‘The Last of Us’ Episode 9 Recap: Big Little Lies

We probably have not recovered from last week’s traumatizing episode—I know I haven’t—and I would love to tell you that this week’s finale is light and airy, but it is not. This is The Last of Us; nothing is light or airy. The Season 1 finale is the culmination of everything Joel and Ellie have fought through and lost along the way. It is also the culmination of a long and emotional journey for the audience. Some have played the video game and therefore have a pretty good sense of what is to come, but for others, this ending will do what The Last of Us does best: make you question your choices.

(Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us.)

Much like the series premiere, we open on a time jump—and a very important one at that. The first thing we see is a pregnant woman running through the woods away from a particularly loud Infected. If you are a fan of the video game, you will immediately recognize that this woman is played by Ashley Johnson, who originated the role of Ellie.

During the chase, it becomes clear that this woman—who we later learn is named Anna—is in labor. Luckily she makes it out of the woods and into an abandoned house, where she is hoping to meet others. However, they are not there yet, leaving her alone and in labor, having to deal with this especially persistent Infected. Imagine giving birth while having to fight off an Infected; this woman is a badass just like her daughter (surprise!).

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When the Infected makes it into the room, Anna is able to eventually kill them with her trusty switchblade. Seconds after the Infected dies, Ellie is born—screaming her lungs out, of course. That’s when Anna realizes that, right before Ellie’s birth, she was bit. Finally, Ellie’s immunity is explained! The cordyceps has already been in her since birth, so it recognized her as one of their own when she was bitten later on.

One moment in this flashback that brought tears to my eyes is when Anna holds up a screaming newborn Ellie and tells her, “Yeah, you tell them. You fucking tell them, Ellie.” As if watching the OG Ellie kill an Infected with a switchblade isn’t cool enough, we also get this heartbreakingly beautiful scene. Perfection.

Eventually, the people Anna was hoping to find in the home when she arrived show up—it’s Marlene and more Fireflies, of course. When Marlene finds Anna and Ellie upstairs, Anna pleads with Marlene to take Ellie to Boston and find someone to raise her. Marlene initially refuses, but she eventually agrees. Then Anna asks Marlene to do something very tough: kill her. In the end, Marlene reluctantly obliges this request too.

With less than 10 minutes of screen time, Johnson gives us one of the best scenes of The Last of Us. With her uncanny ability to toggle between badass and heartfelt, she brings so much depth to a character that even those who have played the game never met. Casting Johnson to play Ellie’s mother is one of the best choices this show has made thus far—and it’s made a lot of stellar choices. We never fully knew why Ellie was immune or what really happened to her mother, and this is the perfect way to tell that story.

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We then jump back to the present, with grown-up Ellie—well, grown-up-ish; she’s still just 14—still processing everything she went through with David in the last episode. Meanwhile, she and Joel are now nearing the hospital in Utah where the Fireflies may or may not be.

A once-catatonic Ellie all of a sudden perks up and runs off when they get inside a bombed-out building. When Joel finally reaches Ellie, he finds her watching, in wonder, a wild giraffe eating some foliage. It’s an emotional scene that reminds us, Ellie, and Joel that there is beauty left in this world to fight for, even if there is so much darkness.

When the giraffe walks away, Ellie once again runs after it, to try to find where it is going next. That is when she and Joel get to the roof and see a whole tower (I just learned that this is what you call a group of giraffes; how cool) of giraffes walking through Salt Lake City. While watching the giraffes walk away without a care in the world, Joel tells Ellie that they can just stop their journey now and go back to Tommy’s (Gabriel Luna), if she wants.

Ellie tells Joel that “after all we’ve been through, everything I’ve done, it can’t be for nothing.” This is a direct line from the game and an important one. She doesn’t want to give up; she wants her life to matter, and she wants to be humanity’s savior. Ellie tells Joel that there is “no halfway with this,” and the two continue their journey to the hospital.

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While walking through an old, abandoned army emergency camp, Joel finally tells Ellie how he really got the scar on his head. After Sarah died, he didn’t see the point in going on anymore. He tried to kill himself with his gun, but when he went to pull the trigger, he flinched. Ellie thinks Joel is telling her this story because “time heals all wounds,” but Joel looks at her with such love in his eyes as he says, “It wasn’t time that did it.” It’s a phenomenal moment, a true showcase for just how talented Pascal and Ramsey are in their roles.

Sadly, nothing but chaos lies ahead. The pair are ambushed by armed men, who drag Ellie away and knock Joel unconscious. When Joel comes to, he is lying in a Firefly hospital bed, with Marlene sitting right next to him. Joel immediately wants to find Ellie, but Marlene says he cannot go see her, as she is being prepped for surgery.

It turns out that the doctor thinks that the cordyceps in Ellie have grown with her since birth, and it produces a chemical messenger that makes normal cordyceps think that she is one of them. That is why she is immune. The doctor is going to remove the cordyceps that have grown with Ellie, multiply the cells, produce the chemical messengers that make her immune, and create a vaccine. Sounds great, right? Well, the catch is that cordyceps grow all over the brain. To create the vaccine, Ellie will have to die.

This information does not sit well with Joel. He refuses to lose another daughter, which is what Ellie has become to him. At first, Joel looks like he is going to go quietly. But then, he overpowers one of the Fireflies and gets him to reveal which operating room Ellie is in. Joel proceeds to kill everyone in his way to that operating room, and I do mean everyone. Once there, he storms in, kills the doctor operating on Ellie, and takes her out of the hospital.

As Joel is about to escape with an unconscious Ellie in his arms, Marlene finds him and tries to stop him from leaving. Joel tells Marlene that Ellie’s fate isn’t for her to decide, while Marlene explains that Ellie would have wanted to die for the cure—and he knows it. But Joel has made up his mind. He shoots Marlene, wounding her, and brings Ellie to a car to lay her down. Then he comes back and kills Marlene, justifying his actions by saying that she’ll try to bring Ellie back anyway.

Later, Ellie awakens in the car that Joel stole from the Fireflies. She has no idea what happened, and Joel lies to her when she asks. He tells her that they found the Fireflies, but it turns out there are more immune people like her out there. The doctors couldn’t find a way to make anyone’s immunity into a vaccine, he says, and the Fireflies have thus stopped looking for a cure. Joel then says that raiders attacked the hospital, and he barely got her out of there alive. Ellie asks if Marlene is okay, and Joel ignores her. His only response is that he is taking them home (to Jackson, where Tommy lives).

As they approach Jackson, Ellie finally opens up to Joel about Riley (Storm Reid) and how she got bit alongside Ellie, then becoming “the first to die.” Joel tells Ellie that Riley’s death, Tess’ death, and any other deaths are not her fault. Some things don’t work out the way we hope, he says, and you have to keep finding something to fight for. His response inspires Ellie to ask Joel to swear that everything he told her about the Fireflies and what happened at the hospital is true. Joel swears, and Ellie, after a few seconds, says okay. Is she truly convinced?

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This ending is surely going to divide people, from the characters to the audience. Yet the best stories do not only challenge your way of thinking—they also force you to question even your deepest beliefs. With this season finale, The Last of Us does just that.

Over nine episodes, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal have made this story their own and put a marvelous stamp on these two beloved characters. Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann perfectly adapted the video game for TV, staying true to the story while implementing changes in all the right areas.

That said, if anyone is wondering: Yes, the first video game ends in the exact same way. And, yes, it’s just as shocking in the game too. The first chapter of Joel and Ellie’s story has been told, but there is so much more left to go. See you in Season 2. Endure and survive until then.

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