Welcome back to my scene study series, where
I analyse scenes from The Last of Us Part II in order to deepen our understanding of
this story as well as certain facets of storytelling in general. Today I’m going to be talking about a scene
which has been requested a few times, and that is this scene between Abby and Mel. I think Mel is one of the most misunderstood
and over-hated characters in the game, so I’m hoping my thoughts will recontextualize
her, and also shed some light on where this confrontation actually comes from. We’ll really need to analyse their relationship
as a whole in order to properly study this scene, so let’s go over what has happened
between them chronologically leading up to this point, with a particular emphasis on
Mel’s side of the story since we’re already pretty familiar with Abby’s. When you first gain control of Young Abby
in the Tracking Lesson chapter, you can actually find two artefacts already in her backpack. One of them is a letter and drawing from Owen,
and the other is a thank you note from Mel. MEL’S LETTER: Abby! I wanted to say thanks again! Your dad has been an amazing mentor as I transition
to the more complicated procedures. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you
vouching for me. I think we should grab some booze and get
wasted asap! xo Mel As we know, Abby’s father Jerry was a surgeon
with the Fireflies, and this letter suggests that he trained other medical personnel, including
Mel, apparently at Abby’s recommendation. The tone of this letter is friendly and familiar,
and it seems like at that point, Mel and Abby were good friends. Two years later, when Ellie returns to Saint
Mary’s Hospital to find answers, she finds this recording in the operating room. MEL: Most people have left already. I don’t know which group I’m gonna join. They said…even if we found her or by some
miracle found someone else that’s immune…it’d make no difference. Because the only person who could develop
a vaccine is dead. Though this hasn’t been confirmed, I firmly
believe the voice on this recorder is Mel’s. It sounds just like Ashly Burch, who plays
Mel in the game, and while sometimes games will use already cast actors for other incidental
parts, it seems unlikely they would do this for such a significant story beat, especially
since Ashly Burch’s voice is so recognizable. Since we know Mel was one of Jerry’s students
and studied under him at that hospital, it makes sense that her belongings would have
ended up in that room. It also makes sense that she would have strong
feelings about the outcome of Joel’s destruction at the hospital if she was contributing to
the research being done towards a cure, especially since Mel’s mentor was killed in the process. In this interview from 2020, Laura Bailey
confirmed that earlier on in the story development process there had been an additional Abby
flashback which showed the Salt Lake crew either en route to or arriving in Seattle. This flashback would have confirmed that Isaac
was a former Firefly and a friend of Jerry’s, and that the eight of them had been “sent”
there because they had nowhere else to go, rather than having joined the WLF voluntarily. This dynamic is hinted at in the first Aquarium
flashback with Abby and Owen. ABBY: Owen, we have to go back. OWEN: We will. Once you see this. ABBY: These people have just started to warm
up to us. You keep showing up late to everything, it’ll
seem…it’ll seem disrespectful. OWEN: They know what we’ve been through. We’ve got at least two more months of sympathy
before we have to go full Wolf. ABBY: Owen– OWEN: What are they gonna do? Kick out a bunch of displaced Fireflies with
nowhere else to go? ABBY: Maybe? I don’t wanna find out. OWEN: Think of it like this, then: we’re
on patrol. We’ll just tell them we ran into some Infected. ABBY: That is so– Owen– OWEN: Just come see this thing. If the voice on the recorder is indeed Mel,
it’s interesting that she seemed to have had a choice in where she went following the
massacre. Did Mel simply follow her friends to Seattle
because they were all being sent there, or did she actually choose it for herself? It’s interesting to consider what the other
options might have been, and how different Mel’s life could have turned out had she
decided to go somewhere else. In any case, Mel ended up with the Salt Lake
Crew in Seattle. A year later, Abby and Owen broke up due to
Abby’s inability to stop pursuing revenge at any cost. One year and eight months after that, Owen
started dating Mel. (I figured this out using some very advanced
and sophisticated calculations based on the fact that the breakup was three years prior
to Abby’s Seattle days, and during the Winter Visit flashback, which was four months prior,
Owen said he and Mel were celebrating their one-year anniversary. I swear it makes sense just bear with me.) During the Winter Visit flashback Abby and
