All about that 'Last of Us' Season 2 finale: Who died? Who survived?
All about that 'Last of Us' Season 2 finale: Who died? Who survived?
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Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal discuss father-daughter relationship
'The Last of Us' stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal reveal they didn't enjoy their character's estrangement in season 2.
Spoiler alert! The following contains details from the Season 2 finale of "The Last of Us."
Somehow, things have gotten worse for Ellie.
The lead of HBO's "The Last of Us," played by Bella Ramsey, has had a rough season on the post-apocalyptic zombie drama. Her surrogate father figure Joel (Pedro Pascal), admitted that he killed dozens of people in her name, and then was shortly killed himself by the daughter of one of his victims, while Ellie looked on. For the rest of Season 2 Ellie has been on a rage- and vengeance-fueled hunt for Joel's killer, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), which brought her and her best friend/crush/girlfriend Dina (Isabela Merced) to the war-torn ruins of Seattle.
By the finale episode, which aired May 25, Ellie and Dina's revenge-quest had seemingly lost all hope. Dina has been shot by an arrow in the crossfire of the war between the Washington Liberation Front/Wolves, the militia that Abby is a part of, and the Seraphites, a cult-ish religious group fond of lynching. She's tortured and killed one of Abby's friends and gotten a vague hint about where Abby might be. And her friend Jesse (Young Mazino) and surrogate uncle Tommy (Gabriel Luna) have come to Seattle to her rescue – and to tell her how stupid she's being. But that wasn't the end of her search.
Here's everything that went down in the (literally) wet and wild season finale, and what it might mean for the show's upcoming third season.
Ellie tells Dina about Joel and the Fireflies
Pregnant Dina joined Ellie on her trip to Seattle both because she loves Ellie (as more than just a friend, we recently discovered) and because she loved Joel. But after Ellie tortured and killed Abby's comrade Nora (Tati Gabrielle), Ellie realizes she needs to come clean about her own crime, and Joel's. She tells Dina about all the fireflies Joel killed in Salt Lake City in Season 1. The revelation hardens Dina, who is now ready to go back to their home in Jackson, Wyoming, but is still committed to Ellie. She gives Ellie a bracelet for good luck. Dina stays behind at the theater they've been using for shelter while Ellie and Jesse go in search of Tommy.
Ellie abandons her friends so she can seek vengeance − again
While Ellie and Jesse are looking for Tommy they hear on Ellie's stolen WLF walkie about a sniper, and Jesse is convinced that it must be Tommy. Jesse wants to go get him immediately, but Ellie has just finally understood what Nora said about Abby's whereabouts: She realizes Abby is hiding out in an aquarium on a dock. She abandons Jesse, cursing what she sees as his holier-than-thou attitude and finds a boat to head for the aquarium amid a violent storm.
But of course the teenager who grew up in a walled city in Boston and then a landlocked Wyoming town doesn't know much about sailing, and she is swept ashore a tiny island almost instantly and is captured by the Seraphites, who believe she's a Wolf. As she begs for her life they begin to string up her up in a tree, but an oncoming real attack from the WLF spooks them and they leave her gasping for air on the ground, rope still around her neck.
Eventually she makes it to the aquarium, where she hears two of Abby's friends, Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer) arguing about their absent leader. The place is full of bloody gauze and medical-looking instruments, but we can't quite make out what Owen and Mel are saying about Abby. Ellie doesn't care, drawing her gun on them and demanding they tell her where Abby is. Owen tries a quick shot at Ellie but misses, and Ellie fires back hitting both Owen and Mel. Owen falls instantly, but Mel has a few seconds before she bleeds out, and reveals she's pregnant. She begs Ellie to deliver her baby via C-section before she dies, but Ellie, crying and traumatized, doesn't know what to do, and Mel perishes along with her unborn child. Ellie still doesn't find out where Abby is.
Soon after Jesse and Tommy show up to rescue Ellie yet again, and all three go back to the theater.
What happens in that theater between Abby and Ellie?
Back at the theater, Ellie talks with Tommy and Jesse, coming to terms with the fact that she must give up her thirst for vengeance and return home. She also reconciles with Jesse, and the friends have a sweet moment where they realize how much they care about each other. A second later they hear a disturbance from the other room and run out to the theater's lobby. They burst through the door Jesse is shot and killed, and Abby is standing with a gun on Tommy.
Ellie begs Abby to spare Tommy's life, taking responsibility for killing Abby's friends. Abby raises her gun as Ellie screams, a shot is fired and then … the screen cuts to black.
What does the 'Last of Us' finale mean for Season 3?
In the very last scene we see Abby, safe and sound in a compound for the WLF, and the onscreen text tells us we've gone back in time three days, to the first day Ellie and Dina came to Seattle. This is a strong indicator that Season 3 of the series will be all about Abby, which mirrors the narrative structure of the video game. That could mean very little of Ramsey's Ellie in the episodes, and it's almost a guarantee Pascal will not be returning.
HBO has yet to set a date for Season 3.
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