Some TV Tropers have commentated on the plot:
"I do find it here amusing that the fans Abby killing Joel makes her unlikable whereas Joel dooming the entire human race somehow doesn’t. Oh well, everyone is allowed a little
Moral Dissonance."
"Murdering your way through grunts only to go "it's bad to kill the main villain" isn't just cliche, it's one of the most hackneyed writing tropes out there. It devalues the lives Ellie's taken if she only wises up right at the end.
As a matter of fact it's such a bad take I'm doubtful it's true. I jab a lot at Naughty Dog's writing but even they gotta be smarter than that." (Oh you naive soul)
"I just figured the whole point of TLOU and now its sequel was in devaluing the myth of heroic and cathartic violence. Like, you're not Nathan Drake quipping your way over dead bodies, these are real people trying to survive just like you, and while Joel ran afoul of the occasional cannibal pedophile (a decision to kill them being as morally challenging as swatting a fly with a rolled up newspaper) I thought this one was gonna be about "hey what if we completely pulled back the curtain on your murder fantasy?"
" I would have liked Abby to be trans. First trans hero. Then again, would it benefit or hurt representation given the
Internet Backdraft?"
"How evil is Abby really other than wanting to kill Joel who is an
Asshole Victim?"