00:00Who knew that one of the most effective ways to become heralded as one of the greatest shows of
00:03all time is to get rid of the main character in a shocking and unexpected way? Before I get into
00:09more details, let me just say that I'm about to spoil a lot of shows from The Last of Us to
00:13Succession, Game of Thrones, Grey's Anatomy, and 9-1-1. So for those of you who don't know,
00:18The Last of Us is based on the beloved video game, and it just began airing its second season on HBO,
00:24and the second episode has already been praised as one of the best episodes of television this
00:28year. Fans who didn't know the game were shocked to find that Abby, played by Caitlin Dever,
00:32successfully avenged the loss of her father by confronting and ending Joel, played by Pedro
00:37Pascal. Even fans who knew this was going to happen were shocked that co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil
00:43Druckmann actually committed to writing off their main character and their most famous actor so early
00:48in the season. This episode of The Last of Us follows in the footsteps of many other great shows that
00:53got rid of beloved characters unexpectedly, and guess what? Doing so helped these shows become
00:58all-timers. Who can forget Logan Roy's untimely departure in the third episode of Successions
01:03last season? Or the Red Wedding on Game of Thrones? In fact, no character was safe on that show.
01:08Or this iconic moment from season five of Grey's Anatomy? Obviously, some more unserious shows have
01:14done this as well, such as The O.C., Two and a Half Men, and most recently, 9-1-1. So I'm not saying
01:20that the only recipe to become one of the greatest shows of all time is to off a main character too soon,
01:25but if it's done well, something about it does really seem to work. It shakes things up, it keeps
01:30audiences on their toes, and it even allows them to grieve alongside the on-screen characters.
01:35What I think this episode of The Last of Us accomplished was a greater display of confidence
01:38in the storytelling as well as a refusal to compromise a vision for the sake of pleasing
01:44fans. Because yeah, nobody wants to lose Joel, but what audiences want and what they need are two very
01:50different things altogether. So kudos to Mazen and Druckmann, because with the success of last
01:54week's episode, The Last of Us has joined a pretty esteemed group of shows.
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