The latest episode of The Last of Us adapted a moment from the video games a lot of people knew was coming (this is your last chance to turn back lest you be exposed to SPOILERS): Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) murders Joel (Pedro Pascal) with a golf club while Ellie (Bella Ramsey) watches.
It's a huge moment from The Last of Us Part II and it's a huge moment for the TV show. As co-showrunner Neil Druckmann says in an "Inside the Episode" featurette you can watch below, "This event will change all the characters we know forever from this point on." If you've played the game, you know he's not even close to kidding. If you haven't, buckle up for a wild ride ahead.
Joel was a beloved character from the first season, so I've no doubt it was hard for many viewers to watch him get brutalized and killed. The cast and crew suffered with them. Pedro Pascal said he saw "heartbreak" in the eyes of many people on set. Co-showrunner Craig Mazin went through the wringer as well. "It was as hard for us to write and to shoot as it was, I think probably for a lot of people to watch," he said.
Bella Ramsey, too, got emotional over this episode; they started crying right when they read the script. "I knew that Joel was gonna die right from season 1," Ramsey said. "But reading it in the script — I knew that it was coming as I was reading the episode, and I was dreading getting to that bit — and I cried. It actually stopped my little heart. That was the first time I've ever cried from reading a piece of writing."
And of course, all of this is intentional, as Pascal laid out: "I think that if it is incredibly painful for people, that's obviously a brilliant achievement of the storytelling," he said.
The Last of Us season 2, Episode 3 trailer
From here, Ellie will set out on a quest for revenge, to kill the woman who killed her father figure. Check out the preview for next week's episode below:
There are seven episodes of The Last of Us this season, so we only have five left. That's pretty short for a season of TV, but if any other episodes gut viewers like "Through the Valley" did, it may need a break sooner rather than later. New episodes air Sundays nights on HBO and Max.
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.