Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2.HBO’sThe Last of Usis one ofthe biggest shows out there. Despite being about people fighting to survive thezombie-infested hellscape of a post-apocalyptic America (and featuring stellaractionscenes to make itsvideo gameroots come to life), the strongest element of this show lies in its characters. Specifically, its two main characters: Joel and Ellie, played by the talentedPedro PascalandBella Ramsey. These two spend the first season traversing the country together to try and bring about a potential cure to the relentless Cordyceps infection.Ellie is immune to it, and Joel has to get her to the Firefly headquartersfor them to try and develop a cure.
They start off as strangers who couldn’t care less about each other, and wind up being the most important people in each other’s lives. With Season 2 over, it’s a good time to look back on the pair’s most emotionally striking scenes. They go through a lot together, so there are surely many moments to choose from.The feelings can range from fury to extreme sadness to profound love, and there can be a mix of emotions that aren’t as easy to describe. They don’t need to have tears either, as the character’s feelings can be visible under the surface—especially in a show where the filmmaking craft is so well-honed. Ranked by intensity, these moments are difficult to shake off.
The Last Of Us
After a global pandemic destroys civilization, a hardened survivor takes charge of a 14-year-old girl who may be humanity’s last hope.
10The New Year’s Eve Party
Season 2, Episode 1 “Future Days”
Not all the most emotional scenes between Joel and Ellie are sad or happy. This one, for instance, is angry.The Season 2 premieresees Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) kissing for the first time at a New Year’s Eve party, which leads to Seth (Robert John Burke) telling them to knock it off and using offensive language. This angers Ellie, but it infuriates Joel.He goes over and pushes Seth to the ground in the middle of the dance floor. The music stops and everyone looks over.
This also feels somewhat related to what Joel did to protect Ellie in the Season 1 finale…
Ellie yells at Joel, telling him that she doesn’t need him to protect her. Embarrassed,Joel leaves the party on his own to sit on his front porch. Given the amount of tension we can already sense between them, it seems that the past five years haven’t been as stress-free as Joel expected. This also feels somewhat related to what Joel did to protect Ellie in the Season 1 finale; she might be talking more about that than about anything else. Either way, the tension is palpable.
9Ellie Sews Joel Up
Season 1, Episode 7 “Left Behind”
Season 1, Episode 7, “Left Behind,“is mostly a flashback episode about Ellie’s final night with her best friend Riley (Storm Reid). In the present action, though,Joel has been seriously injured and Ellie is the only one who can help him. She’s managed to get them into an abandoned house. He’s lying unconscious and bleeding, while she’s frantically searching for a sewing kit. Finally, she’s able to find one, and returns to his side. At this point, he wakes up, and she proceeds to sew his wound closed.
The way Ellie holds Joel’s hand and how they look at each other are enough to communicate how much they care about one another.
The scene doesn’t have any actual dialogue, and it doesn’t need any either. The way Ellie holds Joel’s hand and how they look at each other are enough to communicate how much they care about one another.With the music playing throughout this scene, there is a sense of relief that Joel’s going to recover. This is another marker of their relationship significantly growing, which makes for a very touching moment.
8Ellie and Joel in the Astronaut Capsule
Season 2, Episode 6 “The Price”
“The Price” is full of terrific moments, and this is one of the best.Joel takes Ellie to an abandoned space museum for her birthday, which is already cool enough of an adventure on its own. But there’s also an astronaut capsule, and they’re about to get on. Joel even gives Ellie a cassette tape that plays a recording of astronauts about to launch into space. Ellie closes her eyes, and we’ve never seen her so happy. The show plays with light to help us imagine what she’s imagining: shooting into space.
Ellie closes her eyes, and we’ve never seen her so happy.
As euphoric as this moment is for Joel and Ellie,this is shown in a flashback episode that airs at a point where Joel is already long dead. With that context in mind, this is also an unbearably sad thing to witness. It’s like saying goodbye to him yet again, not to mention the dichotomy between Ellie’s past and what she’s become in the present.
7Joel and Ellie Bury Sam and Henry
Season 1, Episode 5 “Endure and Survive”
Ellie tried to use her blood to heal the young Sam’s (Keivonn Woodard) bite wound, but it didn’t work.The boy wound up attacking her the following morning anyway, and Henry (Lamar Johnson) wound up shooting his infected brother in the head. Then he shot himself, despite Joel’s attempt to stop him. Afterward, we see Joel and Ellie burying them outside. They’re silent for a while. After dropping Sam’s sketch pad on top of the dirt, Ellie asks Joel which way is west. He gestures, and she starts walking in that direction. No eulogies here.
After dropping Sam’s sketch pad on top of the dirt, Ellie asks Joel which way is west.
Joel looks at the ground and reads the note that Ellie scribbled down for Sam: “I’m sorry.“It’s another heartbreaking moment that clearly affects both of them, and the acting on display here makes it easy to communicate that with minimal dialogue. “Endure and Survive” is one ofthe most intense episodes of Season 1, and it skillfully ends on this particularly tragic note.
6Ellie Tells Gail What Happened to Eugene
The audience already knew that Joel had to kill a man named Eugene (Joe Pantoliano), and that this man was married to Gail (Catherine O’Hara). It was also made clear from the Season 2 premiere that Gail was still furious at Joel for how he killed her husband, but we don’t find out the specifics until five episodes later. Eugene was bitten by an infected person during patrol, but there was still time for Gail to say goodbye to him (and vice versa) before killing him.Joel promised Ellie and Eugene that he wouldn’t kill him until Gail got there, but he broke his promise.
