BEWARE! This post contains significant spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 6!
The Last of Us, HBO’s award-winning adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name, continues its second season this week. Over the course of the next two weeks, until May 25th, we at The Beat will be delivering episode recaps for the new season, diving into what happens every week, how it reflects the game it’s based on, and how the show is crafted. The fifth episode of season 2, titled ‘The Price’, dives into Joel’s memories and the years he spent in Jackson with Ellie. Directed by Neil Druckmann (co-director of both The Last of Us games) and written by Druckmann, Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), and Halley Gross (Westworld), it stands out as one of the show’s best episodes and a highlight in the season.
The episode begins with a flashback to Austin, Texas in 1983. A young Joel (Andrew Diaz) and Tommy (David Miranda) are hiding in a bedroom. Tommy fears what will happen when their father returns home, but Joel offers to take the beating for him. That evening, their father, a police officer, returns home. Played by Tony Dalton (Better Call Saul), he’s quite the intimidating presence, with a physicality and pervasive sense of tension when he’s on screen. He makes Joel aware that he knows what happened; Tommy tried to buy drugs, got ripped off, and Joel came to the rescue by beating up the dealer. He warns Joel that if they weren’t his kids, they would be in juvie by now. He gives Joel a beer and tells him a story from his youth, where he stole a candy bar as a ten year old. His father forced him to apologize, and then broke his jaw when they got home. Tears in his eyes, he defends himself, stating that even if he beats his sons, he’d never do something that extreme. He claims to be doing “a little better than he did” and says to his son that, when he eventually has a child, he hopes Joel “does a little better than I did.”
We then move forward to Ellie’s 15th birthday, around a year after the events of the first season and four years before the events of the second. Joel (Pedro Pascal) visits Seth (Robert John Burke) at a bar, shortly after settling in Jackson, Wyoming. He gives Seth LEGOs, in return for Seth baking Ellie a vanilla cake for her birthday. We then see Joel fixing up an acoustic guitar, including changing the strings, fixing broken parts, and polishing it. Tommy (Gabriel Luna) arrives, having escorted Ellie (Bella Ramsey) home after she burnt her arm on a pot. High on painkillers, Ellie is giggling and delirious; she claims that she did it because she wanted to wear short sleeved clothing again. She falls asleep, and awakens to see the cake downstairs with a spelling error. As Joel prepares to cut into it, she grabs the cake and eats it with her hands. Joel gives her the guitar, and she asks him to play and sing something for her. He plays Future Days by Pearl Jam, which we’ve heard Ellie play in previous episodes and is a recurring theme from the game. Joel says he understands why she burnt herself, and wishes her a happy birthday.
We cut to a year later, the day of Ellie’s 16th birthday. She and Joel are walking along a river, as she attempts to figure out what her gift could be. She wants to be put on patrols, but Joel wants her to enjoy her youth while she still has it. He asks if Jesse and Ellie are dating, to which Ellie awkwardly tries to explain why that would never happen. Ellie is shown the beginning of her birthday present; a giant statue of a T-Rex. She climbs on top of it and can see a museum in the distance, which Joel tells her they can visit if she doesn’t fall off the T-Rex. In the museum, they visit the space exhibit. This sequence is probably the best moment in The Last Of Us Part II, and it’s adapted beautifully here. They see the Apollo 15 ship on display, and Ellie breaks a diorama to grab an astronaut’s helmet. Helmet on, she enters the ship, as does Joel. He gives her a cassette tape of a rocket launching and going into space. Ellie closes her eyes, listening to the tape and imagining blasting off into space. It’s an incredibly well directed moment that’s sure to get you emotional, especially if you’re someone like me with your own profound connection to space. Joel wishes her a happy birthday, and they leave the museum, but not before Ellie stops to watch some fireflies. This sequence manages to be just as emotional in the show, and the subtle storytelling of it is a welcome change of pace from the last two episodes.
Another year later, on Ellie’s 17th birthday, Joel returns home early from patrol with a chocolate cake for her. He catches her making out with Kat (Noah Lamanna), smoking weed whilst taking a break from getting a tattoo done. He kicks out Kat, and fights with Ellie, before slamming the door and leaving. Later that night, Joel is woken up by the sound of furniture being moved. Ellie is attempting to move her mattress off her bed and into the garage. Joel insists that it’s his house, but Ellie astutely points out it was given to him, and he doesn’t own anything. Joel asks for a few days to make the garage fit to live in, as well as wanting to see her tattoo. He questions the meaning of why Ellie draws moths so often, including getting one tattooed; he remarks that it must be related to growth and change. The next day, he confronts Gail (Catherine O’Hara) at breakfast, who is immediately antagonistic to him. He asks her about the meaning of moths, which she points out are usually symbolic for death. He leaves. We see Ellie packing up her stuff, including a page of paper covered in drawings of moths that reads “You have a greater purpose.” Much of this was implied but not shown on screen in game, and works well in the show.
