The Last of Us Season 2 starts with a reminder of Joel’s promise. He swore that he didn’t lie to Ellie. And it was a poignant but devastating reminder that this secret is going to come out. And it’s almost diabolical for fans of The Last of Us: Part 2 that they followed this moment by showing Abby and the rest of the Fireflies mourning their dead after Joel rescued Ellie. Because it’s a lie from Joel wrapped in a promise at the end of Season 1 followed by an actual promise in Season 2 episode 1. Abby is going to come for Joel. And no matter how angry Ellie’s going to be 5 years later in Jackson after finding out that Joel lied to her, she’ll pay forward that revenge with a bit of her own if Abby succeeds. That’s a promise.
MORE: Enjoyed the first episode of The Last of Us? Read our spoiler-free review here.
Where Joel and Ellie Are Now
Season 1 of The Last of Us saw Joel heal from the loss of his daughter Sarah. It was hard fought healing where he didn’t want to bond with Ellie. He just wanted to get her to the Fireflies and that was it. Nevertheless, he bonded and he took her back to Jackson to have a semblance of a life there. And Ellie, wild and spirited young woman that she was, found someone that she could trust and grounded her in a world where all she had experienced was loss while she remained. In “Future Days,” the bond that they had found and that we had fallen in love with in Season 1, that’s all shattered now.
We don’t know how Ellie found out that Joel lied to her or if the anger itself is directly tied to this lie at all. But her anger spoke volumes when we first come upon her training and Ellie finds out they’ve been pulling their punches because of Joel. This Ellie is someone who has grown up but has reverted to some of the rashness of who she was 5 years ago because she’s furious with Joel. And I really love how Bella Ramsey encapsulated the conflicting emotions of loving someone but also not being able to stand their face, presence, or name at the same time.
As for Pedro Pascal’s Joel, there’s a need for forgiveness in those eyes. He knows what he did was wrong. But if you would ask him if he regretted what he did to the Fireflies, he would say no. He didn’t regret one moment and he would do it again. And if we’re coming at this assuming that Ellie is mad because she found out his secret, Ellie knows this as well. I think it’s the reason why she’s angry. But again, Ellie loves Joel and she’s not going to destroy him by speaking the truth to everybody there in Jackson. She’s going to be angry, rightfully so. And Joel is going to tiptoe around her, hiding the fact that he’s going to therapy because he regrets what he did only to the degree that his lie hurt Ellie. But when she needs him, especially when a homophobe pops up at the end of the world, he steps up. He’ll always step up.
The Transformation of Ellie
In Season 1 of The Last of Us, even though Ellie was a survivor, there was always this gentleness about her. In The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 1 “Future Days,” that has been stripped from her. You could see a little bit of the girl she was in Season 1 when Isabela Merced’s character Dina makes a pun joke. It’s a call back to who she was. But Ramsey’s Ellie is trying to crush all that good within her because she’s angry. And honestly, I’m a little bit annoyed.
No shade to Ramsey, her Ellie is perfection and toes the line of unbridled rage and anger not just at Joel but at the world and the infected. That is something that is relatable to everybody. I got annoyed with Ellie in “Future Days” because she was acting reckless. And I’m not talking about the kind of recklessness that comes from dancing with a pretty drunk girl and kissing her. I got annoyed with Ellie because she knows how serious this world is and she still takes unnecessary risks.
Let’s talk about the supermarket. I know she’s a teenager. There’s also the fact that she thinks that she’s invincible because she’s been bitten before and she’s still here. But the risks that she was taking not only put her life in danger but her friend Dina as well. And I appreciate that we got some really cool scenes with the lurker, an evolution of the infected. I also understand that Ellie is on a journey. It’s ok that I don’t like her right now and am annoyed. She’s going to crash. But that crash is going to take time. And the only thing keeping me together is the faith that The Last of Us is going to take me on a journey.
Plus if I could give Joel the benefit of the doubt in Season 1 when he was being a grumpy guss, I’m going to give the same benefit of the doubt to Ramsey’s Ellie.
Kind of Ehhh About Abby
Back when I first experienced The Last of Us video game, I remember thinking, if you leave no survivors, there’s no one to seek revenge. I have held onto that thought for over a decade. And The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 1 “Future Days” made me rethink that in its entirety. Because Joel could have killed everybody in that building. But those aren’t the only Fireflies that knew that Joel was there. The only way that Joel and Ellie can avoid everything that’s coming when it pertains to Abby, is if Ellie stayed and died at the end of Season 1.
The biggest challenge that people are going to have when it comes to The Last of Us Season 2 is sympathizing with Abby and the rest of her friends who have also lost loved ones. It’s easy to hate on someone, especially when you spend a whole season with the likes of Pedro Pascal not wanting a child, getting a child, being a grumpy dad about it, before accepting that he’s a dad all over again. That’s catnip for an audience. But it’s important to take a step back and think about what you would do in Abby’s shoes. That’s why I think The Last of Us as a show made sure to show the remaining Fireflies mourning the dead right after Joel promised Ellie that he didn’t lie.
As for Kaitlyn Dever, I’m not really feeling her Abby right now. This comes off of just seeing her in Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix. I thought that performance was phenomenal. In The Last of Us Season 2 she doesn’t have the presence or relatability that I was expecting. She’s just there making promises about finding a ruggedly handsome man who killed their loved ones. But I’m going to give her time in the same way that I gave Ramsey time with Ellie in Season 1. But there is one thing I won’t budge on. If Danny Ramirez’s character still looks muscular at the end of the world, there’s no reason why the live-action version of Abby couldn’t also be of a more formidable stature. Just saying. Choices were made.
Random Thoughts About “Future Days”:
- Really enjoyed the life being lived in Jackson. This is a community at the end of the world. And they’re not trying to rebuild what they had. They’re looking forward to what they can be.
- But I totally understand where Joel is coming from about taking care of your own before you take care of everybody else
- But that’s also what’s going to lead Abby to them
- And I hope that Abby doesn’t take down a whole town for one man
- Be better than Joel
- But also she’s got 5 years of simmering rage
- Why does she have to be better than Joel when he destroyed so many people for one life? Ehhh that’s me just playing devil’s advocate.
- Character design-wise, really good job on those lurkers. It’s time to evolve
- If we learned anything from Season 1 of The Last of Us, cordyceps can communicate across great distances. And if they are in the pipes and feel a flicker of life, they’re going to send the infected to Jackson
- In the confusion of Jackson possibly being attacked by however many infected are around, is that going to be Abby’s way in?
- Whatever’s coming, I’m not ready
- And I don’t think I want to see it either.
- Final note. Catherine O’Hara. I need a whole series about your experience at the end of the world and what Joel did to your husband.
The Last of Us airs new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.
