The season finale of “The Last Of Us” aired Sunday night, and it was one for the ages.
In the opening moments of “The Last Of Us” season finale, we finally learn Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) origin story and how she came to be immune to the cordyceps fungal outbreak. It turns out that while she was in labor, Ellie’s mother was bitten by a cordyceps victim, which rendered Ellie incapable of developing the disease within her body.
From here, we were catapulted back to “present day,” where we find that Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) have a decision to make: do they continue onwards to find the Fireflies, or do they go back to Tommy’s commune and live as a quasi-father and daughter duo for the rest of their lives? Ellie, with a profound sense of duty (likely inspired by her upbringing at FEDRA) wants to go forward.
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Oh, and we witness the most beautiful love story written for the apocalypse ever 💕🤘🏽featuring Ron Swanson and the guy from White Lotus https://t.co/PeTchWBcXC
— KAY SMYTHE (@KaySmythe) January 31, 2023
Despite a brief interlude involving a herd of giraffes, the episode quickly got back to the violence we’re used to , but posed one of the toughest moral questions since “Sophie’s Choice.” Should Joel allow Ellie to die so the rest of humanity might recover from cordyceps? It turned out the rebel group, the Fireflies, who started this whole thing wanted Ellie transported to their hospital so they could remove her brain, where cordyceps live, and use it to try and figure out a cure.
Joel, upon learning Ellie’s fate, does what any parent would (or should) do: he kills absolutely everyone in his way, and saves her life. But Joel’s violence wasn’t brutal, it wasn’t gory, it was so calm. In almost poetic form, Joel didn’t blink as he massacred countless members of the rebellion.
So, would you kill half a hospital worth of people to save your child, and potentially doom civilization? If you have to think about it, you’re a terrible parent. (RELATED: ‘The Last Of Us’ Is Apparently Racist Now Because Nothing Can Ever Just Be Cool Anymore)
From here, Joel lies through his teeth to Ellie about why they were suddenly back on the road to Tommy’s home. Again, something all parents should do if faced with similar circumstances. Just as we’re about to see what’s next for the adoptive family duo, the credits hit the screen.
I can’t believe we might have to wait an entire year for more episodes of what is definitively the greatest apocalypse show ever made.