Two years later, on Ellie’s 19th birthday, Ellie is awake early practicing a conversation. She wants to ask Joel about what really happened in Salt Lake City. He knocks on her door, finally allowing her to go on patrol. He takes her on the safest trail, insisting on her learning the rules much to her frustration. There’s a sense of tension between them and space, especially as Joel asks her for more quality time together. They are called to help Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) who has been attacked by infected whilst out on patrol. Joel initially sends Ellie home, but she fights back, stating “I’m not your fucking kid, I’m your partner.” They get off their horses and climb downhill towards where Eugene is, and watch as a horse runs away whilst dragging the corpse of its rider. They sneak around and find Eugene, who has been bitten in the torso by infected. He wants to say goodbye to Gail, his wife, but Joel says no. Eugene pulls a gun on him, but is out of ammo. Ellie supports Eugene’s wishes, stating that he seems clear of mind and should still have time before he turns. Joel tells Ellie to go get the horses, and swears to her that he will bring Eugene back to Jackson alive. He walks Eugene to a scenic view, who quickly realizes what’s actually happening. Pantoliano’s acting feels a bit off in this sequence, but I can’t exactly figure out why, and it might just be me. He begs to see Gail’s face one last time, to which Joel remarks that, “If you love someone, you can always see their face.” He shoots Eugene in the back of the head. On the way back with Ellie, she’s clearly upset, and they drag Eugene’s body behind them similarly to how Joel’s body was handled in episode 2 of this season. None of this sequence was in game, and replaces an entirely different flashback involving Ellie revisiting Salt Lake City herself; whilst this content is mostly very good, it does strike me as an odd choice to cut one of the game’s most pivotal moments. They return to Jackson, and Joel tells Gail a fabricated version of the story, where Eugene begged to be killed to not endanger his wife, and killed himself “bravely.” Gail believes him and hugs Joel. Ellie immediately throws him under the bus and reveals the truth; Gail slaps him and tells him to get away. Ellie derides him for lying to her.
Nine months later, on New Year’s Eve (seen in the first episode of the season), Joel is watching Ellie whilst she dances with Dina (Isabela Merced). Tommy takes his son to bed, and says that he will see Joel “next year,” the day after. Maria (Rutina Wesley) apologizes for calling Joel a refugee, stating that she’s grateful for his presence, and that he’s family, so she and Tommy would do anything for him. Upon seeing Seth make a homophobic remark at Ellie, Joel hits him, and then is derided by Ellie. We then see Joel sitting on his porch, playing guitar. Ellie comes to talk with him. They discuss how he got his hands on coffee, how she had the Seth situation under control, and she demands that he never take her off patrol again. He asks her about Dina, and says that she’d be lucky to have Ellie. Ellie calls him an asshole, and confronts him about his lie. She demands the truth, or else they will be “done.” Tears in his eyes, he nods yes or no to her questions; there were no raiders, or other immune people, they could have made a cure, and he killed all of the Fireflies. He defends his choice: Making a cure would’ve killed her. “If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment, I would do it all over again.” He says that he loves her in a way that she doesn’t understand, at least, not yet, and that if she has a child one day, he hopes she does a little better than he did. Ellie states that she “can’t forgive him yet, but I’d like to try.” We all know what happened next.
‘The Price’ continues off the second season of The Last of Us with one of the series’ best episodes yet, a heartbreaking journey through Joel’s memories of Ellie and their connection. Whilst it doesn’t help this season’s slow pacing, it delivers an hour full of subtle, beautiful and emotional writing and direction, a much needed change of pace from the last two weeks which have felt incongruent with the rest of the show. It dives deep into a complex, riveting character dynamic and reminds us all why we fell in love with the show in the first place. It adapts many of the games’ best moments with heart, soul and well-precisioned emotional devastation, and is sure to leave you a weepy mess by the end of its runtime.
Join back next week for a recap of the season finale, and check out The Last of Us season 2, now available on HBO Max.
