The Problem with Joel’s Death | The Last of Us 2

the last of us two was one of the most divisive video games released in 2020 to say the least one scene in particular became the catalyst for the stream of backlash the game received the root cause is a single narrative flaw that flaw is a matter of contrivance you don't get to rush this this video isn't meant to add to the cacophony of criticism about the game the discourse is already polarized and enough has been said instead i want to focus on one scene joel's death it takes a small narrative shortcut that causes a rift between the audience the problem with this scene isn't the scene itself or its place in the overall narrative it's the seeming betrayal of joel's values every well-written character has a clearly established set of values writers are familiar but for those who aren't case in point get away get back without knowing anything about rogers you know his key value is that he's willing to protect others even at the cost of his own life when it comes to the rules of storytelling which are more like guidelines writers shouldn't alter these values without good reason it also shouldn't be sudden don't show us an honest man and in the next scene have him cut a deal with the mob with no explanation it gives the audience whiplash now full disclosure i like joel's death in the last of us too wait hear me out as a story beat it reminds me of endgame where they kill thanos right away it opened the door to a more engaging time travel plot if you're writing a story you likely have one jaw-dropping scene in mind one sweet reveal you can't wait to unleash on your audience now put that scene in act one rather than building to it see what story you have in the fallout of this moment instead it's a liberating exercise worth trying it's there you find a better story worth telling if end game was built only around killing thanos once the movie would have been fine just fine not terrible fine the same thing would have happened with the last of us too and i say that as a fan who wanted another joel nelly road trip story joel's arc in the first game was complete he found what was missing and grew as a character his story afterwards isn't worth telling it's ellie's story now if she's the hero protagonist is another road trip adventure with joel the best story for that character eh it's fine a destructive descent into rage as we mercilessly put down the a-holes who clip joel is more engaging than our best collective fanfic that's not to say i agree with the execution of some of the last of us choose narrative choices believe me my cat is pretty over it by now it's fair game to change the values of a character the joel we know from the first game could be a more trusting guy after a few years but that new set of values wasn't effectively established the values joel established in the first game are that he's not easily trusting he's a survivor and he uses his head when things seem sus without establishing a new set of values we only have what we know of joel from the first game to judge his actions in this scene hence the audience gets whiplash as for seth's note hoping jackson folk would be nice this is at best a narrative band-aid that doesn't solve the underlying problem we have to be shown not told if a previous scene established joel as a more trusting guy his death would have been less enraging to critics of his demise perhaps when joel and tommy are out riding joel has a close call with the infected because he didn't clear a building like he used to a new set of values is established for joel now cue the death scene some would still be upset that joel dies regardless but the ones expecting him to die would have bought into his fate more easily you would have been shocked that it happened so early but it wouldn't be frustrating when thinking about the logic of how it went down the problem with joel's death doesn't feel like an unconscious mistake by the writers it feels like connective tissue was removed it's like there's some snyder cut version of the game that adds the necessary context to make a scene like this more logically sound you may not like snyder's justice league or bbs but the motivations and story beats are clearer with that missing context added back in but this might be giving the drugstore the benefit of the doubt in story coincidence or breaking your own set of rules to force the story in one direction is cheating and the audience knows it because of this narrative shortcut joel's death comes across as contrived the same issue of shifting values occurs elsewhere at the end of the penultimate act tommy offers ellie a lesson in dropping her vengeful quest to protect those around her they got what they deserved but she gets to live is that okay has to be for a revenge story that's a great twist it's not about giving your enemies the smoke but how much smoke you're willing to give the whiplash we receive happens in the next scene we flash forward and a haggard tommy suddenly goes back on his very sage advice i'll make her pay tommy that's what you said when we got back to jackson tommy now tommy's allowed to change his mind but it feels sudden that's because we weren't shown the change in his values we were told like a domino effect this shortcut forces ellie to portray her newly established values as well she made the morally right choice she scarred by joel's death but she buried her vengeance to start a family a solid bittersweet ending from a gameplay standpoint the santa barbara section is awesome but narratively it only undermines the values of her character because of one narrative shortcut joel's death becomes a tiramisu with a piece of hair on it a good scene with an unfortunate misstep the last of us 2 is not bad storytelling it's flawed the scene work is great characters are authentic and the themes are clear it's the sudden quick turning of a character's established values that causes some players to be angered with the logic of joel's death fingers crossed a drugstore cut exists somewhere [Music] you

Channel: The Writest

Views: 42,546

Keywords: TheWritest, TheWritist

Id: BWcc8gd7fVU

Length: 6min 24sec (384 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 22 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/TEOLAYKI]

argh I wasn't paying attention to the spoiler alert, didn't expect it to be right there in the title

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