History TearJerker / TheLastOfUs2023

** Unlike in the game, we get an answer as to what happened to Riley. While ''Left Behind'' ended on an ambiguous note, Ellie confirms in ''Look for the Light'' that she had to put Riley down when she turned. Not only that, but Riley - her first kiss and first love - was the first time she'd had to kill someone.

** Unlike in the game, we get an answer as to what happened to Riley. While the game ended on an ambiguous note, Ellie confirms in ''Look for the Light'' that she had to put Riley down when she turned. Not only that, but Riley - her first kiss and first love - was the first time she'd had to kill someone.

** Unlike in the game, we get an answer as to what happened to Riley. While the game's outcome was ambiguous note, Ellie confirms in ''Look for the Light'' that she had to put Riley down when she turned. Not only that, but Riley - her first kiss and first love - was the first time she'd had to kill someone.
* A minor example, that still stands out nonetheless due to the CrapsackWorld nature of the setting: after Ellie kisses Riley, she immediately apologises, only for Riley to respond, "for what?". The look of sheer ''joy'' on Ellie's face when she says this is heart-shattering, as it's the first time we've seen her truly happy, and the audience knows that [[BreakTheCutie we likely won't see her that happy again]].

** In the original game, Riley is rather tranquil as she talks about her and Ellie losing their minds together. Here, however, she can only mutter a defeated apology before the both of them are reduced to quiet, BrokenTears as they embrace one another, just sitting there and waiting to turn. It's one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the show so far.
** [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse We never find out what happened to Riley]]. While it is ''implied'' that she was killed by Ellie at some point since she mentioned having already killed before back in episode 4, we aren't given any concrete answers. Either option is equally heartbreaking. Either Ellie had to MercyKill her only real friend and first love, or Riley suffered in agony with the Cordyceps in her brain -- all to be [[TitleDrop left behind]] in that mall.
*** In the season finale, we finally get the answer and Ellie confirms that she had to put Riley down when she turned. Not only that, but Riley - her first kiss and first love - was the first time she'd had to kill someone.

** Just like in the game, Sarah's death hits hard for lacking the dignity and gravitas typically assigned to fictional deaths. There's no last words, no chance to move her to safety, no calling for loved ones, nothing. The poor girl dies in absolute agony, unable to do anything but hyperventilate from the pain and desperately reach for her dad to protect her, while Joel can do nothing but desperately repeat that he knows she's in unimaginable pain but there's just ''nothing'' he can do to ease it. There aren't even last words: one moment she's crying in agony... the next, she's gone.

** Just like in the game, Sarah's death hits hard for not being any kind of dramatic moment. There's no last words, no chance to move her to safety, no calling for loved ones, nothing. The poor girl dies in absolute agony, unable to do anything but hyperventilate from the pain and desperately reach for her dad to protect her, while Joel can do nothing but desperately repeat that he knows she's in unimaginable pain but there's just ''nothing'' he can do to ease it.

*** For players of the game, it develops someone that they are already familiar with as a plot device into a full-fledged character; they become invested, [[ForegoneConclusion all the while knowing]] [[KilledOffForReal what's going to happen.]] For those who don't know the game, the extra scenes led the audience into believing that [[DecoyProtagonist Sarah is going to be a main character]] [[SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer despite not being featured in the promotional material]].
** Just like in the game, Sarah's death hits hard for not being any kind of dramatic moment. There's no last words, no chance to move her to safety, no calling for loved ones, nothing. The poor girl dies in absolute agony, unable to do anything but hyperventilate from the pain and desperately reach for her dad to protect her.

** Their end comes when Frank contracts a disease (which would have been untreatable even before the pandemic), and he decides to have one last good day with the man he loves before committing suicide. Bill gives Frank the perfect day by picking out new outfits for them at the nearby boutique, having a private wedding ceremony by their precious piano, and then recreating the first meal they had together. Unbeknownst to Frank, Bill had already crushed the pills into their second bottle of wine so they could leave the world together. On top of that, their whole final day is scored with Max Richter's heartbreaking musical piece "On The Nature Of Daylight".