…The way Joel lied to Ellie about Eugene was the same way he lied to her about the Fireflies.
Joel then tries to lie to Gail about it, but Ellie is there and lets her know otherwise. This is emotional enough, with Gail suddenly mourning her husband, and the way that she goes from hugging Joel to letting go of him (probably thinking him to be a monster) is terribly sad. But this is also about Joel and Ellie; the way Joel lied to Ellie about Eugene was the same way he lied to her about the Fireflies. When she confronts him, we can see anger that began much earlier than that day.
5The Giraffe
Season 1, Episode 9 “Look for the Light”
In light of what happened in the previous episode,it’s heartbreaking to watch Ellie not really being herself in the Season 1 finale. She’s quiet, not paying much attention to things. When Joel boosts her up onto the second floor of a building, she’s supposed to help him get up there by handing him a ladder. Instead, though, she gets so distracted by something that she drops it. Frustrated, Joel gets it upright and climbs up. Ellie has him follow her, telling him he has to see this.
Ellie seems to have sprung back to life, and it’s great to see that there’s still something in this world that can cheer her up.
Then Joel finally sees what it is: a giraffe eating some leaves. Ellie seems to have sprung back to life, and it’s great to see that there’s still something in this world that can cheer her up.This scene lets us know that there’s still some hope out there for the future, or at least for this pair’s happiness. It would be surreal to see a giraffe roaming Seattle even now, and the music brings further warmth to a magnificent scene that helps make “Look for the Light"the best episode ofThe Last of Usso far.
4Joel Lies to Ellie About the Fireflies
The giraffe scene might have been full of joy, but that’s not how the Season 1 finale winds up feeling as a whole. By the end of it, Joel has killed practically all the remaining Fireflies to save Ellie from a fatal brain operation. He’s also lied to Ellie about what happened, and Ellie suspects it. As they hike the rest of their way back to Jackson,Joel is talking about Sarah and comparing her to Ellie. The guy’s in good spirits, and this is one ofhis most interesting scenes, while Ellie is clearly skeptical.
…Joel has killed practically all the remaining Fireflies to save Ellie from a fatal brain operation.
She tells him to wait, then tells him about when she had to kill her best friend Riley. We can see the pain behind her eyes as she names a few more people who died along their journey to Seattle, as if to say that living doesn’t mean that much to her anymore.Joel tries to insist that there’s always something else to fight for, at which point she tells him to swear that his story about the Fireflies is true. The way the actors are holding so many emotions back while still conveying them enough for us to see them is astonishing.
3Joel and Ellie Reunite
Season 1, Episode 8 “When We Are in Need”
Ellie has just killed two men, one of whom she hacked to death with a butcher’s knife. She also escaped a hellish scenario in a burning building, and Joel was nowhere in sight. So when she finally gets outside again and runs into yet another man, it takes a little while for her to realize that it’s Joel. She’s clearly traumatized, emphasized further by the blood splattered across her face.This reunion between them is incredibly moving, as Joel has to tell her “It’s me.”
…Joel sees himself as a paternal figure to Ellie.
As he comforts her, he also affectionately calls her “baby girl”—which marks a huge step in their relationship. More than ever, Joel sees himself as a paternal figure to Ellie. The difference between the relationship they had at the beginning of the show and the one they have now is night and day. As they walk away in the snow, we get the impression of a father and daughter alone against the world.
2Ellie Makes Joel Tell the Truth
It takes a while, butEllie finally confronts Joel about what he told her about the Fireflies. She doesn’t start with that, though; she addresses other things that happened throughout the day. There was the confrontation at the community’s New Year’s Eve party, patrol, and so on. When she finally comes around to the events of Salt Lake City, Ellie tells Joel that part of her always knew he lied. Importantly, she threatens to cut ties with him if he continues to lie now.
…Ellie tells Joel that part of her always knew he lied.
Joel still can’t bring himself to utter the words himself, so Ellie asks him a series of simple questions.The way he nods and shakes his head in response shows just how difficult it is for himto think about what happened, yet he insists that he would do the same thing anyway. Coming at the end of a beautiful flashback episode that spans years, the emotional power and complexity of this conversation can hardly even be summarized. In short, the writing and acting here are top-shelf.
1Joel Is Murdered in Front of Ellie
Season 2, Episode 2 “Through the Valley”
Joel’s murder came across asa huge plot twistfor the audience, so one can imagine just how shocking it is to Ellie. Unable to use the element of surprise to her advantage against Abby’s gang, Ellie finds herself being held down and forced to watch Abby put a broken golf club through the neck of the person she loves most in the world. Helpless,Ellie repeatedly tells Joel to get up when he obviously can’t, though he is able to lift his head a little. She also begs Abby not to kill him, but, of course, she does anyway.
It’s hard to describe the devastating effect this had on Ellie. She goes from the saddest she’s ever been to the angriest she’s ever been, telling everyone in the room that they’re going to die when she’s in no position to make any threats. Through all the tears and rage (and the sense that her goodbye to Joel was far from complete),this scene is arguably the most gut-wrenching in the series for our main characters. In any case, that’s the biggest reason why “Through the Valley” is easily one ofthe strongest entries in Season 2.
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