Owen briefly discussed his relationship with Mel. Though he downplayed it a bit perhaps for
Abby’s sake, he had in fact spent a lot of time decorating the Aquarium for their
anniversary, specifically with Christmas decorations because Mel loves it. It was also hinted that there is some tension
between the three of them when Owen was reluctant to put Abby’s name up on the scoreboard
following the archery minigame. ABBY: Shut up and put me up on the board. OWEN: I will…later. ABBY: Oh my- are you nervous that Mel’s
gonna find out I was here? OWEN: What? No! She doesn’t care. ABBY: Then put me up on the board. OWEN: Alright! Jeez, calm down. Owen’s hesitation here is likely due to
the fact that he knew Mel definitely wouldn’t be okay with his ex-girlfriend hanging out
alone with him at the Aquarium, especially on their anniversary. Since this was Abby’s first time back to
the Aquarium since the day they broke up, her randomly showing up at Owen’s home-away-from-home
was bound to raise some questions with Mel, especially since the Aquarium is a significant
landmark in Owen and Abby’s relationship. Later on in this flashback Abby informed Owen
that she had spoken to the rest of the Salt Lake Crew about the trip to Jackson and they’d
all agreed to go, including Mel. Once they arrived in Jackson, Owen told Abby
that Mel is pregnant. It’s never specified whether Mel already
knew she was pregnant before going to Jackson or whether she discovered it on the trip. I had also always assumed that Mel had told
Owen the night before, and that’s why he went off wandering on his own, but it’s
interesting to consider that maybe Owen had known for a while; maybe they were keeping
it a secret so as not to burden the mission just like Dina did with Ellie. Regardless, seeing the size of Jackson was
ultimately what prompted him to inform Abby of Mel’s pregnancy. After Abby led Tommy and Joel back to the
chalet, Mel introduced herself to Tommy. At that point, nobody in that room knew what
was about to happen except for Abby, so Mel was genuinely being friendly. When Abby confronted Joel and he demonstrated
no remorse, Abby ordered Mel to tourniquet his leg. This is a technique used to staunch the flow
of blood to prevent someone from bleeding out; Abby had decided at that point that she
wanted to prolong Joel’s life long enough to kill him slowly. If you look at Mel’s face, it’s clear
that she was not on board with this, but did so under duress. By ordering Mel to do this, Abby directly
implicated her in the ensuing torture. By the time Ellie arrived on the scene, Mel
and Owen had left the room while Abby continued torturing Joel. Once the deed was done, there was a debate
about what to do with the witnesses. Mel advocated for killing them, likely more
out of fear of retribution than spite. MEL: We can’t have loose ends. Ultimately, Abby made the call to leave Ellie
and Tommy alive. When we picked up with Abby in Seattle six
weeks later, Abby wasn’t on speaking terms with Owen or Mel, and upon being called to
the FOB, Abby was incensed to discover that Mel would be coming along for the ride. ABBY: Why are you doing this to me? MANNY: Because I care about both of you. And I’m tired of all the bullshit. ABBY: She knows I’m on this drive? MANNY: She does. ABBY: And she’s cool with it? MANNY: Yes. MANNY: It’s an opportunity for you two to
finally move forward. ABBY: We’ve barely said a word to each-other
since Jackson. I’m just supposed to pretend that didn’t
happen? MANNY: Of course not. You guys need to talk about it. ABBY: She wanted Joel dead as much as the
rest of us. MANNY: But she’s not like the rest of us. She hasn’t hurt people like that before. ABBY: She kills Scars all the time. MANNY: Not the way we killed Joel. Don’t forget, we’re grunts. She’s a medic. Come on, Abby. She is family. Meanwhile, Mel had been wrestling with her
own complicated feelings following Joel’s murder alongside dealing with an absent partner. Owen had been distant, almost avoidant, and
Mel was understandably concerned. After a tense greeting where Abby tried various
tactics to convince Mel to stay behind, the three of them headed out. On their way to pick up Alice, we learned
that Mel and Owen had recently been moved to a new section of the Stadium to live with
other young families. Mel also told Abby that Owen was out on rotation
with somebody named Danny. You can also overhear a conversation between
Manny and Mel where she expressed that eventually she would be content to focus on being a family
doctor rather than act as a field medic, an indication that Mel was re-evaluating her
position within the WLF, and was feeling a desire to distance herself from further violence. MEL: Well at least you’d get to stay away
from the combat. MANNY: Yeah, if that’s what you’re into. MEL: I’d be happy staying put, I think. Just treating families. MANNY: You’d miss fucking up Scars. MEL: I don’t think so. Instigated by Manny, Mel and Abby made awkward
