The Last of Us season 2 finale concludes on a most unexpected and tragic cliffhanger. As Jesse and Ellie try to reunite with Tommy, avoiding the war between the Wolves and Scars, Ellie must come to terms with what her revenge requires of not only herself but those she cares about.
When she discovers Abby's secret hiding location, Ellie must choose whether to go back to Jackson or seek the young woman responsible for Joel's death.
Ellie tells Dina what happened in Salt Lake
Jesse tends to Dina's wound, leaving them with only one option: pushing the arrow all the way through the wound as opposed to pulling it out. When he offers Dina alcohol, she assertively declines, already hinting to Jesse what Ellie already knows.
The plan is successful; however, Dina is practically immobile. Jesse stands guard at the entrance to the theater when Ellie returns, worried about Dina.
Noticing traces of blood on the back of Ellie's shirt, Dina asks her to take it off, unveiling marks from the last infected attack. While tending to her back, Ellie tells Dina about how she found Nora and hurt her to get information about Abby's location.
Ellie fears how easy it came to her, but left Nora for dead at the hospital, as she was already infected from the spores. The only clue Nora left for Ellie was two words: Whale and Wheel.
But what bothers Dina is when Ellie confesses what happened at Salt Lake, where Joel killed everyone in the hospital to save her. This included Abby's father.
Dina's reaction is silent but loud as she turns away from Ellie, wanting to go back home. As far as Jesse knew, Tommy was still out there, and they needed his help to get Dina back home.
Leaving Dina at the theater, Jesse and Ellie enter the war-torn and stormy Seattle landscape once again.
Ellie and Jesse
It doesn't take long for Ellie to notice the dynamic between herself, and Jesse has changed. And Jesse makes it pretty clear as to why.
He easily guesses that Dina is pregnant and that this whole revenge mission is placing him, Dina, and his unborn child at risk. His mission is to bring everyone home alive, to avoid dying in Seattle, where the Wolves and Scars continue to battle each other.
What makes their friendship now a practical love triangle more complicated is that Jesse realizes Dina confides in Ellie more than himself. Ellie promises that Dina plans on telling him about the baby, hoping to salvage even a fraction of their friendship.
Coming under gunfire, the two flee into an old car garage where they witness several Wolves, including Burton, surround a Scar kid. Jesse refrains Ellie from getting involved, and the group leaves with the Scar captive.
Jesse explains to Ellie that the war between the Wolves and Scars has nothing to do with them, especially when both sides are violent. Seeking new shelter in an old library, he tells Ellie about how he always places the needs of Jackson before himself, even when it came down to leaving with a girl he met and had a connection with and her family.
Jackson saved him, gave him a life, and already has big plans for his future. He wouldn't trade anything, even his happiness, for it.
Upon the sounds of gunfire and the Wolves communicating via the walkie-talkie, Jesse and Ellie move to higher ground in the hopes of figuring out where the sounds are coming from. They believe the sniper the Wolves are calling about is Tommy.
From the view, Ellie is able to notice a Ferris wheel and aquarium, putting together the pieces that Abby is hiding in the aquarium. Jesse is dumbfounded to see Ellie readily throwing away searching for Tommy and going home over her one chance for revenge.
The argument from earlier becomes explosive with Ellie fed up with Jesse acting like he's better than everyone else, when, from her perspective, Joel was her community, her whole world. (Jesse's admittance to voting against Ellie's request to avenge Joel's death at Jackson was cold.)
Whale Wheel
Ellie doesn't realize that this same night, Isaac is going to lead the Wolves into a full-on assault against the Scars with the possibility of not surviving. He shares his concerns for Abby's disappearance with Elise, who lost her son to the spore contamination at the hospital.
Misinterpreting his respect for Abby as some twisted form of romantic feelings, Isaac explains that Abby is the future of the Wolves. When he passes, when most will, Abby will need to be there to keep the group going.
Elise, however, is not thrilled with his viewpoint and reminds him how she's all but abandoned them. While Ellie observes the docks looking for a boat, she witnesses the Wolves arrive in several boats, ready for the attack.
