This week’s flashback episode fleshes out Joel and Ellie’s complicated relationship. Here’s our The Last Of Us season 2 episode 6 review.
After his cruel and untimely death back in episode 2, Pedro Pascal’s Joel made a more or less expected return at the end of episode 5 of The Last Of Us season 2. It signalled that this week’s episode would be the long-awaited flashback episode that would finally show us exactly what happened in those five years that made Ellie and Joel grow apart.
Let’s just say, without spoilers, things get very emotional. Get your hanky ready.
Before Neil Druckmann, sitting in the director’s chair for the first time for the show, gets into Ellie and Joel’s thorny relationship, we get a little flashback to 1983 and to Joel and Tommy’s childhood. In order for us to understand the true depth of the present day tragedy, we need to understand where Joel came from and how he grew to be the man and the father that he was.
In terms of plot, the flashback offers little. In terms of story, it gives us a lot. It’s another way Craig Mazin and Druckmann – and this episode’s co-writer Halley Gross, who also co-wrote The Last Of Us Part II – expand the world of The Last Of Us, giving their characters a little more depth and continuity. This season has made changes to the game, some of them good, some of them bad, but giving us more context has clearly been the main focus.
After the 80s flashback, the 60-minute episode progresses in a steady pace through the years. Each section gives us more insight into what went wrong; Ellie was already suspicious of Joel’s explanation of things at the end of season one and that sense of suspicion only grows as time goes by and she matures.
But the two reach a final breaking point when they encounter Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) in the woods during a routine patrol. I won’t ruin the satisfaction of watching the episode and Eugene’s scenes in particular, but this is where The Last Of Us season 2 is at its best. If the videogame is the bones of the whole thing, season 2 is the meat around it.
While the episode is one of the strongest we’ve seen this season, it does feel a little rushed. It might only feel that way to people who’ve played the game and miss certain details, like Ellie placing a hat on different dinosaurs at a museum. Druckmann, perhaps out of necessity – there’s an awful lot of story to get through in just seven episodes this season – has to cut some corners and unfortunately, it shows and comes at a price. The emotional impact is clear, but it’s hard not to think that it could have been so much more powerful.
Having Pedro Pascal back is lovely, though. Bella Ramsey has been carrying this season on her shoulders and doing a good job at it too, but having Joel and Ellie back together is simply delectable. Ramsey and Pascal have such great, natural chemistry and it really pays off toward the episode’s end where we get into the really tough bits of their bond. Druckmann keeps things simple at the end, letting Pascal and Ramsey do all the work. It’s an emotional end that you might see coming, but the force it hits you with still brought tears to this writer’s eyes.
Episode 6 also really highlights the work Ramsey has put into Ellie as a young woman. As the episode moves through the years, you see the subtle changes in Ellie’s behaviour, posture and overall vibe, as the kids would say. Ramsey’s ability to portray a significantly older Ellie was one of the biggest worries fans had, but episode 6 really shows the effort and skill they’re putting into their performance.
The Last Of Us season 2 is coming to an end next week. It’s a bittersweet feeling as we’ll have to wait for a long time for season 3, which will likely be a more Abby-focused season, but next week’s episode will without a doubt come with some shocks and surprises. Now that we’re so close to the end, there’s a feeling that episode 6 really represents the season as a whole; incredible individual moments, solid writing and great acting, but helplessly rushed and cheating us out of moments that could have been more powerful if handled with more time and patience.
The Last Of Us debuts new episodes every Monday on Sky and NOW.