small-talk on the way to the FOB. Mel asked if Abby was sleeping well, suggesting
that Abby’s sleep troubles were known to her. Abby said she’d just wear herself out physically
by taking on some extra assignments. Mel then revealed that Owen had been doing
the same thing. MEL: I haven’t seen him in like two weeks. He keeps picking up open assignments. Has he talked to you, did he say anything,
or…? ABBY: No, we’re still not…I mean, I’ve
seen him in the mess hall, but we walk around each-other. Jackson shook him, you know…I wouldn’t
read too much into it. I imagine it was a hit to Mel’s pride to
have to ask her boyfriend’s ex if she knew anything about what was going on with him,
but Abby, as far as we know, responded truthfully; Owen hadn’t talked to her about what was
going on with him. Abby deduced that Owen was just shaken by
Jackson, and she told Mel as much. After being ambushed by Seraphites, the small
squad had to make it the rest of the way to the FOB on foot. During this trek, they had this conversation: MEL: God. Remember when we could pass through this area
without getting jumped by Scars? ABBY: Getting nostalgic about the truce? Easier days, huh? MANNY: Too easy. We let our guard down, and they strung up
an entire squad. MEL: That was in retaliation to us shooting
those kids. MANNY: Okay, but those “kids” attacked
our guys. What would you do? MEL: I don’t know, not riddle them with
bullets? MANNY: I’d rather protect our people. MEL: Manny, they’re kids. It’s not their fault. ABBY: Not our fault, either. Those deaths are on them. MEL: …Okay? This conversation is a direct example of the
very concept Manny was explaining to Abby earlier, that Mel is not like the rest of
them. Manny and Abby, the WLF’s top soldiers,
are well-versed in violence and brutality, but Mel is a doctor. Though they live in a violent world and she
has had to participate in it, it’s suggested that she does so out of necessity rather than
pleasure. She also has her own child on the way, so
listening to her friends condemn children, Seraphites notwithstanding, was likely startling
to her. There is a contradiction in the way Mel talks
about the innocent Seraphite kids versus the fact that she advocated for disposing of Tommy
and Ellie, who were also innocent in that scenario. The confrontation between a WLF squad and
some Seraphite kids didn’t involve her or any of the Salt Lake Crew, so she was able
to discuss that situation at a distance, using hypotheticals based on how she’d ideally
behave. They were all involved in Joel’s torture
and murder, however, and it’s much harder to maintain the moral high ground when your
own life, and the lives of your loved ones, are at stake. At that time, she actually took on Manny’s
point of view, which was to protect her own people. This goes to show that no situation is black
and white, that perspective matters, and that humans are full of contradictions even within
themselves. This doesn’t make Mel a bad person, just
a person. At one point Abby and Mel were separated from
Manny and Alice, and forced to work together to reunite the squad. Here they had a series of tense conversations,
some with an attempt at light-heartedness and some decidedly not. ABBY: Hey…why have you been avoiding me? MEL: I wasn’t avoiding you. ABBY: Come on, you’ve barely said anything
to me since Jackson. MEL: I dunno, I guess…I was shook by Jackson,
too. ABBY: You don’t think Joel deserved what
he got? MEL: I think he deserved worse, I just…I
just wish I didn’t take part in it. ABBY: I get it. What kind of a person could do that, right? MEL: I’m not saying that- ABBY: Let’s see if there was a way to the
hatch. Abby’s reactivity here was a blatant indication
of her growing sense of guilt for what she’d done; she was projecting an accusation that
wasn’t there. Internally, she’d been reading Mel’s and
Owen’s distance since Jackson as judgmental and hypocritical, given that in her mind she
did what she believed they all wanted, and what they knew she was committed to doing
for the past four years. “WHY DO I HAVE TO FEEL I’VE COMMITTED
SOME FELONY DOING WHAT I ALWAYS SWORE I WOULD DO?” But the reality is that no one was expecting
Abby to go to the level of violence that she did. They hadn’t even been expecting to find
Joel in Jackson at all - the tip she had received was about Tommy’s whereabouts. Mel’s responses here were more about her
own involvement than Abby’s, despite how Abby interpreted them. Mel was still trying to maintain her more
pacifistic stance, but the truth is she participated in something that violates her own morals,
and now has to wrestle with that. While in theory the thought of getting revenge
against Joel for what he did made sense to them all, it’s a different story entirely
to have actually enacted it. This is the lesson they each have to learn
in their own way. Despite this uncomfortable interaction, Mel
