The Last Of Us - Season 2 - Episode 06 - The Price
*It’s rare that we at Player 2 cover anything that isn’t in the video game realm, but with its roots firmly in gaming, and the prestigious talent involved in it, HBO’s adaptation of The Last Of Us is an incredibly fascinating project. So join us, each week as we dissect the newly released episode, from the series’ first to its last. Now it’s time for Season 2.*
In Season 01, a trip to Bill’s Town was exactly what the viewer needed to be able to exhale and destress somewhat, given all that Joel and Ellie had faced up until that point. Up until this point, the viewer hasn’t been able to take the same gasp of oxygen, as Season 02 continues to be unrelenting – that is, until now. The Last Of Us’ second season’s sixth episode, titled The Price, provides the viewer with texture, a deeper look at the life of Joel and Ellie in Jackson before the fatal New Year’s Day.
The episode begins by going even further back in time, to two young boys scrambling as the younger of the two is in panic, fearful of the impending arrival of their father, It is Texas in 1983 and the older brother promises to cover for the mistakes of his younger sibling, but it isn’t long before the father arrives home. Its not long before we get a look at the nametag he wears – J Miller, and we quickly learn that the children are Joel and Tommy of 1983. While the mistakes made by Tommy aren’t a major point of discussion between Joel and his father, the conversation shifts to his father’s childhood and the traumas he had once experienced in his youth. He offers the underage Joel a beer as he continues, discussing the violence he’d endured, and how he wishes for Joel to be better at his age than he is now. The flashback ends, and the opening credits roll, beginning The Last Of Us Season 02’s penultimate episode.
The majority of the remaining 55 minutes in the episode explores the adventures of Joel and Ellie across several of Ellie’s birthdays, beginning with her 15th birthday, and ending with her 19th. We see the flourishing of the developing father-daughter relationship, and the strains that Joel’s like will in time come to place upon them.
The morning of Ellie’s 15th birthday has almost arrived, and Joel has big plans. Returning from patrol, Joel arrives at Seth’s bar to make an exchange, LEGO for a range of materials that we see Joel use to rebuild and restring an old guitar. The peace is cut short however as Tommy rushes Ellie into the room, burns across her bitten forearm, and Joel’s paternal side fully takes over, holding her tightly. The next morning is Ellie’s birthday abd Seth has managed to deliver a cake for Ellie, a cake that Ellie doesn’t mess around in destroying as she takes a less than glamorous approach to eating it. After Joel presents Ellie with the guitar as a present, Ellie pushes Joel into performing on it, leading to Joel to begin to play and sing Pearl Jam’s Future Days. This moment provides some additional context for Ellie’s fleeting attempt in the prior episode. Next Ellie takes the guitar to play, and Joel acknowledges why she tried to burn herself, to cover her bite mark.
Next we flash a year forward, to Ellie’s 16th birthday, Joel taking Ellie out into the wilds, promising a great birthday surprise. He leads her to an old museum, and Ellie excitedly climbs a dinosaur statue out the front, her childish immaturity taking hold in an extremely endearing way. Joel leads Ellie into the museum but as they explore the exhibits, its Ellie’s love of space that takes ahold of her, as the pair find Apollo 15’s Command Module. Joel invites Ellie in to check it out, but first, Ellie picks up a rock, breaks the glass on a nearby exhibit, grabs the space helmet inside, and climbs in. With the helmet on, Ellie starts toying with the switches and dials, before her imagination takes hold as the countdown to liftoff begins. The beautiful scene concludes with Joel asking if he did okay with Ellie’s present, Ellie is delighted, as tears creep from the sides of Joel’s eyes.
A year later, and we again see Joel preparing for another Ellie birthday, her 17th. Joel surprises Ellie entering her room with a cake, only to find her with a “friend”. AS the pair scramble to get themselves dressed, Joel spots a tattoo on Ellie’s arm, the tattoo we can see in the present day covering Ellie’s initial bite mark. Joel points out the teenage rebellion manifesting in sex, drugs and tattoos but it falls on deaf ears with Ellie. That night Joel wakes to hear movement in the house. It’s Ellie trying to drag her mattress out of her room so that she can move out of the house. He interrupts her and the pair argue over ownership of the home and rules Joel has imposed in it. The pair eventually come to agree that they need space from one another, Joel promising to help Ellie find her own living space in the coming days.
