https://www.elle.com/uk/life-a...Listen, I cried too. I wept when he was (spoiler alert) brutally killed off a few weeks ago. And I bawled last night, when he was reincarnated through flashbacks for episode six of season two, in which father-daughter tensions simmered up and the paradox of parental love (AKA you can't win) blistered the surface. But repeat after me: The Last of Us season two does not need Pedro Pascal to be great – no matter how much you enjoyed watching his character Joel shoot clickers in the head.
It goes without saying that this opinion is not based on Pascal's performance in the multi-Emmy-winning show, nor is it rooted in any kind of loyal devotion to the original video game's plot (reader, I have not played it). This is, instead, a reaction to the onslaught of online commentary that's decried The Last of Us as 'boring' or 'unwatchable' since his character died at the start of the season two. 'Somebody please give Pedro's back a rest, he's been carrying season two like Christ on the cross and he's only been in 3 out 7 episodes,' said one X user.
My question is: are they watching the same show I’m tuning into every Monday night? From where I’m sitting, The Last of Us has transformed into a powerhouse of women and non-binary actors, each bringing layered, multifaceted and tenacious female characters to life on screen.
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At the centre of it all is, of course, Bella Ramsey, whose performance as Ellie is nothing short of phenomenal, from the tender, heart-wrenching moments she shares with Pascal to the piercing, vengeful looks she gives her enemies right before they see their demise. But there’s also her new sidekick, Dina. Played by Isabela Merced with just the right combination of warmth and sass, the blossoming sapphic love story developing between Dina and Ellie is refreshingly realistic – for a zombie apocalypse-set TV show, at least. There’s no over-the-top declarations of love or indulgent depictions of teenage lust; there are just two best friends, slowly plucking up the courage to reveal their feelings, while muddling their way through an extraordinarily dangerous revenge plot.
The nuanced moments shared between Ellie and Dina shouldn’t be written off as filler between action-packed fight scenes; they speak to the humanity of these characters. And as we know from series one’s tear-jerking episode 'Long, Long Time' – which zoomed in on the relationship of a gay couple who’d managed to find happiness in the apocalypse – that’s exactly what The Last of Us does best.
The portrayals of formidable women don’t stop there, though. We’ve also got Catherine O’Hara’s sardonic therapist Gail, whose withering one-liners bring a slight touch of comic relief to even the bleakest scenarios. And let’s not forget Kaitlyn Dever, who shines as this season’s villain, Abby. Yes, we’re supposed to hate her character, but that doesn’t mean we can’t respect the performance. Even more impressive is the fact that Dever filmed the scene in which she murders Joel just weeks after she lost her mother to breast cancer. 'My mom's funeral was three days before I did my first day. So I was sort of in a fog. I was in a daze,' she told Entertainment Weekly. 'I was able to sort of… I don't know, just really let it go and not think about it too much because the words on the page are so powerful anyway.'
So yes, we all miss Joel and we’d all like to see more Pedro Pascal on our TV screens. But there are other ways to do that (we recommend his newest film The Uninvited). Right now, The Last of Us is providing us with an electric array of female characters, all portrayed with astonishing power by the actors behind them. That should be celebrated, not derided. Just as Joel died to save Ellie, Pascal’s exit from the show gives the women and non-binary members of the cast room to grow. And guess what? They’re just as good at killing clickers.
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