and Abby’s friendship still managed to poke through. MEL: Reminds me a little of Owen’s boat. ABBY: Is he still trying to fix that thing
up? MEL: Yeah. But he says he’ll be done “any day now”. ABBY: “Any day now.” Everybody’s got their obsession. MEL: Like me and dog toys. ABBY: Yep. And me with my stupid coins. Following a shootout with the Seraphites that
Abby and her squad very nearly lost, they were rescued by some WLF soldiers who were
in the area. On their way to the FOB, Abby discovered a
wound on Mel’s back, and so they dropped her off at the medical tent before reporting
in. ABBY: Hey…you did alright back there. MEL: That was almost a compliment. When we next saw Mel she was being stitched
up, and scolded by Nora, who was begging her to take it easy. NORA: You guys need to convince this girl
to relax. ABBY: Hey Mel…relax. MEL: You got it. When Abby learned that Owen had gone missing,
she disobeyed orders from Isaac in order to go find him at the Aquarium, without informing
Mel. We’ll learn later on that after Abby’s
disappearance had been reported to Isaac, he rounded up and interrogated the remaining
Salt Lake Crew, including Mel, who Nora claimed Isaac was particularly tough on. Nora assured Abby that none of them, which
we have to assume includes Mel, informed Isaac about her whereabouts. On Abby’s way to the Aquarium she was captured
by Seraphites and subsequently worked with a pair of runaway Seraphite kids to get to
safety. She finally found Owen on his boat, and after
an intense conversation (an analysis for which is already up on my channel), Owen and Abby
had sex. The following morning, while Abby was out
searching for the two kids she had left behind, Mel showed up at the Aquarium looking for
Owen, having figured that she’d find Owen at the Aquarium just like Abby had done. She may have even suspected that Abby would
be there, too. After all, from Mel’s perspective, she had
recently learned after being interrogated by Isaac that both Owen and Abby had gone
AWOL, hours after she confided in Abby about Owen acting strange and distant. On top of being concerned about Owen’s safety,
the whole situation probably seemed quite suspect to Mel. I also highly doubt that upon her arrival
Owen had told her that Abby had been there too, and then Abby herself showed up, with
two Seraphite kids in tow, no less. Mel and Owen were understandably quite taken
aback by this; just the day before, Mel and Abby had been arguing over Seraphite kids’
culpability in the turf war, and now Abby was asking Mel to examine a Seraphite kid’s
broken arm. Neither of them were privy to Abby’s internal
struggle at this point, and she wasn’t explaining any of her actions, so each of them were left
to interpret her behaviour in their own way. And of course by this point, Mel was definitely
suspecting that something was up. When Abby and Lev returned from their perilous
journey across Seattle with the medical supplies needed for Yara’s surgery, Mel performed
a successful amputation on her, effectively saving her life. This scene takes place the following morning,
after Abby had had a good night’s sleep for the first time in four years. Female friendships can be…complicated. The depiction of Mel and Abby’s relationship
demonstrates how resentment can be left to fester under the surface for years without
being properly addressed until it eventually explodes in a friendship-ending argument. Obviously not all female friendships are going
to face this problem, but speaking from experience, it does happen. So, here’s where we’re going to have to
talk about jealousy. And, no, I’m not just talking about each
of their respective relationships with Owen. It goes far, far deeper than that. At the beginning of this game, Mel followed
Abby across the country just to watch her torture a man to death, and to have Abby directly
implicate her in said torture. Now, Mel has just performed surgery on a child
of the enemy at Abby’s insistence, and she doesn’t know why. This is now the second time Abby has taken
advantage of Mel’s medical skills for her own agenda, and as I mentioned in the previous
section, because Abby isn’t explaining her behaviour, Mel is going to interpret it with
the information she has. At this point Mel has no reason to believe
that Abby’s actions aren’t selfishly motivated, because as far as Mel is concerned all of
Abby’s actions so far have been selfish. ABBY: Make me a list. I’ll go to the hospital and get whatever
you need- MEL: It’ll take you all day to get there. ABBY: I don’t mind! MEL: …It’s not about you, Abby. She doesn’t have a couple of days. This last line of Mel’s may at first may
seem like a throwaway, but it actually says a lot about her sentiments towards Abby at
this point. It’s not about you. The implication is that Abby is centering
herself, as Mel has often perceived her to do. From Mel’s perspective, Abby been all about
her revenge, her justice, her mission, for four years, pushing away everyone who interferes;
