Did Episode 6 of The Last of Us Season 2 make you cry as much as it did in Season 2, or even more? You're not alone. This week, the HBO series hits hard with the return of a character who's extremely popular with viewers. After his death in the second chapter of the season, Joel shows up at Ellie's bedroom door in a flashback episode that promises to be rich in emotion.
It didn't fail to materialize, the tears flowed here as we see the father and daughter once again maintaining a loving relationship. A powerful contrast to the bitterness and anger that drove the first episodes of this second installment. More than just a touching role, Episode 6 also plays a crucial role in the universe of The Last of Us.
What we see
The chapter opens with a nostalgic sequence. We find Ellie and Joel at different stages of their relationship, through four successive birthdays of the young girl, which outline the evolution of their bond. Between complicity, distance, and reunion, these moments reveal the slow transformation of their adopted father-daughter relationship, after the traumatic events they experienced together.
At the same time, another narrative thread develops: that of Joel, young, seen for the first time with his father and Tommy in their childhood home before the pandemic. In this scene, set in 1983, we see the foundations of Joel's fierce loyalty to Tommy, and vice versa, as well as the meaning he gives to the words family and sacrifice. This moment gives a lot of meaning to what Joel does in the previous season, especially his shocking decision at the hospital. We understand that he always wanted to protect his family, even if it meant going to great lengths.
What you need to understand
This is the first time we understand why the young woman is so angry with Joel before he dies. But this very particular sequence has other equally important goals for the rest of the series. It also allows us to understand a number of things that the timeskip left unsaid in the first episode of season 2. It comes at a time when Ellie shows an increasingly tough, almost dehumanized character in the face of Abby's clan, while the young woman tortures Nora to gather information.
This is why the most striking scene of this episode remains the one in the museum. Joel takes Ellie to an old space museum, and she discovers things she has never seen in her life. For a few minutes, she becomes a child again, allowing herself to dream, ask questions, and pretend a better life. This is probably the last time we see the character in such an innocent way. In a harsh world like that of The Last of Us, it's a precious and necessary interlude.
Some symbols are also explicitly explained (the guitar, the tattoo, the subject of Ellie's sexual orientation), so we won't go over them again in this article, although they add substance to the lore that viewers are more or less already familiar with.
This flashback finally allows us to better understand the choices of certain characters and to learn a little more about what happened during the 5 years that the series skipped. It will only bring back Joel temporarily, but it is precisely what we understand about him, and how much it cost him to reveal the truth to Ellie, that touches the viewer to the heart. Even for players who knew what to expect, Pedro Pascal's acting adds a significant emotional layer.
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