'The Last of Us' Season 2, Episode 1 recap: Revenge and romance lead in the season premiere

Yahoo

14-04-2025

When The Last of Us premiered in 2023 it became an absolute sensation, with the first episode drawing in 4.7 million viewers. Now the show is back for Season 2 (Sundays on Crave in Canada, HBO and Max in the U.S.), and things are getting more emotional and dramatic than ever.
With the return of Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey and Gabriel Luna, mixed with new cast members, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced and Catherine O'Hara, Episode 1 really lays the groundwork for what's to come. While there's still the threat of the infected, the relationships between the characters is even more critical this season.
The episode begins where we left off, when Joel (Pascal) swears to Ellie (Ramsey) that everything he said about the Fireflies is true. Of course, we know he's lying.
Joel killed the Fireflies to get Ellie out of the hospital, saving her life. But he told her that the Fireflies found others who are immune from the infected like her, and they stopped looking for a cure because they couldn't find one.
Then we move on to a group of teen Fireflies, Abby (Dever) Manny (Danny Ramirez), Owen (Spencer Lord), Mel (Ariela Barer) and Nora (Tati Gabrielle), who are standing over the grave of dead Fireflies.
Abby is out for revenge. She's adamant that they'll find Joel, with the group agreeing to help her. Specifically, she wants to kill Joel "slowly."
Now it's five years later Ellie, Joel, Tommy (Luna) and his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley) all live in a community in Jackson, Wyoming.
But something has changed between Ellie and Joel. They're growing apart and it's so noticeable that her friend Dina (Merced), who went to talk to Joel about what to about about the roots growing in the community's clay pipes, also asks why Ellie's mad at him.
Joel says it's a normal stage of aging, now that Ellie is 19 and he's her, "what I am," as he describes being a parental figure in her life.
"No one likes their parents at that age," Joel says. "I never got there with my own kid, so we're both just figuring it out for the first time, is all."
"I can't hold myself responsible for another person's emotional state."
That's when Dina figures out that Joel is having therapy sessions with Gail (Catherine O'Hara), but he doesn't want her to tell anyone.
Meanwhile, Ellie is getting some shooting practice with Tommy, targeting infected from a distance. While Ellie was taken off patrol due to Joel's concerns for her safety, Tommy agrees to put her back on. As she shouts about her Cordyceps immunity Tommy says, "we don't talk about that."
Back with Joel, as new people are being brought into the community, he has concerns about the number of people the council, and Maria specifically, is letting in when they can't build up fast enough to accommodate.
"These people are fleeing collapsed settlements. They're fleeing infected. We're supposed to leave them out there?" Maria says to Joel.
"If our lifeboat is swamped, yeah, we leave them out there," Joel says in response.
Maria gives Joel a reality check, reminding him that he was a refugee too.
But maybe a therapy session is what Joel needs, going to see psychotherapist Gail, who works for weed and after a few glasses of whisky. Gail also reveals that this is her first birthday without her husband, Eugene, after they were married for 41 years.
Joel talks to Gail about how Ellie "shuts herself off" from him, and how she doesn't talk to him around town, with Gail calling that "the most boring problem in the world." A 19-year-old daughter acting like a 19-year-old.
She then calls him out for lying to her, saying that she can tell Joel is leaving something out and decides to tell him something she's been shying away from saying.
"You shot and killed my husband. You killed Eugene and I resent you for it. No, maybe a little more than that. I hate you for it," Gail says. "And yes, I know you had no choice, I know that, I know I should forgive you. I've tried and I can't, because of how you did it. And looking at your face sitting in our home makes me so f—king angry."
Now Gail waits for Joel to be honest, hoping he'll say what he's been afraid to say. But he doesn't. And when Gail asks if he hurt Ellie Joel says, "I saved her."
As Ellie prepares to go on patrol, it's clear that she has a crush on Dina, who is also on patrol with her, with the group led by Dina's ex-boyfriend Jesse (Young Mazino).
While this is only supposed to be a recon patrol, Dina and Ellie see a dead bear and a number of dead infected, leading them to go into an abandoned market. Ellie dodges an infected before she falls through the floorboards into the basement, alone.
But this time she's surprised that there's an infected who is strategizing and trying to hide, not just attacking like they normally do. Ellie kills it, but this time she's bitten. Something she doesn't disclose to Dina.
Back in Jackson, talking to the council, including Maria and Tommy, Ellie tells them about the infected that behaved differently, but Tommy questions why they went into an uncleared building in the first place. This leads to the best moment in the whole episode.
"If it were you and Joel you wouldn't have gone in?" Ellie says.
"Well that ain't the same," Tommy says in response. "'Cause it's different"
"How?" Maria says, snapping back at her husband, who then just puts his head down.
The community is having a New Year's party and while Ellie was reluctant to go, she decides to shows up.
Dina, who is a little drunk and/or high, grabs Ellie to dance with her. As they slow dance, Ellie points out that every guy in the room is looking at Dina, with Dina responding by saying maybe they're jealous of Ellie, and Dina kisses Ellie, who kisses back.
But the moment is interrupted by a Seth (Robert John Burke) who says, "Hey, it's a family event. You're in a church," and hurls a slur at that them, which results in Joel pushing Seth to the ground.
Of course, it angers Ellie that Joel stepped in. "I don't need your f—king help," Ellie says, as she watches Joel leave.
When Ellie leaves the party, she looks at Joel on his porch, but doesn't say anything to him.
The episode concludes with a look at the roots in the clay pipes moving, just as Abby and Owen look at Jackson from a distance.