This recap will have spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 of The Last of Us, “Through the Valley.”

Welcome to yet another The Last of Us joint recap from Nic and me (Valerie Anne) where we break down the emotional beats of each episode and invite you to join us in doing the same. This one was a heavy one, so I’m not going to waste a lot of time blathering in the intro!

As always, we ask that you don’t spoil things that happen in the games further on in the story than we have seen in the show for those who are watching the show but haven’t played! Other than that, let’s get right to it.

Previously on The Last of Us, Ellie and Joel were on the outs, Dina kissed Ellie, Joel went to therapy, Abby and her friends were hunting Joel, and creepy eerie fungus tendrils wiggled their way through the pipes of Jackson.

Right away in this episode, we learn a few things about Abby: We see her nightmare, we hear how she plans to get Joel out of the city they thought would be way less fortified than it is, and we learn how her friends really feel about this plan.

Considering Kaitlyn Dever didn’t age five years over the course of filming, they did a good job portraying 19-year-old vs 24-year-old Abby.

So Abby and her Wolves are clearly the first thing we have to discuss.

Nic: From the second that alarm started blaring when the episode opened, I knew we were in. for. it. I’ll try not to keep saying this but, save for this sequence being a dream, these visuals are RIPPED from the game. I sat here mouth AGAPE watching Abby walk down that hallway and into the room where her dad’s dead body was waiting. I did love the addition of Abby trying to save her own self from going into the operating room for what I can only imagine is the millionth time; the part of her that doesn’t want to forget why she’s on this revenge journey refuses to let the part of her trying to protect her heart win. There was also a brief moment before we realized Abby was talking to herself when I thought it was going to be Laura “BAFTA” Bailey (Abby’s voice actor) warning her not to go in, but alas. Little did I know, we’d be getting our hearts ripped out by a different game voice actor a bit later.

Valerie: Yeah, I thought Abby’s dream sequence was brilliant. An older, sadder, tired-er Abby warning her younger self not to go in there. Younger Abby saying, “I don’t know you,” because even in her subconscious she knows her old self wouldn’t recognize who she’s become. But it’s just a dream, and she can’t change the past, and her younger self walked into that hospital room and found her father dead on the ground. I thought Kaitlyn Dever’s portrayal of both the weary and naive versions of Abby was amazing and heartbreaking.

Nic: As for the rest of the former Fireflies, their collective realization that Jackson is a whole ass city did make me laugh a little bit. They’re being as reasonable as a group of friends aiding their one murderous friend on a five-year search across multiple states to find one man can be, trying to talk Abby down with concepts of a plan. But their friend is off the deep end and they’re about to watch as she dives in to find Joel even if it means resorting to a bit of light torture.

Valerie: I’m never one to agree with a man named Owen (Nic: LOL), but when I found out his plan was to convince Abby to go back to Seattle without killing Joel, I was ready to get my pom-poms out for him. But now I blame him for me remaining DELUSIONAL about how this episode was going to go until the very last second.

Ellie and Jesse have three interesting conversations as Jesse fetches Ellie for patrol: one about Dina, one about Joel, and one with the homophobe from the dance.

Ellie does seem lighter here, post-Dina-kiss-night, and I’m sad this lightness will not last.

Let’s discuss those discussions!

Valerie: Jesse giving a very panicked Ellie shit about kissing Dina a week after they broke up was classic sibling behavior and I am here for it. I can see why Dina liked him! (But I am glad they are not together anymore.) It was also very sweet and relatable (but heartbreaking in retrospect) when Ellie said that no matter what, her and Joel are still Ellie and Joel. We all have people like that in our lives, people we bicker with, family (by birth or by choice) we know we can’t push away no matter what happens. Ellie says they’re fighting but they’re fine, and she doesn’t expect anyone else to understand that. When she called the patrol she wanted to go on a “Daddy/Daughter Day” in the fake begrudging way a teenager talks about something they don’t want to SEEM into but they are definitely into?? So cute, but again, knowing what’s coming now, VERY HEARTBREAKING.

And as for the last conversation, I like that Maria scolded that man until he apologized to Ellie, but I’m glad Ellie didn’t accept his apology (or his sandwiches). Fuck that guy.

Nic: I completely agree! Ellie and Jesse’s friendship is, I think, one of the more underrated aspects of the game and this story. Like you said, they butt heads and bicker like siblings, but underneath all of that is a mutual respect for each other. I know you’ll get this reference, and I hope some readers will too, but they sort of remind me of Beau and Fjord in Campaign 2 of Critical Role, especially when Jesse comes to pick up Ellie for patrol and acts like he’s mad about her and Dina kissing. What broke my heart was Ellie immediately saying that Dina probably wouldn’t remember it happened, and even if she did it would be because she wanted to make Jesse jealous. I couldn’t tell if she actually thought that or if she was just trying to manage Jesse’s anger. What do you think?

