“Through the Valley,” the tense and painful second episode of “The Last of Us” season 2, sees the consequences of Joel’s past choices come full circle. With both Bella Ramsey and Kaitlyn Dever delivering standout performances, HBO’s adaptation of “The Last of Us: Part II” finds its footing on solid, if different, ground.
The rest of this article contains spoilers for episode 202, “Through the Valley,” of “The Last of Us” as well as correlating aspects of “The Last of Us: Part II” video game.
The title of this week’s episode comes from a song of the same name, which Part II players recognize from the initial trailer for the game. Though writer and original singer Shawn James released the song in 2012, Naughty Dog repurposed it in 2016 to reflect Ellie’s journey in Part II. It is this version, with Ellie’s voice actor Ashley Johnson singing, that we hear at the end of the episode. This time, though, the lyrics encompass more than just Ellie. They signify what’s waiting for everyone and what pain is still yet to come.
Through the Valley
“I’m still me, he’s still Joel,” Ellie tells Jesse at the beginning of this episode, “and nothing’s ever gonna change that, ever.”
The last time we saw Ellie with Joel, just the night before when she walked past him on his back porch, tension hung thick between them. Despite this, Ellie’s words to Jesse indicate a shift in her feelings. After her anger and avoidance, Ellie seems ready to move forward and to move on. She even suggests they go on patrol together, calling it, tongue-in-cheek, “daddy-daughter day.”
Of course, Ellie will never get that final patrol with Joel. She’ll never argue with him, laugh with him, hear his voice again. The last image she will ever have of him will not be on a horse, searching for infected, burying her anger at him purely for her love of him. Ramsey’s and Pedro Pascal’s emotional performances in the final moments of Joel’s life leave us with a different image for Ellie.
One of his hazy, tired eyes, trying to focus on her through a river of blood pouring down his face. The cool metal of a broken golf club, gripped in her hand as she yanks it out of his neck. The press of her cheek against his, one last time.
There will be no daddy-daughter day. There will just be Joel. And there will just be Ellie. And they will never be together again.
But Ellie doesn’t know that yet.
So she carries on, a shadow of death hanging over her, waiting to swallow her whole.
And Ellie won’t be the only one wading in its depths.
Of the Shadow of Death
HBO’s adaptation has proven that it’s not afraid to diverge from its source material. “Through the Valley” expands on these changes in ways that will surely have ramifications we’re not yet aware of. The biggest of these is the battle at Jackson Hole and Tommy’s place in it.
In the game, Tommy, not Dina, is on patrol with Joel when Abby comes into the picture. There is no infected invasion of Jackson. The horrors stay firmly on the other side of the wall. This change, though some will undoubtedly claim is only an excuse for more television action, might serve a larger purpose.
After Joel and Dina fail to check in during a sudden blizzard, Tommy is ready to risk his life to find them and bring them home. The only thing that stops him is the horde and their threat to Jackson’s safety.
Though Tommy survives the invasion, Jackson and its community are clearly hurting by the end of the episode. Many people have died, infected line the streets, the wall that once guaranteed protection has now left them vulnerable. They will need to rebuild, and they will need their leaders to see it through.
What will happen when Tommy finds out about Joel? When he learns the brother who always protected him died while Tommy himself was protecting other people? Grief and responsibility will undoubtedly battle for his attention the same way it did for Joel. The same way it will for Ellie.
The same way it already has for Abby.
I Fear No Evil
The other big change in this episode lies with the continued quick revelation of Abby’s connection to Joel. Though we learned in the first episode that Abby and her group were part of the Fireflies Joel tore through to save Ellie, we didn’t know that Abby’s father was the surgeon. In a monologue equal parts vengeful and heart breaking, Abby reveals this to Joel and the audience, thus erasing the last bit of mystery surrounding her mission to Jackson.
The choice to show Abby’s motives, and the reasoning behind them, so much earlier than in the game likely comes from a desire to encourage empathy for Abby sooner rather than later. Only time will tell if this choice pays off, but Dever’s resulting performance will undoubtedly go down as one of the best dialogue deliveries in the entire series.
“The nurses said you barely even looked at him when you pulled the trigger,” Abby says as she crouches over an injured Joel. “But I looked at him. I saw him. I was nineteen.”
What Joel did to her father, what he unknowingly forced her to live through, fuels Abby’s hatred and anger. It fuels her need for vengeance-riddled justice.
“You don’t get to rush this,” she says, as she tests the weight of a golf club before bringing it down on Joel’s injured leg. Her desire to see him suffer even a fraction of the amount she has suffered blinds Abby to everything else. Even the fact that she is doing to another young girl what Joel did to her.
Because I’m Blind To it All
“Through the Valley” is unrelenting, and viewers who haven’t played the game likely find themselves in the same state as Ellie as she crawls toward Joel’s lifeless body. Shocked, devastated, and, maybe above all, angry. If there’s one guidance game players can give without spoiling what lies ahead on this journey, it’s that these feelings are absolutely intentional. They are what build the perfect foundation for vengeance. And nothing builds a story like a quest for revenge.
But if there’s one more guiding note we can give, it’s that “The Last of Us” has always explored cycles of violence and the traps they lead us into. Season 1 showed this with Kathleen and Henry, and season 2 has set this up well with Abby, Joel, and Ellie. What are we willing to do, how far through the valley of death, are we willing to go, in the name of love?
At what point does the love that defines us sour into a darkness that consumes us?
“The Last of Us” airs every Sunday at 9pm (EST) / 6pm (PST) on HBO Max.
