Note - Full SPOILERS for The Last Of Us and Left Behind are in this article
Imagine creating a body of work so critically acclaimed and
universally loved that fans start referring to your craft as ‘typically
brilliant’. Is that necessarily a good thing? Working to the exact standard
expected of you, surprising no one with your latest display of mastery simply
because everyone already knew it was going to be that way.
I spent a lot of time pouring over that thought in the first
half of The Last Of Us: Left Behind. As an exploration into two key moments in
Ellie’s journey, it exercises many of the sharp story-telling techniques that
have become synonymous with Naughty Dog. Character work between Ellie and Riley
is top notch, leaving little blanks in conversations for you to fill in,
telling in-jokes that display a sense of history between the two and sporting
dialogue so sharp you’d think Joss Whedon had given it a once-over. As a piece
of videogame writing it is typically brilliant.
Something wasn’t quite clicking, though. Ellie’s solitary
struggle to save Joel is a tense and compelling side-story, but for all the story
breadcrumbs and bold ideas, the Riley sections at first felt lacking. It seemed
to be a stroll through a gallery of sequences that boiled down to Naughty Dog
saying ‘oh aren’t we so clever’.
And they are clever, very
clever. But it’s an expected standard;
something that’s been set in place since the original Uncharted (at least when
it comes to narrative). And after rave reviews it’s hard to not come in
expecting something a little more.
That something comes in the second half. The key sequence in
Left Behind starts with the mall’s power turning back on. From there you’re
treated to a whole new set of narrative tricks: translating the game’s sharp
combat mechanics into a childish and gleeful water fight, using your own
imagination to picture a bloody round of a fighting game and simply exploring
the ruins around you while reading out some truly brilliant/horrendous jokes.
It builds to that perfectly-delivered moment in which Ellie and Riley share a
brief in kiss. The way Naughty Dog pieces this scene together, based on the
story so far and the dotted silence about the dialogue is, in a word, magic. It’s
a joyful, relatable few seconds that says a thousand things about a character
we’ve come know and love.
In a funny way I liken that scene most to the ending of the
original game. Joel’s ‘turn’ is delivered in perfect context. As a father that
lost his daughter and was facing losing another so soon after coming to terms
with what had happened the first time, I have to admit that I may well have
taken the same course (perhaps not quite as violently). I played out the scene
never once blaming him or angry with the direction.
Ellie, as someone that has had very few that care about her
in her 14 years of existence, has found one person her age that she can simply
be a kid around; a best friend to share her earthly right to fun with. She’s also
reaching the age where she should be experimenting with those feelings she has
about love and lust and Riley is the one outlet for that. While other people
have read that scene as outright confirmation that Ellie is gay/bi-sexual I don’t
think it’s as simple as that. I think she’s a teenager caught in a moment and
acting/experimenting with confusing and incredible feelings.
It could well be that, had things gone differently, Ellie
and Riley would have gone on to have an amazing relationship. I think for sure
that Riley is gay and had had these feelings for Ellie for a long time. I think
that, given time and the exposure to other people that she’ll surely find in
Tommy’s village, Ellie may not turn out that way. But this is how I read it and
how I simply think it might go. The scene wasn’t so much a statement that Ellie
is gay so much as a snapshot of a crucial time in any teenager’s life when they’re
finding out who they are, tragically limited by the twisted surroundings they’ve
found themselves in.
I don’t want to include a disclaimer but for safety reasons
I feel like I should. I thought that scene was nothing short of spectacular and
the kiss filled me with an emotional high that beat out even the best moments
of Spike Jonze’s Her which I’d seen earlier in the day. I have no problem with
the idea that Ellie is gay. In fact nothing would make me happier; I’m just
simply relaying my interpretations of her feelings and where they might have
led based on that’s sequence’s presentation and the rest of the time I’ve spent
with the character.
That Left Behind inspires this kind of thought and examination
of its characters is typically brilliant of Naughty Dog. Yes, there’s a side to
that phrase that places lofty expectations on a developer, but in this
case it takes on a far more positive implication. It typically creates crucial
moments that will be talked about for years to come. It typically shows scenes
of such raw humanity that other games can’t even begin to match. It typically
creates a discussion and emotion within you that will be different for everyone
that plays it.
It’s typically Naughty Dog, and typically brilliant.
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