Somehow, The Last Of Us Found A Way To Make Ellie's Role In Joel's Death Even More Heart-Wrenching Than The Game

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2.

Joel’s death in The Last of Us season 2 is just as shocking and horrifying as it was in the game, but the TV show managed to make Ellie’s role in the scene even more heartbreaking. The Last of Us season 2, episode 2, “Through the Valley,” brought the dreaded moment that Abby makes good on her promise to kill Joel. She made it clear from the very beginning of the season that she wanted revenge for what he did to the Fireflies, and not even Joel’s plot armor was strong enough to protect him from her wrath.

The TV show makes a few key changes to Joel’s death. In the game, Joel is on patrol with Tommy, not Dina, and Joel cuts Abby off before she starts her rehearsed speech about her late father. In the TV show, Abby delivers the final death blow by stabbing Joel in the neck with the broken putter, not by bashing in his skull. But the most devastating change that the TV show makes is a small but incredibly powerful alteration to Ellie’s role in the scene.

In The Last Of Us Season 2, Ellie Is Still Conscious After Joel's Death

Ellie Gets Knocked Out In The Game

In the game, just like in the TV show, Ellie goes looking for Joel after he goes missing on patrol. She tracks him down to the chalet where Abby and her friends are staying, sneaks into the building, and goes into the basement, where she finds Abby ruthlessly beating Joel to a pulp. Before she can stop Abby, Ellie is attacked by Abby’s friends, held down on the floor, and forced to watch as Abby tortures her father to death. But after Owen tells Abby to end it and she finally kills Joel, the series makes a slight change.

In the game, right after Joel is killed, Ellie is knocked unconscious and the screen cuts to black. She comes to briefly when Dina and Jesse find her, then the game jumps forward to Tommy comforting Ellie back in Jackson. But in the TV show, Ellie is still conscious when Abby and her friends leave, so we get to see her immediate reaction to Joel’s death. The camera stays on Ellie for a painfully long time as she attempts to process the tragedy.

Seeing Ellie's Immediate Reaction To Joel's Death Makes It Even More Tragic

It Forces Us To Sit With Her Intense Grief

I wouldn’t have thought the TV show could make Joel’s death even sadder than the game, but by staying with Ellie in the moments after the killing and forcing us to sit with her intense grief, the showrunners managed it. In the game, Ashley Johnson gives a really powerful performance of Ellie feeling broken and defeated at the sight of Joel’s body, but she only gets to play it for a few seconds before she gets kicked in the head and knocked out cold.

In the TV show, Ellie is left fully conscious and alone with Joel’s body, so we get a more extensive reaction. Of course, she’s devastated, and Bella Ramsey nails the concoction of emotions: the shock, the horror, the confusion, the overwhelming sadness. The image of Ellie crawling across the room to remove the golf club from Joel’s neck and lie with his body makes the moment even sadder than in the game.

Ellie Lying With Joel's Body Creates A Heartbreaking Visual Parallel With Season 1

It's Similar To When She Lies With Him While He's Recovering From His Stab Wound

The Last of Us often uses mirror images to create poignant visual parallels. Sam and Henry’s relationship as a protector and protectee mirrors that of Joel and Ellie. The first game is bookended by images of Joel carrying Sarah through the chaos of the apocalypse and Joel carrying Ellie out of the hospital. This use of visual mirroring has carried over into the TV adaptation. The image of Ellie lying with Joel’s body after he’s killed in season 2, episode 2 creates a heartbreaking visual parallel with a similar scene from season 1.

In The Last of Us season 1, episode 7, “Left Behind,” Joel and Ellie’s roles are reversed and Ellie is forced to become the protector when Joel is stabbed in the abdomen with a broken baseball bat. She gets him back to an abandoned basement and finds some medicine to treat him with. After administering the drugs, Ellie lies with Joel while she waits for them to take effect. The image of Ellie lying with Joel’s body is a harrowing recreation of that shot, this time with the added tragedy that Ellie can’t save him.