Spoiler Warning: This article will contain major spoilers for HBO’s The Last of Us and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us video game from 2013.
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The last episode of The Last of Us opens with a pregnant woman named Anna running through the woods with an infected not far behind her. She’s clearly going into labor and thankfully, she spots a farm that has been marked by the Fireflies. She enters the building and realizes no one is there, so she goes upstairs and locks herself in an empty room as she tries to delay the birth as much as possible. The infected eventually bursts through the door and charges her, but she’s able to stab it after a brief struggle. Amidst that chaos, baby Ellie is born, but Anna also realizes that she was bitten. She realizes that she will not get to see her baby girl grow up and just spends those moments with her.
Later that night, Marlene arrives and finds Anna with her baby. Knowing that Marlene is her closest friend, Anna pleads her to take her baby and keep it safe, but to also kill her before she turns. Marlene reluctantly agrees and takes Ellie and Anna’s pocket knife before shooting her in the head.
The Final Destination
Back in present day, Ellie is sitting in the bed of an abandoned truck on a deserted highway. It’s now spring, she is spacing off while Joel is trying to connect more with her by showing her a board game he found and suggesting that he teach her how to play guitar once this is all over. However, Ellie just seems really out of it, not because she has any ill will for Joel, but she just seems very haunted by all of the events that led them to where they are now.
Joel continues to try and crack wise to her and lighten the mood as they enter Salt Lake City, which is where the Fireflies are believed to be stationed. It’s no use, though. However, Ellie spots a giraffe and is immediately enamored by it. Her mood is lifted as she sees even more giraffes in the distance. She is reminded of the amazing beauty in this world and maybe it’s worth saving. Joel tries to suggest that they just turn back to Jackson now as he feels like they’re going to hit another dead end, but Ellie wants to see it through given everything they’ve gone through to get here.
As they continue their journey, Joel reveals that the scar he told her about shortly after Tess died was not from a firefight. He had tried to take his own life after losing Sarah, but for whatever reason, was unable to actually succeed in doing so. He “missed” and just injured himself with a gun instead of ending his life. He notes that he’s glad he got another chance, though. Shortly after this, some sort of non-lethal grenade bounces in front of them and they’re both knocked unconscious.
Joel wakes up in a hospital room and is greeted by Marlene. He asks to see Ellie, but she informs him that she’s being prepared for surgery. Ellie’s infection could hold the key to creating a vaccine, but it will require surgery on her brain as that’s where the cordyceps fungus develops. Naturally, the surgery will cure her. Joel pleads Marlene to find someone else, but she insists this is their only option. She tells two Fireflies to escort him out of the hospital and to give him Ellie’s knife once he’s away from the building.
Joel’s Massacre
Joel walks with the soldiers through the building, trying to get a sense of the layout so he can figure out where Ellie is. In a stairwell, Joel gets the jump on the two soldiers, kills them, and takes their gear. The whole hospital is now on high alert and he goes on a total massacre, shooting and brutally executing every Firefly he sees. Even the ones surrendering, Joel kills without hesitation. He fears that he’s once again going to lose a daughter-like figure and is willing to kill tons of people and put the entire world at risk to stop that from happening.
After stacking up countless bodies, Joel enters an operating room where a surgeon attempts to stop him with a scalpel. Joel quickly shoots him and kills him before commanding the remaining doctors to unhook an unconscious Ellie from the various medical machines. Joel takes Ellie down to a parking garage where he’s stopped by Marlene. She begs him to stop and just give Ellie back, saying she will die or leave Joel one day, it’s not worth letting the world rot. She also notes that Ellie would want this, but Joel doesn’t really give it much thought and brutally kills Marlene.
Joel is now driving back to Jackson in a car he found with Ellie asleep in the backseat. She wakes up and starts asking why she’s still in a hospital gown, what happened at the hospital, and so on. Joel explains they ran some tests on her and there were other immune people there, but the Fireflies had given up on searching for a cure. The hospital was then hit by raiders and he was forced to quickly get her out of there while all hell broke loose.
They eventually have to leave the car behind and travel on foot the rest of the way, but it’s not too far. Joel keeps talking about how him and Sarah used to love hikes and Ellie would’ve been good friends with her. Ellie just kind of follows along, but seems to be very unsure of everything. She eventually stops Joel and tells him about Riley. She notes that a lot of people have died along their journey and that she has some survivor’s guilt, but also seems to hope that they didn’t die in vain. She asks Joel to swear that everything he said was true. Joel doubles down on the lie and Ellie has no real choice but to accept that, despite the fact she clearly has some doubts in her head with his story.
Differences Between Game and Show
The finale is actually fairly faithful to the last section of the game, with the exception that there’s a lot more wandering around and exploring in the game. The biggest and most notable difference is that audiences are allowed to meet Anna. Ellie’s mom is only mentioned, but never seen in the games, so this whole opening was completely new and gave us a bit more insight into Ellie’s history as well as why she may be immune. It seems to be suggested that because Ellie was born as her mother was giving birth to her, it may have allowed her to have some kind of immunity, though it’s still a tad ambiguous.
The Last of Us will return for a second season at a later date. What did you think of the final episode of season one? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder. For more Last of Us content, check out ComicBook and Entertainment Tonight’s new podcast: The Last of Pods. The podcast includes breakdowns of each episode, interviews with special guests from the show, and more.
