*Spoiler Alert*

“Joel, get up.” 

Those words continue to ring in my head after watching the latest episode of season two of “The Last of Us” on HBO. The first video game, “The Last of Us,” was released in 2013, then the TV adaptation’s first season releasing 10 years later in 2023. The second game, “The Last of Us Part II,” was released in 2020. 

With the immense success of the first season due to the incredible accuracy of the show adapting all the great things fans loved about the game, hype was built in anticipation for the second season. However, fans who played the second game knew what was coming. 

Those who’ve played the game knew the pain of Joel’s death all too well, and it went on to shape Ellie for the remainder of the story. She had a strong relationship with Joel built from the first game, and the connection they had felt largely like a father-daughter relationship. This death created a hole in Ellie that would only be filled by vengeance. Fans were hoping for a similar gut punch from the show that they received in the game, and they got it.

The biggest difference in Joel’s death sequence in the show was the attack of Jackson from the army of undead, and the lack of Tommy, Joel’s brother, witnessing his death. While some think that the Jackson sequence took away from the build up of the death, I felt the opposite. 

The parallel tension between Jackson and the lodge kept me out of my seat. Before the attack, it seemed that Jackson was almost impenetrable, with its massive walls surrounding the town, and guards stationed along it. However, when one of the guards sees the thousands of undead running full steam ahead towards the walls, I knew that they would not hold. As Joel entered the lodge, he saw Jackson on fire, right before he was shot in the knee by a shotgun and brutally beaten and stabbed to death. 

Joel’s death would not have had the impact it did without the incredible portrayal of the main antagonist Abby by actress Kaitlyn Dever. Dever’s character is so easy to hate, and those intense feelings are only conjured by great performance. The other integral part of the lodge scene is Ellie’s reaction to Joel dying. It is important to note that Ellie and Joel’s relationship in the first episode and beginning of the second episode was fairly strained. Ellie was growing older and becoming more independent and angsty. Therefore, she became increasingly standoffish towards Joel. 

For me, as someone who knew his death was approaching, it made me so much more nervous. Were they going to resolve their petty grievances before he passed? The answer to that question is actually no. They did not have an on-screen conversation and that made Ellie’s reaction to his death so much more impactful. On top of that, the scene played out slightly differently. 

After Joel was killed, Ellie crawled over to his body and just lied on top of him, trying to lift him up while sobbing over his body. She knew he was dead and was still trying to get him up anyways, which was heartbreaking. 

Overall, this episode was fantastic. The faithfulness to the original sequences in the game, plus the addition of new stories made it a heartbreaking, stress filled experience. All the feelings in this episode are due to the performances by the talented cast. You can watch The Last of Us on HBO, with new episodes of the second season releasing every Sunday at 9 p.m. 

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