She takes a small boat, heading towards the Ferris wheel when a wave knocks her out of her boat and washes her ashore to a small area of woodlands. A child Scar sees her and within seconds the whistling begins and she's captured almost instantly.
Knowing what's coming, Ellie pleads with them, hoping the little girl will tell them how she washed ashore, but she is just as corrupt as the rest. Ellie's life is spared thanks to the distant gunfire prompting the Scars to leave.
Ellie returns to the boat and makes it to the aquarium. Once inside, she quickly cleans her gun and bullets, searching until she overhears Owen and Mel, two of Abby's friends, arguing.
Holding them at gunpoint, Ellie demands to know where Abby is. Although Owen and Mel appear to want to cooperate, Owen still reaches for a gun, prompting Ellie to shoot and kill him.
But she accidentally hits Mel in the neck, leading to the heartbreaking discovery that she's pregnant. She tries to instruct Ellie how to remove the baby, but never truly explains how to save it.
Mel dies as Tommy and Jesse arrive to retrieve Ellie.
Ellie and Abby come face to face
Distraught beyond all reason, Ellie is returned to the theater, where Tommy does his best to assure her that Mel's death was an accident. He leaves to find Dina giving Jesse and Ellie one last chance to talk before another tragedy occurs.
Hearing Tommy struggle outside the theater, Jesse and Ellie rush for the doors, guns drawn, when a gunshot rings out. Jesse is shot dead, leaving Ellie no time to process this horrific event, as Abby now has Tommy at gunpoint.
Ellie surrenders to Abby, confessing that she accidentally killed Owen and Mel. Abby fires at Ellie before the screen fades to black, and we witness Abby awaken on Day 1.
She is residing within the Wolves' compound, which used to be a football stadium, revealing just how large the Wolves are on account of their soldiers, weapons, and vehicles.
The Last of Us season 2 episode 7 review
And so, The Last of Us season 2 concludes with an epic cliffhanger and headscratcher, that is if you are unfamiliar with the video games. The ending leads me to believe that season 3 will have aspects of Abby's perspective in it, leading up to her father's death and why she killed Joel.
If this is the case, it will be another bold move for the show, and I'm conflicted as to whether it will pay off. As mentioned before, The Walking Dead had a similar situation of playing out Glenn's death to keep in line with the comics, but at the cost of viewers abandoning the popular AMC series.
Here, fans were already upset that Joel was killed in the video game, and in order to understand why Abby killed him, players had to follow her story. Here, fans were upset once more, especially the ones who didn't see it coming, and now they are expected to care for the person responsible.
I'll give the show credit in that I look forward to seeing how they hope to bring viewers onto Abby's side, to make her seem more sympathetic, but from my perspective that will be a near impossible task since Joel was cast by Pedro Pascal, who fans witnessed die yet again (Game of Thrones, Gladiator II, The Equalizer 2 to name a few examples). Pascal has become a big name with an incredibly large fan base and a lot of influence.
As I am a little familiar with the video games, I knew it was only a matter of time before certain characters would be killed, especially Jesse. While I had grown to like and support his character, Mel's death hit me the hardest in this episode.
I saw it coming but yet I still was not prepared, tearing up and trying to forget it happened as quickly as it did. Being a mom of two it greatly impacted me.
Although it seemed quite clear that Joel's final episode was the one prior, I'd like to think the show could benefit from one more appearance leading to his death, for the sake of Abby's story. Overall, I cannot agree with the online gripes.
Season 2 places itself somewhere between the familiarity of season 1 and a completely new show altogether. I lived for the callbacks, flashbacks, and symbols throughout, and often find myself thinking of each episode well after its conclusion.
There is a beauty and intelligence in this style of storytelling that might not be for everyone. But for those who see it and appreciate its form, regardless of which characters we lose along the way, regardless of the changes made from the original source material, I see no cracks in The Last of Us foundation.
Thank you again Warner Bros. and HBO, for the season 2 screeners. I await the next installment, already theorizing what will come next.
Stream The Last of Us season 2 on HBO and Max.