Valerie: I think it was a little of Column A, a little of Column B. I think she was telling Jesse what she thought he needed to hear so she didn’t disrupt the little community she’s built in Jackson, but also trying to convince herself it didn’t mean anything because feelings are scary.

Nic: Their conversation about Joel, and specifically Bella Ramsey’s delivery of Ellie’s explanation of her and Joel’s dynamic was brilliant. It’s unclear how much Jesse knows about what went down in Salt Lake, but Ellie can see how anyone would be concerned about the tension between her and Joel. It looks bad because it has been bad, but in her heart and mind they’re always going to be Ellie and Joel, no matter what that looks like.

As for Seth, ditto to what you said. He doesn’t get points from me for apologizing because Maria told him to. Sorry ’bout it.

A storm rolls in and Jesse and Ellie have to shelter in a 7-11 that has been turned into a grow room.

I want to know where there’s a working engraver for these Firefly necklaces in the apocalypse.

What did you make of the conversation they had about Eugene?

Valerie: In the game, it’s Ellie and Dina that go on patrol together and they’re the ones who end up in that grow room, where they flirt and fool around a little. On one hand, I’m sad we didn’t get one more scene of Before Ellie with Dina, but on the other I always worried Ellie would resent Dina. I’m glad she can’t point to Dina as a reason why she wasn’t with Joel that day, or blame herself choosing to have normal teenage fun. Though now Dina was WITH Joel so that stresses me out too. That said, I did like the conversation about Eugene, because it seems like Eugene was bitten and Joel had to “put him down,” so Ellie’s faraway stare when Jesse said there was nothing that could have been done reminds us that she still feels guilt, or deep sadness, or at the very least is haunted about not being The Cure.

Nic: Happy 4/20 indeed! I understand why they made the change, but removing the game cutscene of Ellie and Dina flirting is my only “note” for the episode. The scene is great for so many reasons, they’re heckin’ adorable first of all, but it also lets Dina show Ellie that their moment at the dance wasn’t a fluke or misinterpreted, and I think Ellie needed that knowledge. I sooo wish we could have seen Ellie and Dina being Happy together before all hell breaks loose, but at the same time Dina being in the room where it happened sets up a potentially super interesting dynamic with Ellie. I really hope Ellie doesn’t end up pissed at Dina for not doing more considering the unconsciousness of it all, but despite the plot change, I think Ellie’s guilt and anger are going to overtake every other emotion, for better or worse.

As for Eugene, we assumed this is what happened when Catherine O’Hara said Joel killed Eugene, so I’m glad we essentially got confirmation here. I LOVE your interpretation of Ellie’s faraway look because my first thought was that she was there when it happened and was trying to dissociate from the memory. Her connecting the two inevitabilities also feels so true to her character.

Valerie: You make a good point, I made assumptions about what Ellie’s look meant but we don’t know exactly how it all went down so it’s very possible she has more localized guilt about that event for some reason!

In a horrifying turn of events, Abby is trying to get closer to some horseback riders to see if one is Joel when she slides down a hill and awakens an ENTIRE HORDE of infected that were HIDING UNDER THE SNOW…and then Joel, of all people, finds and saves her. To thank him, Abby leads him to her murder lodge.

This is also the face I was making at my TV.

I want to talk about the STRESS of these scenes.

Nic: Valerie. This was a NIGHTMARE. I literally have in my notes, “Hey! Abby slides down the hill just like in the game! OH NO WAIT THIS IS TERRIFYING!” We’re writing this before consuming any behind the scenes interviews or featurettes about the episode, so I’m just guessing here, but from a production standpoint this felt like a FEAT. I don’t know how many of the infected were actors vs. CGI but the sheer number of them and how FAST they moved was UNSETTLING. I cannot overstate this: I have played this game MULTIPLE times and yet my heart was about to burst through my chest with how stressed I was while watching this. When Abby shimmied between the fence and the building, I could remember the exact stress of playing this game sequence. To be able to mimic the feeling gamers had in a completely different medium?! The talent behind this show is absolutely unreal.

Valerie: I also think the addition of so many of them COMING UP OUT OF THE SNOW was interesting. (And, yes, terrifying.) In the game there was background info about how the infected were evolving, showing us things like Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters, but it seemed more about length of time infected. (Though I’ll admit, I did a lot of panicked running in that game and not as much reading as I would have liked.) This show seems to be implying they’re getting SMARTER and that is incredibly stressful, and their sheer SPEED was stressful enough already. But between the Stalkers having hunting tactics, and these infected basically hibernating and using their fellow dead as insulation, plus the show-added bonus of them having roots they can sense from a great distance, it’s adding a brand new level of horror and I’m living for it.

