“The Last of Us” finally returns for Season 2 on HBO, but it might be good for a refresher on their harrowing first-season journey.
Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsay) are forced together after the former agrees to escort the latter to a facility in Colorado because she’s immune to the deadly Cordyceps fungus that brought the world to its knees. Their travels were filled with blood and loss, but eventually, they made it – only for Joel to decide he’d rather save Ellie than potentially everyone on the planet.
Before jumping into “The Last of Us” Season 2, remind yourself what happened during Season 1 below.
Before the Fall
Events of the series kick off with reports of a new fungal virus called Cordyceps spreading across the globe. It’s an infection that attacks the brain and makes the infected little more than zombies. Joel, his daughter Sarah and his brother Tommy get caught up in the chaos as things break out.
The three fight their way through a town as madness descends and their former friends and neighbors turn into mindless hosts to the Cordyceps – and much like a zombie, one bite adds you to their ranks. Joel and Sarah get separated from Tommy but have no choice but to keep moving.
He carries his daughter in his arms and reaches the outskirts of town, where they’re seen by a soldier tasked with maintaining a line and keeping the possibly infected within. Despite having no bite, the soldier opens fire on Joel and Sarah.
Somehow, Joel escapes the event without a scratch but crawls over to his daughter to find her shot and dying. He holds Sarah in his arms, begging as she dies.
Anna Torv, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in HBO’s “The Last of Us”
20 Years Later
20 years pass and Joel is working with his partner Tess (Anna Torv) as a smuggler. The pair have been having success making runs in and out of the quarantine zone, but their latest ask is by the Fireflies – a group of survivors searching for a cure.
They’re tasked with taking a young girl named Ellie all the way to Colorado. The trip immediately gets off to a rough start when they’re stopped by FEDRA agents, who they’re forced to kill, but not before it’s revealed that Ellie is both infected and immune to that infection. The reason for their escort becomes clear.
Unfortunately, all three of them won’t make it to Colorado. Tess reveals that she was bitten after another run-in with infected and Clickers – infected with such a progressive attack of Cordyceps the fungus has grown out of their body, blinding them so they can only see via clicking. She agrees to hold off another group of FEDRA soldiers, allowing Joel and Ellie to escape.
A Bloody Road
Joel and Ellie’s road is long, arduous, and heartbreaking. While the two begin to grow closer and trust each other, they also experience loss. First are Bill and Frank – dead before Joel and Ellie even arrive in their secluded town, but a standalone and stand-out episode explores their story. Second are brothers Henry and Sam.
Joel and Ellie work with the brothers to escape Kansas City and, in doing so, see the parallels to their relationship with the boys. After making it through the city, the four take shelter to rest for the night. In the morning, Ellie wakes up to find that Sam was bit in their final escape and turned. He attacks Ellie but is shot by Henry before anything worse happens. In his grief over shooting his brother, Henry turns the gun on himself and ends his own life.
Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid as Ellie and Riley in “The Last of Us”
Left Behind
After meeting up with Tommy in Jackson, and being told where the Fireflies are, Ellie opens up to Joel about what happened the day she found out she was immune.
Ellie and her friend Riley (Storm Reid) sneak out of their homes and into an old mall. Inside, the two have an idyllic first date that includes merry-go-rounds, arcades, Halloween masks, and even a kiss.
The illusion of happiness is shattered when the two are attacked by infected. Both Riley and Ellie are bitten in the attack, but Ellie remains fine while Riley turns. It’s never shown, but it’s implied Ellie had to kill her first love.
Ellie vs. David
After leaving Jackson, Joel is hurt in a run-in with other survivors. While he fights for his life and recovers, Ellie is forced to fend for herself and take care of both of them. In her search for food, she runs into another group led by a man named David (Scott Shepard). Ellie is taken prisoner by the group and learns they’ve been staying alive by eating other people.
She manages to escape and, in doing so, starts a fire in their camp. David attacks her in the lodge and plans to sexually assault her. Ellie manages to get to a nearby weapon and kill her assailant, but the trauma of the moment leaves her ears ringing as she hacks and hacks at his body.
A recovered Joel, who had been out looking for the girl, finds her shortly after the attack and does her best to comfort her, but the scars are already there.
Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in “The Last of Us” Season 1 (HBO)
Joel Saves Ellie from the Fireflies
In the end, the two make it to the Firefly facility. There, Marlene (Merle Dandridge) explains to Joel that the only way to properly examine Ellie and find a cure would be to kill her and test her brain.
Naturally, that doesn’t sit well with Joel and he goes on a rampage through the facility looking for the girl. He finds her unconscious and prepped for surgery. He kills the doctors and nurses in the room and carries Ellie out down to the garage and a get-away car.
Joel is confronted by Marlene one final time, begging for him to reconsider. Instead, he kills the woman and flees the facility. When Ellie comes to, Joel lies and tells her that they couldn’t find a way to translate her immunity into a cure. Ellie asks Joel to swear to her that he’s telling the truth. Joel lies one more time and ensures her that there was nothing to be done, not that he couldn’t bear losing a second daughter.
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