xbellllax

[xbellllax]

My problem with season 2 of the Last of Us HBO adaptation is that Abby being physically stronger than Ellie was a choice they made for great reason and are decidedly ignoring that. I don’t doubt Kaitlyn Devers ability to act, but Abby is supposed to be the “big bad”. Someone our main protagonist needs to beat and at first we personally want to beat. I’ll put it like this, Ellie’s sly like a fox, Abby’s as strong as an ox. They are independent and able to move throughout the world with their own strengths and reasons to survive. It is the reason that Abby initially beats her during the theater encounter. She is in fact, physically stronger. We all know that Ellie puts up a good fight but what can a fox really do when cornered? Abbys character was formed to challenge that idea. Abbys ability to win that fight with no weapons against a (very) deranged Ellie with a knife is only possible with her power. If you take away Abby’s strength, what is her ability to survive? Is she more like Ellie? Doesn’t that feel overdone and repetitive? Yes, it does. For that exact reason they made the choice during game development to make a whole new movement set for Abby’s character model. To display their difference, her strength, the way someone with her build carries themselves. Her set is eerily like Joel’s, a very strong, very capable grown man. The only time we see Abby physically weak is in flashbacks and the leading up to, and final boss fight of the game. The one on one fight which finally seems even, but it’s not, because even as physical equals Ellie still uses dirty advantages in gameplay, such as the use of her knife. Even so, Abby puts up a fight, despite being slashed with a knife repeatedly and stabbed. Abby at her weakest, allows Ellie the opportunity to decide whether to get the revenge she’d lost everything for, or let her go. This is the driving theme between these games. Grief can and will destroy you if you let it. I personally think if Abby was still in peak condition during the final fight she would’ve killed Ellie, and Ellie wouldn’t have been able to make that final decision for herself. To say that Abby’s muscle has little importance to the story is a touch delusional. Without her strength you could basically roll the credits right after the intro to the game and call it a day.