobic. They kill anyone not in their cult. They force 13 year old children into arranged marriages for fuck's sake. The seraphites are shown to be fatally, hopelessly, irredeemably evil. It should be noted that Yara and Lev still cling to their hopelessly evil religion even after they escape. If you think of Yara and Lev as future adult scars, Abby's ("Isaac's top scar killer") decision to save them makes even less sense. The only reason these characters are given any moral leeway whatsoever is because of their age. If they were just a few years older, they would have been scars you slay in regular gameplay without a single thought.
Ellie doesn't forgive a man who called her a homophobic slur. He apologized and presented a peace offering. Ellie forgives the object of all the misery in her life. The one person she slaughtered hundreds to find. The one person she had been dreaming of killing for 3 years and traveled over 1000 miles for. Abby never apologized.
Abby drops everything for these two Scar kids because they "saved her life". Her own words. This act alone was enough to make her go on a suicidal side-quest and betray everyone she knows. You'd think if she is that persuadable when someone saves her life, she would become good friends with Joel and Tommy who saved her life. Consistency! Who needs it?
What was the story function of having Owen have sex with Abby? Owen was just talking about a traumatic experience he had involving a war crime. Abby just murdered a few dozen Seraphites and was about to be crucified, then had to fend off a horde of infected. Was it really appropriate for them to be having sex right then and there? I don't think either of them would be in the mood, given the circumstances. What was the point?
The last thing Ellie is doing before Joel's death is getting stoned. This was a real missed opportunity. The writers should have made Ellie partially blame herself for not saving Joel in time because she was being reckless with drugs and sex. Instead, the weed plot point is dropped like a ton of bricks. The marijuana scene's only purpose was to make the game seem cool to the youth.
Jesse says that it hadn’t been a week since he’d broken up with Dina, yet Ellie and her kissed. Dina is fresh out of a however-many-year long relationship, and the first thing she does is make a move on a shared mutual friend, without any regards of how awkward that would make things for Jesse and Ellie. What a shitty thing to do!
So... what happened to the WLF and Seraphites? We just going to ignore the fact that there is no satisfying conclusion to the ever-present war in Seattle? The hear over a WLF radio that Isaac has died and then we see the Seraphite island get burned down. Are they still at war? Who got wiped out? Are they at peace? It is never resolved.
What the FUCK was the point of Abby's """fear""" of heights? >Able to jump from any height Ellie can. >Jumping is functionally identical to Ellie's. >Her fear does not affect gameplay in ANY way, except for scripted segments. It is narratively inert and it doesn't affect gameplay. What the fuck was the point?
A minor dead character has a "secret" weed lab. Is there any particular reason it's in a clandestine bunker, hidden away from civilization? This really fucking bothers me because weed would not be illegal in this world because there are no laws. The stigma surrounding weed would be a thing of the past in the post-apocalypse. Okay, maybe it's just so no one else will steal his weed...
"Clip her wings". The Seraphites have a specialized phrase that means "break both her arms". This is very stupid. This implies that breaking someone's arms is very common in this cult. It's so common that it is assigned a unanimously-understood phrase. How fucking severe is corporal punishment in this cult? How in God's name did so many people end up joining, when the punishments are so common and severe? Why are grown men fucking breaking both the arms of 13-year-old children? It's so cartoonishly evil and not at all how human beings operate!
Isn't it also a pretty insane coincidence that Abby and Owen would save a Seraphite on the exact same day, and go through the exact same story arc, simultaneously. I know it's for the expediency of the plot, but God damn, that's a hell of a coincidence.
Why didn't the Seraphites outright kill Abby when they had the chance? They probably recognized her, being "Isaac's top scar killer!" I mean holy shit, we've got the leader of the Seraphites, an unconscious Abby, and six hours of free time. With how "evil" this cult is, don't you think there would have been a very controlled and formalized execution? If not, then shouldn't they just SLIT HER FUCKING THROAT as soon as they capture her unconscious? But no, the game needs a reason to have Abby live so they suddenly make the Seraphites extremely dumb for the plot.
Hang on a sec, why would Yara and Lev rescue Abby in the first place? We are lead to believe these two wanted fugitives are desperately fighting for their lives to escape this unbelievably evil cult. If they managed to sneak away from the Scars undetected, STAYING HIDDEN should be priority number ONE! I mean shit, seeing people get disemboweled should be old news to them. They probably saw 6 other people get disemboweled on their journey away from the island. Ellie just happens upon about a dozen crucifictions by mistake. What makes Abby so special that they'd risk their damn lives for her? Oh yeah, she's a main character.
Why on God's green earth does Lev go BACK to "Murder Island?" On an island filled with >deadly transphobia >child mutilation >child sex trafficking >corporal punishment involving breaking both arms They JUST got out of the frying pan, and now he wants to go back into the flames? What the FUCK was he expecting? If Lev had the presence of mind and determination to escape Child-Abuse Island, he should have a much, MUCH better reason to go back than to just see his (transphobic, bloodthirsty, evil) mom. He should have SEVERE PTSD through all the shit he's seen. Yara's arm just got amputated and you both almost DIED, and you want to go back into the hornet's nest?
