Preamble

I’ve honestly been dragging my feet on this review. Despite seeing the finale at a relatively sensible time, I guess I’m feeling paralyzed in writing about it. I guess that’s sentiment for you. It can be bewitching and sweet. But it can also be a giant pain, the kind that stops you in your track. Personal thoughts aside, have you seen the finale for the second season of The Last of Us? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

Much like Season 1’s closing chapter, the final episode of The Last of Us’ second season is fleet and short. In this way, Convergence proves to be a double-edged sword. It gets us on an interesting track for the third season but at the expense of dramatic potency. After finding out some information about Abby’s whereabouts, Ellie and Jessie venture out in search of Tommy.

Despite its length, it’s a credit to Convergence for how much it covers. The majority of the time is focused on Ellie and Jessie. In particular, the latter goes from someone who chastises Ellie’s approach and mission to developing a begrudging respect for the young woman. As a mini-arc, it’s not bad as it expounds more on the love triangle and makes Jessie’s death even more tragic. 

However, it does take away from the core drama between its central lead characters. Ellie and Dina’s pivotal scene in the game where the former’s injuries are being attended does not have the same punch as its source material. Instead, its different emphasis only really draws interest in the silent introspective moment that Dina has. Isabella Merced commendably portrays the seeming internal warryings of Dina, who realises that her and Ellie’s pursuit may be all for nought. This coupled with the moment where Ellie does not look at Dina after returning from murdering Owen and Mel results in the episode’s most subtle and powerful drama. But it does reinforce a problem with the season in terms of what it chooses to focus on and highlight etc.

The same goes for odd contrivances and off-screen antics that seek to make the season feel shallow as opposed to rich and interesting. What remains is a slow embrace of the bleak tone that permeated the game. To that end, there’s also another interesting attempt to parallel Ellie and Abby. The former’s berating of Jessie for not saving a Seraphite kid has echoes of Abby’s eventual arc with Yara and Lev. It also reinforces Ellie’s notion of community and how it’s not relegated to people within a certain space, but to the people she meaningfully encounters (especially applicable to Joel).

On a cinematic level, the episode does remain consistent with the virtues of the rest of the series. In particular, the lighting continues to be a bright technical spot (pun very much intended). In fact, perhaps more than any episode in the season, the lighting choices give the episode a real-time quality via the time of day having subtle shifts. This combined with natural sources in the form of fire torches and the use of moonlight combine to create an urgency that’s sometimes lacking in the central drama of the episode.

The episode is also somewhat redeemed by the ending, which feels like a stark shot across the barrel in illustrating the game’s structure and approach to TV viewers. There’s artistry in the transition from startling cliffhanger to a dreamy beginning for Abby’s third-season prominence. Along with the promise of the character being used to grapple with the show’s preoccupation with post-outbreak leadership, and you have the makings of a fascinating Season 3.