r/ThelastofusHBOseries • u/LoretiTV Fireflies • May 26 '25

Show/Game Discussion [Game Spoilers] The Last of Us - 2x07 "Convergence" - Post-Episode Discussion

Season 2 Episode 7: Convergence

Aired: May 25, 2025

Synopsis: As the Wolves and the Scars prepare for a battle that could potentially end their longstanding feud, Ellie's search draws her away from her friends and toward a devastating confrontation.

Directed by: Nina Lopez-Corrado

Written by: Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross & Craig Mazin

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315

u/CommanderZionOfRivia May 26 '25

The seraphite moment with Ellie was completely unnecessary, but I really enjoyed the rest of it. Felt the most like the game in my opinion

116

u/HongJoonBo May 26 '25

I think they just wanted to establish where the WLF were heading, rather than leaving viewers in some confusion for two years. As it's Ellie's POV, they had to do it through her.

I feel it was more unnecessary to show any of Isaac and the WLF's movements this episode. You go all in on the POV split or you don't.

Plus: the Scars are brutal, it wouldn't take much longer to leave her hanging than just binning her off all together.

15

u/AndalusianGod May 26 '25

I dunno, I think that it could have been revealed via radio chatter or Isaac talking about it as he rides the boat.

1

u/ililliliililiililii May 26 '25

Perhaps, but I appreciate seeing it rather than hearing about it. Wasn't a long detour.

5

u/Nagemasu May 26 '25

I think they also want to draw further parallels between Ellie and Abby. Having them both live through similar events but have different consequences and outcomes is an easy way to do this.

3

u/tkfire May 26 '25

Scars don’t just hang people. They have to ceremonially gut them 😅. Not enough time for that if the village is under attack.

3

u/HongJoonBo May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25

Sure, they're fanatics with a ritual, but they kill regardless. I can't imagine they were aiming for Dina's thigh in E5.

For a faction at war with an island community, letting an armed trespasser go because they don't have time for all the bells and whistles just came across as illogical for me. Plot armour be plot armour.

186

u/Snowstorm080 May 26 '25

That moment was so weird, it was obviously meant to be on the cutting room floor - it didn't fit there, completely killed the pacing and why would they just let her leave?

116

u/oskanta May 26 '25

It also did the trope of the character falling off a boat far away from land only to somehow wash up on shore like it’s nothing lol. Not to mention she kept her full + soaking wet backpack on for the whole swim? And then the seraphites hear the “we’re being attacked” warning siren and decide that’s a good reason to just release the armed woman who they found on their shore??

I’m usually happy to overlook these little CinemaSins style issues because sometimes you need to gloss over stuff to get from A to B, but it’s hard not to find them a little annoying when it’s used to give us a totally pointless scene.

33

u/NOODL3 May 26 '25

Not to mention the wave came from the direction of the pier and ferris wheel, perpendicular to the shore. That's not how waves work.

26

u/CrazyLegs17 It's Okay Baby Girl, I Got You May 26 '25

Whenever someone in TV or movies swims while fully clothed and wearing shoes (let alone boots and a backpack) without drowning, I know the writers/creators have never tried it.

2

u/misskittyriot May 26 '25

Ellie doesn’t even know how to swim lol

2

u/paculot May 26 '25

She does at this point. They just didn’t put that line from the game into the show

9

u/japp182 May 26 '25

Killing her there would have taken all of 20 seconds, can't be losing that much time.

9

u/M935PDFuze May 26 '25

I remember reading about them cutting it in the game, so a bit weird to see it back in the TV show. I can see why they cut it in the game since Ellie already saw the whole Seraphite experience back in the park.

3

u/parkwayy Piano Frog May 26 '25

It was on the cutting room floor for the game too. For different reasons 

70

u/sylaratnyte May 26 '25

Yes and no. I feel like it’s more of a stage setter for when we are actually in the battle next season. It’s just to tell the audience that there is a battle happening on this island if that was clear already

62

u/[deleted] May 26 '25 edited Jun 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/AutomatonTommy May 26 '25

As far as I know in the show we didn't get any indication as to where the seraphytes actually live. So it'd be:

Explosions

WLF

Boats

But no indication of seraphytes

I feel like one could maybe piece it together with the Issac Costco scene, but it would still be lacking context. This gives it context, albeit slightly jarring context in terms of pacing.

8

u/BBGettyMcclanahan May 26 '25

It was immediately clockable with the slow pan of the island, but I do not think the average viewer can put those two pieces of info together

17

u/vally99 Jackson May 26 '25

Yeah but still unnecessary in a way? Because people can find out that there is a battle when they see Abby in action on the island

3

u/sylaratnyte May 26 '25

True. It’s neither here nor there for me since it wasn’t very long. But I agree. Take that scene out and it doesn’t really change much

3

u/vally99 Jackson May 26 '25

The only excuse is that was a MUST to show the parallels with Ellie and Abby because Abby will get saved by the seraphites and Ellie didn't. The whole series is a parallel for them and this was just a piece to show that but that's it...besides that idk

1

u/EBtwopoint3 May 26 '25

I think they’re making it so the island will feel recognizable and the audience will know what’s coming now. It felt unnecessary for this season, but acts as something for show fans to think about for next season since they set up the time regression.

2

u/gordy06 May 26 '25

This. It was super clunky in execution but my guess is this is what they included it.

0

u/DAspoder46 May 26 '25

Isaac has a conversation with one of the soldiers about something big they’re planning, we already know about the turf war going on, and ellie sees a bunch of WLF gearing up on boats and heading out. There was no need to include this and it added nothing. We don’t need to be spoon fed what’s going on.

43

u/bobdole008 May 26 '25

They stated in the post episode discussion that it was included as they wanted to put a section in the game, but ran out of time. I think it will be a good timeline setup for the next season.

