Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2, "Through the Valley"
Though it seems like there's only one part of season 2, episode 1 was a red herring; the episode was full of foreshadowing, but the slow start to the season makes sense now. Even if, somehow, you've avoided spoilers and never played the game, Joel's death and Pedro Pascal's exit don't completely come out of nowhere. However, it was the timing of it that made this iconic moment hit so close to home.
Joel's death is more shocking than sad, coming at a strange part of the season - killing off such a beloved character in episode 2 is decidedly random and meant to put us off balance, and it works. It's so early and too sudden to let the depth of the grief be felt, and it's clear that, for Ellie, it will be far easier to go on a single-minded quest for revenge than really process what's happened. The pieces of the rest of the season's story have fallen into place in the wake of "Through the Valley," and I doubt that Ellie (Bella Ramsey) will quietly accept her surrogate father's death.
However, Joel and Ellie, despite their lack of scenes together, are only one piece of the puzzle in The Last of Us and "Through the Valley." One of the best parts of the series is the way it tackles the apocalypse and infuses all aspects of human history into the new world order. The almost medieval siege that Jackson goes through is nerve-wracking, terrifying, and riveting. "Through the Valley" delivers the action that viewers expect from the series, with Kaitlyn Dever's mad dash from the army of infected keeping us on the edge of our seats.
Joel Might Be Gone, But Ellie's Going To Keep Paying For His Actions In The Last Of Us Season 2
Abby Got Her Revenge, But This Is Only The Beginning
Pascal has been the best part of The Last of Us up to this point and I don't know if Ramsey can carry the weight of the story alone. Newcomers will have to pick up Pascal's slack, and Ellie and Abby's parallel dynamic will come to the forefront of the story. However, similarly, Dever hasn't convinced me yet that she's up to bringing the unsympathetic Abby to life. It's an unforgiving role, and killing our beloved Joel makes us hate Abby so much that it's easy to let that overshadow the work Dever's doing as an actress.
She's not phoning it in, but the balance between grief, anger, and disregard for her own humanity is tricky, and any actor would struggle to master this. Dever's uncertainty is highlighted by Pascal's assuredness in his final moments of the show, staying faithful to Joel's refusal to compromise and long-held belief that things would always end this way after he shot his way out of the hospital. These last five years have been borrowed time, and Ellie knows this if she's honest with herself. Even in the lawless land of The Last of Us, there are no crimes that go unnoticed.
In "Through the Valley," it's clearer than ever how steep the price is for Joel's actions, and just because he's dead doesn't mean the payment won't be due. Unfortunately, as in real life, it will be the children, the next generation, who will have to take up the mantle of Joel's debt. Ellie spent all of season 1 learning from Joel, for better or worse, and living in a near-constant state of endless grief. The horror and helplessness of Joel's final moments will stay with her for a long time.
Ellie will have to decide if she wants to become like Joel and Abby, and the only way to go up against this kind of person is to become them.
The town's survival feels like a trade-off for Joel's life. Joel is leaving an unfillable hole in the story and the hearts of the characters, and though Jackson made it through, things aren't the same. Fortunately, The Last of Us shows more emotional nuance than most modern series, so I doubt it will haphazardly attempt to fill it. The show knows grief is part of the story's DNA, and it understands that the gravity of this feeling can make monsters out of us.
Thematically, things aren't that different in The Last of Us season 2, but now we wait to see if Ellie will become a monster. She has to break the cycle of violence, but so far, The Last of Us hasn't given many characters a path to avoid this. The hardness that the story's world creates in the characters is inescapable. Ellie will have to decide if she wants to become like Joel and Abby, and the only way to go up against this kind of person is to become them. Her connections to humanity - Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Dina (Isabela Merced), and Jesse (Young Mazino) - will be her lifeline.
The Last Of Us Paves The Way For Ellie's Future By Hinting At Joel's Past
His Death Doesn't Complete All The Unfinished Business Of His Life
I have faith that Pascal will appear in flashbacks, creating emotional moments that will tear our hearts out. Continuing to look forward to the future of The Last of Us, I'm wondering what role Catherine O'Hara's Gail will play. Introducing her and creating her fraught connection to Joel, only for him to die, seems like a waste of time. The Last of Us must have something more planned for her and the reveal of whatever Joel did to her husband. However, this helped create the suddenness of his death and shows how many loose ends and unfinished business we leave behind.
All of this mirrors the encroachment of the mass of infected that stormed Jackson, as well as the cordyceps found in the pipes. Ellie and Joel's secrets can't stay buried, and the town can't survive the pressure. Ellie hasn't been as careful about hiding her immunity as she should be, and the goodhearted people she's come to love in Jackson might be more willing to push her to find a way to use this gift for good than Joel was. The rules of The Last of Us have suddenly changed, but Ellie's path forward will be found in Joel's past.
New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 air weekly on Sundays at 9 PM EST on Max and HBO.
The Last Of Us
- Release Date
- January 15, 2023
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Craig Mazin
Cast
Joel Miller
Ellie Williams
WHERE TO WATCH
The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic drama series set two decades after a global catastrophe. It follows Joel, a seasoned survivor, who is tasked with escorting Ellie, a teenage girl, across a desolated United States, transforming into a harrowing journey of survival and companionship.
- Directors
- Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
- Franchise(s)
- The Last of Us
- Creator(s)
- Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann
- Episode 2 delivers the action & emotion in equal measure.
- The Last of Us uses pacing and surprise to genuinely shock us.
- The themes and purpose of the show are made clearer than ever.
- Not all the actors can handle the nuance of their characters? actions.
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