Latest news with #Abby
Elle
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
'The Last of Us' Fans Spotted a Subtle 'Game of Thrones' Easter Egg in the Season 2 Finale
As fans continue to unpack The Last of Us's season 2 finale, some eagled-eyed viewers have noticed a subtle nod to its fellow HBO series, Game of Thrones, nestled within the episode. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference takes place during a flashback of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) waking up on a couch with a book on her stomach: Thieves of the City by Ben Davidoff. It's a play on the 2008 book City of Thieves by David Benioff, who was a co-showrunner (alongside D.B. Weiss) of Game of Thrones, which of course also starred both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. For the uninitiated, City of Thieves is a World War II coming-of-age novel set during the Siege of Leningrad. In the original Last of Us video game, Abby is also seen reading the book as a deliberate nod to the story. Game director Bruce Straley confirmed in a previous interview that City of Thieves was one of the inspirations behind the PlayStation game. If HBO's The Last of Us continues to follow its source material closely, there could be another nod to Benioff's book in the upcoming third season. Lev, a young boy born to a Seraphite mother, teams up with Abby for a large portion of The Last of Us: Part II. Lev is also the name of one of the main characters in City of Thieves. The Last of Us's showrunner, Craig Mazin, is well aware of the GoT-TLOU overlaps. He recognized Ramsey right away when he started watching their audition tape. 'I was like, oh shit, it's Lady Mormont,' Mazin told ELLE back in 2023. Even though Ramsey's fame could've been a distraction Mazin was confident the actor was the right match for Ellie. '[In] my mind, I was like, if we don't cast Bella as Ellie, then I will go to my grave knowing that we could have made a better show than we did.'
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us' Review: Episode 7 Makes a Generational Choice — Spoilers
[Editor's note: The following review contains spoilers for 'The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 7 — the Season 2 finale. For additional coverage, including previous episode reviews, check out IndieWire's 'Last of Us' landing page.] 'Maybe she got what she deserved.' More from IndieWire Why Netflix Moved on from 'CoComelon' - and How It Hopes to Replace It in the Kids Programming Wars 'And Just Like That' Review: Season 3 Tones Down the Madness for a Timid Take on 'Sex and the City' 'Maybe she didn't.' To open 'The Last of Us' Season 2 finale, Dina (Isabela Merced) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) share the above exchange about Nora (Tati Gabrielle), the member of Abby's (Kaitlyn Dever) posse who Ellie chased down, tortured, and left to die at the end of Episode 5. But by the end of Episode 7, viewers may very well be repeating the debate about Ellie, whose ultimate fate makes for an agonizing cliffhanger that won't be resolved until Season 3 premieres (at least). Did Abby shoot Ellie like she shot Jesse (Young Mazino), R.I.P.? Did she wound her? Did she miss? Of course, I'm desperate for Ellie to survive, but 'The Last of Us' already killed off one of its leads this season and, more importantly, it's clear co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann (who cowrote the Season 2 finale with Halley Gross) want viewers to consider not just what they want to happen, but what these characters have chosen for themselves. Sans sentiment, Ellie's moral report card is grim. She tortured and killed Nora. She shot and killed Owen (Spencer Lord), as well as Mel (Ariela Barer), the latter of whom was pregnant when she died. Sure, Mel's death was an accident, but that's hardly an excuse when Ellie's entire plan is built around murdering people. On the other hand, Ellie's ethical judgement showed signs of improvement in Episode 7; that her experience in Seattle (and lingering memories of Joel) may be steering her away from vengeance and toward mercy. Saying 'maybe she didn't' about Nora deserving to die (and be tortured), as well as telling Dina why Abby was so fixated on finding Joel to begin with, is a good sign for Ellie's level of bloodlust. If she's open to considering other opinions, instead of just finding Abby at all costs, that's progress. (Her revelation also drives a wedge between her and Dina, which speaks to how hard — and how important — it must've been for Ellie to divulge.) Granted, Ellie suffers a setback when she realizes where Abby is hiding. (The only words Nora said to Ellie were 'whale' and 'wheel,' so when she spots them