I Have Not Played The Last Of Us Game, But I Felt Strongly That The Series Finale (episode 9) Lacked

I have not played the Last of Us game, but I felt strongly that the series finale (episode 9) lacked OOMPF. It was very well written and preformed I thought, and I enjoyed the plot points that happened a lot as this was a competently put together story. I'm also not usually a fan of lengthening things without a good reason, and thought the pacing was good, but it did feel a little like it was skimming through the events.

Really, my biggest issue I think is the long sequence where Joel goes on a rampage against the fireflies. Or rather, I guess that it wasn't long enough? I felt like this sequence could've been improved a lot by taking a page out of a similar story, "Lisa: The Painful". Somewhat similar events happen in that game and what really puts a cherry on the ice cream of the whole game and gives it a great climax to it's story is this feeling of justified violence and power fantasy the main character feels in the final fight. This feeling is of course incorrect, and what's happening is just a broken man finding a way to take out his anger on the world, similar somewhat to the TLOU season 1 ending!

What I think they really could've done here is lean into Joel's power fantasy a lot more, and really make it a bombastic epic sequence with tension as he blasts through the various hordes of really just regular people, grand music playing throughout to really put the viewer in his headspace. Make us feel conflicted like we're in his perspective by making this a grand epic sequence where he himself feels like a hero, to really contrast somewhat to the events, and how morally gray this decision is. Make the viewers feel really invested in this sequence, and make the sequence feel somewhat off and wrong. I think this would've greatly strengthened the episode and contributed to a good series finale.