Winners and Losers: 'The Last of Us' Season 2 , Episode 3
“Some people just can’t be saved.”
Spoiler warning for Season 2, episode 3 of The Last of Us on Max.
It’s been a Long, Long Time, but The Last of Us is finally back on our TV screens!
If I’m being honest, I don’t like horror. I don’t like zombie properties (except Shaun of the Dead), and I don’t particularly care for dystopian worlds (except for Station Eleven). But The Last of Us is the exception for both. Mainly because it’s actually a layered family drama disguised as a horror series.
Season one broke my heart nearly every damn episode, and I’m fully prepared for season two to do the same. Love is a beautiful and powerful emotion that can lead human beings to do incredible things, and also horrific things.
I’ll also preface these recaps with the fact that I have not played any of The Last of Us videogames, and do not plan to read about the videogame storyline while watching the series. So please, no spoilers!
Without further ado, let’s look at the winners and losers from the third episode of The Last of Us season 2 — “The Path”.
Winners
Saying Goodbye
“Give Sarah my love.”
Tommy has been through so much. He just spent an entire episode fighting for his life and the lives of his family only to lose his brother without even being there to attempt to save him. As Jackson is aflame with the burning of the infected, Tommy is saying goodbye to his older brother.
Joel is lying on a table. He’s covered by a sheet, but we know it’s him because of his watch — the watch that reminds him of Sarah. Tommy is there to clean Joel’s body in preparation for his burial. I was worried the show would flash-forward over this moment, so I’m so happy that we get to spend a little time with Tommy as he grieves his big brother.
And if there is any silver lining to this tragedy, Tommy reminds us that Joel is finally reunited with his beloved daughter. Joel and Sarah together again. At last.
Grief Walk
Let’s start with Ellie getting discharged from the hospital three months after the attack that likely left her with some broken ribs and a punctured lung. We get (another) fantastic scene featuring the glorious Catherine O’Hara as she performs a final psych evaluation on Ellie’s mental health. Ellie’s answers are good. Too good. They are glib and performative, and both Ellie and Gail know it. As Ellie leaves the room her demeanor changes instantly. The sarcastic grin fades, and emptiness and pain take its place.
It’s time for Ellie to come face-to-face with her new reality. She enters Joel’s home for the first time since his death, and it’s the first time we see Joel’s home. It’s quiet and dusty. I was immediately struck by the fact that there’s no score playing underneath this scene. We’re left in this home along with Ellie, forced to process our feelings in silence. She walks by her old room, remnants seemingly left just the way they were when she moved out.
Ellie walks into Joel’s room, and we see a workbench with wood carvings of various animals. I didn’t realize Joel was a woodworker1, which is such a sweet detail. She finds a box on Joel’s bed, and inside are his personal effects — the watch from Sarah, and underneath a piece of cloth, Joel’s gun. Craig Mazin makes an interesting point in the official companion podcast for The Last of Us when he states that while the watch means everything to Joel it doesn’t mean anything to Ellie. She passes right over it to get to the gun, which is a more accurate representation of her relationship to Joel than the watch. A small, but frightening, detail.
Before she’s able to leave the room she spots Joel’s closet; inside all of his clothes, including the iconic jacket he wore all throughout season one. The scent of Joel overtakes Ellie, and she finally breaks — tears pouring from her eyes and down her cheeks. She buries her face into his jacket to be as close to his memory as possible before being startled back to reality by the voice of Dina. This whole sequence broke me too. I have such distinct memories of walking into my grandparents’ house years after their death, and the smell of that home immediately transporting me to when I was 5-years-old again. I hope Ellie gets more time to grieve. I know she won’t.
Peace Offerings
“I loved him too, you know.”
As Ellie wipes away her tears and joins Dina downstairs in the dining room, it’s clear Dina is not looking forward to their interaction. She brings Ellie a tupperware filled with cookies — as a peace offering.
And it’s really important for me to take a moment here to ask, what kind of cookies did Dina bake? I have replayed and slowed down this scene more times than I’d care to admit, but to my untrained eyes it looks like Ellie is noshing on an oatmeal raisin cookie. Now, I’m not here to yuck anybody’s yum — especially Ellie who genuinely seems to enjoy them — but Dina just lost about 500 cool points in my book if this is actually the case. Plus, didn’t the flour cause this whole apocalypse in the first place? I would not be taking any chances, no matter how bad I wanted some chocolate chips.