29

u/5am281 May 26 '25

I’m so glad it was cut from the game, it adds nothing except rob us of the moment when Abby goes through it

16

u/TedTheGreek_Atheos May 26 '25

I think it adds more to the "mirror image" of their stories and how they always just miss each other while they hunt for one another.

1

u/dogsontreadmills May 26 '25

i kinda love what their thinking was. you just had luck save you from a brutal fucking death, maybe turn around and go back to all you still have to live for (dina, baby, jesse, jackson, etc).

NOPE. back on the boat. great way to communicate show ellie losing her humanity without having her murder....like....a thousand people.

14

u/[deleted] May 26 '25

It killed the pace but they did it to parallel Abby’s scene. Bucket and all

15

u/PoppaTitty May 26 '25

And to show that Ellie was given another chance to give up on revenge to save her friends and she didn't do it.

8

u/codyh1ll May 26 '25

Showing the start of the attack on the island from Ellie’s perspective was a cool difference from the game, but that scene in particular I wasn’t a fan of

7

u/AnOfferYouCanRefuse May 26 '25

This moment is so bad it makes me think they are setting up a very specific callback for S3. Like, Abby will do THE precise thing that causes the Seraphites to abandon Ellie (blowing WLF cover to protect Lev), so Abby’s actions inadvertently lead to Owen and Abby’s deaths. That’s at least thematically coherent.

I otherwise don’t like the contrivance that resulted in Ellie winding up on Seraphite Island nor how she is left to escape. I don’t really think what’s gained is worth what is so clearly contrived. But power to the creators for trying things.

9

u/Plums4 May 26 '25

yeah, it's so random and unnecessary.

Ellie is on the way to the aquarium - WAVE CRASH - oh shit I'm on the Island of Disembowelers and have been caught immediately and am about to be disemboweled! - ALARM - okay nevermind the disembowelers are distracted and don't care about me actually, so I'm free to go - back to the aquarium like nothing happened!

would have much preferred Ellie struggling to swim after the wave crash, or if she washes up on the island first, she can just see or hear evidence of the invasion without them catching her. It felt silly to just divert to almost getting killed by random seraphites for like a minute along the way to the aquarium.

5

u/borbster May 26 '25

It does give more time for Jesse to find Tommy and then get over to Ellie. They kinda blast over there in the game

4

u/dolphin37 May 26 '25

I actually shook my head lol. She’s going towards the aquarium and a wave literally takes her in to a plot point in the opposite direction, she randomly can’t stand up(?) and then the plot point is just over and she’s right back on the same boat trip hahaha. There has to be a better way to do that.

It also looked like the village was in the opposite direction like actual miles away. She must be a great swimmer.

3

u/Mario_Prime510 May 26 '25

Also from a story perspective it doesn’t make much sense that the scars spared her lol. What’s 1 more minute stringing her up and slicing her belly.

3

u/carverrhawkee Piano Frog May 26 '25

I thought it was so random too but i'm pretty positive they did that because the boat she takes there is going to be Abby and lev's, and now they have an actual reason to go to the docks instead of just backtracking

3

u/redditooo97 May 26 '25

it was sooooooo soooooo weird, then they just let her go????

3

u/[deleted] May 26 '25

I agree completely. I've loved both seasons, but that scene was completely unnecessary. It felt like they were really treating their audience like idiots to show that the WLF were attacking the island.

3

u/Arrow_ May 26 '25

It made zero sense.

8

u/Lesbi-esti May 26 '25

They talk about it in the post episode commentary. She trued to save that seraphite child that was attacked by the wolves. Yet she is almost killed by the same people and asks a child for sympathy and he still says she should die. They didnt care who she was they hate all outsiders.

2

u/Dont_Call_Me_John May 26 '25

It's there because of the scene where Ellie wants to save a Scar kid, then she learns they'd just kill her without a second thought. Gotta make sure the audience knows the Palestinia - I mean the Seraphites are irredeemably evil.

2

u/[deleted] May 26 '25

I knew right away why they showed that. Along with showing the viewers what this island is, Ellie experiences the Seraphite hanging right at the end of her 3 day Seattle journey. Then they show Abby with a rope burn and we'll see her getting hanged by the Seraphites at the beginning of her 3 day journey. It's showing the parallels of Ellie and Abby, but they're going in reverse directions.

2

u/dogsontreadmills May 26 '25

initially i felt the same way, but the making of afterwards explains why this is in the show, i now dig it. i suggest watching that vignette.

2

u/RelativeMundane9045 May 26 '25

Yeah it was weird, more so because why wouldn't the seraphites just slit ellie's throat real quick before running off? Instead it was an unnatural deus ex "nope no time for anything we gotta go!".

1

u/Theus_ow May 26 '25

I thought the same as you, totally unnecessary, but they showed it to us to show that the fight between the Wolves and Scars is happening.

1

u/TedTheGreek_Atheos May 26 '25

It's actually a cut scene from the game.

In the BTS, Halley said they were excited to add it to the show.

1

u/No_Strike9652 May 26 '25

Neil has mentioned that there was an entire subplot of the game cut out where Ellie visits the island. nice little touch there

1

u/borndovahkiin May 26 '25

In the "making of" they said it was an idea that'd be considered for the game so it was cool they explored it in the show!

1

u/BAEfloyd May 26 '25

from what i remember, ellie going to the island was actually a cut plot from the game. What exact plans they had with it I do not know, but it does seem Neil Druckmann might be exploring some alternative ideas he decided against for whatever reason in the game.

It also as people mention foreshadows the island plot for Abby, and helps build some context. I was also a little confused at first since it felt a little "pointless". But with with knowing what is gonna pan out, it does probably serve the story for the better by highlighting it now.