'The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 2 recap: Controversial death fans knew was coming is still heartbreaking

Yahoo

21-04-2025

The Last of Us returned for Season 2 with incredible success. In Canada, there was a 23 per cent increase in streaming viewership compared to the Season 1 premiere on Crave.
As the story continues, starting with a strained relationship between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), the situation gets even more severe. This week, Season 2, Episode 2 may bring you to tears.
Where to watch The Last of Us: Crave in Canada, HBO and Max in the U.S.Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Rutina Wesley, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Young Mazino, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle, Spencer Lord, Danny Ramirez, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey WrightNumber of episodes: 7
The episode begins with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) asleep, dreaming about there being two versions of herself at the Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City. One Abby is trying to stop the other from going into a room where "his brains are on the floor."
Then she wakes up in the lodge outside of Jackson, occupied her team members who are all realizing that Jackson is a fully developed city, armed to take town intruders.
It's clear that Abby is more so operating from revenge versus strategy to kill Joel, as she heads out into the snow alone. But Owen (Spencer Lord) has his own plan to get Abby to abandon her mission, thinking they'll be the ones killed instead of Joel if they don't.
In Jackson, Jesse (Young Mazino) wakes up Ellie for the 8:00 a.m. patrol, where he finds out that Ellie kissed his ex-girlfriend Dina (Isabela Merced). But he doesn't seem too broken up about it.
Meanwhile the council has put the town alert. A pile of dead infected were found frozen, but then 30 alive ones appeared underneath the corpses. Now the problem is they don't know how many infected are hiding underneath the snow. Jesse also points out that people are particularly spooked after Ellie's story about the more cunning infected she came face-to-face with in the last episode.
That prompts Ellie to say that she's going to go on her patrol with Joel instead, while also admitting to Jesse that her relationship with Joel has been "complicated," but nothing's ever going to change the foundation of their relationship.
Meanwhile, Tommy (Gabriel Luna) is talking to everyone in Jackson about what to do to stay safe, with the youngest and oldest members of the community instructed to stay in their homes in the event of an attack, while others will head to rooftops, armed, to protect the community if there's a breach.
As a snowstorm hits the area, Tommy calls for the patrol, Jesse and Ellie, to return to Jackson. Jesse thinks they're too far out to get back, but he know a place to stay during the storm. It's the building Eugene used for his weed farm, knowing Maria (Rutina Wesley) wouldn't approve.
Meanwhile Abby is having a rough time out alone, being attacked by infected that have crawled out from underneath the snow. If you missed those powerful, thrilling scenes of infected attacks from Season 1, this is the moment you've been waiting for.
But who comes to save Abby? Joel, who brings her to where Dina was waiting for him. In order to escape the infected, Abby suggests they go to the lodge where her friends are.
Back in Jackson, Tommy finds out Joel and Dina aren't responding to their communications, and he's starting to panic. And when Ellie and Jesse find out that Dina and Joel haven't checked in, Ellie quickly sets off to try to find them.
It's at this point that the infected have made their way to Jackson, with the community having to spring into action to fight them off.
Travelling to the lodge, Joel, Dina and Abby just seeing flames emerging from Jackson, and while Joel wants to turn back, they're too far away.
When Joel, Dina and Abby arrive at the lodge, Joel tells everyone they're leaving in three minutes to help the people in Jackson, but of course, Abby has another plan.
When Abby reveals that he's Joel, and Dina notices W.L.F. wolf patches on the former Fireflies gear, Dina is sedated into a drug-induced sleep.
Abby finally has her confrontation with Joel, telling him she's giving him one chance to tell the truth about the last place he saw the Fireflies. Abby says if he tells the truth, she'll let Dina live.
Joel says the last place he saw the Fireflies was in Salt Lake, but adds that he saved her life.
"What life?" Abby says in response, shooting him in the leg as he screams in pain. Then she goes on to interrogate him about how many people he killed that day, 18 soldiers and one unarmed doctor he shot in the head, her father.
"The nurses said you barely even looked at him when you pulled the trigger," Abby says. "But I looked at him. I saw him. I was 19."
Abby goes on to say that they were trained not to kill people who can't defend themselves, which is Joel at the moment. But assures him that she will kill him, as she starts crying.
Remember, Abby wanted to kill Joel slowly, and she meant it. She starts hitting him repeatedly with a golf club, then just punching him with her fist.
Ellie does end up finding Joel and Dina in the lodge, but by the time she gets there Joel is covered in blood and can barely move. While Ellie is being restrained, Abby stabs Joel, with a broken golf club sticking out of his neck.
"I'm going to kill you. You're going to die. You're all going to f—king die," Ellie says sobbing.
When Abby and her friends leave, Ellie crawls towards Joel's body, pulling the golf club out of his neck. Crying as she rests her head on his.
The final image of the episode is Jesse, Dina and Ellie riding back to Jackson, dragging Joel's wrapped up body behind them.