Ellie Was So Much Better In ‘The Last Of Us' Season 1

Forbes

20-05-2025

Ellie (Bella Ramsey)
Credit: HBO
The main problem with Ellie in Season 2 of The Last Of Us is absolutely not Bella Ramsey. I've said she looks a little small and young for the part, but I think I could get over those details if the writing for the character was better, and portrayed her how she ought to be at this point in the story.
I've spent a lot of time comparing 'show Ellie' to 'video game Ellie' in previous posts, and I think that's useful simply because the game handles the character so much more deftly, but today I want to make a completely different – and even more relevant – comparison: Season 1 Ellie vs. Season 2 Ellie.
It occurred to me as I wrote my '5 Biggest Problems With Season 2 Of The Last Of Us' post that I was never all that bothered by Ramsey's Ellie in Season 1. A quibble here and there with changes from the game's version, but nothing to get worked up about. Overall, I thought she did a great job and I thought the show handled her and Joel's relationship quite well. Was it as good as the video game? Not really, but it was close enough and it felt like a genuinely good faith effort. The show's creators mostly seemed to understand the characters, which makes sense since Neil Druckmann created and directed both games and is co-showrunning the HBO adaptation with Craig Mazin.
But this is not the case in Season 2, and it's been bugging me to no end. In many ways, Season 2 Ellie – despite being older and more experienced – comes across as more childish, more obnoxious, less competent and far more stupid than she did in Season 1. Some of this is in the text. Ellie is mothered by Dina, lectured on how they shouldn't use their guns unless it's a last resort. She's self-deprecating, joking about how she's 'bad at math' when she can't work out Dina's map triangulation. Earlier, when she's setting out for Seattle on her own, Dina finds her and helps her plan. Ellie was ready to head off on foot with no supplies whatsoever, which is odd for someone who not only made it across the country in Season 1, but has lived and trained and grown up in a post-apocalyptic frontier town.
From various podcasts and interviews, it appears that all of this is intentional. Speaking with Esquire, Craig Mazin said:
That's quite a list of 'bad at' qualities. Ellie is impulsive, can't make good judgment calls, sees everything in black and white, gets quite dark, isn't self-reflective. And she's bad at math! But is Ellie really all those things? Is she not at all self-reflective? I'd argue that she is, but that her rage blinds her after Joel's death. I'd argue that she has pretty good executive functioning for someone her age. Maybe she can't triangulate, but she absolutely can plan and think clearly about objectives.
But Season 2 Ellie is not just 'bad at math' or oblivious of basic tactical thinking, she's also inept when it comes to social interactions. Take the flashback with Joel and Eugene. Ellie wants to allow Eugene to return to Jackson to bid farewell to his wife, Gail. Joel doesn't want to allow this for a number of pretty solid reasons: It's dangerous, for one thing, but it would also mean that Eugene would invariably turn in front of his wife and other Jackson citizens and Joel (or someone else) would have to shoot and kill him in front of her. This would be dangerous and traumatizing. Eugene should never have asked in the first place. He should have given Joel his message and spared his wife the ordeal.
Instead, Eugene begged and pleaded for something that was quite clearly a terrible idea and Ellie, because she is portrayed as so naive and simple this season, backed him. I dislike Joel's lie at this point. He should have put his foot down rather than turn to deception that had no chance of sticking. He should have appealed to the rules more, and to Ellie being his subordinate on her first patrol. Regardless, when the two of them return with Eugene's body, it's clear that Joel does the right thing. He lets Gail down gently. He tells her that Eugene was brave and selfless. That he didn't suffer. It's Ellie who interjects and shatters the lie, leaving Gail with a much less flattering image of her husband just so Ellie can rub Joel's face in it. Again, not only stupid but cruel and selfish.
So we have an older Ellie now, but she's still babied by those around her. Dina and Jesse treat her like a kid. She acts like a spoiled brat at every turn, to the point that it's almost surprising when she acts more mature, or furious, or somber rather than insufferable.
Setting aside how different Ellie is in the game, I'd like to point out that Ellie in Season 1, while five years younger, was actually nothing like she is now (and for the wrong reasons; clearly she should be different in Season 2). She was clever and resourceful in the first season. She was able to manipulate and outsmart David, the creepy leader of the cannibal group. She was even able to kill him before he could sexually assault her without Joel saving the day. When Joel is grievously wounded, it's Ellie who keeps him alive and sets out on her own to find food and medicine. At no point in Season 1 does Ellie come across as dim or incompetent, and whatever bratty moments she has are pretty justifiable given her age and situation, largely reflecting her inability to trust people.
How did this Season 1 version of Ellie not develop into someone more mature, capable and sure of herself? If anything, she's regressed. Why is she even goofier now that Joel is dead, and even more in need of constant protection despite being a more seasoned survivor? Why does she need Dina to remind her that vengeance is justified – or how to pack? Where is her sense of urgency? Why is making dad jokes when she finds out Dina is pregnant instead of reacting with bitterness at the obstacle this creates in her quest to kill Abby?
No, we don't need a 1:1 adaptation with the game. I'd be happy if we simply got the natural evolution of the character we came to love in Season 1. And if the show is going to give us a fundamentally different character than either version of Ellie, what story are they actually trying to tell in the first place? It's all very perplexing and strange. Ellie is one of the best female video game characters of all time and Season 1, while not quite as good as the game, was close enough. Season 2 has robbed Ellie of her agency, her rage, her competency, her intellect. And to what end? For some comic relief? To make Dina more crucial to the plot? I don't get it.