Nic: YES! Even the Bloater that lumbered toward Tommy later in the episode seemed to be strategizing in a way that I wasn’t used to seeing. Awful.

Valerie: Also, as for Joel saving her, I thought the moment after the gunshot when her ears are ringing and her vision is blurred and she hears a man’s voice and sees a hand with a man’s watch on it reach out to her…I wonder if Abby in that moment thought it was her father. I noticed in a second watch of the last episode that she wore a too-big men’s watch when she was at the gravesite so I have to imagine that was her father’s, and now here’s Joel and his dad watch reaching out for her. A dad’s helping hand, but also the hand that killed her own father. I don’t know, I don’t know, it just felt like an interesting moment and it made my heart ache.

Nic: OUCH.

During construction in Jackson, they axe the wiggly roots and they too get a horde (maybe the same horde?) on their heels. They spring into action, and they have been preparing for this day.

“Meet me on the battlefield. Even on the darkest night, I will be your sword and shield, your camouflage. And you will be mine.”

Let’s talk about Tommy and Maria and the town’s quick response to this attack.

Nic: I said this to you via text immediately after the episode, but Jackson’s preparedness got a standing ovation from me in my living room. Every last resident was on their Zoom, they knew their roles, their places, their 8-counts, all of it. From the kiddos making their way into basements to the gunners getting settled on the fences and roofs, the cinematography made the entire operation look like a dance. This entire attack on Jackson was a big change from the game, and presumably why they had Dina on patrol with Joel rather than Tommy, and it’s one that I think worked well for the show and for Tommy’s character.

Valerie: Somewhere out there Rick Grimes is having a bad night’s sleep because Alexandria could never. The gas barrels and their slides were inspired. The flamethrower brigade was outstanding. As someone who knows firsthand that’s the best way to deal with Bloaters, I was so glad Tommy had one when he was cornered!! I agree that the whole sequence felt expertly choreographed. I don’t love that the infected figured out how to get up to the rooftops so quickly and I was holding my breath for Tommy and Maria the entire time. But when Maria released those dogs?? I practically did cartwheels in my apartment. Hero move.

At the lodge, after pretending to help for a minute, Abby eventually reveals that she’s been looking for Joel. Mel puts Dina to sleep with an injection, and Abby gives her speech.

“And I don’t wanna be a monster in the making, I don’t wanna be more bitter than sweet, I don’t know how to be just standing by blankly, not getting angry.”

It’s something we don’t get to see in the game (we don’t learn her true motivations until later), so I want to make sure we talk about that whole scene here.

Valerie: I don’t know what kind of child militia these ex-Fireflies were trained in, but surely they could have stopped Abby if they really wanted to as badly as they implied earlier. I know she’s a little scary with that wild anger in her eyes, but they outnumber her! They could have used the sleeping injection on HER and gotten her far enough away and then convinced her they’ll never let Joel out of Jackson again so she should just relish the pain she did cause and move on! They had so many chances to help and they just…watched. I don’t blame Ellie for including them in her threats.

As for Abby’s speech, it’s something we don’t get in the game and it was very impactful. I distinctly remember leaving that scene in the game feeling like I didn’t know WHY Abby did this; I remember thinking it had to do with his past before we “met” him, because he and Tess were up to some shit, and being shocked to later realize it was about something we had “been there” for. (And as players of the game, something we ourselves had done.)

Back to the show: As scared as Abby’s friends were and, as hesitant as they had been to let her do this, Abby never once wavered in her intent. Even when Joel correctly points out that he just saved her life, she snaps back, “What life?!” She saw her father, her unarmed doctor of a father, lying dead where Joel left him, when she was only 19 years old, in a hospital that was supposed to be a safe zone for her and her fellow Fireflies. Joel could have defended himself further. Could have tried to explain that Abby’s father was about to cut open his daughter-figure’s brain after having her kidnapped. He could have tried to get her to see his side of it. But instead he, a father who lost a daughter, just looks at this daughter who lost a father and tells her to just “shut the fuck up and do it already.” Maybe he’s ready to accept the punishment he also thinks he deserves, maybe he wants to make sure it’s over before Dina wakes up, maybe a combination of the two, but he’s ready to die at Abby’s hand and doesn’t fight back as she picks up a golf club and beats him over and over and over. And when the golf club breaks, she switches to her fist, deep in a bloodlust, and just keeps trying to punch her pain away.

