There may be much more to life than explaining yourself. But a lot of life’s fundamentals do come down to that one thing. Explaining yourself to people, but firstly, to yourself. Being the captain of your own ship demands decisions of you at every breath. And since you better have damn good reasons to pick and choose the paths that you do, all of life is basically you justiying your actions. That’s pretty much all there is to the devastatingly violent whirlwind of rage, pain, and vengeance that the heroes and antiheroes of The Last of Us are caught up in. Is there even a way out?
Spoiler Alert
How does Jesse feel about Ellie and Dina?
If it wasn’t for Jesse swooping in like a superhero, we probably wouldn’t have Ellie and Dina with us anymore. Death’s usually the price you pay when you walk into a war-zone with an all-consuming vendetta, and that too very underprepared. So Ellie and Dina better be grateful that Jesse was there to save them. In the opening of the season finale, The Last of Us placed Dina and Jesse in the face of an unavoidable, yet very awkward and passive confrontation. There’s not much Jesse can say when Dina’s yowling in pain because of the dart in her leg. Hearts have been broken. But the more urgent wound needs attention first. That alcohol does nothing to dull the pain when Jesse has to push the dart bolt out of Dina’s bleeding leg. Of course, she didn’t drink it. That wouldn’t be a very smart move considering she’s very much pregnant. But Jesse did offer her the rest after pouring some on her leg to sterilize the wound. It must’ve been pretty unusual for Jesse to see the party-girl turn down a booze offering. There’s no telling what was going through his mind when it happened. But he obviously thought of the possibility that his ex was pregnant with his child. If there’s something Jesse can’t help but acknowledge about Ellie and Dina, it’s the fact that they’re more tight than he’s ever been with his ex. But knowing that doesn’t make it sting any less. The girl Jesse loves is so obviously in love with Ellie that that’s all one can notice when they’re in the same room. Jesse saw it before he and Ellie left to find the rendezvous point, where they’d wait for Tommy to meet them. A lot had happened the night before. When Ellie had come back, she was still reeling from what had transpired. She had been shaken by the violence she was capable of. Dina’s always treated Ellie with nothing short of tenderness. So it was no surprise that she would put her own pain aside to tend to a beat-up Ellie. Without knowing the whole story, Dina was bound to be biased. So she wasn’t being insincere when she wanted to comfort her. Ellie had found it concerningly easy to batter a girl to the brink of death and leave her to the mercy of the Cordyceps. That sort of thing changes a person. But to Dina, Nora was one of the bad people who took part in the tragedy that Ellie would carry with her all her life. So to her, Nora was someone who kind of deserved it. But Ellie couldn’t betray Dina’s practically unconditional sentiments anymore. Dina now knew what had happened to the Firefly facility in Salt Lake City. And that only meant a rather brutal fall to the hard ground of reality. Ellie had risked her and her baby’s lives to hunt down someone who’d had a very good reason to kill Joel. This wasn’t a fight that made sense anymore. And there was no way Ellie could say no when Dina put her foot down and decided that they’d be going back to Jackson. But even then, even though she was in so much physical and emotional pain because of Ellie’s lie by omission, the primary thing Dina felt for Ellie was love. That’s what Jesse had to witness when, the next morning, a gloomy-faced Dina gave Ellie her good luck charm. Made way too nervous by the circumstances, Ellie filled in the blanks for Jesse. She is the one who tells Jesse that Dina is pregnant. And while you can’t really blame her for not finding the words in the moment, it’s still pretty awful to see how Jesse’s been treated. They’re running for their lives. Tommy’s fending for himself somewhere. His pregnant ex has a crippling wound on her leg. None of this makes for a very clear mind. All things considered, he handles it with as much grace as anyone in his position could muster.
Where is Abby?
In the 6th episode, Ellie followed Nora into the moldy basement to find answers. And as we now know, she didn’t come out empty handed. Ellie told Dina that she got two words out of Nora. Two words that have something to do with where Abby is right now. Whale, and wheel. It just so happens that while this whole thing is going down with Ellie, Dina, and Jesse, the war between the Wolves and the Seraphites is coming to a head. That’s all the more relevant to us because Abby’s about to become a big deal. Perhaps the biggest one in the 3rd season of The Last of Us. Isaac hints as much when we see him in the W.L.F HQ. Park and Isaac are about to plunge into a terrifying pit of violence. But they’re missing some of their best. Owen, Mel, and Abby. It shouldn’t bother Isaac too much to have a few of his soldiers missing when a whole platoon is ready to attack the Seraphites on his command. But there’s a reason he’s worried about Abby. There’s no saying if Isaac or Park will get out of the imminent battle alive. And if they’re gone, the sheep in W.L.F’s clothing will need someone to lead them. That’s what Abby is to Isaac. The future leader of the pack. But none of that matters to Ellie. What matters to her is the fact that she won’t be able to live with herself if she lets her dad’s killer roam free. After going into the details of how wonderful a dad Joel actually was, it’s easy for us to fathom the rage that courses through Ellie’s veins. So she doesn’t agree with Jesse’s perspective when he tells her how much he has sacrificed for his community. Granted, Jesse could’ve chosen words that didn’t make him sound like such a martyr. But that doesn’t change the fact that he actually has given up a lot to take on the role of a man the community can look up to. He even gave up on love that one time, when an older girl from Alberta had changed his life with her bad landscape paintings. So yeah, he doesn’t understand Ellie’s selfishness. Their argument is cut short when Tommy’s gun takes down a couple of Wolves, and Ellie and Jesse hear them freak out over the radio. They have to go find Tommy before more Wolves gang up on him. But that’s when Ellie comes at a crossroads, literally. Right across the ocean, she sees the run down aquarium. The sight of the painting of a whale and a huge Ferris wheel tell her that that’s where Abby is. Trouble is, Tommy is down the road that goes the other way. Jesse may not agree with Ellie’s reason behind this pursuit. But what he can’t disagree with is the fact that Ellie is only doing what he would’ve done for his community. Joel was everything to her. Abby’s action has damaged her irreparably. But whether he gets it or not, it’s good of Jesse to part ways with Ellie. Tommy needs him more.
