The highly anticipated second season of The Last of Us is here, and fans are already in tears over the loss of one of the two main characters: Joel Miller. Following the story of The Last of Us video games, Joel met his end at the hands of the vengeful Abby, all while Ellie watched, completely helpless.
His death, as well as the infected attack on Jackson, rocked the community and its citizens. The story will move into dangerous from here. In the meantime, there was one change to Joel's story before his death that has divided fans: his choice to go into therapy.
The only therapist in town, Gail, is far from professional, but at her core, she knows what she's doing and cares. Thus far, we've only seen one therapy session between Joel and Gail (I say thus far as there may yet to be flashbacks that show us more), where Gail is realizing Joel is withholding key information about his relationship with Ellie. When she asked what he did to her, he tearfully answers, "I saved her."
Gail remembers that and brings it up to Ellie after Joel's death. But is Gail doing that to help Ellie recover from a traumatic experience, or to satisfy her own curiosity?
Let's face it, Ellie was probably the first person Joel was able to open up to since his daughter died right at the start of the zombie apocalypse, which we saw in the first-ever episode of the show. He was probably Gail's most interesting client in her lifetime.
And while Gail did explain that she understands why Joel killed her husband Eugene (a story that we still don't know the full extent of), she still hates him for it. So what is Gail's angle here?
There is no doubt that after Joel and Ellie's falling out, going to therapy was probably the last thing he wanted to do, but perhaps with Tommy's insistence, Joel went. Gail's sessions had to have worked to some degree as Joel continued them willingly, even bringing Gail pot in exchange for her time and expertise.
Joel choice to withhold the real reason behind his drama with Ellie is understandable. Both are adjusting to a new and stable life in Jackson, Joel is getting older and Ellie has become a full-fledged teenager. The one thing they probably agree upon, regardless of their fight, is the reminder to keep her immunity a secret. While it hasn't been explicitly explained, we can assume this is the reason for her tattoo.
Time will tell if Gail continues to pry and discover what really happened at the end of season 1, when Joel mowed down a hospital full of Fireflies to save Ellie from surgery which could have resulted in a cure for the zombie plague, even if he wasn't sure that's what Ellie would have wanted. Will Gail become a liability, or the guardian Ellie desperately needs?
And perhaps most interesting of all: who is Eugene and what happened to him?
New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 air every Sunday on HBO and Max.