Latest ‘Last of Us’ episode reminds us why we care about Ellie and Joel

Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers for “The Last of Us” Season 2, streaming now on Max.

One of the best parts of The Last of Us Part II were the flashbacks with Ellie and Joel, before everything became blood-soaked and painful to remember. Season 2 of “The Last of Us” has been sparse with those important moments, about Ellie’s rage and Joel’s lies and how each part affected the whole of their relationship after Salt Lake City. But finally, with the season’s penultimate episode, we get nearly an hour of those important details — and we’re left all the more heartbroken because of it. 

At its core, “The Last of Us” Season 2 is a destructive cycle of revenge and grief. When the sixth episode opens, we get a taste of how much deeper that premise goes. It’s 1983; a young Joel and Tommy are at home in Austin, the latter terrified he’s going to get the belt from his father for something he’s done. Joel, ever the protector, promises his little brother that he’ll accept the punishment in Tommy’s stead and proceeds to take the blame once their father, Javier (Tony Dalton), gets home. Joel is prepared to accept the expected physical abuse so Tommy doesn’t have to. But it doesn’t happen. Instead, Javier gets Joel a beer and explains how his father used to severely beat him, and how, even though he abuses his own children, he’s not as bad because “I’m doing a little better than my father did.” He doesn’t raise his hand to Joel, but he does offer a contextually tragic piece of advice to his eldest if he should ever have kids: “I hope you do a little better than me.”

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 5 recap: ‘It’s in the air’

(Created purely for the show, the scene is a fantastic addition of background, letting us see a glimpse of what makes Joel, Joel.)

Flash forward, and Joel and Ellie (15 at the time) are in Jackson. We learn that Joel is a man of many talents (including guitar repair and cake bartering) and how Ellie got the burn that covers her bite mark. Oh, and it’s Ellie’s birthday (hence the guitar and cake). Sing for me, she tells Joel, who proceeds to give a terrible but earnest performance of Pearl Jam’s “Future Days”; it’s a beautiful, bittersweet callback to the previous episode, when Ellie played the same song at the Pinnacle.

Another year passes, and it’s Ellie’s Sweet 16. Joel has a surprise for her; Ellie tries to guess (a bow and arrow? Kittens? A convertible?). It’s a sweet bonding moment, even more so when the pair reach the mystery destination: the science museum! In Part II, this sequence is among the best in the game, and it’s just the two of them nerding out, listening to music, imagining riding in a space capsule — and the TV adaptation absolutely nails it. Watching Ellie’s radiant smile — “I do OK?” Joel asks, knowing damn he did — you can’t help but to feel a little lighter, a little more at peace, at least for the meantime. Because as they leave, and a swarm of fireflies stops Ellie in her tracks, we’re reminded that this peace won’t last.

It’s 365 days later, and Joel comes home early to surprise Ellie on her 17th birthday — only to be the one truly surprised as he walks in on her getting frisky with another girl, getting a tattoo and partaking in some casual drug use. (Teenagers, right?) Tempers flare on both sides; we now know when and why Ellie moved out to the garage. “Maybe it’s a good thing for you to have your space,” Joel says, not looking Ellie in the eye.

Even as they make up, the tension remains, to the point that Joel seeks out Gail advice from Gail — who, hilariously, couldn’t care less. (Catherine O’Hara continues to be an absolute gem.)

The scene shifts; two more years have gone by. Ellie, now 19, is practicing questions she has for Joel about what really happened in Salt Lake City. But before she has a chance to ask them, Joel surprises her once again — it is her birthday, after all — this time with her first patrol. The atmosphere is stilted between them; it’s clear we’re coming to a head about what caused the riff that we saw at the beginning of the season. For the moment, though, the two have to contend with an infected situation. Joel wants Ellie to head home; she, unsurprisingly, refuses. 

So, with guns in hand, the two move forward. (Watching them walk through moss, knowing how the fungus behaves, was more terrifying than it had any right to be.) At their destination, the infected are dead, but they’re not alone: They come across Gail’s husband, Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) — and he’s bitten. His last wish is to be taken back to Jackson to see Gail. Joel levels his gun at him; Ellie convinces him that Eugene has time to make it back before the infection takes control. Joel has Ellie return to their horses, saying he’ll start walking Eugene to camp. “I promise,” he says.

He doesn’t keep that promise. Instead, he leads Eugene to a beautiful waterside spot for his final moments, far from Jackson. Eugene says his last words — Pantoliano delivers a standout performance — and Joel pulls the trigger. (The fact that we don’t hear the gunshot is a small blessing.) Moments later, Ellie catches up with Joel, stricken by what she sees. 

The two drag Eugene’s body back to Jackson, where Gail and Tommy meet up with them. Joel, in an act of moral repugnance, lies straight to Gail’s face about how Eugene died. But then, in a scene of total emotional devastation, Ellie calls him out, telling Gail and Tommy exactly what happened to Eugene. The looks of betrayals on everyone’s faces… (At least we know why Gail really doesn’t like Joel in the present.)

Another jump forward; only nine months this time. We’re back at the start of the season, watching Ellie and Dina dance, this time from Joel’s perspective. The same confrontation happens, but now we get to see the follow up. Like in the game, the two have the talk they’ve been needing to have for a long, long time. Ellie asks the questions that have been plaguing her. (In the game, Ellie asks them in an entirely different location, but the result is the same.) “If you lie to me again, we’re done,” she warns. 

He doesn’t lie. With a shattered look on his face, Joel tells her what went down at that hospital: “Making a cure would have killed you.” Ellie, in tears, lashes out at him: “My life would have fucking mattered, but you took that from me. You took it from everyone!” Joel, in turn, is unrepentant: “But if somehow I had a second chance at that moment, I would do it all over again.”

In a ugly-cry-inducing deviation from the game, Joel explains to Ellie a simple truth for why he did what he did: “Because I love you.” And he offers her a piece of advice, if she should ever have kids: “I hope you do a little better than me.”

It’s a moment of catharsis for the two, as the truth becomes known. Ellie isn’t sure she can forgive, but she’d like to try. We know they don’t get the opportunity. The next thing we see is Ellie, in the present, outside of the Pinnacle, foreshadowing a pivotal moment in the game, one that has nothing to do with forgiveness, only revenge.