‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: Rate Your Pain

Season 2, Episode 3

What is the appropriate amount of time for a TV character to mourn another TV character? In the old days, when television was less serialized, the answer to that question was usually “until the episode’s closing credits.”

Then in the 1990s and 2000s, the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon was partly responsible for changing the way TV series handle death, with heroes carrying the pain of a loss for multiple episodes — to the point where fans would anxiously wonder whether the show would ever be fun again.

In this week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” the credited screenwriter and series co-creator, Craig Mazin, takes a smart approach to the aftermath of Joel’s horrible, bloody murder. Mazin jumps the action ahead three months, just as Ellie is getting out of the hospital, and long after she has gotten used to the idea of losing Joel. When Ellie is discharged, she is not mopey or surly. Instead, she is ready to get on with the next phase of her life: finding and killing Joel’s assassin, Abby.

I question a different choice Mazin makes, however. This is an unusual “Last of Us” episode in that it lacks any kind of big action or horror set-piece. There is one devastating moment of violence that happens offscreen, and the episode ends with a major threat looming. But unlike in Season 1, where the calmer scenes of people hanging out and living life were balanced with terrifying monster attacks and shootouts, this week Ellie and the Jacksonians mostly just regroup. Given that some disgruntled fans have wondered whether this show can be as entertaining going forward without Joel, I’m somewhat surprised that this episode is so devoid of spectacle.

That said, for people like me, who think Ellie is fascinating enough to carry a series, this episode makes a fine case for this season’s future.

The action this week — such as it is — is understandably Ellie-focused. First, she completes her checkout from the hospital, which involves rating her pain level for the doctor (“nothing … zero”) and then getting past Gail, who knows she is not being wholly honest about how Joel’s death is affecting her. Gail mentions her own last conversation with him, and how he said that he had wronged Ellie by saving her. Ellie pretends not to know what Joel meant, then spins some therapy-speak to get Gail off her back.

“Man, I wish I could’ve let him off the hook for whatever it was he was talking about,” she says, before disingenuously adding, “I guess I’ll have to let myself off the hook for that.”

Alone and back home, though, walking around an empty house, Ellie’s emotional dam breaks. She buries her face in one of Joel’s jackets and sobs. Kudos as always to Bella Ramsey, who never holds back in playing Ellie, giving the character’s youthful exuberance and raw pain free rein, as needed.

Ellie does not get much time to wallow before this episode’s plot comes knocking on the door, in the form of Dina. Thanks to conversations she once had with the late Eugene, a former Firefly, Dina has been able to figure out something about Abby’s crew. They may be part of a regional militia: the Seattle-based Washington Liberation Front, a.k.a. “the Wolves.”

Ellie’s first reaction to this news is to snap at Dina for letting the Wolves get away, but then Dina reminds her, “This town was wreckage and funerals for weeks.” Besides, “If you know where they’re going to end up, maybe let them get there.”

Dina also chastises Ellie for thinking she has exclusive rights to loving Joel. This sentiment will come up again, especially from Tommy, who gets annoyed when Ellie suggests that if he really cared about Joel’s memory, he would organize a posse immediately to head to Washington. “Don’t talk to me like I didn’t know him,” Tommy growls. He says his brother would have gone to any extreme to save Tommy’s life, but not to avenge him — not if it was too dangerous.

Ellie though? She is not going to abandon her quest for justice, no matter how foolhardy. She tries first to go through official channels, even taking the time to craft a speech for the town council, arguing that the deep bond among reliable neighbors is what holds Jackson together, “not potluck dinners.”

The council, though, is more persuaded by the people in the crowd who argue that Joel, while special, was not that much more special than all the other people who died that day. Also, sending skilled fighters to Seattle leaves Jackson less protected from the next potential attack.

So … no posse. But when Dina shows up again at Ellie’s house later that night, she already knows her friend is going to ride out anyway. She asks Ellie what route she is planning to take (Ellie: “Northwest?”), whether she has any medical supplies and whether she can make it across the wilderness in Chuck Taylor sneakers. Then she joins Ellie: a posse of two, sharing one horse.

Mazin again compresses time in the latter half of this episode, covering the long ride from Wyoming to Washington in about 10 minutes of screen time. (That trip is around 870 miles long on modern roads. Post-cordyceps, that trail is probably more winding.) These scenes are pleasantly congenial, as these two continue to casually flirt with each other, even as they both agree — out loud, at least — that their New Year’s Eve kiss was a drunken mistake. Dina has long since reconciled with Jesse. But the longing in Ellie’s eyes as she looks at Dina — while sharing close quarters in a tent — suggests Ellie is not over her.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, as Ellie and Dina arrive at the outskirts of an eerily quiet Seattle, overgrown with moss and vines. We see them head unimpeded into the city, cockily speculating that there may not be that many Wolves. (Ellie: “There’s about to be a whole lot less”). We also see an inattentive security guard, who tells a small army of Wolves that the road ahead is clear. The armored vehicles and troops may be headed straight for our heroes, with neither side aware.

The most chilling moment this week though happens before Ellie and Dina reach the city, at the crossroads of the Seattle Trail. Earlier in the episode, there is an interlude showing a group of multigenerational travelers at that same crossroads, all clad in tunics, all with identical scars on their cheeks that resemble wide smiles. When Ellie and Dina arrive later, they find those pilgrims’ corpses — including the body of a young girl — and are convinced that the Wolves were responsible. Even those travelers, before the slaughter, worried about being ambushed by Wolves.

If so, these Wolves would be very unlike the ones we saw in Jackson, who, Abby aside, seemed to prefer to keep violence to a minimum. Clearly there is a lot more to their story than we have been told so far — and maybe more than Ellie is ready to hear. She needs this to be a simple tale of good versus evil, where she is the righteous warrior, slaying incorrigible fiends. But that is not the kind of saga she was born into.

Side Quests

If you ask why I think this show will be just fine with only Ellie as the main protagonist, I will point to the scene in which Ellie eats one of Dina’s apology cookies and the very funny, very relatable way her face changes from begrudgingly humoring Dina to genuinely enjoying the cookie. No one emotes quite like Bella Ramsey.
Gail enjoys watching the hapless Jackson Little League Baseball teams practice. She tells Tommy that as a Detroit Tigers season ticket holder, these kids are not too different from the ’03 squad.
The town council scene is focused mostly on Ellie’s request, but I could’ve easily spent half the episode listening to Scott (Haig Sutherland) talk about the need to invest more in turkeys and corn. (“I don’t really have an opinion on the Seattle thing,” says Scott, who in the credits is called “Boring Scott.”)
Seth, the homophobe from the season premiere, continues to make amends in this episode, first by supporting Ellie’s revenge plan — saying the Wolves deserve no mercy — and then by providing Ellie and Dina with supplies as they leave town. All he asks for is a handshake, which Ellie gives after some hesitation. See? Maybe Ellie can let grudges go and change her mind about people.
I assume we will learn more about that oddly clad (and oddly scarred) group that gets killed outside Seattle. In the few minutes we spend with them, we do find out that they follow a prophet who died 10 years ago — and that their guiding philosophy is that it’s better to stay clear of conflict than to arm for it.
To pass time on the road, Dina asks Ellie to name musical acts by letter. For F? Fleetwood Mac. (Dina, disapprovingly: “Frank Zappa exists.”) For G? Green Day. (Dina: “Wrong.”)
On the way out of the Jackson area, Ellie stops by Joel’s grave and drops some coffee beans. The man did love coffee.