both by Seattle's Aquarium, the dead-end suddenly becomes an open door, and she can't stop herself from walking through.) Long before her interrogation of Abby's crew goes so quickly sideways, it's clear Ellie should've gone with Jesse to help Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Tommy came to Seattle to help her. He cares about her, and she cares about him. He's part of her community, and he's still alive. Joel isn't. And if Ellie's decisions really were dictated by what Joel would want, there's no way he would rather Ellie kill his killer than save his brother. (Back in Episode 3, Tommy even said as much: 'He'd be halfway to Seattle to save my life,' Tommy said, when Ellie tried to argue Joel would go to Seattle to avenge Tommy's death. 'But when we lost people, no. It would just break him, like it was his fault. I saw that time and time again.') But Ellie isn't hearing it. There's too many variables. 'Fuck the community!' Ellie screams. 'You let a kid die today, Jesse. Because why? He wasn't in your community? Let me tell you about my community. My community was beaten to death in front of me while I had to fucking watch.' To be fair, Jesse didn't 'let' anyone die. There was no way they could've saved the Scar who was trapped by W.L.F. soldiers. Ellie and Jesse vs. a literal army? Sorry, but they're taking an 'L' on that one. But the selective responsibility Ellie points out does bring up one of the show's thornier subjects: Where do you draw the line when it comes to helping others when doing so comes at great personal risk to yourself? With the Scar boy from earlier that day, it's a relatively easy choice. But Jesse and Tommy already made a harder choice — to come to Seattle to save Ellie and Dina — and Jesse, as he explains to Ellie, already sacrificed his own romantic happiness to stick in Jackson and help the townsfolk, which includes Ellie. 'I go with that girl to New Mexico,' he says, 'who saves your ass in Seattle?' Despite Ellie and Jesse accusing (and then, later on, supporting) each other, the difference between them is clear. In Jesse's scenario, neither road available to him is actively harmful: If he goes with the woman to New Mexico, maybe he makes her happy, himself happy, and the people of New Mexico happy. Sure, everyone in Jackson would miss him, but they could've found another leader-in-waiting. Still, he chose to stay. Maybe he's less of a romantic, or maybe — as it's implied here — he's less selfish than Ellie. That doesn't mean 'better'; sometimes you need to be selfish. Ellie just took it too far. With Ellie, if she had stayed in Jackson, Dina would have been safe. Ellie would have been safe. The people of Jackson would still have two of their best patrol members, Tommy would still have a de facto niece, and Jesse would have been able to see his baby be born. Going had a single best case scenario: Abby would be dead. One more person on this planet would be gone. And for what? Abby isn't a known threat to anyone now that Joel is gone. Ellie's revenge is for her. It's selfish. It's meant to be healing, but it's only sewing more destruction. Now that destruction is all around her. Nora, Owen, Mel, and Mel's baby are dead. Jesse is dead. Tommy and Dina are wounded, and it's hard to imagine Abby letting them live. Ellie may be gone, too, although — without knowing what happens in the games — I have to imagine her story will continue. Her nature, her soul, is still forming. She hasn't hardened into a monster or softened enough to find mercy. But fate doesn't wait around for you to be ready. Whether she lives or dies, she chose the path that led her here. 'The Last of Us' Season 2 is available on HBO and Max (which is soon to be HBO Max… again). The series has been renewed for Season 3. • Speaking of monsters, a brief word on the book Ellie picks out for Dina's unborn baby: 'The Monster at the End of This Book,' written by Jon Stone with illustrations by Michael Smollin. The children's book, first published in 1971, tells an innovative meta narrative in which Grover (the 'Sesame Street' character) reads the title of the book and gets scared about what sort of monster is waiting for him at the end. From there, most of the book's 'story' is just Grover begging the reader not to continue, so he doesn't have to encounter the monster, but (spoiler alert) the monster at the end of the book is… Grover. For kids, the lesson is clear: The scariest monster is the one you build up in your mind. Expectations and reality don't always match up, and sometimes a monster is just… misunderstood. Take that reading a step further (not unlike comedian Gary Gulman's does in his 2024 stand-up special, 'Grandiliquent'), and the monster