That’s really it? On Monday, The Last of Us wrapped up season two for good with a nail-biting seventh episode – and a major cliffhanger thrown in for good measure.
It’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride. Season two threw a major spanner in the works by killing off Pedro Pascal’s character Joel in the second episode – and forcing Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to watch as he was essentially beaten to death by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).
The rest of the season has followed Ellie on her quest for revenge. It’s been a quest that has taken her all the way to the ruins of Seattle, where a brutal fight is raging between the WLF paramilitary group and the religious fundamentalist Seraphites.
The finale was the culmination of Ellie’s journey. But what exactly happened?
Spoilers ahead for the TV series and video games: beware!
What happens in the finale?
The episode picks up after Ellie finds and tortures Nora (Tati Gabrielle) about Abby’s whereabouts, after chasing her to the cordyceps-filled bowels of an old hospital building. Nora told her about a “whale” and “wheel” before succumbing to the parasite, and when Ellie returns to Dina (Isabela Merced) she’s in a state.
Ellie finally tells Dina why Abby wanted revenge in the first place (Joel killed Abby’s father, as well as the whole Firefly movement) – and Dina finally realises the truth. Joel was a killer, Ellie’s quest is fruitless, and they all need to return home.
But Ellie can’t let go of her desire for revenge, and while out on a recon trip with Jesse (Young Mazino) she spots a ferris wheel and aquarium on a flooded part of the city. She leaves Jesse and tries to get a speedboat over to the wheel, before being washed up at a Seraphite camp.
She’s captured and almost disembowelled, but saved at the last minute by a WLF attack on the camp; when she finally makes it to the aquarium, she doesn’t find Abby, but she does find two of her crew: Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer).
They don’t tell her Abby’s whereabouts, but when Owen tries to reach for his own gun, Ellie fires in self-defence and accidentally kills them both.
Mel also happens to be pregnant, and as she dies, she pleads with Ellie to save her baby’s life by giving her a C-section. Ellie, appalled by what she has done, can’t – and Mel dies deliriously thanking her.
At this point, Jesse and Tommy finally find Ellie, who is deeply shaken. She agrees with them both that they need to return to Jackson, but too late: Abby finds them back at the theatre, and she’s out for blood.
A furious Abby then shoots Tommy in the leg, and kills Jesse outright. She tells Ellie that she let her live – which she clearly thinks was a mistake. Abby then points and fires at Ellie – and the screen cuts to black.
Does Ellie die?
Unless the TV show is taking a different path to the game, then no. In the game, Ellie survives the attack, but is left deeply shaken and increasingly bitter towards Abby – not just for killing Joel, but for killing Jesse too. How she escapes, though, could play out differently.
What next for season three?
There will be a season three, but it’s not going to feature much of Bella Ramsey. A short epilogue shows Abby standing inside an American football stadium-turned-commune that serves as the base for the WLF forces.
This does strongly suggest that, as in the games, we’re now going to switch focus and dig into Abby’s backstory, motivations, and journey instead. The games were written as a meditation on the cycle of violence and cost of revenge; it seems very likely that the show will follow the same path and make us feel sympathy for someone that we’ve up until now seen as a monster.