With how downright villainous the Seraphites act, they should be hemorrhaging cult members by the hundreds. We get the sense that people are escaping (see: Yara, Lev) but there are probably many more people fleeing the cult in droves. This type of oppression is just not sustainable, and this backwards cult should be no match for the militarized society they are warring with. It's silly to think this enclave of child-murdering, axe-wielding cultists would ever pick a fight with a giant gun-toting army like the WLF.
In the end, the trans plot point is handled extremely poorly. Lev shaved his head because he didn't want to become a child wife, he wanted to become "soldier" instead (even though female soldiers already exist). His gender disphoria is only suggested upon in the wiki, but I didn't see it mentioned in the game. In the actual game, Lev's "transness" seems to stop and end with him not wanting to be raped by an assigned husband. If the writers wanted the story to be relatable to real-life trans issues, maybe its implementation shouldn't have been clumsy with weird implications? As it stands, the game seems to be implying that one might become trans to avoid being raped and to be assigned a preferable occupation.
And since this cult is actively at war with a greater threat, shouldn't soldiers be in high demand? Shouldn't the Seraphites be totally down with Lev becoming a soldier? Shouldn't they be trying to muster as many soldiers as possible to defeat this militarized threat? If female soldiers already exist, why would they turn away Lev? Are child wives in even HIGHER demand? Is Lev the victim of a very important arranged marriage or something?
Hang on, if Lev really wants to be a soldier, shouldn't he have a searing hatred for the WLF? Doesn't prejudice against the enemy faction sort of come bundled with the desire to be a "soldier"? What kind of implication does this have for Lev's relationship with Abby? (spoiler: zero) Since Lev wants to become a soldier so bad, shouldn't he want to become a bona fide, WLF-hunting Seraphite? Or does he simply love fighting, and it doesn't really matter who he is killing? Most 13-year olds I know want to play with dirt and ride bikes. Yet the children in this cartoonish cult are being primed to be soldiers and wives. This faction isn't written very well.
But let's assume Lev does have gender disphoria, and being assigned as a wife was simply the catalyst for him finally "coming out" and transitioning. If this is the case, shouldn't Lev NOT want to be a soldier for this deeply transphobic cult? Shouldn't fighting for these savages be the last thing Lev wants to do?
Lev says that he and Yara have been on the run for two days. Shouldn't the Seraphites have bigger issues than to chase after two prepubescent miscreants?
>Abby: Why doesn't Lev want to go to Santa Barbara? >Yara: He's worried about our mom. About what'll happen to her because of us. >Yara: Sometimes parents are held responsible for their children's sins. The Seraphites are so evil they will punish a mother for the sins of her children. The only thing they did was run away. By the way, the Seraphites are losing a war and are on the verge of being overthrown... but they find the free time to punish an innocent woman for basically no good reason.
By the way, some people have tried to convince me that the house in Santa Barbara was not a trap. They tell me that the Fireflies that Abby speaks with are REAL Fireflies and they actually have a successful, clandestine faction all the way on the west coast. I am not even fucking WILLING to entertain this idea, because to do so would raise several problematic implications to the story.
- If there is an enclave of Fireflies, this has severe implications on Ellie's story. You're telling me this random settlement that Owen mentions in a flashback has been the HQ for the entire Fireflies operation, and they haven't expanded or changed their name?
- Why would they have only 200 people after almost a decade with "More every month?" Shouldn't they have far more at this point? It's been five years!
- Wouldn't they have every incentive to exterminate (or at least drive away) the Rattlers? They're a huge threat in the region, as we see BOTH our pivotal heroes get captured by them BY CHANCE!
Also not to mention Ellie's whole "forgiveness" arc. You're telling me she had months and months of travelling through the ruins of America to ruminate on her ultimate decision. She had months of time to internally forgive Abby. Hell, she could have forgiven Abby when she saw the state she and Lev were in on the poles. Come on, Ellie had AMPLE opportunity to have a change of heart.
But instead, Ellie goes and stops fighting at the literal last second... Why? What is the actual reason? And don't say because she saw a vision of Joel serenely playing guitar on the porch. There is nothing in the environment to manifest that memory. Why would she have a change of heart right then? Right at the moment of truth?
No change of heart when killing 10000 mooks. No change of heart when torturing Nora to death. No change of heart on the way back to Jackson while her arm is broken, Tommy has a hole in his skull (and lives), and Dina is pregnant and has an arrow hole through her shoulder.
None of that was a good time to put the bloodlust and revenge to bed? Ellie just decided that revenge is a fool's game as Abby is on death's doorstep? Why?
