The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6 Review: The episode we all needed to heal

This is the episode we all needed to heal from the passing of Joel (Pedro Pascal). Anyone who knows much about The Last of Us part 2 knew the biggest death was coming. Pedro Pascal is such a powerhouse actor who brings charisma and warmth to the screen that he’s as big a loss as Joel is. “Scars” is such a heart-rending episode, yet it ties up a lot of loose ends that his sudden death never reached.

Episode 6 starts in a flashback with young Joel and Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Tommy got busted buying drugs off a kid that Joel later beat up. Tried as he might, Joel attempted to cover for his kid brother, but his father wasn’t one to be fooled. He was a cop who took the call to the assault, so there was no getting out of this one. When Joel tries to protect his brother from his father’s hands, he’s told a story about the time his dad stole a candy bar and got his jaw broken by Joel’s grandfather. The moral of the story was that while he could be tough, he had it much worse. He’s a better father than he had, even with his shortcomings. And just maybe when it’s Joel’s turn, he will put a stop to the madness and become an even better father than him. And he did. Side note, I see where Joel gets his handsome looks from.

Birthday Beginnings

The story starts off two months into being in Jackson, with Joel walking into Seth’s (Robert John Burke) bar to bring him some legos for his grandkids in exchange for a cake for Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) birthday. He cashes in one more favor to get a bone(for the guitar saddle) for Ellie’s big surprise. A guitar that he promised to teach her how to play.

Then comes the story that Ellie once told Dina (Isabela Merced) about burning her arm so she could wear short sleeves again. Joel plays the concerned father, though you could tell he was steps away from yelling at the self-inflicted wound. But it was her birthday, so he can’t get angry. The scene itself is pretty hysterical. Ellie is drugged up, telling her story of events. It was immensely refreshing to see Ellie and Joel so happy. And because it’s her birthday, she makes him play the guitar and sing to her.

“If I ever were to lose you,

I’d surely lose myself

Everything I have found here,

I’ve not found it by myself,

Try, and sometimes you’ll succeed,

To make this man of mine

All of my stolen, missing parts

I do not need it anymore

I believe,

And I believe ’cause I can see,

Our future days,

Days of you and me.”

This is why Ellie was singing “If I ever were to lose you,” an episode prior in Seattle. I thought they had swayed away from the game, but this is so much better. Ellie was reliving a memory she had with Joel before her emotions betrayed her on stage.

Ellie’s Sweet Sixteen

This was undoubtedly the best part of the episode. The cure for heartache, the audience needed. From the time the second season started, we had to witness Joel and Ellie in the worst of times. Being gifted with their best of times made it all worthwhile.

Joel takes Ellie on a surprise through the woods. Ellie, being Ellie, badgers him about joining the patrol. I always love her sarcasm when there is a lightness to it. She climbs up the T-Rex, happy as can be, and lo and behold, Joel has taken her to a museum. She is gleeful the whole time, but her eyes light up when they reach the planetarium part of it. The wide-eyed excitement quickly turns to jaw-dropping amusement when she sees the Apollo 15 capsule.

It’s the closest that Ellie Williams will ever get to space. Before she opens the hatch, Joel lets her bust one of the windows out to grab one of the flight helmets. He knows her all too well. Breaking things and going to space? What more can a 16-year-old ask for?

Inside the capsule with Joel, she has so much fun with the controls. No matter what Joe’s choices were, he gave her a life she never would have had. From an orphan to a happy childhood with a man who would do anything to protect her. He even gets an audio tape of the Apollo 15 launch to make her feel like she’s really going to space. Joel truly puts out all the stops in this blissful moment and memory between them.

Another Year Passes Into The Terrible Teens

Once again, Joel makes Ellie another birthday cake and comes home to surprise her. Only to walk in on Ellie experimenting with drugs and intimate activity. When Ellie attempts to move her bed out of the room during a storm, Joel agrees that maybe it’s a good thing she moves out to the garage and has her own space. It breaks his heart to do and it breaks Ellie’s heart to leave. In spite of that every child must fly from the nest at some point.

Gail (Catherine O’Hara) and Joel have another moment when he asks her about the meaning of a moth, which Ellie lives. It’s interesting to see her read Earth Abides, another apocalyptic story that recently aired on MGM Plus.

By the time Ellie turns 19, she has burning questions for Joel that she’s been afraid to ask. And when she’s on patrol with Joel, a call comes in that they must handle together, whether Ellie is prepared or not. Deep in the forest, Gail’s husband, Eugene (Joe Pantoliano), has been bitten. He wants to go back to say goodbye to the love of his life. Joel claims he can’t do that, as there are rules.

Ellie urges her father figure to change his mind. There is time. They can go to the gate so he can say goodbye. The man just wanted to see his wife’s face one last time. Before Ellie goes back to get the horses for that task, he promises Ellie he will abide by Eugene’s wish. But instead, he takes Eugene down to the water. It’s not a bad way to go with a beautiful Mountain View. The evergreens cascade against the blue water. White clouds and blue skies overhead that overlook the town of Jackson. He was scared and needed Gail’s face before he passed on. Joel still didn’t hesitate when he shot him in the back of the head.

“If you love someone, you can always see their face.”-Joel Miller

Once they reach Jackson and give Gail the burden of the bad news, Ellie is furious. Joel tries to lie and tell Gail what she wants to hear, but Ellie doesn’t allow it. She tells him how Eugene begged to see her and how Joel promised them both. It’s met with a huge slap from Gail to Joel’s face. Understandably so. For a smuggler who used to break all kinds of rules, he was sure a stickler for them.

The New Year’s Celebration

After the events of the New Year’s Celebration, with the big kiss and knocking Seth down, Joel sat on his porch in a depressive state, playing the guitar. Ellie walks up to him and then past him before returning. When she threatens him to never take her off patrol again, he agrees and asks about Dina. At that point, Ellie is unsure what the kiss even meant, or why she even did it. She’s unsure of herself and her standing in Dina’s life. “She’d be lucky to have you.” Joel genuinely notes.

Before she even responds about Dina, she remarks that Joel lied to her. Not just about Eugene but about all of it. She always sensed he never told the truth about Salt Lake City. Just like he did with Gail, he said what she wanted to hear. She had questions, and the lies had to stop there.

“Were there other immune people?”

“Were there other raiders?”

“Could they have made a cure?”

Joel answered truthfully to it all. Making a cure would have killed her. Ellie was unhappy with him because he took her purpose away. Howbeit he still had no regrets and zero issues with paying the price for that. Even if she turned away from him. Joel admits that if he had that second chance, he would do it all over again. At any rate, he goes on to say she’ll never understand until she has her own child one day.

“If you should have one of your own, I hope you do a little better than me.”-Joel Miller

Her final words to Joel are that she doesn’t think she can forgive him, but she would like to try. Such satisfying words that The Last of Us fandom can hold onto as a memory of the greatest father and daughter duo that ever lived.

The Theater

In the closing moments, Ellie, in the rain, comes upon the theater in the storm. One step closer to avenging the man who made her who she is today. The father who helped shape the parent she will one day become.

Don’t miss the season finale of The Last of Us next Sunday at 9 PM ET on HBO Max.

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About the author: Shay has been writing as a journalist professionally for years. Her most common topics to cover are drama and horror but she looks forward to getting her feet wet with new and exciting genres and projects. @ShaySleighs