The Last of Us Episode 2 gave HBO viewers another incredible 60 minutes of action. Intense and emotional from beginning to end, it delivered some mighty punches to the gut, sticking close to the source material, but making some subtle changes along the way. Here are all of the differences we noticed between the TV show and the game.
What was different in The Last of Us Episode 2 compared to the game?
The biggest difference shown in The Last of Us Episode 2 on HBO and HBO Max, was in its final moments. Upon finding the corpses of the Fireflies that Joel and Tess were hoping to drop Ellie off with, it is revealed that they were bitten and became infected. This is in direct contrast with the video game, where their deaths came about because they were found by a patrol under order from the dictatorial regime which the Fireflies fight against. They were slaughtered by those agents in the game.
These differences continue when it is revealed Tess has been bitten, and one of the infected Fireflies begin to reanimate. Joel shoots the infected in the head, which alerts the hordes of infected outside to their location. Tess sacrifices herself to take down the infected and give both Joel and Ellie a fighting chance to escape, whereas in the source material, she does so against FEDRA officers. As players control Joel at that point, the last time they see Tess is when the doors shut and she alerts the FEDRA officers to her location.
In the show, however, we see Tess’ final moments play out. As one particular member of the infected discovers her, they slowly lurch towards her, before the Cordyceps infection seems to reach out of its throat and embed itself within Tess. As she struggles with her lighter, she eventually manages to get a flame before succumbing to the infection, killing herself and the horde of infected that have joined her in the room in a massive explosion.
Another smaller difference was in Ellie’s history of being bitten. In the TV show, she says that she entered a restricted area out of curiosity, on her own, and was attacked by one of the infected as a result. However, those who have played The Last of Us DLC Left Behind will know that she was with her close friend Riley when she was bitten. It could be that she simply didn’t want to discuss Riley with Joel and Tess just yet, though. If she opens up about her old companion to Joel in the future, once their bond has strengthened, it could make for a very poignant moment.
Finally, we got to go back to 2003 at the very beginning of the episode, getting a glimpse of the start of the outbreak in Jakarta. When a Professor of Mycology is called in to study a specimen, she says that the only way to combat the Cordyceps infection is to “bomb the city and everyone in it.” While The Last of Us players knew that this was the decision made to try and stop the spread, it was a treat to see those initial conversations take place, as they weren’t included in the game.