Okay, back to the important stuff. Dina reveals that she kept important information from Ellie. She knows the names and the whereabouts of the people that killed Joel. Ellie is pissed, and immediately scolds Dina — who gives Ellie the benefit of the doubt even though she is stewing on the inside. Dina knows Ellie. She knows that Ellie would have stormed off to Seattle at 10% health with no plan and a heart full of revenge. Dina saved her.
Dina, with tears in her eyes, tells Ellie that she loved Joel too. She wants revenge just as much as Ellie does. Ellie seems to understand this, and quietly passes the cookies back to Dina. A peace offering.
Ride or Dies
“You know, you could have just asked.”
After the town comes to a decision regarding the proposal to avenge Joel’s death (more on that later), Ellie is back home in the garage packing every gun she owns. She’s going to do it herself. Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door, and Ellie freezes. It’s Dina, and Dina knows exactly what’s happening behind the door. Ellie is being Ellie. No plan, just vibes.
This scene makes me so happy because it harkens back to the scene from episode one where Ellie and Dina are preparing to go into the grocery store to kill some clickers. Ellie is ready to rush in and do damage, but Dina is smart and strategic. It perfectly introduced us to their relationship and their respective strengths, and it pays off massively here.
Dina has an ideal route mapped out, a list of provisions to pack, and weapons to bring. It’s all completely thought through. A Type-A’s dream. She even makes sure to note to Ellie not to cross open country “in fuckin Chucks” — which is solid advice. Before she goes she makes sure to let Ellie know that she could have just asked her to join and she would have; another important progression in their relationship. May we all have a Dina in our lives.
Parting Ways
I needed this. Co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin made it a point to give the audience a chance to grieve Joel in a proper way, and I’m so happy he recognized that. This character death hurts badly, and a proper grief episode was needed before we dive head first into the next chapter of our story. I wanted to see how Tommy would grieve his brother. I wanted to see how Dina and Jesse would grieve their mentor. And I wanted to see how Ellie would grieve the closest thing she had to a father.
It’s a gorgeous shot — a wheat field shortly after sunrise, golden rays blasting down as reeds blow in the wind. As Ellie bends down to Joel’s grave we see that she leaves a handful of coffee beans; you know, that stuff that smells like burnt shit. She smiles to herself before touching the soil one last time. A final goodbye before wherever this next phase takes her.
Losers
Opening Credits
This affected me a lot more than I anticipated. The opening credits always begin with the names of our two co-leads — Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. As the opening credits rolled on episode 3 there was only one name to be found. Pedro was no longer listed as our number one on the call sheet. Bella’s name stood alone.
As the rest of the credits continued to roll and this new normal began to sink in, I suddenly had another frightening thought. The opening credits end with two fungi sprouting from the ground — two silhouettes that resemble our heroes. What was this image going to be this time? And my fears were immediately realized as there was only one fungus left standing at the end. It’s just Ellie. Everything is different from here on out. Not OK, Mr. Mazin!
Democracy
Ah yes, the Town Hall meeting; a venue where only the best and brightest come to express their thoughts and concerns. Poor Scott just wanted to talk about turkeys and chickens and corn. But that’s not why we’re here. It’s to decide whether or not Jackson will send 16 of their own to find Abby and execute her.
The night before the meeting, Jesse gives Ellie some valuable advice. He advises her to write down her speech so that she remains focused and coherent. He knows Ellie as well as Dina does, and knows that if she leads with anger and hostility then the council will not side with her. During the meeting we hear from multiple townspeople that they are against the proposal while preaching mercy and forgiveness instead. Our good friend Seth, the town bigot, has some thoughts of his own. He chastises the town for being too lenient, and warns them that the raiders will come back and kill them all because Jackson didn’t punish them.