she led her friends across the country only to subject them to a horrific torture none
of them were anticipating, which caused Mel’s boyfriend to start acting strange and distant. At this point Mel may even suspect that Abby
had been lying during their conversation the previous day, that maybe she had some plan
to rekindle her relationship with Owen now that she’s gotten her revenge. Not to mention Mel herself has a child on
the way, she and Owen are about to become a family, and then Abby shows up at the Aquarium
with two kids whom Owen promptly invites to join them in Santa Barbara. Mel has no idea about the internal journey
Abby is on, or that it is in fact very personal and has nothing to do with Owen. She only has the information that is readily
available to her, all she sees are Abby’s actions, which are incredibly out of character
for her, and again, Mel has no reason to believe that her intentions are pure after everything
she’s witnessed from Abby over the years. Remember that although it was Abby’s father
who was murdered that night at Saint Mary’s Hospital, the rest of the Salt Lake Crew were
there, too, and they were also affected by the losses the Fireflies suffered that night. They also had their entire lives turned upside
down. We know that Mel was close with Abby’s father,
too - he was her mentor, and for all we know he could have been a father figure in Mel’s
life, too. MEL: Abby. This reminds me of your dad’s greenhouse. ABBY: Shouldn’t. All these plants are alive. MEL: Good point. MANNY: You know what? This is good. You two needed a bonding moment. MEL & ABBY: Shut up, Manny. It’s worth mentioning that the bonding moment
Manny is referring to is Mel and Abby connecting over Abby’s father. Which is also exactly what they do in this
conversation: MEL: Look. FOB sweet FOB. Almost there. ABBY: Bet we can cut through that railyard. MEL: You wanna get off the roof first? ABBY: Please. MEL: It’s kind of hard to imagine you being
afraid of anything. ABBY: I’m not as fearless as you think. MEL: Oh, please. ABBY: Like, I could never do the surgery stuff
you do. I’d be too freaked out about fucking it
up. MEL: You think I don’t feel the same way? ABBY: Well, for what it’s worth? My dad always said you were his best student. MEL: He did? Well, you always said he was an idiot. The following are lines of dialogue that unfortunately
were cut from the game, but offer great insight into how Abby may have felt about Mel’s
behaviour following Joel’s murder, as well as the relationship between Mel and her father. ABBY: And what’s Owen’s excuse? ABBY: Well I don’t appreciate them making
me feel like a monster. ABBY: If she doesn’t talk to me, I’m not
talking to her. ABBY: She should’ve been on board. ABBY: And then fuckin’ turn on me because
I go through with it. ABBY: She doesn’t just spend years talking
about how Joel should pay and then- ABBY: I know she wanted it. ABBY: The fuck did she expect? ABBY: She spent more time with my dad than
I did. It’s clear to me why these lines were ultimately
cut, because they are a little too on the nose in terms of Abby’s sentiments towards
Owen and Mel following Joel’s murder. The resentment comes through anyway, especially
in her conversations with Manny and Mel on the way to the FOB, and all these cut lines
are essentially the subtext of those conversations. But this particular line stands out as especially
pertinent to the topic of this video and offers much insight into Abby and Mel’s relationship
in particular: ABBY: She spent more time with my dad than
I did. When the Salt Lake Crew were still living
at Saint Mary’s Hospital with the Fireflies, Mel was in her element. She was an up-and-coming surgeon, studying
under the leader of the facility. And though Abby also grew up in that environment,
surrounded by medical personnel, she herself didn’t follow that path. Perhaps, deep down, she was jealous that Mel
was spending so much time with her father, that they had this connection over medicine
that Abby didn’t have with Jerry. And losing her father, I’m sure, only exacerbated
that resentment, because Abby won’t ever get that time back, time her father spent
with someone else. On the flip side, when the Salt Lake Crew
were sent to the WLF, suddenly Abby was in her element. She began training, turning her body into
a weapon, and moved up the ranks to become one of Isaac’s top soldiers. Abby is revered amongst the Wolves, even if
it means some people fear her. The WLF values ruthlessness and ferocity;
one can deduce that they most likely value their soldiers over their medics. Mel, who went from being the star pupil of
the leader of the Firefly facility, is perhaps jealous that Abby is now the star soldier
of the leader of the WLF. All of this resentment is sitting under the
surface of the whole love triangle between Owen, Abby and Mel. On top of that, there’s the fact that Owen
