never played the games, not a Pascal fanboy or hater, and have no opinion on Ellie's casting choice.
My take is that season 2's writing and pacing were just trash compared to season 1. And it's really not hard to see that lots of viewers with fresh eyes for the show all share similar sentiments on the internet.
The fate of Pascal's character makes some sense for a small viewership decrease among the casuals. The unique narrative is absolutely part of the show's downfall - especially when combined with poor writing and story development (as mentioned in the article, why would any of us care enough to sit through a third season with an antagonist that the showwriters have barely made an effort to set the stage for?). Ellie's casting choice and time between seasons, I think, is mental gymnastics for why everyone decided to hang on to the show through the S2 premier, before tuning out.
