The Last of Us is a TV show based on a video game series of the same name.
The story puts Joel, a reluctant hero, on a path to protect Ellie, a special kid reminding him of his dead daughter. A nasty fungus has brought a zombie apocalypse to the world, and while most people are just trying to survive, Ellie might hold the key to saving humanity.
The games have found universal acclaim, and season one of the show knocked it out of the park as well. With the release of season two, however, the TV tale seems to start unraveling at the seams. Why? Because the makers of the TV show have stopped minding the medium.
There are two games which will be adapted into three seasons on TV. Naturally, the starting and end points of each season will differ from the games. That’s not a problem in and of itself. You can restructure the story and, hopefully, what made sense to people who spent 40-50 hours playing both games will still make sense to TV viewers in around 20 hours of episodes.
The first season pretty closely depicted the first game, and that’s why it went down like butter. The second season, however, breaks from this pattern. The second game switches opposing characters’ perspectives for extended periods of time. You see both sides of the protagonist and the antagonist, one after the other. This does not work for the show.
In a video game, you’re learning by doing. No matter who you’re playing as, there’s enough to do to keep you busy and engaged, even neglecting the story altogether.
In a TV show, all you have is the story—and as soon as people can’t keep up, they lose interest. When did Ellie get so angry? Who is this random other girl showing up out of nowhere? Why is she angry, too? The creators of the show have claimed they intend to continue following the games’ structure. That means season three of the show will put us in the antagonist’s shoes—a person we barely know, let alone care about, after season two, since, well, we haven’t spent any time with her!
Time with characters builds character. Were the TV show to switch regularly from Ellie’s perspective to Abby’s—the antagonist in question—we might have come to understand both their frustrations. Right now, a lot of people are left scratching their heads. “Where did this show go wrong?” It simply forgot its medium.
There’s a reason it’s hard to succeed writing essays on X, posting only writing on Instagram, or growing a Facebook page without videos: The medium requires the message to change shape. It’s rarely easy to turn the wood into perfect proportions. Sometimes, it’s outright impossible. But if we’re not willing to fire up the lathe and start spinning our tale and gears, we can’t be surprised if the piece is received as flatly as a square block of wood dropping to the ground.
Mind your medium—for your stories only have to work in one to succeed.
