The second episode of HBO's The Last of Us, "Infected", is simultaneously an incredibly faithful adaptation of the game in many aspects and a great episode as a whole in my opinion, but it ended with a choice that a lot of fans will probably view as being controversial.
Once again, this review contains major spoilers for Episode 2, so be warned.
Just as the pilot episode, this one also begins with a chilling opening sequence. Not only did it show us a small but welcome glimpse of the outbreak happening outside of the U.S., something the games never really delved into, but it also confirmed information many were already theorizing based on the first episode. The initial Cordyceps outbreak in the series spread as quickly as it did thanks to contaminated flour, something that neither Joel or Sarah ate in the first episode.
The rest of the episode is similarly filled with a lot of good tension like the opening, both in the relationships between characters and in scenes dealing with the titular infected. While Tess and Ellie quickly began to bond somewhat, Joel remains cold and at times even hostile towards the young girl, who he now believes to be a ticking time bomb due to the bite in her arm. I enjoyed seeing the characters finally get some real screen time together, and I think the show is definitely doing a lot of good groundwork for the story to come.
Then there are the scenes with the infected. The show's introduction to the "Clickers" (as they are called in the game) was amazingly done, with basically perfect sound design that was particularly effective because I watched the episode with good headphones on. Pretty much every detail from the movements, behavior and the look of the blind infected was almost ripped straight out of the game, in a very believable way. I especially liked the subtle use of the flashlights to reinforce the idea that the Clickers are blind, as Joel was able to shine a light at one without it noticing. Simply put, the whole museum scene was great from start to finish.
I already gushed about the production and set design in the first review, so I won't talk about it too much here, but it was still incredibly good. All in all, I could rave as much as I want about the episode, about how faithful it is in many ways, how good it looks and how I love a lot of the performances, but there is that one scene everyone is talking about, and I have some thoughts on it as well.
Okay, so the weird "kiss" moment before Tess dies. Let's just say... I'm not mad, but I definitely feel conflicted about it. I still think the episode is very good, but this one moment did make me think that the character of Tess as a whole could have been handled better.
The scene itself wasn't necessarily "bad" if it existed in a vacuum. Instead my issue is that it did not feel like it was a fitting end for Tess as a character when compared to the game. Sure, she technically made a more impactful sacrifice than in the game where she just manages to take out a couple of FEDRA soldiers before getting shot. However, the original moment of her death is less about the consequence of her decision but more about her willingness to go out on her own terms instead of succumbing to the infection, and most importantly about how she does it: by choosing to fight in the face of certain doom. Her intention and actions and what those informs us about her character in return are more important to the story than how much it actually helps Joel and Ellie on a practical level. Sacrificing character (no pun intended) in favor of plot convenience is not something that I am a fan of as a screenwriter.
Even if we ignore how the two versions of the character die for now, there are other things that change the character of Tess in the show and in turn make her seem weaker than in the game. Remember how the show left out most of the Robert stuff from the game in episode 1? While I will defend that as a good choice for pacing reasons, it still means we do not really get to see Tess in action or do a lot of the things that define her character early on in the game.
For example, almost as soon as we are introduced to the character in the game, we see how people who are willing to fight Joel immediately back off because of their respect for her. We also get to see her have a "Han shot first" moment, where she shoots one of Robert's goons without flinching after being shit-talked by them. Then once Joel and Tess catch Robert, she coldly interrogates him while Joel acts as the muscle, before she shoots Robert twice in the face. Not once, but twice, wasting a bullet purely out of spite instead of rage.
While this might make her initially a bit harder to relate to, especially with the show's reluctance to revel in violence against living people, it also shows us about how she is not necessarily a good person. Which is something that the show insists on multiple times in the dialogue, but does not really show us with her actions.
Tess in the show acts tough and talks like a hardened survivor who has done morally questionable things, but we barely ever see her really do much that would indicate that. Then when the first Clickers show up, she completely misses her shot, trips and falls, twisting her ankle, and then gets bitten off screen. She manages to swing an axe at one of the Clickers, but does not kill her and Joel has to finish the job. Finally, when she has her big moment of sacrifice, instead of grabbing any of the dozens of grenades lying around, she opts to use a faulty lighter, and when it does not work, she simply freezes up and lets an infected French kiss her until one last flick of the lighter that just so happens to work and blow up the horde.
I want to emphasize that I'm not going to argue the narrative logic of the scene. I don't think it matters whether the infection was the cause of her sudden freezing up or if it was a conscious choice to give her more time instead of getting ripped apart. What matters to me is how that moment along with the rest of the changes made in some ways felt like reducing a once rounded, capable and strong female character to someone with more bark than bite compared to her inspiration. Also having her existence in the show be concluded with something akin to sexual assault, a moment that feels like it is mostly made for shock value, just left sort of a sour taste in my mouth.
Regardless, I do think saying that they "ruined" Tess as a whole would be an overstatement. Anna Torv was a great choice for the role and her brief time in the show has still been some of the highlights thus far. There are a lot of great moments of dialogue between her, Ellie and Joel, and I loved how we got a better understanding of the two smugglers' relationship.
Despite the conflicting note the episode might have ended on, I still do believe it was a good one and I'm definitely excited for what's to come. I have heard a lot of murmurings about how Episode 3 is supposed to be great, and based on the trailers it seems we are going to get more expanding to the story, which I'm looking forward to.
No comments:
Post a Comment