Liane Hentscher/HBO Ellie tells Dina the truth about Joel's actions in Salt Lake City, then she and Jesse leave to find Tommy. The two split up after arguing about Ellie's priorities. In her hunt for Abby, she kills Owen and a pregnant Mel. Abby follows them back to the theater and kills Jesse, then fires at Ellie as the screen goes black. The season ends by jumping back to Abby in the WLF compound on Seattle day 1. When Alice tumbles into Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat warns her that everyone in this topsy-turvy new world is mad — including Alice herself. "You must be," the grinning feline says, "or you wouldn't have come here." Lewis Carroll's children's classic provides a backdrop to the final episode ofThe Last of Usseason 2, and if the Cordyceps Cat lived in Seattle, a better message for Ellie and Dina might have been, "You must be mad, or you wouldn't havestayedhere." But would it have mattered? From that trace of doubt on her face in the opening moments of the second season, Ellie's been on the path toward this particular revenge- and violence-strewn Nightmareland. Her progress was slow at first, but Joel's death sent her plummeting down the rabbit hole, and the seventh-episode finale finds her all the way through the looking glass as she faces the consequences of her single-minded pursuit of the Queen of Clubs. The first consequence is Dina's (Isabela Merced) agony when Jesse (Young Mazino) pushes the (massive! incredibly massive!) Seraphite arrow through her leg to avoid tearing an artery. It's a brutal procedure, but not so brutal that he doesn't notice Dina refusing alcohol for the pain. There's quieter agony to come when Ellie (Bella Ramsey) finds Dina resting in the Pinnacle's green room, which doesn't lookthatmuch grodier after 25 years of decay than it likely did when the night's musical acts were cooling their heels backstage. Dina assures her that the baby's okay, then eases Ellie's shirt over her head to clean her injuries. Shaken by what happened at the hospital, Ellie quietly admits that she found it easy to torture Nora into talking and then leaving her there to turn, having extracted only the words "whale wheel" from the dying woman. Liane Hentscher/HBO In a gentler version of Nora's condemnation of Joel, Dina suggests that Nora got what she deserved. But Ellie — naked from the waist up and vulnerable in every sense of the word — stares at her pale face in the dressing room mirror for a beat before telling Dina everything. Dina curls into herself, her back to Ellie, as she processes what Joel did in Salt Lake City and why Abby and her friends came to Jackson. Her lust for revenge has vanished, and she's ready to leave Seattle. Day 3 begins with tension between Jesse and Ellie as they set out for the bookstore where they're supposed to meet Tommy. Dina stays at the Pinnacle but gives Ellie her bracelet for good luck. As they travel through the overgrown streets, Jesse tersely explains how he and Tommy Sherlock Holmes'd their way to the theater. (It was simple! They followed the likeliest path into the city, discovered Shimmer chilling in the music store, spotted the WLF sign on the TV station, searched a two-mile radius of that building, survived several close calls, and hey presto, there's the map Ellie and Dina left behind. Easy peasy!) Just as Ellie's realizing how much the two men have risked for her, Jesse tricks her into confirming that Dina's pregnant. So now he's even angrier that he has to get himself, his ex, Tommy, Ellie,andhis unborn kid safely out of Seattle. They're reminded of the city's dangers when they duck into a parking garage to escape a downpour and watch in horror as Burton (Ben Ahlers) and his WLF buddies chase a lone, terrified Seraphite boy into the structure. Ellie's ready to jump into the fight, but Jessie holds her back, reminding her that not only are they outnumbered, but this isn't their war. Speaking of the WLF, they've set up shop outside of an old Costco, which delighted me so much that I sat up and pointed like thatLeonardo DiCapriogif. Truly, the most relatable thing about the Wolves so far! In his tent outside the former provider of cheap rotisserie chickens, Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) receives a report from Elise Park (Hettienne Park): the storm's going to get worse, the rank-and-file are scared about the upcoming assault against the Seraphite village, and Owen, Mel, and Abby are missing. Isaac's only bothered by that last bit of news; he was counting on Abby to lead the WLF when he and the other leaders are dead — which could be by morning. Um, no wonder his soldiers are a lil' nervous. Liane Hentscher/HBO Sounds like a good time for the Jacksonites to boogie on out of Seattle! Unfortunately, Tommy's not at the bookstore when Ellie and Jessie arrive, so Ellie wanders through the children's section, where a quote fromAlice's Adventures in Wonderlandis painted on the wall: "Everything's got a moral if only you can find it." She grabsThere's a Monster at the End of the Book,in which (spoilers for a 1971Sesame Streetproperty, I guess) Grover warns readers about a monster that's waiting on the final page, only to discover that he was the monster all along. Hmm... what's the moral we can find and apply to Ellie's actions, I wonder? While they wait, Jesse tells Ellie that he fell in love with a Canadian woman whose group stopped