isn’t over Abby, and that had already been cause for jealousy and contention in Mel even
before Abby showed up at the Aquarium in the Winter Visit, as evidenced by Owen’s response
to the scoreboard debacle. Owen and Abby only dated for about a year
when they were teenagers; their relationship was stunted by Abby’s insatiable thirst
for revenge, but an air of “what-if” hung over their relationship for the next three
years. By the time Abby actually got that revenge
and could even begin to think about intimacy again, there was a new obstacle in the way
of any hopes for a future with Owen, and that was Mel. From Abby’s perspective, while she suffered
and struggled to avenge her father for several years, Owen moved on with someone else, someone
who was also close with her father, and who Abby may perceive as having robbed her of
time with him. Someone who, based on those cut voice lines,
also desired justice for Jerry’s death, but didn’t put the work in to actually get
it; Abby did, and then Mel judged her for it. So, it could be that Abby perceived Mel as
having taken both of the most important men in her life from her. Like I said, female friendships can be complex. I think this game did an excellent job of
portraying that tension, because at first glance this blow-up of Mel’s may not make
sense, but when you peel back the layers, the years of built-up resentment and bad feelings
that Mel and Abby may not even be fully aware of or able to concretely identify, it all
starts to come together. In storytelling, the given circumstances are
everything that has happened to the characters prior to a scene which informs and influences
their motivations and actions. These can include more immediate circumstances,
as in one character has just completed changing a patient’s medical bandages and the other
has just woken from her first peaceful dream in four years; to the culmination of a gradual
building of resentment that is finally about to reach a boiling point. So as we go into this scene, keep in mind
that Mel has just performed a gruelling surgery that she suspects is Abby’s attempt to get
in her boyfriend’s good books, and Abby has just had the first peaceful dream about
her father in four years. She has made a good choice, turned a new leaf,
and is attempting to redeem herself for years of bad decisions and darkness. But Mel isn’t aware of any of that. A desired outcome is essentially how each
character wants the scene to end, or what they want to obtain from their scene partner
before the scene concludes. Characters are always seeking something from
each-other in a scene, whether it be getting the other to do or say something specific
in order to satisfy a more tangible want, or seeking something from the other which
will fulfil a more subconscious need, or both. Characters pursuing their desired outcome
is what keeps them active and engaged in any given scene, and the best scenes are ones
where the characters’ desired outcomes are at odds with each-other, as this generates
conflict. In the case of Mel and Abby in this scene,
their respective desired outcomes are most definitely at odds. Abby, having just woken from a peaceful dream
which proved to her that she is finally on the right path and is feeling good about herself
for the first time in four years, is possibly expecting Mel to acknowledge that Abby has
done the right thing. Abby is seeking validation from someone close
to her, who has known her and seen her struggle for years, and possibly wants to be told that
she really is a good person, despite her poor decisions. Maybe Abby even wants to celebrate with Mel,
like Hey look at this good thing we just did together. Mel, on the other hand, wants to confront
Abby about what has just happened. She doesn’t want to ask questions, she doesn’t
want to hear Abby out. She has come to her own conclusions, and she
doesn’t like them. She wants Abby to corroborate the assumptions
Mel has made, for Abby to admit that this is all a hoax, that her motives are conniving,
that everything she said to Mel the previous day about Owen was a lie. She wants Abby to admit what her true intentions
are, because she isn’t buying this whole “act”, as she calls it. So, ultimately, while Abby is hoping Mel will
tell her she is a good person, Mel wants to get Abby to admit that she is a bad one. Okay, now that we have gone over the context,
the given circumstances, the desired outcomes, and the underlying issues going on between
Mel and Abby, we can finally analyse their dialogue, from what they say to what they
actually mean. The unspoken underlying meaning to any given
line of dialogue is called subtext, and in this game as well as most pieces of good dramatic
writing, the subtext is as rich and important as the actual words being spoken aloud. YARA: Even if you make it, she’s not going
to come with you. LEV: I can convince her. YARA: We broke the rules, Lev, that’s all
