The Last of Us, HBO‘s award-winning adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name, concludes its second season this week. Over the course of the last seven weeks, we at The Beat have been delivering episode recaps for the new season, diving into what happens every week, how it reflects the game it’s based on, and how the show is crafted. The seventh episode of season 2, titled “Convergence,” is a weak finale with a gut-punch ending, setting up an interesting direction for the upcoming third season whilst simultaneously failing to live up to the game it’s adapting. Directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado (The Mentalist) and written by Neil Druckmann (co-director of both The Last of Us games), Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), and Haley Gross (Westworld), it finishes the season on a mixed note.
“Convergence” begins with no cold open, launching immediately into a sequence where Jesse (Young Mazino) is comforting a wounded Dina (Isabela Merced), who was shot with a crossbow bolt towards the end of the fifth episode of the season. He tends to her wound, but to properly help her, he has to push the bolt through her leg and out of it. She lets him do it, but declines his offer for a drink to numb the pain.
Later, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) arrives back, avoiding Jesse’s questions and going straight for Dina, who is asleep. She checks up on her and wakes her up, only for Dina to try and comfort Ellie instead by taking off her top and cleaning her wounds. Ellie touches upon the experience of torturing Nora (Tati Gabrielle) and leaving her to die, expressing regret for her actions. Ellie was only given one hint by Nora, the word “wheel.” Ellie then explains the truth about her and the Fireflies to Dina. Dina says they have to leave, and give up on their quest for vengeance.
The next day, Jesse and Ellie are packing up their things. Jesse is mostly ignoring Ellie out of anger, and Dina gives Ellie a bracelet for good luck. Jesse and Ellie leave to find Tommy (Gabriel Luna), and Jesse figures out that Dina is pregnant. He makes it clear to Ellie that he can’t put himself in danger or die, because he has a son to raise. The two notice a painting of the Seraphite prophet that bares little resemblance to one they’ve seen previously, and question if there are multiple prophets. Later, they hide out in a parking garage whilst the WLF shoot at a Seraphite. They beat him and strip him, while Ellie is stopped from helping by Jesse. He faults her for caring too much and once again emphasizes that they need to survive.
We then cut to Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) having a meeting with Elise Park (Hettienne Park). The WLF are preparing to invade the island that the Seraphites live on, and Isaac is nervous over the disappearance of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her crew. Park faults him for caring too much about her, remarking that he must be in love with her, but he explains the real reason: he wants Abby to be the future leader of the WLF in case he and the current top brass die fighting the Seraphites on the island.
Returning to Jesse and Ellie, the two hideout in a bookshop. Jesse tells a story about a traveling girl visiting Jackson, who he bought mediocre paintings from just because he was in love with her. He explains that she couldn’t leave her family, and he couldn’t leave Jackson when they expect him to be their future, so he chose to stay for the sake of others. He uses this to emphasize that Ellie has been selfish. “I was taught to put other people first,” he states.
After a distress radio call from the WLF, they go to find Tommy, but Ellie spots a ferris wheel next to the Seattle Aquarium. She reckons that’s where Abby must be hiding, but Jesse derides her once again for her selfishness. He reveals that he voted against her traveling to Seattle, stating that it wouldn’t be good for their community. Ellie yells “fuck the community!” before explaining that her community died in front of her because of Abby. He wishes Ellie luck, and they part ways.
Ellie then sneaks towards a set of docks, witnessing the WLF prepare to leave for the Seraphite island. These nighttime sequences are incredibly poorly shot and lack in visibility or clarity, which removes a lot of the tension from these moments. She neats on to a boat, taking it, before falling overboard after being hit by a wave. She wakes up on the shore of the Seraphites’ island, and sees a young child, who harkens over adults. They grab her and try to lynch her, and although she pleads for her life with the child, he resigns her to execution. They are distracted by a distress siren from their village, and run away. Ellie takes another boat, and heads back towards the Aquarium.
Quite frankly, this sequence is baffling. It comes out of nowhere, it makes little logical sense, it feels shoehorned in during an otherwise climatic moment, and only serves to establish the existence of a dangerous Seraphite island to viewers; something that can be clearly established with a simple line of dialogue.
Ellie arrives at the aquarium and sneaks in. She sees two members of Abby’s crew, Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer), fighting over whether to go help Abby or not. Ellie threatens them with a gun and demands Abby’s location, attempting to use the same ‘show me a spot on the map’ trick that Joel (Pedro Pascal) utilises in the first season. Owen reaches for a gun, and Ellie shoots him, killing him. The bullet goes through him, however, landing in Mel’s neck.
However, it turns out Mel is pregnant, and she pleads with Ellie to conduct a cesarean section on her. Ellie panics, not knowing what to do, and Mel tries to explain, but only gets more and more incoherent, before dying in Ellie’s hands.
Tommy and Jesse arrive, to save Ellie, and drag her away. This sequence is, in my opinion, a great example of the show’s lack of commitment to making Ellie dislikeable or nuanced. In the show, she accidentally kills Mel, and only attacks the two once provoked. In the games, she intentionally kills them both, as well as their dog, she only doesn’t realise that Mel is pregnant. By removing her worst moments or adapting them without any darkness or depth, it ruins Ellie’s character development, and weakens the intensity of the story as well as how its themes are conveyed. Instead, it comes across as less subtle and more juvenile.
Back at the theatre, Tommy tries to comfort Ellie by stating that they all had it coming. Ellie is unhappy that Abby still lives. Jesse tries to make Ellie feel bad once more for her selfishness, but also states that he understands that Ellie would “set the world on fire” to save her loved ones, including him.
They hear a gunshot, and go running to see Abby, who has shot Tommy in the leg. She fatally shoots Jesse in the head, killing him instantly. Ellie pleads with her to save Tommy’s life, but Abby remarks that she let Ellie live, only for Ellie to waste that chance. Abby aims at Ellie and a shot is fired, but not before the screen cuts to black. We then cut to Abby, being awoken by Owen in the WLF headquarters, the middle of Soundview Stadium. The captions read “Seattle: Day One” and the season ends.
“Convergence” concludes the second season of The Last of Us with an explosive cliffhanger. Whilst the episode itself is unfortunately rather weak, I’m glad they’ve chosen to stick to one of the game’s most bold and challenging decisions for the upcoming third season. Every actor involved is doing a great job, but they are let down by some weak scripts and technical elements that often limit the efficiency of the story. Make no mistake, it’s by no means a bad show, but the second season loses its footing as it goes on and could have used a couple more episodes to flesh out its attempt at adapting a massive story. Ultimately, it’s the writing that lets this season down, truncating and rushing a huge, dark narrative and adapting it without any bite. It sands off the edges, pulls its punches and makes the story all the weaker for it; I am ultimately left underwhelmed.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading these weekly recaps, and check out The Last of Us season 2 to form your own opinion on it, now available on HBO Max. Additionally, if you have yet to check out the games, I’d highly recommend them; The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II are both available now on PC and PS5.