The next morning Joel approaches Gail in a cafe, Joel riddled with questions over the presence of moths that are in Ellie’s dreams, hoping to get some kind of meaning. Much to Joel’s shock, the moths are a symbol of death, but before Gail can get any answers from Joel, he departs. The scene shifts to Joel’s house where we see Ellie deep into the process of packing to move out.
Ellie’s 19th birthday is the last that we see in this episode, and the last before the action of season 02 really begins. The look into the day begins as we find Ellie, preparing her questions for Joel about Salt Lake City, highlighting the many inconsistencies in his story, but before she is really set, she is interrupted by Joel who is taking her out on her very first patrol as a 19th birthday gift. As the pair scout, Joel suggests to Ellie that they find more ways to spend time together, but the conversation is cut short as their radio blares. Joel and Ellie are on call for infected that have been spotted nearby, and after Ellie refuses to return to Jackson, the pair take off after the threat. They hitch their horses before descending down a sloped rocky surface, and upon landing instantly hear infected nearby. Joel reinforces the need to be each others line of sight from beyond, as the pair search for the threat. They’re stunned as a horse streams by with an infected body hanging from it, only to then find Eugene nearby who has been bitten. Eugene pulls a gun to convince Joel and Ellie to take him to Jackson so he can farewell Gail, but the bluff is called by Joel given that gun is empty. Ellie convinces Joel to bring Eugene back, but in a brief period where Ellie goes to explore, Joel leads Eugene to a beautiful nearby lake, asking for Eugene’s final words for Gail. Joel puts him down as Ellie arrives with the horses. Ellie is shaken and Joel claims that he had no other choice.
Upon returning to camp, Gail mourns over her fallen husband, and Joel lies about his death and final words, claiming that he took his own life. Ellie, angered, interrupts Joel and tells the truth, prompting Gail to slap Joel and the pair leave, Ellie still angry with Joel, telling him that he swore to her that he wouldn’t kill Eugene.
The action shifts to the final night, New Years Eve and the dance scene where we see Joel’s perspective of the incident. He’s sitting with Tommy and Maria, before Tommy departs to get his son to bed, Maria thanks Joel (“Mr Grumpy”) but then the homophobic slur from Seth is uttered, Joel intervenes, shoves Seth to the ground before Ellie scolds him and he departs.
Joel is found on the porch shortly after playing guitar, as Ellie approaches, and seemingly passes him by. What the prior episode didn’t show us is that Ellie eventually doubles back, to talk to Joel. The pair discuss patrols together, and Ellie and Dina’s kiss, with Joel saying that Dina would be lucky to have her. Ellie then shifts the conversation to Joel’s lies and the telltale sign that he’s lying, prompting her to ask him one final time about what happened at the Salt Lake City hospital, claiming that if he lies again, their relationship is done. Joel goes on to confess to all that occurred, and clarifies that he did what he did because the process would have killed Ellie, and that if given the chance, he would do it all over again to keep her alive. Ellie, furious, tells Joel her purpose in the world, and her own sense of purpose has been completely taken from her due to Joel’s choice and calls him selfish. Joel claims that he loves her in a way that she can’t understand. The conversation ends in a heartwarming place though, with Ellie telling Joel that she doesn’t think that she can forgive him, but that she would like to try.
As the episode comes to a close, the action shifts back to the present day, with Ellie, drenched, torrential rain pouring down upon her, as she makes her way back to the theatre.
60 minutes doesn’t quite feel like enough for all of the emotional highs to resonate like they could, but The Price still does an excellent job of highlighting the emotional rollercoaster that the duo have been on since arriving in Jackson. An extra 10-15 minutes might have helped the biggest narrative beats to settle, especially in the museum, which sadly feels trimmed back a bit too much for it to resonate like it did in the game.
The Last of Us is available to stream now on Max, with new episodes every Monday. This episode was reviewed with early access kindly provided by Max.