she’ll care about! MEL: Owen? ABBY: Just me. What are you still doing up? MEL: I was changing Yara’s bandages. ABBY: Can’t believe she’s on her feet
already. MEL: Yeah, well, Scars are tough. ABBY: What are they fighting about? LEV: No, fuck you, Yara! I wouldn’t leave you behind! MEL: Lev doesn’t want to leave Seattle. Owen invited them to come to Santa Barbara. The first part of this line leaves a question:
why would Lev be leaving Seattle? And then Mel elaborates in the second part
of the line. Note that Mel specifically says Owen invited
them to come to Santa Barabara, which in and of itself implies that Mel is going, too. She could have said, “Owen invited them
to come to Santa Barbara with us”, but she left the last two words out. Perhaps she wanted to see how Abby would respond,
if she would incriminate herself; and perhaps Mel is still working up the courage to actually
confront her. ABBY: That…is very Owen. I figured you’d have talked him out of going
by now. Maybe Abby could really mean, “I’d hoped
you’d have talked him out of going by now”. She may also be fishing for more information,
because Abby doesn’t yet know at this point that Owen is still really planning to leave;
she hasn’t spoken to him since the previous day. Mel is also now implying that they’re all
going to leave, and maybe Abby wants further clarification. To Mel, though, this could come across as
an accusation. “I figured you’d have gotten in the way
of his plans by now, the way you always do”. MEL: Actually, I’m going with them. But not if you come. This line implies that Owen and Mel have discussed
her going with him, though maybe she wanted to have this confrontation with Abby before
committing to it. Mel may not have needed much convincing about
going in theory, as she also seems to be disillusioned with the WLF, but now she is drawing the line
in the sand: her condition for going with Owen is Abby being left behind, and if Abby
goes, Mel will stay. After this scene, Owen and Abby will have
their conversation where he invites her to Santa Barbara, suggesting they can make it
all work - to me this implies that the condition Mel is telling Abby about here, she did not
voice to Owen. She is guilting Abby into choosing instead,
maybe because it’s probably much easier and less painful for Mel to make Abby responsible
for all of this rather than make Owen choose himself, likely because she knows what his
choice would be if she did. Mel also doesn’t know that Owen and Abby
slept together, so at this point she doesn’t have any concrete evidence to blame Owen for
anyway, other than maybe her gut instinct. ABBY: …What? Abby is genuinely taken aback here. This is the first time Abby is hearing about
the possibility of her going to Santa Barbara, too. I’m not sure if she’d even considered
it at this point. But the fact that Mel is bringing this up
implies that Owen has mentioned it at least as a possibility. Given Owen and Abby’s encounter on his boat,
their rescue of the Seraphite siblings, and their conversation about looking for the light
again, it seems Owen has assumed that they are on the same page, but they haven’t talked
about it yet. MEL: He may fall for your little act with
these kids, but I don’t. So this is Mel calling bullshit on everything
that’s happened over the past day. Referring to Abby’s attempt to save these
kids as an “act” implies that she thinks there was selfish or even nefarious intent
behind her actions, and at this point Mel has no reason to believe otherwise. ABBY: There’s nothing to fall for. Abby is being honest here. There is no ploy, there is no deception. Her saving Lev and Yara had absolutely nothing
to do with Owen, she has no interest in trying to get him back, even if maybe at one time
she did. MEL: Isaac’s Top Scar Killer suddenly had
a change of heart? Nothing to do with Owen, right? Mel is putting Abby in her place by reminding
her she’s one of Isaac’s top soldiers, and is responsible for however many Seraphite
deaths. Just two days ago they were discussing the
other Seraphite kids who were killed by the WLF, and Abby saw no issue with it. So to Mel, this “change of heart” has
all seemed very sudden. She doesn’t know about Abby’s dreams,
her guilt about killing Joel, and she doesn’t know that Abby slept with Owen. Again, Mel has no idea about the internal
journey Abby is on. She just sees somebody whom she suspects is
using these kids as a way to impress Owen in order to get him back; maybe Mel could
also see this as Abby’s attempt to start a weird little family with Owen when Mel herself
has his kid on the way. ABBY: I haven’t always done the right thing– I think the rest of Abby’s line here was
probably going to be “but I’m trying to do it now”. “I’m trying to do better, to be better.” All she can do is try. Abby realises she has much to atone for. But Mel, at this point, doesn’t want to