Does Abby Kill Jesse?
The storm that’s taken over Seattle and the war that’s making use of that chaos are both lucky and unlucky for Ellie. She’s taken a little boat to go do what she’s come here to do. But that calls for braving the stormy waters. With gigantic, tumultuous waves throwing her little boat around, it’s practically a miracle that Ellie even makes it alive onto shore. It’s not the shore that she was headed to. A huge wave has knocked her into the Seraphites’ perilous territory. She has a dangerously close brush with death when a violent little girl rats her out to the older, far scarier people of the cult. At this point, Ellie has no way to deny that Jesse did the right thing by staying out of the war. Earlier in the episode, Jesse and Ellie watched helplessly as W.L.F soldiers murdered a young Seraphite. Ellie was about to get herself and Jesse killed by going on a pointless mission to save the boy. So Jesse had to hold her back. Now that she’s had a close call, and was only saved by the sound of Wolves tearing the Seraphites’ village apart, she knows that the smartest thing to do when you’re caught in the middle of two warring factions is to save your own neck. After that, getting into the aquarium proves rather easy for Ellie. But Abby isn’t there. I doubt that even Owen and Mel know where Abby is. It’s really not fair that they get the short end of the stick when they were the ones who spoke against Abby’s ruthlessness. What happens really is a terrible turn of luck. Ellie doesn’t mean to hurt them. All she wants is for them to point out Abby’s location on the map. The one mistake that sets off a string of terrible tragedies is made by Owen. Instead of complying, he tries to get the better of Ellie. She shoots him instinctively, only to save her own life. So you can’t really blame her there. You also can’t blame her for the fact that the bullet grazes Mel’s neck badly enough for her to bleed out. The worst part? She’s pregnant. So all she’s really scared for is the life of her unborn child. But what can Ellie really do to save her baby at this point? She’s not medically trained. So she neither has the knowledge nor the stomach to do what Mel asks of her. However awful the whole thing is, there is a silver lining if you really need to find one. The delirium of slowly drifting off convinces Mel that Ellie has cut her stomach open and saved her baby. This is one of the very few circumstances where being unaware of the truth is better than the alternative. But I doubt that this is going to make it any easier for Ellie to accept that her bullet has killed a man and a pregnant woman. It’s a good thing that Tommy comes back to take her into his arms in time. But even he doesn’t know the whole truth. So the fact that Ellie’s actions are justified in Tommy’s books has no comforting effect on her.
The only real sense of comfort amidst all this negativity is how Jesse kind of comes around. He’s obviously thought more about things on his way to Tommy. And he’s come back with Tommy to save Ellie from the very dangerous situation she was getting herself into. Jesse’s a big man for a lot of reasons. But his strongest quality is his ability to accept uncomfortable truths and acknowledge them out loud. No matter where he stands on the whole issue regarding Ellie’s hunger for revenge, he cares about her. Moreover, he knows that she’s the kind of friend who’d do anything for him. That’s not someone Jesse wants to abandon. As far as the whole thing with Dina goes, Jesse’s acknowledged that he can never love her the way Ellie does. That’s him practically giving them his blessing. What more could they ask from this wonderful guy? But all these wonderful things about Jesse only serve as a tremendous blow when Abby’s bullet ends his life. She’s come looking for retribution yet again. This time, for the lives of Mel and Owen. Abby didn’t even know that it was Ellie who did this. So she’s rather shocked to see Ellie come out of the room when she holds Tommy at gunpoint. This is the moment when Abby regrets having shown Ellie any mercy. When someone already finds it very easy to kill, the consequences of letting them go can only harden them further.
In season 2’s ending, Abby fires in Ellie’s direction. That’s the most frustrating a cliffhanger can be. You’d only know Dina, Tommy, and Ellie’s fate if you’ve played the game. As for the rest of us, we’ll only find out where this vicious cycle of violence has landed them in the third season. But judging by the point the ending takes us to, we’ll see a lot more of Abby in the third season of The Last of Us. We’re taken back to the first day in Seattle, the day Dina and Ellie arrived there. Considering we follow Abby’s perspective as she walks through a very advanced W.L.F fortress/farm, the third season is likely to go back to the first day and let us know her side of things. Let’s face it. No matter how much we understand her justifications, we don’t necessarily root for Abby. At least, not yet. So it’s odd to think that the third season will force us to empathize with this antihero. But if you ask me, I have too much faith in Mazin and Druckmann to worry about that just yet. There’s a lot of substance that can actually shape Abby’s character into someone we can actually feel for. After all, Isaac must’ve seen something in her to single her out when it came to choosing his replacement.
