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This week’s episode is all about the relationship shared by Joel and Ellie. Those who have played the game or watchedThe Last of Usseries from the beginning know what kind of relationship Joel and Ellie had. It started very suddenly, but soon it blossomed into something very real and emotional. Although Joel died in the second episode of Season 2, his presence lingers like a haunting melody, shaping Ellie’s choices, echoing through her memories, and anchoring the emotional core of the story.
However, the reappearance of Joel in the ending moments of Episode 5 was deliberate. Fans wanted to know what happened to them and how their relationship turned sour. The last known moment of Joel and Ellie was Joel playing guitar in front of his house, while Ellie walked past him. But did they share a good moment again? Let’s take a look at what happened in Episode 6 ofThe Last of UsSeason 2.
Joel And Tommy’s Relationship With Their Father Was Tumultuous
Episode 6 ofThe Last of UsSeason 2 begins with a flashback sequence where viewers see younger versions of Joel and Tommy talking to each other. Tommy seems to be under stress about something he did, and believes that their father was going to beat him with a belt. As an older brother, Joel comforts him and says that he won’t reach him and will take the blame for him. A few moments later, Joel’s father, who is a cop, reaches home and finds Joel sitting at the dinner table. Joel’s father, J Miller (played by Tony Dalton), asks Joel about what happened, and to protect his little brother, Joel tells a fake story about how he was buying pot from one of his friends. However, things got ugly, and they got into a fight. His father knew he was lying because he talked to the kid Joel beat and also to the police officers who were called to the scene. Joel didn’t want his brother to face his father’s wrath.
Joel and his father sat at the table and had a beer. While talking, Joel’s father talked about how his father hit him when he stole a candy bar when he was 10. He really beat him up, and his mouth was wired shut for almost two months. Moreover, he believed that he might be strict or go overboard sometimes, but Joel and Tommy never got beaten up like he used to when he was young. He is doing a little better than his father did, and when it’s his (Joel) turn, he hopes he’ll do better than him. Joel’s father leaves the house and starts patrolling. This scene was a clear reminder of how Joel had a difficult childhood, and he was always taking care of his loved ones.
Joel Celebrates Ellie’s Birthday And Gives Her The Best Present Ever
TheLast of Usseason 2 takes a time jump and shows Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) entering a bar. This seems to be a time when people started to rebuild their lives after the Cordyceps infection hit globally. The bar, surprisingly, is being run by Seth (played by Robert John Burke) and is waiting to be presented with something that he has been looking for. Joel opens his bag and gives him a big packet of what looks like LEGO. Seth wanted them for his grandchildren. For doing this, Joel asked when he would be able to get his thing, to which Seth replied that he’ll get his stuff by Friday. However, that was not the only thing he wanted. Consequently, Joel can be seen making something on a beautiful-looking guitar, and what he made was a butterfly sign on the guitar.
As soon as he finished doing that, Joel heard a noise at the door and Tommy (played by Gabriel Luna) called out his name. It is revealed thatEllie (played by Bella Ramsey)hurt her right forearm while working. Joel got worried and asked Tommy how that happened. Ellie said that she was working when she hurt herself, and she felt a lot of pain. In the next moment, viewers see Joel surprising Ellie with something. It turns out that it was her birthday, and Joel got a cake from Seth. However, there’s something wrong with the cake. Instead of writing “Happy Birthday, Ellie,” he accidentally wrote, “Happy Birthday, Eli.” Ellie didn’t leave much time for eating the cake, making Joel laugh. He had one more surprise for her and showed her the gift she bought: a guitar. Before she could learn how to play, Ellie asked him to play something for her, and he sang “Future Days.”
A Journey To The Stars: Joel Gives Ellie A Glimpse Of The Childhood She Deserved
The show takes another time jump of one year, and Joel is taking Ellie somewhere. It’s a surprise for Ellie, and she is trying to guess where they are going and what she could find there. When they get there, she finds a big statue of a dinosaur. She climbs to the head of the dinosaur and enjoys the moment. Conversely, they go to a museum that is in ruins, obviously, and enter the Space section. Ellie always wanted to be an astronaut, and Joel asked if she wanted to go to space. Joel takes her to that part of the museum, where it has the front part of the rocket that went to the Apollo 11 mission. Joel asks her to choose a helmet before they enter the spacecraft.
