Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season two episode two.
The Last of Us season two has left fans of the TV show an emotional wreck with potentially one of the most shocking deaths in recent television history.
The critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning show follows Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, respectively, who attempt to survive in the post-apocalyptic United States caused by a deadly mass fungal infection.
Tragically, though, Pascal’s journey, or at least Joel’s journey, has violently come to an end in a demise that fans of the video game would have been all too aware of. Perhaps most shockingly, Joel’s death wasn’t at the hands of any of the infected but by other humans.
Who is Abby and the Fireflies?
If you recall the end of season one, Joel saved Bella, who is believed to be immune to the deadly infection, from the radical militia group the Fireflies who intended to carry out a non-survivable surgical procedure on her to find a cure.
Pedro Pascal, left, and Bella Ramsey in the season one finale of ‘The Last of Us’ (HBO)Joel killed many people during his rescue mission, one of whom was the father of Kaitlyn Dever’s character Abby, who now seeks revenge, vowing: “When we kill him, we kill him slowly.”
In episode one, viewers were briefly introduced to Abby and a group of surviving Fireflies at their base in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the end of the episode, which is now five years after Joel’s attack on the Fireflies, the group reappear having trekked across the wilderness to the safe haven of Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel, Bella and many others reside.
How does Joel die in the video game?
Much like the TV show, Joel’s death occurs early into the story of The Last of Us Part II.
While out on patrol, Joel and his brother Tommy rescue a stranger, Abby, from a horde of the infected. Fleeing for safety, they arrive at an old house which is being used as an outpost by Abby’s group, who are now named the Washington Liberation Front.
Once back inside, the atmosphere changes when Joel formally introduces himself. “Y’all act like you heard of us or something,” he says in response to the tension.
Without hesitation, Abby shoots Joel in the leg with a shotgun while Tommy is knocked out by other members of the group.
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Now helpless, Joel asks who Abby and the others are. While she never tells him, there is a hint that Joel knows their true identity and is ready to accept his fate, telling the group: “Why don’t you say whatever speech you’ve got rehearsed and get this over with.”
Rather than shoot Joel again, Abby instead decides to brutally beat him over the head with a golf club.
Meanwhile, Ellie and her girlfriend Dina are now out searching for the missing Joel and Tommy. Ellie manages to find the outpost, but before she can save Joel is overwhelmed and beaten by the other WLF members. Pinned to the ground, Ellie witnesses Joel’s last breath as Abby rains down one last fatal blow upon his head with the golf club.
A scene from The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive)An unconscious Ellie, who has been spared by the WLF, is then woken by Dina who takes her and Tommy, who has also been spared, back to safety.
How does Joel’s death differ in the show?
The episode deviates from the game in its big set piece, which revolves around an assault on the town of Jackson by a mass of “infected”. In the game, the town itself is never under siege.
Abby and her group’s encounter with Joel does, however, play out similarly to the game. As in the game, Abby shoots Joel in the leg before torturing him with a golf club.
Dever’s character is presented more sympathetically at this point in the series than in the game, with Abby given new dialogue justifying her actions and discussing her moral code.
Joel’s eventual execution is also slightly altered from the game, with Abby sticking the point of a broken golf club directly into Joel’s head, rather than beating him to death.
Season two of The Last of Us airs Sundays at 9pm ET on Max in the U.S. and Sky Atlantic and NOW every Monday at 2am BST in the U.K.