hear it; she’d only hear excuses, not sincerity. MEL: You’re a piece of shit, Abby. You always have been. Abby doesn’t fight back, because she knows
it’s true. She has been a piece of shit - not always
like Mel says - but at least for the past few years. One good deed doesn’t make up for all of
her past mistakes. It doesn’t make up for the trauma she’s
imparted on her friends, the lives she has claimed, and the infidelity she has participated
in. Rescuing two Seraphite kids isn’t going
to absolve her of the blood on her hands, and Abby has to reckon with that. The “you always have been” part of Mel’s
line was intentionally hurtful, and may reflect the amount of time Mel has been harbouring
resentment and bad feelings towards Abby. They’ve known each-other since they were
teenagers at least, and used to be good friends; Mel knows that Abby used to be a good person,
but has over the years has watched her devolve into a brutal, ruthless killer whom she may
no longer recognise, and no longer wants to associate with. MEL: I’m done with you. You wanna do right by these kids? Get out of their lives before you screw them
over, too. This line implies that Mel believes that Abby
breaks everything she touches. Mel is basically telling her, “you screwed
me over”. She probably blames Abby for the fact that
she and Owen now have to run away, to upend their lives again and leave all their friends
behind to go to Santa Barbara. It’s all a result of Abby’s revenge that
she couldn’t and wouldn’t let go, that she implicated them in. And at this point they don’t even know yet
the full consequences of that revenge. They don’t even know that Ellie and Tommy
are picking them off one by one. Mel has seen many lives ruined or ended because
of Abby over the years, and she’s telling Abby to leave these kids alone lest she do
the same thing to them. She is severing all ties with Abby and believes
her to be beyond redemption. And she is projecting all of the hurt that
she has experienced over the years, right back onto Abby. This is the only time we see Abby cry in the
entire game, besides when she finds her father’s body. Because she is trying to be better. She is reckoning with her mistakes. She may now be wondering if she ever can;
she hates herself, and Mel has just confirmed that maybe she has a good reason for that. She had hoped someone as close to her as Mel
would recognise her efforts in order to corroborate the change she has been feeling within herself. It’s an incredibly painful feeling to have
your good intentions met with such contempt and scepticism, and to have someone assume
the worst of you when you really are trying to better yourself. This is why it is so significant when Yara
later tells Abby that she is a good person, having overheard the argument with Mel. YARA: Mel’s wrong, you know. You’re a good person. ABBY: You don’t know me. YARA: I know enough. Yara doesn’t know Abby’s past, she only
knows what she has seen of Abby thus far, and she sees that Abby’s intentions are
good. She saw Abby save their lives in the Forest,
she heard from Lev about their conversations on the way to the hospital, and she knows
that she is only alive because Abby insisted on getting the medical supplies needed for
the surgery. So the validation Abby needed but didn’t
receive from Mel, Yara gives to her in the next scene. And Abby almost can’t accept it, because
Mel has reminded her why she hates herself. But Yara gives her that glimmer of hope once
again. LEV: Those were your fucking people. ABBY: Hey, you’re my people! I hope that this analysis has shed some light
on this nuanced and layered scene, as well as on Mel as a character. It’s unfortunate that we only ever really
see Mel in a state of discomfort, because I do think she is a sympathetic and complicated
character who didn’t deserve what happens to her. As I mentioned earlier, female friendships
can be extremely complex, and I think Naughty Dog did a little too good of a job capturing
that in this scene; anybody who has experienced a blowout fight with a friend knows how painful
it can be. But like most scenes in this game, we have
to consider the circumstances and the subtext in order to fully grasp what’s going on
between these characters. They live in a world none of us can really
comprehend living in, and they all learned to fight for survival far before they learned
to communicate effectively, and so things often go left unsaid until it’s too late
- or almost too late - to recover. ABBY: I haven’t always done the right thing- ELLIE: …but I would like to try. Thank you so much for watching this video;
if you enjoyed it, please interact with it as it really helps me out. Let me know in the comments which scene you
think I should analyse next, I might pick one on Ellie’s side next just to vary it
up a little. Be sure to subscribe to my channel if you
want to be notified when the next video gets posted, and follow me on TikTok for more The
Last of Us content. Until next time, endure and survive.
