the boat scene is better than you think | Scene Analysis - The Last of Us Part II

one of the most controversial scenes in The Last of Us Part Two is the infamous boat scene where Abby and Owen attempt to confront each other about the things that have been plaguing their relationship for years but when they are unable to resolve anything with words they turn to action instead I know a lot of people find the ending of this scene uncomfortable for obvious reasons and I would argue that it is meant to make you feel that way but what I'd like to do today is analyze the scene from the given circumstances to the desired outcomes to the dialogue if in order to deepen your understanding of why this scene is so important to aby's character Arc and why Abby and Owen sleeping together at the end didn't come out of nowhere but was in fact inevitable a good way to start this analysis is to take stock of all that has happened between Owen and Abby chronologically by the time Abby shows up on Owen's boat so let's go back to the beginning a very good [Music] place so far we know that Abby and Owen dated as teenagers after being friends for a while and were only together for a short time before aby's father was killed this event understandably traumatized both of them unfortunately I think Abby may have begun to associate Owen with this event which may affect her ability to be vulnerable with him especially when he doesn't share her desire for revenge and instead tries to lead her back towards the light Abby doesn't believe she deserves to be happy anymore that if she allows herself to be happy she would be disgracing her father's memory especially while his killer still walks the Earth and Owen inherently challenges that conviction we're allowed to be happy we see this tension in the first aquarium flashback with Owen trying to show Abby this amazing place he found in order to foster a connection with her and her constantly thinking of going back to the stadium to train during this visit they express opposing views on the fireflies in comparison with the seraphites and the wlf Abby still views the fireflies as a righteous cause no matter the cost whereas Owen sees their flaws and reminds her that they were considered terrorists back in their day due to their more violent methods aby's single-minded pursuit of Vengeance for her father's death at any cost and her inability to be vulnerable and present with Owen as a result is ultimately what led to their breakup at the end of this flashback Flash Forward 3 years to the Christmas visit flashback which takes place four months before the beginning of the game this is the first time Abby has been back to the aquarium since they broke up and maybe the first time she and Owen have had time alone together in the meantime Owen has been dating Mel for a year now though he seems a little uncomfortable discussing his relationship with Abby it's implied that there is some tension between the three of them though evidenced by the way Abby teases Owen when he hesitates to put her name up on the scoreboard put my score up I'll do better next time I'll do it later oh my are you nervous that Mel's going to find out I was here what no she doesn't care then put me up on the board jeez calm down we also learned that Owen is an artist and used to spray paint Firefly tags on the wall in the aquarium Owen is painting a mural of the view of Salt Lake City that Ellie and Joel took in all those years ago another sign that maybe Owen is clinging to his Firefly past he tells Abby that he learned of a firefly regroup in Santa Barbara though Abby is not convinced that this rumor holds much Credence Owen has spent a lot of time decorating the aquarium for christas christas because Mel loves it but he is more than happy to share it all with Abby first Owen sees aby's good mood here and interprets it as being flirty maybe he sees a glimpse of the old Abby here and thinks that she's changed but then of course I found Joel's brother Abby has learned of Tommy's whereabouts from some fireflies who used to serve with him and wants Owen to come with her Owen feels like he owes it to her to help her with this Quest because of the trauma they share and perhaps because he had previously promised that they were in this together but he's clearly not happy about it after all they've been broken up for 3 years and she is still relentlessly pursuing the thing that caused them to break up in the first place it's a lead I got to see it through Abby purposely recruited the rest of the Salt Lake crew first because she knows Owen would be resistant to the idea and she uses their connection and shared history to manipulate him into joining them I also think it's likely that Owen thought if Abby did get her renge that she could finally move on and go back to being the Abby he fell in love with maybe they could even have a second chance at being together tragically he doesn't realize that that version of Abby is long gone part of this could be Owen being naive but I also think it's his way of clinging to the Past because he feels so lost in his present clinging to the hope he had as a firefly clinging to the light then of course Jackson happens it seems like Mel told Owen she was pregnant sometime while on this trip likely the night before we first encounter Abby which is probably why Owen goes out wandering on on his own and stumbles upon the town of Jackson Abby is perplexed by this news all at once processing the liability of