Bella Ramsey as Ellie in The Last Of Us season two

Spoilers for The Last Of Us season two finale ahead.

Turning The Last of Us Part II into a grounded, prestige TV show was always going to be difficult. After all, for every touching line of dialogue and brutal narrative twist, there’s a platforming puzzle to solve or a combat challenge that doesn’t translate easily from PlayStation to HBO.

However, one of the biggest issues facing the writing team of The Last Of Us was undoubtedly how to deal with the game’s unique narrative structure. Based on the season two finale, it looks like the HBO show has already failed to meet that challenge.

The Last Of Us Part II video game’s brilliant twist

In the game, you play through the first half of its roughly 24-hour experience as Ellie while she embarks on a mission of vengeance to find and kill Abby. But at the story’s midpoint, when the two characters finally come face-to-face, it dramatically shifts perspective.

The game suddenly forces the player to control Abby instead, as we learn what she’s been up to during the same stretch of time. In the context of a video game, where you have to physically control your character for the story to progress, this works brilliantly. When the shift first happens, players may be repulsed at the thought of helping Abby through her own adventures. But by the end of the game, it’s no longer clear which character is the hero of this story — or which is the villain.

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