in Jackson on their way to Mexico. But she wouldn't leave her family to stay with him, and he wouldn't abandon his town to go with her. Good thing, too; who would've rescued her and Dina if he was in Mexico? Ellie's annoyed at St. Jesse's not-so-subtle lecture about putting the community first until they're interrupted by a burst of chatter on the WLF walkie-talkie warning of a sniper who's clearly Tommy. Jesse susses out where they need to go, but when Ellie spots a Ferris Wheel next to a building with a whale painted on the side, their tension finally erupts into a full-blown fight. He tells her that he voted "no" to the Seattle mission (called it!) because she was doing it for herself and not for Jackson. Not only does Ellie not contradict him, but she shouts that her community was always only Joel, and she was forced to watch him be beaten to death. So she's going to avenge her community while Jesse saves someone from his. Fromtheirs. It's stormy and dark when Ellie watches a boat approach the dock to load supplies, then douse its lights and lead a fleet of smaller boats onward. She doesn't know it, but Isaac and his forces are about to attack the Seraphite island. Once they're gone, she hops into a small motorboat and makes her way toward the whale and the wheel. Liane Hentscher/HBO A huge wave knocks her out of the boat, and she manages to swim to shore — and right into a group of Seraphites. They assume she's a Wolf and string her up for a Prophet-approved disemboweling, but when the WLF attacks the village, she manages to escape. At the aquarium, she finds signs that people are staying there and follows a set of wet footprints to Mel (Ariela Barer) and Owen (Spencer Lord), who bring up Abby in their argument about joining the WLF attack. Ellie holds her gun on them and asks her favorite question. (Sing it with me: "Where's Abby?") Owen tries the Nora approach and reminds Ellie that he kept her alive, but it goes about as well for him as it did for her. He reaches for a gun, so Ellie shoots him. But the bullet keeps traveling and nicks Mel's carotid artery. She opens her coat to reveal that she's pregnant and begs Ellie for help: one incision, low transverse, deeper than you think. Work fast, tie the cord. Ellie panics and freezes as a fading Mel tells her she's doing well and asks with her final breath, "Is it out?" When Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Jesse burst into the room, they find her crying over Mel's body. Ellie shuffles into the Pinnacle like a ghost. Tommy reminds her that Owen and Mel chose to be part of that mission to Jackson, and acknowledges that she'll be returning to Jackson without getting revenge on Abby. Liane Hentscher/HBO Tommy leaves to pack them up, and Ellie thanks Jesse for coming back for her. Sure, they fought, but he knows Ellie would set the world on fire if he was in trouble. "I would," Ellie says with a small smile. Because in truth, her community's so much more than just Joel. Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free daily newsletterto get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Sounds of a struggle have them racing up the auditorium aisle to help. Jesse's the first through the door and is shot and killed instantly. The woman holding the gun is Abby (Kaitlyn Dever). To keep Tommy from being next, Ellie emerges with her hands up and takes responsibility for killing Abby's friends. She also says she's the reason that Joel killed those people in the hospital. "I let you live," Abby seethes. "I let you live, and youwastedit." (Nice work zeroing in on Ellie's deepest fear there, Abs.) She then raises her gun and fires. We fade to black, leaving Ellie's fate in the air, and cut to Manny (Danny Ramirez) waking Abby from a nap to meet with Isaac. They're inside the WLF's fortified former football stadium, which is a hive of activity: agriculture, livestock, lumbering trucks, wind energy. The words on the screen tell us that we're back in Seattle on day 1. Spores for Thought If every story has a moral, as the Lewis Carroll quote states, it's unclear what Ellie will take from Seattle. The next time she looks in the mirror, will she see the grieving daughter out to avenge her lost "us"? The reckless teenager whose actions cost the life of a dear friend? The accidental killer of strangers who caused her harm? She's both the hero of the story and the monster at the end of the book. So season 3 will take us into Wolf territory to explain why Abby and her friends were MIA the night before the attack. Might it have something to do with the noose mark around Abby's neck at the theater that isn't there when we jump back to day 1? Another mystery for the next season: the painting of the Prophet that Ellie spotted depicts a different woman than we saw previously. Do the Seraphites have aDread Pirate Robertssituation going on? If you're someone who pays attention to the books featured in your fave TV shows, you may have noticed that Abby fell asleep readingThieves of the Cityby Ben Davidoff. Showrunner and game creator Neil Druckmann credits the bookCity of ThievesbyDavid Benioff(yes,that David Benioff) for inspiring the second game. And now we wait forseason 3, which will carry on adaptingThe Last of Us 2.Until then, friends. Here's to plenty of fresh grass for Shimmer and plenty of patience for the rest of us. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
