The Last Of Us Season 2 Finale Recreates The Game's Most Shocking Death Shot-For-Shot
When you're lost in the darkness, look for the spoilers. This article discusses events from the finale of "The Last of Us" season 2.
At a time when television viewers could use a real pick-me-up series to make the horrors of real life feel a little less horrific, well, "The Last of Us" season 2 provided exactly none of that. Not that anyone who's been paying attention would be surprised, of course. Still, newcomers to the HBO adaptation might not have been fully prepared for just how far the finale took things. Fresh off last week's heartwarming flashback episode, the climax reminded everyone that the apocalypse is still the apocalypse, and that the hordes of zombie-like Infected don't always pose the greatest threat.
Unfortunately, poor Jesse (Young Mazino) had to learn this lesson the hard way and pay the highest price, making for the series' most shocking death (outside of Joel's tragic demise early on, of course) in what turns out to be a beat-for-beat recreation of the original game. At the very least, those who played "The Last of Us Part II" couldn't have asked for a more faithful depiction of events. The tragedy begins with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) on the warpath in Seattle against her hated rival Abby (Kaitlyn Devers), escalates with her inadvertent killing of two of Abby's close friends, and culminates in the show's bleakest instance of pointless retaliation yet. Not that that's any comfort for one of the most sympathetic characters in the entire story ... and one who was just about to become a father, at that. That little detail, revealed a few weeks back during Ellie and Dina's (Isabela Merced) big romance scene, only makes for an even crueler twist of the knife.
As always, the world of "The Last of Us" spares no one, so let's unpack Jesse's untimely fate and the show's most shocking (and faithfully adapted) death.
Jesse was too pure for the world of The Last of Us
A hardened survivor, a born leader, and a death just waiting to happen — all of the above can be true simultaneously when it comes to our dearly departed Jesse. Introduced in the opening sequence of season 2 overseeing Ellie's brutal hand-to-hand training, Jesse quickly endeared himself to viewers as a no-nonsense figure in the sanctuary city of Jackson. In one of the biggest departures from the game, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann slightly tweaked the character's responsibilities. Not only does Jackson have a ruling council of decision-makers calling the shots for the townspeople, but Jesse had been positioned as a leading council member in his own right at some point in the future. That wasn't to be, sadly, and this probably should've been the first major red flag that he was destined for a much more abrupt fate.
Jesse was far from perfect, of course. His slightly overbearing attitude earned the (lighthearted) scorn of Ellie and his on-again/off-again ex Dina, as did his selflessness that cropped up time and again throughout the season. He and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) were the first ones to go after Ellie and Dina, after all, and Jesse ended up saving both of their lives from the Infected right when all hope seemed lost. Then again, his penchant for heroism also put him and Ellie at each other's throats — most notably when he stopped her from saving a young member of the Seraphites who was marked for death, despite self-righteously chiding Ellie for putting their "community" in danger. The series also added an extra layer of conflict by making him part of the voting body in Jackson, which ultimately decided not to let Ellie and Dina embark on their mission of vengeance against Abby and the Western Liberation Front. Viewers were meant to assume that Jesse had been one of the few to vote in their favor, but a late revelation in season 2 proved the opposite to be true.
Was our late hero simply too pure to survive the world of "The Last of Us"? Ultimately, it doesn't matter. If this story teaches us anything, it's this: Some get what they deserve, and others don't. It's what the survivors do in their absence that matters.
"The Last of Us" season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.