The Last Of Us' 'The Price' Broke Me More Than Any Episode So Far, And Here's Why
SPOILER WARNING: The following article dives deep into two of the most important moments from The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 6. If you have not yet used your Max subscription to catch up on the apocalypse, I recommend you make like a survivor approaching an abandoned building and proceed with caution.
I am not much of a gamer, but as a fan of zombie movies, I was very excited for the debut of HBO's series adaptation of the PlayStation hit, The Last of Us, and I can certainly say I have not been disappointed. That being said, I could not say the apocalyptic TV show had a personally emotional effect on me… until I saw the sixth episode of Season 2, 'The Price.'
Not only can I confidently say that no program on the 2025 TV schedule (or in any recent year that I can think of) has left me as shaken as The Last of Us with this particular episode, which consists of flashbacks that bridge the gap between seasons. No other episode of this show has left me in such a state of heartbreak and lasting ponderance, which is really saying something when you consider how this show thrives on tragedy. Allow me to explain why it took this long for the series to break me.
One of the most talked-about moments from The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 6, sees Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) come across a bitten Eugene (Joe Pantoliano). Joel promises him and Ellie that he will wait for her to come back and bring the ailing man to Jackson to see his wife, the local therapist Gail (Catherine O'Hara, who cried a lot while filming this episode), one last time. Unfortunately, Joel breaks that promise and shoots the man dead before Ellie returns.
'Joey Pants' makes a great case for his second Emmy (which he previously won after shaking up the cast of The Sopranos in Season 3) with this despairing performance that, quite frankly, I am not sure would have had as much of an effect on me if I were not married. Hearing him respond to Joel's promise that he would deliver his last words for Gail with, 'No, I need her last words for me!' and begging for her face to be the last thing he sees really got to me because I would be pleading the same. For my wife to be the last thing I see before I pass is all I can hope for, too.
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I could have never anticipated that, after witnessing Eugene's devastating final plea (a welcome change from the Last of Us video games, from what I hear), 'The Price' would tap into my emotions any further. Lo and behold, I was wrecked by the final scene, when Ellie confronts Joel about ruining the chance for a Cordyceps cure by rescuing her from the Fireflies, and he explains he did it out of love for her and would do it again if given the chance. What really did me in was when he tells his surrogate daughter that, if she has children of her own, he hopes she does 'a little bit better than me,' echoing his own father's words from the cold open.
At the moment I write this, I am not a parent, but my wife and I intend to have children sometime soon, and yet, to be perfectly candid, the idea of bringing a child into this world terrifies me. Clearly, I have less hazardous circumstances to contend with than Joel did (and I pray it stays that way), but I nonetheless agonize over, not just keeping my children safe, but also doing right by them in a just manner. Thankfully, Ellie's admission that she would be willing to try to forgive Joel for his actions gave me hope that, as long as my approach to parenting comes from a place of love, we will be all right.
Inevitably, I have found many reasons to compare this series to a show similar to The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, and even found a similarity between Joel's murder and another tragic character death. However, that hit series never got to me like this show has for the reasons above. So, for my money, The Last of Us reigns as TV's superior zombie apocalypse series for now.
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