AsEllie enjoys playing with the buttons,Joel gives her another surprise by giving her a cassette. He tells her that she should plug in the earphones to feel the music. As soon as she plays the cassette, it is the original recording of how the spacecraft took off, making Ellie feel like she was one of the astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission. Ellie loved it, and Joel cried happy tears after watching her. It was the perfect moment for both of them. Ellie got to have some fun and be a little kid again, while Joel felt like a proud father who made his kid happy.
Ellie Is In Her Rebellious Age, And Joel Gets To Know Her Truth
The story moves forward with the penultimate episode ofThe Last of Usseason 2 taking a one-year time jump and Joel bringing a cake for Ellie to celebrate her 19th birthday. Yep, Ellie is that age now. As soon as he gets close to her room, she hears something unusual. He knocks at the door before opening it to see Ellie goofing around with a girl. He tells the other girl to leave the house and confronts Ellie for doing “all teen s**t at once.” He also gets to know that she was having a tattoo and told her that he’ll talk to her when she is in her senses. Later that night, Ellie tries moving her stuff inside the garage, meaning this part of the story takes place in Jackson. However, Joel hears the sound and asks Ellie not to move into the garage. Moreover, he tells her that this is his house and there are some rules. Ellie counters him by saying that it was not his house, and people gave it to them. She realized that she had said too much and apologized for the things she had said. However, she is not apologetic for what she did, and Joel realizes that Ellie needs some space. So, he tells her to give him some days so he can make the garage a safe living space for her.
Joel asksEllie to show him her tattooand also asks about what the moths mean to her. When he didn’t receive a good answer, Joel believed that the moths were a sign of growth and change. However, when she asked Gail’s the same question, she said that moths represent death. Now, two years later, it’s Ellie’s 19th birthday, and she is getting ready to ask Joel some tough questions about Salt Lake City, and what happened there? So, she is practicing in the garage for how to ask these questions when she hears a knock at the garage door. It was Joel, and as a present for her 19th birthday, he finally allowed her to go on a patrol. As a result, they both go for a patrol and choose a safe trail for the first time. However, things get dangerous soon as Joel hears on his walkie that Eugene and the party need help as they have been ambushed by the infected.
A Shocking Death Made Joel And Ellie More Distant
When Joel and Ellie arrive, they only see Eugene, and he is bitten by the infected. Eugene (played by Joe Pantoliano) tells Joel that he wants to see her wife, Gail (played by Catherine O’Hara), for one last time and tell her things. Even though Joel doesn’t want to do that, Ellie convinces him to take Eugene to his wife. Joel asks Ellie to get their horses down, and he’ll meet her on the trail. He and Eugene walk the trail, and they reach a beautiful opening with a lake and mountains. Eugene tells him not to do this to him because he doesn’t want a beautiful picture; he wants to see his wife. Joel made him believe that if love is pure, people could see the face of their loved one everywhere. Eugene said that he could see his wife’s face, and that’s when Joel killed her.
A few moments later, Joel and Ellie reach Jackson to tell Gail about her husband’s death. Joel tells Gail that he was ambushed by the infected and couldn’t survive. Conversely, he said Eugene always wanted to tell her how much he loved her. Ellie was angry at Joel for what he did and told Gail everything. Gail didn’t want to see Joel’s face, and that’s how things got bad for Ellie and Joel.
Viewers then see the Jackson’s New Year’s party scene again, where Dina (played by Isabela Merced) and Ellie were about to kiss, and were stopped by Seth. A few moments later, Ellie saw Joel playing the guitar on the front porch of his home, where Ellie came and talked to her, asking about the truth about Salt Lake City. The conversation ended on an emotional note as Ellie and Joel navigated through tumultuous times. The episode ends with Ellie coming out of the hospital after killing Nora and heading toward the theater.
This week’s episode ofThe Last of Usseason 2felt like a relationship timeline of Joel and Ellie, showcasing the important moments of why their relationship turned out to be the way it was. The episode is a masterfully woven tapestry of memory, love, and emotional distance, chronicling the tender and at times heartbreaking evolution of Joel and Ellie’s relationship. In what feels like a deeply personal journey through time, the episode anchors itself in the past, giving viewers a fuller understanding of Joel’s protective instincts and Ellie’s growing need for independence. This episode is a quiet storm. It doesn’t rely on big action to move you. Instead, it leans into character, memory, and the unspoken sadness that binds people together. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey deliver some of their most vulnerable performances yet. For fans of the series, this episode is a beautiful gut punch—tender, tragic, and unforgettable.