now having a pregnant friend Along on this dangerous Journey as well as her own feelings of betrayal and jealousy Owen doesn't seem thrilled by the news either given that he is still unsure about his relationship with Mel and probably now feels trapped by the fact that he's now expecting a child with her it also of course throws a big wrench in his hopes for a future with Abby Owen is concerned about the size of the town as none of them were expecting the settlement to be so densely populated it seeming more and more like a Fool's errand and Owen now has additional responsibilities to consider as well as the general safety of his friends Abby is hurt and feels betrayed that these things in his mind have outweighed his obligation to her and to getting Justice for her father's death then Owen is shocked and for how this killing was going to go down including Abby she improvised the use of a golf club because Joel showed no fear or remorse for what he had done tensions are high amongst the Salt Lake crew by the time Ellie arrives on the scene with Owen and Mel having actually left the room while Abby carried out her torture and I think it's safe to deduce that there was much dissension amongst the group at that point Abby throws Owen's own words back at him you want what I want right conveniently leaving out the second part of his line which was not at any cost when we pick up with Abby in Seattle at least two weeks later she and Owen aren't on speaking terms and Owen has been spending as much time away from the stadium as possible Abby learns from Mel that Owen has been out on rotation with somebody named Dany and has been picking up extra assignments Abby expresses to Manny some bitterness about Mel's distance since Jackson 2 and resents its contribution to her growing sense of guilt on route to the fob she tells Mel that Owen was shaken by what happened in Jackson whether she deduced that her herself based on Owen's Behavior or whether it was her projecting is anybody's guess upon arriving at the fob Abby learns from Nora that Owen's Patrol partner Dany was found shot and left for dead and that Owen is missing when Abby confronts Isaac about why a search party hasn't been sent out to locate Owen yet Isaac informs her that Owen apparently shot Dany in order to protect a seraphite we'll learn later on that what actually happened was that Owen was unable to land the killing blow to a seraphite man because he was old and defenseless and was forced to defend himself when Dany challenged him over it not believing Danny's version of the story but still concerned about Owen's wellbeing Abby disobeys Isaac's orders to stay put in order to prepare for the upcoming incursion on sarapi island and decides to go looking for Owen at the aquarium where she knows he will be Abby spends all evening fighting off seraphite hostiles and infected until she is eventually captured by a seraphite mob after being nearly lynched quartered and strangled to death by her captures Abby is saved by two saraphi kids Lev and Yara suddenly things aren't so black and white for Abby who has been indoctrinated into the wlf mindset that all seraphites are enemies Point Blank period besides literally almost dying and being rescued by people who are supposed to be her enemy aby's probably very confused by the realization that before anything else Rivals are not these two kids are just that kids after setting yara's arm Abby leaves the kids to their own devices in an area that she knows to be dangerous after making her way through an infested Shipyard and fery Abby finally reaches the aquarium where she finds Owen alive and drunk on his [Music] boat in storytelling the given circumstances are everything that has happened to each character immediately prior to a scene which informs and influences their motivations and actions in this case in the past 12 or so hours Owen and Abby have both narrowly escaped death Abby at the hands of the seraphites and Owen in his scrap with Danny they've also each had their present circumstances challenged Owen is calling into question why he's even in the wlf to begin with and Abby having just been rescued by two seraphite kids whom she has just left all alone is starting to realize that maybe the situation between the wlf and the seraphites isn't so black and white a couple more given circumstances of note is that this is the first time Owen and Abby have been alone together since Abby got her revenge on Joel and Owen has gotten [Music] drunk characters are always seeking something from whomever they're speaking to in a scene it's what keeps them active and their motivations clear a desired outcome is essentially how each character wants the scene to end or what each character wants to obtain from the other by the end of the scene the best scenes are the ones where characters desired outcomes are at odds with each other this generates conflict it's worth noting that desired outcomes might not always be material and the Char characters themselves might not always be fully aware of their own desired outcome sometimes a desired outcome can be something the character subconsciously needs from their scene partner rather than getting the other character to do or say something specific to satisfy a more tangible want for example by the end of this scene Abby wants to figure out what the hell really happened to Owen and to get him to come back to the stadium but what Abby needs from Owen in this scene is for him to help her