The first season finale of The Last of Us was excellent for a number of reasons. Strong performances, once again, from our two leads – along with some great work from Merle Dandridge in her return as Marlene and Ashley Johnson (the video game’s Ellie) as Ellie’s mother, Anna.* A story that was unafraid to go where everyone – or, at least everyone who wasn’t familiar with the video game source material – knew it had to end up. And a clear, complex conflict that will carry over into season two. It was a pretty perfect way to end the first season of a stellar series.
*The Drama field is going to be packed at this year’s Emmy Awards, with the swan songs of Succession and Better Call Saul already heavy favorites for nominations. But this episode certainly sealed the deal for Pedro Pascal being a front runner for Best Actor, while last week was Bella Ramsey’s showcase for Best Actress (assuming she opts to slot into that category, as Ramsey is genderfluid). Both were sensational, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Dandridge scored a Guest Actress nomination.
So much of the first season was looking at how Ellie was able to change Joel – from him initially declaring her to be his cargo on his trip to find Tommy, to her slowly getting him to open up and trust not only her but others, and finally, her getting him to realize that despite believing that he’s better off alone, he really does need people in his corner. And that it is ok to finally open up his heart again and risk the heartbreak that comes with letting others into your inner circle. Similarly, although it wasn’t the main emotional arc of the season, Joel got under Ellie’s skin – she went from being afraid to trust someone after the numerous losses she’s suffered in her young life to openly admitting that she needs Joel to be that North star in her existence, the one person she knows she can count on. What an exceptional arc, indeed.
And it’s all that work done throughout the season – all the flashbacks, the various encounters the pair had with the good, the bad, and the ugly of this post-apocalyptic America – that set up that one, final gut-punch of a reveal: Joel was willing to risk everything to save Ellie. Now, here’s where things get incredibly interesting for us as an audience. I suspect, if I took a formal poll, most viewers were thrilled Joel went full-on Rambo and lit up that hospital to rescue Ellie from certain death in the quest for the cure (because none of us were naive enough to think that a cure wouldn’t come at the cost of Ellie’s life, right?). But we know Ellie wanted to save everyone – she wanted to be able to help prevent anyone else from losing someone like she lost Riley and Sam. She made sure to tell Joel that. But here’s where the morality of it all becomes completely murky: Marlene didn’t let Ellie know just what was about to happen to her. Ellie didn’t get to make an informed choice as to what she was willing to give up in order to potentially save the world (and remember, this wasn’t a guaranteed cure – the doctor only thought it would work). So, was Joel right in taking out that whole sect of Fireflies and all but destroying their chance to try for a cure? Or was Marlene right – would Ellie have been willing to give her life if she had been asked (which then triggers the question of why wasn’t she asked)?
That’s the question we’re left with at the close of the episode: Did Joel do the right thing? I think anyone who has ever watched a television show knows that, at some point in season two, Ellie is going to find out just what Joel did – and, perhaps more crucially, that Joel lied to her about it. And I’m pretty sure the excuse “They were going to have to kill you for the cure, and I couldn’t lose you” isn’t going to cut it when she does. It’s character-based conflicts like this one – the secret that is hanging over proceedings, waiting to be revealed – that make for some of the best kinds of drama. And when we’re left in the lurch at the close of a season, waiting months to find out when the reveal is going to come (and what type of explosion will occur with it), it makes that wait all the more difficult.
For a series that made sure we realized that in this new world, the humans are the real monsters, with their greed, hate, anger, fear, and pain, twisting things around to show us how love can make someone become just as monstrous as hate was pretty ballsy. And worked just as well. After all, there’s a thin line between love and hate and the deep, all-encompassing emotions they produce within us. Ellie ends the season still reeling from the trauma with David and his attack, and her suspicions surrounding the events in Salt Lake City only serve to further cloud her mind as they approach their sanctuary in Jackson. And Joel is reeling from his near-death experience and his realization that Ellie may just be the most important person in his life since he lost Sarah – and he almost managed to lose her, too. Ellie isn’t the only one who loses those she loves – Joel has just managed to mostly insulate his heart and soul for twenty years to avoid that deep pain again. But, as we walk away from this series for the moment, we leave these two broken characters clinging to a lie and hoping it will become the truth. Not a great place to be, but the best they can do at this point in time. I cannot wait to see what’s in store when we reconvene for season two.
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