The Last Of Us: 5 Storylines That Fans Loved (& 5 That Went Nowhere)

Players love Joel and Ellie’s gripping storylines in The Last of Us games and hope to see many in the HBO show. But a few don’t make any sense at all.

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The announcement of HBO’s The Last of Us TV show has brought interest toward the storylines in the video game series. It’s also made fans appreciate angles like Ellie’s influence on Joel and more tragic ones like Joel facing all that he loved and lost.

Of course, that doesn’t mean all the plotlines in the game were successful, as certain arcs containing characters like Henry, Tommy, and even the main leads didn’t really end up in places where the story seemed to be taking them. The Last of Us’ TV series should incorporate the stories from the source material that fans enjoyed and it would be best if it avoids those that didn’t go anywhere.

10 Nowhere: Tommy And Joel’s Time Before The Twenty-Year Time Skip

In the opening of The Last of Us, Tommy was seen lamenting the loss of his niece but was absent from the main story until near the end. Joel mentioned that he and Tommy had been up to shady things during the 20-year time skip, which Tommy also acknowledged later.

However, other than Tommy’s acknowledgment, the brothers’ activities never became part of the main plot despite many set-ups for this to happen. Their bad blood also subsided out of nowhere and not much of a deal was made of their antagonistic activities from back in the day, making the entire set-up all for nothing.

9 Loved: Henry And Sam’s Tragic Adventures

Sam and Henry were brothers who were parallels to Joel and Ellie, being an older person paired with a child. Their story mainly had to do with Henry being overprotective of his little brother. It ended with Sam getting infected anyway and Henry reluctantly killing him before turning the gun on himself.

Fans will be nervous to see this play out in the TV series, but there’s no doubt that most appreciated the loving relationship between the brothers and the realistic end they met. Just because it ended in tragedy doesn’t mean it didn’t matter.

8 Nowhere: The Search For The Cure

The first game’s overarching premise was Joel delivering Ellie to the Fireflies in order to find a cure. Under the influence of Ellie, Joel came to love her as a daughter and decided to kill those who wanted to end her life to extract the cure.

The entire angle went nowhere in The Last of Us Part II as the story shifted to the fallout from Joel’s actions. The topic of finding a cure wasn’t broached despite the confirmation in the first game that creating a cure was indeed valid.

7 Loved: Ellie And Riley’s Backstory

Many fans would love for the TV series to retain Ellie’s background, which not only confirmed her sexuality but was a storyline about a potential romance that ended up being doomed. As it happened, The Last of Us Left Behind portrayed this plotline.

Ellie and Riley were shown to be old friends who wanted to spend a final time together, during which they realized they had feelings for one another until they were both bitten. It was a sad tale but ultimately one that brought a lot of characterization for Ellie.

6 Nowhere: Joel And Tess’ Issues With Robert

Although this actually had an established ending, the plotline itself was meaningless overall. Tess and Joel had beef with Robert for selling the guns he owed them to someone else and decided to pursue him for his betrayal.

They eventually caught him but Tess executed Robert instantly, which made the first storyline after the 20-year skip without any stakes. Within the story, it was pure luck that this got them in touch with Marlene and Ellie, with the arc surrounding Robert not factoring in at all.

5 Loved: Ellie’s Survivor Guilt

This was the last arc for Ellie in The Last of Us where she became silent and withdrawn after her experience with fighting David and the cannibals. It saw Joel’s attempts to get Ellie to regain her spirits with things like sharing his own loss and showing Ellie the remaining beauty in the world, such as the giraffes that the two interacted with.

It came up again in the final moments of the game after Ellie believed she couldn’t help the Fireflies create a cure, with Joel’s lie about his actions completing this arc as Ellie accepted his words to begin the path to self-healing. It was a good angle mainly for how it portrayed PTSD in a sensitive way.

4 Nowhere: Joel And Ellie’s Antagonism Toward Henry

Henry decided to ditch Joel and Ellie when he saw Sam was threatened but returned to aid them later. By this point, Joel and Ellie began to distrust Henry since they knew he would drop them if he saw them as a burden.

For some time, the two had an antagonism toward Henry and the story hinted toward a breaking point where the characters were concerned. None of it actually ended up happening, as Henry suddenly became a firm ally whom Joel and Ellie had no problem with.

3 Loved: Ellie And Dina’s Love Story

By and large, fans have reacted positively toward Ellie’s relationship with Dina. This was mainly due to the number of conflicts they had to go through, as the two were together but Ellie’s reluctance to let go of Abby’s killing of Joel became a hurdle for the couple.

Another positive of the arc had to do with Ellie exhibiting feelings other than hate since being around Dina brought out a softer side. Not to mention how this angle briefly gave Ellie the family life she had craved but never had.

2 Nowhere: Ellie’s Final Act Of Revenge

By the end of The Last of Us Part II, it seemed as if Ellie’s bid to kill Abby was over, only for the game to dive into the stereotypical trope of revenge by continuing this angle. Ellie tracked Abby down and fought her to the death before letting her leave.

The reason why this went nowhere is the fact that Ellie got no closure, ending up just as morose as she was before and losing Dina in the process. Ellie was still not over Joel’s death either, meaning her final push for revenge ended on a hollow note that didn’t do much to bring a satisfying conclusion.

1 Loved: Joel And Ellie’s Development Into Their Father-Daughter Dynamic

This is the arc that The Last of Us is famous for and serves as the basis for the series. It saw the development of Joel from a hardened survivor into a father figure when he progressively shed his disdain for Ellie into genuinely loving her as his own.

The backdrop of the zombie apocalypse is what made this so unique since their relationship became familial after the two went through a number of challenges and tragedies together. Joel’s initial antagonism toward Ellie and his eventual devotion toward her all made for a storyline that was rich and complex from start to finish.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/last-of-us-game-best-worst-storylines/