ReDiscover her Humanity after finally getting revenge against Joel Abby felt empty the pain of losing her father is still with her she's still plagued by nightmares her relationships with her friends are falling apart and she feels like she no longer has a purpose she needs to feel something other than guilt and anger and grief for the first time in four years and perhaps most deeply she needs to prove to Owen and to herself that she's still a human Owen on the other hand wants to leave Seattle and may even want Abby to come with him he's feeling very dissatisfied with how his life has turned turned out the W's morals and values don't align with his own and he feels trapped by an unplanned pregnancy with a woman he clearly isn't in love with meanwhile he is starting to wonder whether the person he actually loves still exists he like Abby may have thought that killing Joel would bring him some peace might even bring the old Abby back but of course it didn't his runin with Dany and the old seraphite just emphasized that he's not where he should be he knows he won't be able to stay with the wlf and is facing losing everything and everyone he knows by chasing the rumor of a firefly regroup most of all Owen needs Abby to show him that there is still something worth fighting for in this [Music] world one of my favorite things about The Last of Us series is the writer's ability to get across the essence of what a scene is about and just a few concise lines of dialogue this gives the player the opportunity to fill in the blanks think about the subtext and challenges us to really consider the character's heads space where they're coming from and and what may be informing what they choose to say now that we've gone over all the given circumstances that Owen and Abby are bringing into the scene as well as what they're hoping to get out of it we can now analyze their dialogue from what they say to what they actually mean the underlying meaning to actual lines of dialogue is called subtext and in this scene as well as most scenes in this game the subtext is as rich and important as the actual words being spoken out loud cruel Isaac sends you after me the subtext here is that Owen assumes Isaac sent Abby after him whether it be to get him back to the stadium or to kill him in order to send a message Isaac knows their relationship is contentious if there was one person Isaac could send after him who could actually get him to do what Isaac wants it's Abby Owen has been purposefully avoiding Abby for weeks because he's traumatized by what she did and so maybe she's the last person he wants to see right now Owen is also plan planning on running away from Seattle in pursuit of the fireflies and maybe he knows that Abby is the one person who could convince him to stay he didn't Isaac didn't send Abby she came on her own it could also be implied here that she disobeyed Isaac in order to do so what is all this Abby noticing the boat parts on the table could maybe imply that she's already starting to piece together that Owen is planning on running away she could also be St the conversation a bit got to take her apart if I'm going to fix her back up I see Owen is fixing the boat because he intends to use it want some pass suit yourself Danny's dead figured you want to tell me what happened Abby is letting Owen know here that she has heard the other side of the story but she wants to hear what his is we were cleaning out of a small camp it's just a couple scars and uh I hit this wand on the head part and he goes down and his weapon's right there and he doesn't go for it instead he turns to me and he's old and tired he was just ready [Music] kill a lot of scars and uh [ __ ] guy I couldn't do it Owen's encounter with this old saraphi reminded him of Joel an older man who was tired who wasn't fighting back who was accepting of his fate Joel who arguably was the reason Owen's life was forever changed the reason the firefights disbanded and indirectly the reason his relationship with Abby failed when Owen recognized Joel in that saraphi he came face to face with his trauma with what's been plaguing him for the past two weeks and perhaps even the past four years killing Joel didn't fix anything Owen doesn't belong with the wlf and he can no longer carry out the senseless violence against the sarapi in their name he needs to find the light again of course Danny gets in my face that I told him I'm done he can do it himself if he wants he point gun at me so I grab it and then first I didn't even know which one of us was shot you defended yourself stop I can fix this I'll talk to Isaac I am tired Abby I don't want to fight over land that I don't give a f about anymore Abby immediately jumps into fix it mode here but Owen is trying to tell her that he doesn't want or need her to fix this that this in fact can't be fixed I'm going to Santa Barbara the Chaser rumor heard more than once the fireflies aren't regrouping they're gone it's a lead I got to see it through hold up where have we heard this before it's a lead I got to see it through throwing aby's words back in her face is Owen's way of calling her out on her hypocrisy here Abby thought the rumor of Tommy's whereabouts was worth trekking across the country for but doesn't believe that Owen's desire to find the fireflies is perhaps it's because she views her cause as righteous but doesn't extend the same belief towards the fireflies anymore perhaps it's because she has rejected hope rejected