Nic: This scene right here solidified Kaitlyn Dever as Abby for me. Because yes, Abby’s physicality and strength matter in parts of the game, but at Abby’s core is her unshakeable desire to take the life of the man who took her father’s. There’s a moment when she’s still warming up by the fire as Joel radios Jackson, and her body language completely shifts as if suddenly remembering what she came here to do. It’s brilliant acting work. For five years Abby’s gotten angrier and sadder and more tired and every single one of those emotions crossed Kaitlyn’s face during her speech. And you’re right, in the game this is context we don’t get until later, and I remember guessing that it had to do with his past, but the mystery is what made the shift from playing as Ellie to playing as Abby so jarring. We were forced to empathize with this person who killed the man we as gamers spent hours and hours with. I’m so interested to see how the writers evoke those same emotions in the rest of the season.

You perfectly captured my thoughts about Joel not fighting back, and “he, a father who lost a daughter, just looks at this daughter who lost a father” is the most gorgeous phrasing and I need that on the record.

Valerie: Insert blushing emoji here.

After hearing that Joel and Dina didn’t report to Jackson, she goes looking for them, and walks in to find Abby beating him to a pulp. Abby’s friends pin her down and she watches as Abby murders Joel right in front of her.

“Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness. And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life.”

This is the scene everyone who played the game has been dreading, so we obviously have to discuss it.

Nic: Leading up to tonight, I found comfort in the Internet’s “there’s no way they’re going to ‘Joel in one’ on Easter and 4/20, RIGHT?!” jokes, but not even memes could stave off this sadness. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown so attached to this version of Ellie and Joel that Bella and Pedro so beautifully embody, but somehow it was so much more brutal than I expected. And the game’s version of this scene was brutal. The two of them are lying on the floor facing each other, and as Ellie pleads with Abby to let him go, pleads with Joel to get up, I have to imagine what’s going through her head is that the last conversation they had ended with her screaming that she doesn’t need his help or his protection. And maybe she doesn’t need it, but I think part of her feels comforted by it; it’s complicated like she told Jesse. Something that also stood out to me was despite being on death’s door, Joel wanted Ellie to know that HE knew she was there. It was in the twitch of his hands and the slight lifting of his head almost in acknowledgment that he hears her. Pedro, PLEASE.

When Abby finally stabs Joel with what’s left of the golf club, we experience Ellie’s visceral screams with the same ringing probably echoing in her head. It was absolutely gut wrenching to watch. And as if it couldn’t get worse, Ellie then uses every last bit of energy left in her body to crawl to the person who protected her at quite literally any cost. And she simply lays there knowing she couldn’t protect him.

Valerie: Brutal is exactly the right word for it, you nailed it. I can’t help but think about how last week we talked about how Ellie telling Dina “I’m not a threat,” in the context of romance was the opposite of how she wants to feel in any other situation. Despite all her fight training, despite all her gun practice, in this moment, she is not a threat. She is outnumbered, outmanned, outgunned and outplanned. She is begging Joel to get up, to fight for her, and to his credit, he tries. He lifts his head as much as he’s able. But it’s too late. She’s too late. I hope she knows that what she said earlier, that they’re Ellie and Joel and nothing will ever change that, I hope that she knows that he knows that. At least deep down. It might take her a while to remember it.

The moment Abby stabs him in the neck and the sound kind of dips out for a second was so well done; like you said, it felt so visceral. And as Ellie screams for the person she loves most in this world, she looks so small. She is not a threat. But she promises she will be, and I believe her.

In the final scenes, we see Abby and her friends walking away, Jackson recovering from a battle barely won, and Jesse, Dina, and Ellie dragging Joel’s body home.

Valley of Death, indeed.

What did you think of the ending of this episode?

Nic: Listen, Craig Mazin, if I ever meet you, it’s on SIGHT! (For legal reasons, this is a joke.) Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by Ashley Johnson. *raises hand as high as it goes* (Valerie: *also raises hand*) What a hauntingly beautiful choice to use her cover of that song during this scene. The image of them dragging Joel’s body behind them is going to haunt me forever. Dina still half-drugged on her horse, Jesse stoically trying to hold himself together, and Ellie turning to look at the body as if she’s not entirely sure what just happened is real? Absolutely devastating.

Valerie: I was already so sad, and then I heard Ashley Johnson’s voice singing sadly and my heart dropped like a rock into my stomach. Talk about twisting the proverbial knife!! Hearing Game Ellie sing about the Valley of Death while Show Ellie turns through the pain of her broken ribs to look at Joel’s body dragging behind their horse toward the smoldering Jackson skyline was a one-two punch from which I may never emotionally recover.

That said, I was glad to see Tommy and Maria were okay, at least, and that Jackson, though not without cost, eventually took down the horde. One small, tiny glimmer of hope among the crumbling ruins of what once was strong.

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