The Last of Us has been an emotional rollercoaster for fans in season 2. After Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) took our Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) from us, fans have missed their favorite father figure. Which is what made episode 6’s sneak peek so emotional.
Joel and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) relationship at the end was less than great. They were fighting, she didn’t really want to talk to him, and it made Abby’s brutal attack on Joel hurt that much worse. But now with episode 6, we’ll get a little more of Joel Miller and look, as is the case with any good flashback, it’s nice to see our faves again but it is going to hurt even more knowing that they’re gone.
The brief look into episode 6 has Joel walking into Ellie’s room and saying “Hey, kiddo” while she’s sleeping. As a card holding member of the dead dad club, stuff like this is destined to wreck me. But out of all of season 2, episode 6 is my favorite of them. Not only because I got to see Pedro Pascal again. It’s just an extremely beautiful episode of television. That also happens to have Pedro Pascal in it and made me cry.
Many online clung to the “hey, kiddo” of it all, just posting that phrase with pictures of Pascal. And I can’t blame them. Joel Miller is beloved and so is Pedro Pascal. We’ve only been without them for four episodes but it is enough to have made the heart grow fonder.
There isn’t much else to unpack about this scene but it’s one of those moments that we all collectively feel the same about. You hear “Hey, kiddo” and you know that you’re not making it out of this episode without crying.
Pour one out for the Dead Dad Club members
There is something special about being a member of the “Dead Dad Club.” That “special” thing being that you know when things are going to hurt to watch. It might seem obvious but it often hits you when you least expect it. In this case, I fully knew that the return of Joel Miller was not going to be an easy one for me to watch.
Now, did I know that hearing “Hey, kiddo” would be enough to get me to cry? No. But that’s on me. I should have been more aware of my emotions and my attachment to Pedro Pascal.
To be fair, Joel Miller could have easily just said “hi” and I think we’d all have reacted similarly. It just hurts a little bit more with the pet name for Ellie thrown into it.
So, I guess prepare yourselves for next week. We’re all going to have to see Joel Miller back in action and it is going to hurt but it will also be nice to see our guy back again. Even if a simple “hey, kiddo” had us all crying about how much we miss him.
(featured image: HBO)
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