TL;DR – Uplifting with moments of joy, and profoundly sad with the realities of the world.

Disclosure – I paid for the Max service that viewed this show.

End Credit Scene – There is a trailer and behind-the-scenes making-of.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Last of Us Review –

Goodness, this season has ripped through, because I didn’t know I was sitting down to watch the penultimate episode when I pressed play. Even more so because it looks like it is time for 2020’s favourite television interjection, the flashback episode. But given how well they have pulled these off in the past, I had some confidence that the filmmakers could do it again. Let’s see if I was right?

So, to set the scene, it has only been a handful of months since Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) made their way into Jackson. They are still the newbies on the scene, but Joel is trying to prove his place. He is also trying to raise a teenage daughter for the first time since the calamity, which can be touch and go at the best of times. But here, their relationship is built on one thing: the lie of what happened in Salt Lake City. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

I am sure I am not the only one to draw this conclusion, but tonally, this week’s episode has a lot in common with Long Long Time back in Season One. We get pulled out of the main narrative to go on a deep dive into a character’s past. This time around, we are charting the relationship spiral that happened with Joel and Ellie between Look for the Light and Future Days. There are a lot of thematic hooks you could have used to dive into this relationship, and I liked the narrative choice to focus on Ellie’s birthday as the framing device. What this does is break the episode up into smaller vignettes of story, linked together with vibes, and the knowledge of where it ends up. We also get to spend a little bit more time in Jackson, which I liked because I think there is some real heart there. It also led to us having a sneaky Earth Abides reference.

Narratively, it all starts with a call back to one of the framing devices they used last season, where they opened with a disconnected element of story that would impact the episode in feeling. In this case, it was Joel’s dad, Javier Miller (Tony Dalton), who explored both the legacy of abuse and how it gets passed through the generations, but also created a framework for both Joel’s relationship with his daughter who died, and also with Ellie. What this does allow is Tony Dalton to walk onto the stage and give one banger of a performance, knowing you are only there for one scene, and so you must leave nothing in the chamber. Which is also how the show ends, but this time with Joe Pantoliano arriving as the much-mentioned Eugene. Once again, just what a performance from the moment we meet him, to moments later when he is gone.

The main thrust of this episode is contextualising the passage of Joel and Ellie’s relationship in all the highs and lows. Much like how raising a teenager is without there being the trauma of a post-apocalyptic world. Those moments when they were exploring the museum and their lives were full of joy were some of the best moments in the show, because you could tell it was both a goodbye to the character, but also to the actor. They brought such joy that you almost forgot for a moment where they had come from and where they are going. Indeed, I want to say that this is some of the best work I have seen Pedro Pascal do, and his scenes with Bella were both full of joy and also deeply heartbreaking.

The one tension that is building throughout the episode is that Ellie is slowly discovering the lie that had been told about Salt Lake City. In Future Days, it is left ambiguous as to whether Ellie has worked it out or she just assumes that Joel is lying. But here we slowly see her question that night before having it confirmed after seeing Joel lie in the same way to Gail (Catherine O’Hara) as he did to her. At first, I was taken aback as to why Ellie would dump Joel in it so publicly like that. It didn’t make any sense. But once you realise that this moment was the time when it all fell into place, it made perfect sense, and you feel how the performance nailed that reveal. But while we get confirmation as to just how bad the relationship between Ellie and Joel got, I was glad that there was one touch of revisionism for the season, which was to soften the last time they saw each other before the attack in Through the Valley. To show that there may have been a chance for them to go forward, which is both a beautiful moment, but also a bitter pill to swallow, because it never had a chance to happen.

There is a lot to champion this episode, but I do want to take a moment to shine a light on all the set designers and builders for absolutely knocking that museum set out of the park. I think this is the one scene from The Last of Us Vol 2 that has stuck with me in the years after the game. That moment of joy you get when you discover the solar system or dinosaurs is something that resonates with me on a deep level. I wondered if they could do that justice, and not only did they do it justice, but they nailed it beyond even my wildest expectations. Though I will say that you know that you have watched a lot of sci-fi in the 1990s-2000s, when you know they were filming around Vancouver because of a particular lake view.      

In the end, do we recommend The Last of Us: The Price? Absolutely. Sure, it is only a momentary reprieve before we dive back into the muck next week. But it was a much-needed one. It gave us time to say goodbye to Joel one last time and see the sorrow that his absence has left in his wake. Have you seen The Last of Us yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Last of Us
Directed by – Neil Druckmann
Written by – Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross & Craig Mazin
Created by – Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann
Based On– The Last of Us Part II by Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross and Naughty Dog
Production/Distribution Companies – Naughty Dog, PlayStation Productions, Sony Pictures Television, The Mighty Mint, Word Games, HBO & Max
Starring – Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal,Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced & Yong Mazino with Rutina Wesley, Robert John Burke, Tony Dalton, Joe Pantoliano & Catherine O’Hara and Andrew Diaz, David Miranda, Ezra Agbonkhese & Noah Lamanna