Warning: article contains spoilers The Last of Us Part 2.
The most heartbreaking scene with Pedro Pascal’s Joel The Last of Us Season 1 will make the Season 2 storyline even sadder than it already is in the game. Pascal has faithfully adapted all the aspects that made the games’ Joel Troy Baker such a compelling character: he’s a grieving father who shuts down emotionally to avoid being hurt again; He’s a hardened survivor who had to become a cold-blooded killer to keep himself and his little brother Tommy alive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But Pascal also made several key changes to the TV version of Joel.
In a video game, the main character can kill hundreds of people without losing the sympathy of the audience, because the audience is the one who commits all the murders. But in TV shows, viewers are much less sensitive to on-screen violence. Not only does the TV version of Joel Pascal commit fewer murders than his video game counterpart; he also feels much more remorseful for deaths for which he is responsible. TV Joel’s sensibility was most touchingly demonstrated in Pascal’s best scene from The Last of Us season one, and that will make season two even more heartbreaking.
Joel talking about his failures was the best scene of the first season
This made Joel Pedro Pascal much more vulnerable than his video game counterpart
IN The Last of Us Season 1, episode 6, “Kin”, very similar to the game, Joel reunites with his brother Tommy in Wyoming and asks him to take Ellie off his hands. and bring her to Fireflies for him. In the game, Joel presents this as a business proposal.offering Tommy a chance to earn money for delivering Ellie to the Fireflies and the glory of providing humanity with a much-needed cure. Tommy is hesitant at first because he has his wife Maria to think about and thinks Joel is just confused.
Connected
Tommy thinks Joel is trying to shirk his responsibilities; It’s only when raiders attack and Joel swoops in to save Ellie that he realizes the real reason Joel wants his brother to take her. Joel truly cares about this child and worries that under his care she will suffer the same fate as his late daughter Sarah. In the TV show, Joel is much more open with Tommy.; he immediately tells him that he is not as capable as he used to be and is afraid that he will not be able to keep Ellie safe.
Pascal’s raw emotional honesty is absolutely devastating and gives Joel an extra depth that wasn’t possible in a fast-paced video game.
The television version of Joel begins to regularly suffer from panic attacks, and when he and Ellie are in danger, instead of acting like in the game, he freezes in fear. This episode earned Pascal an Emmy nomination. for Best Actor in a Drama Series, and it’s easy to see why. This scene shows how much more vulnerable this version of Joel is compared to his video game counterpart. Pascal’s raw emotional honesty is devastating.and gives Joel additional depth that wasn’t possible in a fast-paced video game.
Joel’s choices will weigh much more heavily on him in The Last of Us Season 2
Joel will be more conflicted than ever in Season 2
Joel was already tormented by his failures and shortcomings in The Last of Us in the first season, but in the second season it will be an even heavier burden. Now he doesn’t just have to kill people to protect his adopted daughter; he lives with the guilt of single-handedly dismantling the Fireflies, costing humanity the cure it desperately needed, and worst of all, lying to Ellie. Ellie knows that Joel is not telling the truth about what happened at the hospital, and this creates a rift between them that will become even more heartbreaking when it happens to this more vulnerable version of Joel.
Pedro Pascal is going to give an amazing performance in the second season of The Last of Us
Joel’s scenes in The Last of Us Part 2 are full of great acting opportunities
Judging by his touching turn in the first season, Pascal is bound to deliver a fantastic performance in The Last of Us season 2. The Last of Us Part 2 he doesn’t have as much material on Joel as Part Ibut the scenes in which Joel is present as the real Pascal present many interesting acting challenges. Pascal and Bella Ramsey did a great job showing how Joel and Ellie gradually grew closer to each other in the first season; in Season 2, they’ll have to do the opposite as Joel’s lies slowly damage the father-daughter relationship they’ve built. in season 1.
If Joel’s death scene could get any sadder at all, it might as well be in The Last of Us season 2. In the game, Joel accepts his grim fate with stoic dignity, robbing Abby of the satisfaction she wants to feel. But in the TV show, when Abby targets the more sensitive and vulnerable Joel Pascal, he may not be as ready to face death—and that’s just the beginning. From going to a museum to talking on the porch, Pascal is sure to confuse Joel. Part II scenes from the park.