the light and resents that Owen still has it in him even after all they've been through what about Mel Abby is changing tactics here but it's not really for Mel's benefit she doesn't want Owen to leave her she's reminding him of his responsibilities of reasons why he should stay that don't really concern her because she can't ask him to stay for her she'll be safe here maybe Owen really means here that he thinks Mel would be better off without him okay we'll talk in the morning when you're sober don't do that do what treat me like I'm insane you feel the same way this is an accusation on Owen's part he's telling Abby that she also isn't satisfied she's also confused she also doesn't actually want this life either she just won't admit it he knows her better than anyone if the fireflies are in Santa Barbara I go the opposite direction Abby has rejected the notion of the fireflies because in her mind they failed her this is obviously different from how she spoke about them in the aquarium Flashback 3 years ago which goes to show how deep she has become entrenched in the wlf mindset and how far she has strayed from the light over the years Owen's looking at Abby here like who the hell is this person is this the girl I fell in love with is she even still in there what nothing sorry I grew up you should try it here Abby is implying that the fireflies and their ideals are naive which funnily enough is the exact same thing she expressed in the aquarium flashback but now she's doing so in a disparaging way rather than an empathetic one she's also implying that o and is childish for continuing to believe in them oh yeah how do I do that Happ should I go find the people that killed my family and there it is finally someone is directly calling Abby out for what she did to Joel Owen bringing up his own family reminds Abby that she's not the only one who has lost people that she cares about but she is the only one who sought revenge and tortured somebody because of it cut into them I could torture them until they're crying now Abby lashing out here is a physical sign of her guilt she cannot stand being called out so blatantly by Owen like this he knows her better than she knows herself sees through her [ __ ] and puts a voice to her innermost insecurities at this point in her journey Abby still believes that she did the righteous thing but her conviction is starting to crack she is haunted by what she has done compare her reaction to being called out here to how she reacts when Mel calls her a piece of at the beginning of day three here she's still denying her flaws and mistakes whereas once she starts her Redemption Journey she begins to accept them at this point their confrontation has surpassed words they're both out of of their depth unable to communicate their troubles and desires with each other using language and so they resort to action this is the closest they've been physically and emotionally since they broke up they've realized they're touching each other the and psychological tension between them has been building for the past several months and has finally reached a boiling point Owen is still drunk Abby's desperate to feel like a human again ultimately given everything they've been through and everything that's just been said this the scene was only going to end one [Music] way is a perfectly normal and healthy part of being an adult it Fosters connection and in some instances generates life considering this series of games is so largely about Humanity about what makes us human in a world that wants to see Humanity eradicated it only makes sense that we would see an inherently human act like this occur in this story many argue that the scene did not need to go so far into the act and could have cut off sooner but I disagree especially because this act ends up being just one more thing she feels guilty for on top of a growing pile of guilt we needed to Bear witness to it and to in a way be complicit in it this is the straw that breaks the back of Owen and aby's tumultuous and complicated relationship and is ultimately what sets Abby off on her quest for Redemption now I'm just speculating here but another interesting layer to consider in this scene is whether this may be the first time Owen and Abby have had sex and whether this is aby's first time having SE at all it was confirmed in the director commentary for the last of us two remastered that the scene at the end of the first aquarium flashback was in fact the breakup scene and they were only young teenagers at that point given that they hadn't been dating very long before aby's father died and that Abby couldn't let herself be intimate with Owen afterwards it's likely that they never had before they broke up this only adds to the element of what if and sense of unfinished business that has hung over their relationship for 3 years though after they broke up they went their separate ways the trip to Jackson is what brought them back together again and the tension has been building since then now that they are both older and now that Abby has finally achieved her revenge a door has been opened she clearly struggled with physical intimacy after her father died but now that he's been Avenged maybe she can finally let herself experience it it's entirely possible that Abby could have had intimate relations in the 3 years since they've been broken up but I wonder whether she would have trusted somebody else enough to have sex with them again I'm just