at the end of the book is the reader themselves, or more accurately, whatever anxiety, trauma, or scarring event from the reader's past they can't seem to escape — and shapes how they see the world. Gee, I wonder how that would apply to Ellie? • And speaking of presumed leaders who abandon their posts, what the heck is going on with Abby, Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), and the W.L.F.? During 'Seattle Day 3,' she's M.I.A. Isaac sits down with Sgt. Park (Hettienne Park) and complains that Abby and her whole team are missing on 'tonight of all nights.' Later, we get an idea of that night's significance when the W.L.F. sets off a massive explosion at the Seraphites' village. It's unclear who lived and died, what was destroyed, or if anything was accomplished, but it's implied — both by Isaac and by Owen, who doesn't seem to know where Abby is before Ellie walks in on him — that Abby was supposed to be on those attack boats, and she just… wasn't. Isaac tells Sgt. Park he was planning for Abby to take over someday as the W.L.F. leader, so what happened to make her abandon that trajectory? We'll surely find out in Season 3, considering the final scene flashes back to 'Seattle Day 1' to share what's going on from Abby's perspective. But given the emphasis placed in Season 2 on Jesse's planned ascension in Jackson, as well as Ellie stepping into Joel's shoes, there's a growing emphasis on generational transitions in 'The Last of Us.' Jesse's succession would've been relatively smooth, given how much he aligned with the current leadership, Tommy and Maria (Rutina Wesley). But Ellie's attempts to follow in Joel's footsteps are bumpy at best. The longer she tries to play the badass avenger, the more she doubts whether that's who she is (and if that's who Joel wanted to be) . Could the same thing be happening to Abby? Could completing her quest for revenge have rattled her enough to drift from the person she was before? Might 'The Last of Us' actually see hope for a better future in a generation of kids so ill at ease with the actions of their elders that they run in the opposite direction? • For a show that took more than two years between Seasons 1 and 2, it's hard to sit with Mazin & Co.'s chosen endpoint. For one, Season 2 is only seven episodes long, as opposed to Season 1's nine-episode arc. But on top of that, this arc feels incomplete. Ellie's left halfway through a transformative moment. Everything happening between the W.L.F. and the Seraphites feels half-formed, and Abby has barely been fleshed out enough to build anticipation around seeing more of her in Season 3. I enjoyed the time I spent with 'The Last of Us' Season 2 — and I hope you did, too, dear readers — I just wish there was more closure before another long break. Best of IndieWire The 25 Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies, Ranked Every IndieWire TV Review from 2020, Ranked by Grade from Best to Worst
Geek Feed
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Feed
Save the Dog: Why They Cut Alice from the Last of Us Finale
The Last of Us finale had come as a shock to several viewers, but anyone who's played the game knew exactly what was coming… sort of. Fans online have been discussing all sorts of changes the series has been doing compared to the game, and a lot of fans were wondering just where Alice a.k.a. Mel's WLF-trained dog was. Since the dog was ultimately going to be killed by Ellie, showrunner Craig Mazin thought that having Ellie kill a dog would have been 'one too much' for the scene. Talking to Polygon, Mazin explains , 'There are two cardinal rules in Hollywood, one, don't spend your own money, two, don't kill a dog… Plus, because it's live action, the nature of violence becomes much more, well, graphic. It's more graphic because…it's not like there's an animation between you and it, [and] it's very disturbing.' Seeing that Ellie already kills Owen, Mel, and (indirectly) Mel's baby (plus Jessie gets shot); it was game creator Neil Druckmann who said, '…in our conversation, we're like this [is] probably one too many.' Interestingly enough, some fans were complaining that Mazin was so 'fine' with dog murder in Chernobyl , to which he actually addresses that in the interview, 'I think you get like one dog murdering episode a lifetime.' If anything, most of the audience's investment on Alice actually comes from Abby's side of the story since players get to interact and even play with her in the game. No doubt Alice will probably be introduced in the next season, but who knows, maybe it's Tommy that offs her this time. We'll just have to wait and see. Check out the complete second season of The Last of Us now streaming on HBO Max.
