Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from Episode 7 of The Last of Us.Young love has been a recurring theme in fiction ever since the dawn of days. Who doesn’t love to watch romance bloom between two young souls, still new to the world of complex feelings and emotional pain; to reminisce about our own first ventures into the world of romance? Or, maybe, the pleasure lies precisely in righting the wrongs of our first experiences with love; in seeing characters succeed where we failed and find happiness where we met only pain. For even younger viewers, watching stories of young love may be aspirational, a look into the future of kindness and affection that surely awaits us.
Indeed, there is much joy to be found in stories about young romance. That is, of course, unless you are (or were) a queer kid. Both in movies and TV, love stories about LGBTQIA+ kids usually focus on trauma instead of joy, erasing the pleasure of finding love in the name of a so-called more realistic approach to the coming out process. But, recently, a handful of films and shows have begun to challenge this narrative. And HBO’sThe Last of Ushas just added its name to the list of projects that feature a positive depiction of young queer love.
At first, it doesn’t seem like this is the case. ThoughThe Last of Us’ seventh episode, “Left Behind”, does focus on a romance between two teenage girls, the story doesn’t exactly have a happy ending. Sure, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Riley (Storm Reid) fall in love with one another and have no qualms about acting on their feelings, but their brief romance ends with the two girls being attacked and infected by a Cordyceps-zombie. Ellie lives on, of course, and becomes the potential cure for the horrifying pandemic that has taken over the world. Riley, on the other hand, is implied to be dead.
It all sounds like yet another queer love story focused on trauma, but by focusing on the budding romance between the two girls and leaving Riley’s death out of the equation,The Last of Usmanages to do its young lesbian romance some justice in a world in which justice is a hard thing to find. In the end, we are left with the ephemeral joy of young love instead of the bitter taste of death for trauma’s sake.
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What Happens Between Ellie and Riley in Episode 7 of ‘The Last of Us’?
Season 1, Episode 7 ofThe Last of Usopens with Ellie desperately trying to find a way to save Joel (Pedro Pascal) from a deadly stab wound he received while looking for the Fireflies at the University of Eastern Colorado. As she goes through the many rooms of an abandoned house looking for some sort of medicine, we are taken back in time to the day that forever changed her life: that fateful excursion to the mall in which she was bitten by an infected.
But Ellie’s flashback doesn’t start with her being surrounded by mushroom-covered clickers. Instead, we are introduced to an entirely different kind of horror:the day-to-day at the FEDRA academy, in which bullying runs rampant and children are thrown into solitary confinement for trying to stand up for themselves. Angry and alone, Ellie mourns the loss of her roommate and best friend, Riley, who ran away one night and never came back. That is, of course, until she does.
On the day in which the flashback takes place, Riley jumps the window to Ellie’s room to take her on a surprise trip. She reveals that she has joined the Fireflies, the rebel group that faces off against the military dictatorship of FEDRA, and that she will be leaving town in a matter of days. In order to say goodbye, she invites Ellie to go with her to a magical place called the mall. During their little shopping trip, the girls ride on a carousel, take pictures, and play with monster masks at a Hot Topic-like store. They also begin to realize that their feelings for each other go way beyond friendship. Eventually, they kiss, and Ellie asks Riley to stay with her, to which she promptly agrees. But before we can find out whether she means it or not, an infected pops out of the shadows, taking them by surprise.
After a bloody battle against the zombie, Ellie manages to take them out. However, her efforts are to no avail: both her and Riley have been scratched by the infected and now carry the Cordyceps fungus in their systems. Enraged, Ellie begins to break everything around her, but Riley quickly resigns herself to her fate.Sitting on the floor, she contemplates suicidebut refuses to take this easy way out. Instead, she chooses to spend her final moments alive and conscious beside Ellie. Ellie, in turn, agrees that this is the best choice and joins her newfound love on the ground to wait for the upcoming transformation. The scene ends with the two girls crying in each other’s arms, poetically waiting to lose their minds together.
By Not Showing Riley’s Death, ‘The Last of Us’ Avoids Using It for Shock Value
There is no denying that the ending of Riley and Ellie’s love story is a sad one, perhaps made even sadder by the fact that Ellie manages to survive the attack without losing her mind. After all, the girls don’t even get their poetic demise. However, Riley’s fate in the show isn’t there just for shock value.In Episode 6, “Kin”, Ellie tells Joel that everyone she ever loved either left her or died. The leaving part is probably about her mother, whom we shall meet in a future episode of the show. As for the dying, it is most likely about Riley. Riley’s infection and implied subsequent death is part of what makes Ellie who she is, an essential element to the character’s backstory. But the two girls’ young romance isn’t taken lightly, either. Instead, it is shown as something serious, as an event that marked Ellie and still informs her actions. Riley’s death is just as important as Ellie’s love for her.
The importanceThe Last of Usplaces on Riley and Ellie’s budding romance throughout “Left Behind” helps makeRiley’s death something more than a mere shocking event. Her character doesn’t feel as if she was placed there simply to die. She had a purpose, which was to show Ellie who she was and how to love. Likewise, the fact that the series chooses not to show Riley’s death ends the story on a more “positive”, albeit sad note: we are left with the girls still enjoying their short-lived love story, cradling each other in their arms as they dream of a poetic ending. It is a respectful conclusion that doesn’t rob the viewers of the pleasure of watching a love story by suddenly shifting to horror. It is also respectful in the sense that it honors Ellie’s feelings and how she certainly prefers to remember her first love.
Much Like in the Real World, in ‘The Last of Us’, Young Romance Begins with the Certainty of an End
Furthermore, the course of Ellie and Riley’s story in “Left Behind” isn’t that different from how much young love stories go. After all, nearly every young romance is doomed to end sooner or later. Of course, we all know that one person that managed to marry their high-school sweetheart and live happily ever after, but that’s not how things go for most of us. Even inThe Last of Us,we see Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) living out a happily ever endingof sorts. But, most people grow out of their first loves. Feelings change and people grow apart, especially as they grow up. And though denial is a big part of young love, we all know, even as we swear unconditional affection, that these youthful romances are fated to end.
Right after giving up on the suicide option, Riley tells Ellie that they might last for two minutes or two days, there is no way of knowing. Still, they must not give up what they have. They must live it for as long as possible. Much like regular, non-post-apocalyptic teenage lovers, Riley and Ellie know that their relationship will soon come to an end. However, this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t enjoy every living second of it.