speculating but it definitely adds even more weight to this scene if this is their first time getting intimate and aby's first time ever considering we get to see Ellie's first time it would only make sense that we also get to see aby's since their stories obviously parallel each other in any case sleeping with Owen was an important step for Abby and finally letting him go Owen has been a source of comfort to her over the years but the reality is that he just knows no longer can be he has a commitment to someone else her friend Mel and their shared Act of betrayal here closes the door on any possibility that Abby and Owen could ever be together again the proverbial what if has finally been answered Abby needs to move on and find a more productive way of healing she cannot rely on Owen anymore immediately following this Abby has her recurring nightmare of sprinting down the hallway at St Mary's Hospital only this time when she enters the operating room she sees and Yara instead of her father killing Joel did not bring her father back and it did not ease the pain of losing him rekindling her relationship with Owen didn't bring back her sense of humanity but maybe fighting for these innocent kids will maybe doing something her father would be proud of maybe turning back towards the light well but I'll save the analysis of aby's nightmares for another [Music] video let's talk about the elephant in the room for a second which is that yes Owen was in a relationship and so sleeping with Abby here was an act of infidelity I've seen many people say that they hate Owen for this which I find interesting given that this is hardly the most morally reprehensible thing a character does in this game though it is perhaps the most relatable as people in our world are farmer likely to be the victims of cheating than mass murder thank goodness was this act a mistake and an overall thing to do yes it goes to show how human these characters are humans are selfish and impulsive and Owen and Abby here are no exception it's interesting to me that so many people complain that this game tries to force you to like Abby when in reality it's demonstrating the complete picture of Abby as a human being including her flaws and her mistakes if Owen and Abby didn't make questionable choices like this it would be much easier to argue that this game is being manipulative or painting this side of the story as the righteous one but that's simply not the case these are young people living in a world that none of us can actually comprehend living in trying to navigate complicated interpersonal relationships while constantly fighting just to survive who make bad decisions based on whatever information they have at their disposal at any given moment completely writing off characters because of one bad decision contradicts the entire point of the story which is that people can do bad things without it meaning they are inherently bad people I've also seen people complain that it is sudden and happens too fast I think that's the point though once they start they cannot stop they cannot allow themselves to think this thing through because deep down they know that it's wrong that's also why I think Owen turns her around to face away from him this is an act of desperation and yes it's messy it's uncomfortable and that is completely intentional it's also worth mentioning that they've been building up theual tension between Abby and Owen since we first woke up with Abby and Jackson at the beginning of the game and so this moment is hardly out of the blue the last thing I'll say here is to ask those of you who claim to be traumatized by this scene to seriously evaluate why you feel the need to trivialize that word in order to express your discomfort towards a consensual scene between adult characters if this scene really bothers you that much maybe you should not be playing m-rated games at forn about seual content I also invite you to really ask yourselves if there may be any underlying misogyny ining your sentiments towards this scene and whether you'd respond the same way if Abby were more conventionally attractive as a character just food for thought I hope this analysis has shed some light on this amazing scene and its importance in aby's character artc this is honestly one of my favorite scenes in the game as it's just such a perfect microcosm of so many of the game's themes from tribalism to trauma to the inherent imperfection of human beings this scene also doesn't spoon feed anything to the audience we have to consider the subtext and the context in order to fully understand what's happening between these two characters with such a rich and contentious history and that's just one of the many reasons why this game won so many awards for its writing and narrative I hope you enjoyed this analysis if you did be sure to subscribe to my channel so you can be notified when I post more content also be sure to let me know which scene you'd like me to analyze next as I fully intend to make this a series follow me on Tik Tok if you haven't already as I'm a bit more active on there and feel free to share your thoughts on this analysis in the comments down below I only ask that you do so maturely and respectfully please thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video endure and [Music] survive

Channel: TLOU Explained

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Length: 29min 9sec (1749 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 22 2024