The penultimate episode of The Last of Us season 2, which was directed by Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, has now aired, offering viewers a great episode of television as well as some welcome moments of joy.
Please be aware of spoilers for The Last of Us, both the show and the game, below.
There has been one word on everyone’s lips since last week’s episode wrapped: Joel.
Yes, the man, the myth, the legend made his return to The Last of Us this week, via a series of flashbacks that stretched all the way back to the 80s, complete with a young Joel and Tommy at home with their dad. Things then scoot forward a notch, to two months after Joel and Ellie arrive in Jackson following the events of the season one finale.
These scenes are the ones I have been waiting for ever since the Joel flashbacks were first teased in the trailers. But, I didn’t expect them to be quite like this, and the sixth episode’s reliance on spending time in the past – while brilliant in its own right, with some of the game’s most impactful moments beautifully realised for TV – makes me anxious that next week’s finale is going to have to cram in a lot to give viewers a satisfying conclusion.
Over the course of just under an hour, episode six chronicles Joel and Ellie’s dynamic as father and daughter blossoming, crumbling and then starting to heal, with Ellie’s birthdays serving as an anchor point for their relationship’s most pivotal moments.
On Ellie’s 15th birthday, Joel trades Lego bricks with Seth in exchange for a birthday cake. He then sets to work restoring a guitar for Ellie, complete with an embossed moth and real bone features. On her 16th birthday, he takes her to a museum, where Ellie clambers over a model of a dinosaur and takes an imaginary but incredibly moving trip to space.
By Ellie’s 17th birthday, teenage angst is setting in, with Joel coming home to discover Ellie smoking pot, getting a tattoo and fooling around in her bedroom with Kat. The two argue, and Ellie says she needs space from Joel deciding she would be best living in the garage. Then, on her 19th birthday, Ellie – who has been wrestling with her increasing doubts about what actually happened at Salt Lake City – goes out on her first patrol. And it is this day that the cracks in their relationship finally burst open.
Both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey do some incredible work in this episode. Ramsey slots right back into the shoes of the younger and more innocent Ellie effortlessly, and her joy at seeing the museum’s dinosaur and space exhibits is infectious.
Yes, the part of me that has played the game wished we had spent more time here, but the parts of this area Druckmann chose to show again in the TV series are wonderfully recreated. So far, the second season of The Last of Us has been pretty bleak to say the least, but these moments at the museum provided some much needed levity.
But, while Ramsey still absolutely shines as Ellie, this episode really belongs to Pascal, who can convey so much of Joel’s emotional turmoil with a simple look or gesture: the tear that forms when he sees Ellie’s joy at the museum, the concern he shows when Ellie burns her arm, the anticipation he feels before giving Ellie her birthday cake. Every moment, no matter how small it may seem, is delivered with conviction and genuine love for his surrogate daughter.
This episode also answers the question left unanswered since the first episode of season 2 aired. What exactly happened between Joel and Gail’s husband, Eugene.
I have to say again, the Eugene flashbacks were not what I was expecting when it was first revealed that Druckmann and fellow showrunner Craig Mazin were going to be delving more into this character’s past. Initially, I was expecting a full episode focused almost exclusively on Eugene, perhaps detailing his time in the Fireflies (which is touched on in the game).
However, while Eugene himself only has a handful of lines and really only one scene, actor Joe Pantoliano gives wonderful depth to his character’s fear and longing in the face of death. We meet Eugene alone in the woods, bitten by an Infected and with the full knowledge that his time is limited. And, what he wants to do with that limited time, is see his wife one last time.
Ellie, who is out with Joel on her first patrol, believes that this is something they can do, and leaves to get the horses. Joel, however, is more wary and despite telling Ellie he will bring Eugene back to Jackson with her, instead takes Eugene to a picturesque spot where he executes him.
This is not the deceit that finally breaks Ellie’s trust in Joel, though (although it certainly doesn’t do anything to strengthen it). It is the easiness in which Joel lies about what happened to Gail when they return with Eugene’s body to Jackson. Joel tells Gail Eugene’s final words were that he loves his wife, before he took his own life knowing that it was the end.
At this moment, Ellie knows what she had already started to fear: Joel lied to her about what happened with the Fireflies in Salt Lake City. And, while she calls out his lie to Gail out loud, she is also calling out his lies to her, and Joel knows it. This addition to The Last of Us’ narrative, and Ellie and Joel’s story, is a brilliant one by Druckmann and co.
But as I have touched on, while I genuinely enjoyed seeing more of Ellie and Joel’s relationship, and of course seeing Pascal and Ramsey sharing the screen once again, it does concern me that we only have one episode left of The Last of Us’ second season, and today’s episode has somewhat knocked the momentum out of the present day’s story.
So, yes, just that one episode left of The Last of Us season 2, and like I said last week, I really feel we should be further along through The Last of Us Part 2’s narrative by now. Other than a brief shot of Ellie walking back to the theatre in Seattle, all of episode six happens in the past. Does this mean the showrunners are now going to have to rush over some important moments next week in order to close the series at a point that makes sense to the narrative? I hope not, but I don’t see how this won’t happen now.
What did you think of The Last of Us season 2 episode six?