My assertion that "she changes her mind at the last second" is valid. She had a change of heart at the very last possible moment. My problem with the story is that this doesn't make sense.
Consider that Ellie could have had this change of heart at any time traveling through Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, or California (all off-screen, of course (without a horse / on foot)). I'd like you to entertain the idea that this is really, really, really stupid.
900 miles, months of travel, plenty of time to have that vision of Joel serenely playing guitar on the porch. Imagine it: Ellie passes by a guitar store in Utah and has a flicker of Joel's love in her heart and changes her mind. Ellie might have seen a giraffe in Nevada and have been reminded of Joel, inspiring her to return to her loved ones in Jackson.
No, the thing that summons Ellie's vision of Joel playing guitar on the porch was seeing Abby gargling on blood and drowning. This is freshly after Ellie's fingers are bitten off, so Ellie's bloodlust should be higher than ever. At this point, Ellie is still traumatized by PTSD, and has lost Dina and JJ. At this point, Abby has one friend in the entire world, so there is no threat of repercussions from WLF. Ironically, the moral of the story isn't "revenge is bad", the moral of the story is "leave no survivors"
By all accounts, Ellie has every motivation to end Abby when she does, but the writers arbitrarily decide that Ellie sees a vision of Joel for no reason while she is brutally murdering Abby. Why? Where did this vision come from? Earlier, we see Ellie has a vision of Joel's bloodied corpse when Ellie sees blood on her shirt, indicating that visuals in the real world can trigger Ellie's memories of Joel. The answer is simple: The writers made a dirty edit of Joel playing guitar so that Ellie's motivations for stopping (at the last second) make sense. Sadly, this is not sufficient characterization for me and indicates really juvenile writing.
Jackson King
If Ellie had ANY reservations about killing Abby whatsoever, she wouldn't have destroyed her relationship with Dina and JJ and travel for months across the deadly wasteland. But the writers decided that Ellie cannot get her way at the very end because TLOU 2 has a preoccupation with being as depressing and torture-porn as possible. That's all there is to it.
Particularly at the end, where Tommy is peer-pressuring his adopted niece who is a new mother, who happens to suffer from crippling PTSD. First of all, I just don't buy that a person like Tommy, a grown man from Texas, would demand someone else go on his revenge mission for him. You know, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" Texas. Typically, Southern men pride themselves on their staunch independence. A person like Tommy wouldn't throw a hissy fit when someone else (rightfully) refuses to settle his unfinished business. If this suicide mission is so important to you, "I can't go" shouldn't even be in your vocabulary, Tommy! I call it a suicide mission because it is exactly that. Santa Barbara is fucking ONE THOUSAND MILES AWAY. God knows how many clandestine factions and hordes of roving infected you would have to stave off just to get there. For fuck's sake, you have dozens of infected wandering into your meager settlement every week. A trek across a good portion of the continental United States is basically a death sentence. Tommy never even mentions sending Ellie off with a team of mercs who can help her along the way. So she's supposed to settle your personal vendetta...? All by herself...? On the other side of the country...? God, this writing is juvenile. Worst of all is the dialog Tommy initiates. It is logically bankrupt. "I've been putting out feelers for MONTHS now." "I have found Abby's location." "Will you kill her?" "Well I can't go!"
Just hang on one fucking second.
Adrian Cook
You mean to tell me you've been surreptitiously looking for Abby? You never informed Ellie? You kept this secret up for months? Consider the fact that Tommy has a huge amount riding on this. By not including Ellie in his investigation, Tommy is dropping a bombshell on his adopted niece that will surely destroy her. If there was any... ANY possibility Ellie would say "No", then Tommy should get comfortable with the idea that he spent months investigating for nothing. If you can't do that, then do the fucking mission yourself. You never thought to include Ellie in the search? "Oh, but she might outright decline" you say. "She'd be more likely to say 'Yes' when there is actionable information" you say. Then this is one HELL of a gamble on Tommy "I Can't Go's" part. Tommy seems to be entitled to an outcome that is astronomically small. This is a betrayal of Tommy's character, which is historically utilitarian and family-oriented. Ellie has a CHILD and livestock to look after. This revenge shit is 3 YEARS IN THE PAST by this time. At some point, you just have to be grateful to be alive in general. Motherfucker, you got shot in the face and took an arrow to the leg. Then, you survived a trek of over 800 miles through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah without a vehicle and with a hole in your head.You beat the odds. Time to settle down and at least try to enjoy life. A person with years of maturity over Ellie should by all accounts be handling Joel's death better than her. ADDENDUM: This is just a bonus complaint I have about the staunch defenders of TLOU 2's story. "People are irrational" is the designated defense for this garbage writing. Yes, people act "irrationally," but people never act "NONSENSICALLY." In this game, they do just that. Characters betray their established characterization and decisions are made which don't make any damn sense. If characters don't retain some baseline consistency, then what's the point of getting invested in the story?