I had a bit of an issue with both Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s interpretation of this scene as they discussed Seth’s outburst during the “Making Of” featurette at the end of the episode. In their view, this is a moment of “The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point” as Seth — again, the town bigot — makes the point that Jackson should go after the murderers or else they’ll get overrun and destroyed by them again. He says it with anger, the way Ellie wishes she can approach her argument. In my eyes this is more a case of “doing all the math wrong and somehow arriving at the right answer”. Abby and her crew have shown no desire to return to Jackson to kill anyone. They were after Joel, and they got Joel. They aren’t coming back. So, Seth is wrong. Again.
It’s finally Ellie’s turn to speak, and, to her credit, she heeds Jesse’s advice. She calmly reads her thoughts from a piece of paper, and makes a genuine plea to the council to have a sense of community and to bring Joel’s murderers to justice. It’s smart, calculated, and a strong argument. The problem is it’s bullshit. At this moment, Ellie could care less about community. She wants Abby. And she wants Abby to suffer. Slowly.
The council begins their vote. And I was immediately pissed that they institute a private vote. Excuse me?! You’re a democratically elected body. You better make this vote (and all votes for that matter) public! Have some accountability for your decisions people! The proposal is rejected. Soundly. Democracy wins again.
Emotional Confusion
“Fuck you, “six”.”
Our new intrepid heroes — Ellie and Dina — set off on their adventure for revenge. They head “northwest” across gorgeous landscapes and scenery. Which is a nice reminder for all us to PROTECT AND STAFF OUR NATIONAL PARKS!
As they play travel games, Dina recognizes it’s about to rain and proposes they find an outcropping to make camp. They erect a tent just in time to avoid being completely drenched, and prepare to sleep. Only, Dina has something on her mind. She wants to talk about New Year’s Eve and “the kiss 🤪”. She’s curious if Ellie’s thinks she’s a good kisser because — and I quote — “you’re gay, I’m not”.
Ellie tries to make Dina feel less awkward by saying she knows the kiss didn’t mean anything because she was high, and Dina responds with an instant, “I know that”. The face Ellie makes is one of, “okay damn, you didn’t need to be so confident with that answer”.
Ellie finally appeases her, and gives her a rating. Six. Isabela Merced, with the line-reading of the season, offendedly responds with a fantastic, “Fuck you, “six”,” before finally turning over to go to sleep. But not before letting Ellie know that she wasn’t that high.
Dina, what are you doing?! I just know Ellie is stewing and is SO CONFUSED right now. Like, what are we? I’m going to give Dina the benefit of the doubt and say she is figuring out who she is, and confronting her own feelings towards Ellie. But girl, you better talk to Gail or something because we only got four more episodes left in the season and I’m worried about you!
W.L.F.
“Wolves.”
As of now we don’t know too much about the Washington Liberation Front, or W.L.F. for short2. We know they’re a militia from Seattle, they’re run by some guy named Isaac, and they have an honor code that they don’t kill people who can’t defend themselves. Well. . .
We meet a new group of survivors traveling along the road. They are all-ages — men, women, and children — with seemingly ceremonial scars on their faces. They are all wearing similar tattered robes with a strange symbol on them, and appear to be a type of Luddite since the only weapons they carry are hammers and bows and arrows. It becomes evident that they utilize a whistling system as a form of long-distance communication to warn of danger.
Leading the pack are a father and daughter who talk about following a religious prophet and fleeing war. Suddenly, there’s a whistle from behind, and the group scatters in fear. The father and daughter run into the forest and hide behind a fallen log as the father warns of incoming “wolves”.
Later on, Ellie and Dina come upon this group brutally murdered execution style — even the newborn baby. If this really was Abby and W.L.F. then they are no longer following their code.
As they finally arrive in Seattle, it is eerily quiet and serene. Until we see Manny watching from the skies in the Space Needle. And W.L.F.? It’s not a small group as Dina had predicted. They are a hoard of heavily armed soldiers, Humvees, and tanks.
It looks like next week we’ll get more answers as to who exactly W.L.F. is, with the remarkable Jeffrey Wright joining the cast. I’m going to be honest — I’m scared. Ellie and Dina are two of the most capable people in all of Jackson. But it’s an army. An entire army against our two heroes. The odds are not looking good. It’s the ‘03 Tigers squad all over again. 😓
Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this episode of The Last of Us!
A hobby he took from Bill? Or maybe just Nick Offerman.
Fucking morons.