[SPOILERS] I really hate that they've already revealed Abby's motivations

I didn't like when I first heard Neil talking about it and I like it even less watching it now.

SPOILERS FOR PART 2

The reason Joel's death works so well is because of how sudden and shocking it is. Joel saves a bunch of strangers and they turn on him and beat him to death and you feel what Ellie feels: shock and confusion that is quickly turned into anger and hatred towards the people responsible for Joel's death.
You're rooting for Ellie to have her revenge........until the game flips the script midway through and shows you they're not these heartless monsters that you, like Ellie, perceived them to be and Abby specifically was going through the same pain as Ellie is throughout the game. And once the curtain is pulled, your perspective changes and as you look back to what Ellie did in the name of revenge you kinda feel bad about yourself for wanting it to happen in the first place, and by the end you come to the understanding that, as much you don't like that it happened, Joel got what he deserved and both Abby and Ellie were victims of circumstance that chained them to a cycle of violence that never ends.

The story is structured in a very specific way to give you a rollercoaster of emotions.

Giving away Abby's connection to Joel in the beginning takes that all away and consequently makes everything else, mainly Joel's death less impactful. And really changes the structure of the story and the viewer's emotional connection to the characters and what's happening on screen. It makes Abby more sympathetic right off the bat and basically telegraphs Joel's death when the twist about his death in the game is how shockingly early and sudden it was.

And yes, I read Neil's justification (that you're not playing as Abby and the viewers would have to wait a long time and probably getting spoiled between seasons) and it's an extremely weak argument and puzzles me how they reached that conclusion.

Movies and TV shows have done something like this many times, The Walking Dead immediately comes to mind, and season 1 incorporated far more complex elements from the game into the show. Why is this suddenly an issue? I'd even say that playing as Abby midway through the game is far more jarring and a tougher pill to swallow than watching a few episodes from her perspective.

Honestly, I think the real reason is that this is them trying to soften the blow of Joel's death. Like the backlash to the game was so severe, this is Craig and Neil easing people in to avoid a similar reaction and if that's the case it's a shame that they even felt the need to do that because I liked what they did in Part 2, as heartbreaking as it was, and this change just makes everything worse.