Joel (Pedro Pascal) died early in the second season of The Last of Us, brutally murdered by a new character named Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). Those who had already played Naughty Dog's video game The Last of Us Part II knew it was coming, but it was still shocking. How does the show go on without one of its main characters?
By putting Ellie (Bella Ramsey) front and center. She and Dina (Isabela Merced) have traveled to Seattle in search of Abby and revenge. Ellie made some progress in the latest episode, "Feel Her Love," when she cornered one of Abby's friends — Nora, played by Tati Gabrielle — and brutally beat her to death. It's a disturbing turn for Ellie. She's always hot a hot temper, but it's hard to picture the precocious girl from the start of the series getting to this point.
"Feel Her Love" ends with a quick flashback to Ellie waking up in her old home in Jackson, her surrogate father Joel alive and well. This Sunday's new episode will pick up where that left off. Based on the trailer above, it's going to be a full episode of flashbacks.
And there are definitely gaps that need filling in. At the beginning of the season, Joel and Ellie were estranged. We can assume it has something to do with Ellie figuring out what Joel did in the season 1 finale, when he killed a hospital full of freedom fighters to stop them from using Ellie's immunity to cordyceps to create a vaccine, a procedure that would have killed her. She was unconscious at the time and Joel lied to her about what happened afterwards. In this next episode, we'll find out how she found out.
Or at least that's my guess. We'll have to wait until this Sunday, May 18 to be sure. After that, there's only one episode left before the second season of The Last of Us is over!
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.