Forbes
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘The Last Of Us' Showrunner Says Ellie Is Incompetent Compared To Abby
The Last of Us There has been a general sense that Ellie's character has veered well outside the lines of the source material in The Last of Us season 2. Now, there appears to be actual documentation that fans can point to and say, 'See, they don't get it.' One of the biggest complaints about season 2 of The Last of Us is that Ellie has been made out to be kind of an idiot. She lurches forward attempting to get revenge for Joel, with Dina handling all logistics. Her reactions and emotions to situations are often bizarre. And her combat prowess is almost non-existent, with practically no kills and half of them being by accident. Now, co-showrunner and the writer of most of the season, Craig Mazin, appears to be spelling out his view of Ellie, and it's what everyone is complaining about. This is an excerpt from the post-finale Last of Us podcast with Mazin: 'Abby is seemingly not like Ellie, in that Abby is incredibly competent…When Abby gets into the theater, she doesn't screw up…She is in complete control of the situation.' The idea that Ellie is somehow incompetent or dumb is not at all how she's portrayed in the game or even in season 1 of this show, where she's repeatedly called smart and just not living up to her potential. In the second game, Ellie activates that potential and becomes a revenge-fueled killing machine that is a match for Abby, which is a key part of the game. It's not that Abby never gets the drop on her, but calling Abby 'competent' compared to the bumbling kid that Ellie has morphed into in season 2 is so frustrating. This 'she's just a dumb kid flying by the seat of her pants' is so misaligned with every part of the second game, as at one point (spoilers) she acts as an actual, terrifying level boss as you fight as Abby, more than a 'competent' match for her. Ellie Again, this isn't even in line with the show itself. Season 1 Ellie is smart. Season 2 Ellie has, at the very least, been doing combat training and has had five years to prepare for an inevitable hunt like this. Then they just throw all that out (remember that rifle that Seth ceremoniously gave her that she hasn't used once?) for whatever this is. There are clips we've seen that were never used (Ellie firing an assault rifle) and scripted fight sequences that never happened. You can say that Ellie was reshaped for the TV audience, and while that may be true, it's a worse version of the character and one that doesn't even match the Ellie the show spent a year building. It's beyond frustrating to hear Mazin say things like this. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Last of Us' Season 2 finale: [Spoiler] dies, and a tease of what's to come in Season 3
WARNING: The following piece contains spoilers about The Last of Us Season 2 finale The Last of Us ended its traumatic second season with the death of another beloved character. More from GoldDerby 'Have I said too much?' David Chase and Alex Gibney on revisiting 'The Sopranos' for 'Wise Guy' doc - and, yes, that finale Every Disney live-action remake, ranked from worst to first (updated) All the 'Mission: Impossible' movies, ranked (updated) During Sunday's season finale, Jesse (Emmy Award nominee Young Mazino) was killed by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), an act of further retaliation against Ellie (Bella Ramsey) after she murdered Abby's friends. 'You can't just commit acts of violence, walk away, and have your story end,' The Last of Us cocreator Craig Mazin said after the Season 2 premiere in April, establishing the moral ground rules of the episodes to come. 'The repercussions create more of them, not fewer of them.' Those ripple effects have been felt all season. After tracking Abby to Seattle, Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) became unwittingly embroiled in a war between the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) and a religious group known as the Seraphites. Against the backdrop of their cyclical violence, Ellie and Dina hunted down Abby and her friends to get revenge on Abby for murdering Joel (Pedro Pascal), who had killed Abby's father in the Season 1 finale. In Episode 5, Ellie encountered Nora (Tati Gabrielle), who was with Abby when she killed Joel. Ellie beat and tortured Nora, who became infected with Cordyceps, and left her to die. The act of violence shook Ellie, as she explained to Dina during the season finale, but not enough to stop her quest for vengeance. During the finale, Ellie tracked Abby to an abandoned aquarium, where she encountered Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer) instead of her target. A standoff ensued and, after Owen pulled a gun on Ellie, Ellie killed him and Mel, who was pregnant. Abby was never found, and it seemed clear from their conversations that Owen and Mel had also lost track of their friend. In the aftermath, Ellie, Jesse, Dina, and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) prepared to leave Seattle, but not before a surprise appearance from Abby. She incapacitated Tommy, shot and killed Jesse, and held a gun on Ellie. The season ended with Abby shooting her weapon in the direction of Ellie, whom she admonished for wasting her second chance at life. It's unclear if Abby shot Ellie or if she merely fired a shot in her direction. (Game fans know Ellie's fate, even if the show left it ambiguous heading into Season 3.) The actual end of Season 2 is a flashback: After Abby shoots at Ellie, the show cuts to black and returns with Abby as the focus three days before the finale events. Season 3 is expected to show what happened to Abby during that period and what led her to confront Ellie and kill Jesse. Speaking to Gold Derby before the finale, Mazino said he was excited for people to see his final episode. 'There's a performance between Bella Ramsey and Kaitlyn Dever that is absolutely phenomenal in the last episode, brilliant stuff,' he said. 'I had the pleasure of being able to be there on set for that, and it was tremendous. It carries so much weight in their words and their stillness in that moment. It was really cool stuff.' Best of GoldDerby 'The Pitt' star Supriya Ganesh on Mohan 'reworking' her trauma and when she'll realize Abbot is flirting with her Dream Team: 'Étoile' creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino on the secrets of their partnership: 'You want to be jealous of something someone has done' TV sound editors roundtable: 'Adolescence' and 'Secret Level' Click here to read the full article.
