The Last of Us season 2 premiere has Us wondering why Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is so mad at Joel (Pedro Pascal) — and what’s going to happen when Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) comes to town.
The highly anticipated second season of HBO’s hit series premiered on Sunday, April 13, with an emotionally-charged episode that raised some major questions from viewers.
Spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 premiere below.
The episode kicked off with a brief flashback to the end of season 1. Viewers, once again, got to see the moment Joel swore to Ellie that he wasn’t lying about the Fireflies and cordyceps cure. (Friendly reminder: he was, in fact, lying.)
Manny (Danny Ramirez) speaks the first words of season two asking: “Why would he do this?” It’s quickly revealed that he was asking about Joel as Nora (Tati Gabrielle) responds to his question.
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She starts to say, “I heard rumors about some kid he took that was supposedly—” until Mel (Ariela Barer) cuts her off saying that the rumors weren’t true. The conversation is held in a makeshift Fireflies graveyard, which seemingly consists of all the bodies Joel put down during the hospital massacre in the season 1 finale.
Abby tells the group that their next mission is “finding” Joel. “None of this is f***ing fair,” she says. Owen (Spencer Lord) convinces Abby to travel to Seattle to find someone named Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) so they can assist with the hunt for Joel.
“When we kill him, we kill him slowly,” Abby says.
After the title sequence rolls, The Last of Us season 2 makes a five-year time jump.
Ellie, now 19, is perfecting her combat skills — literally — with a mini-fight club in Jackson, Wyoming, run by new friend Jesse (Young Mazino). Joel, meanwhile, is running Jackson’s construction crew, which includes Ellie’s best friend Dina (Isabela Merced). Under the pretense of asking Joel for help, Dina reveals tension between him and Ellie.
“Can I ask a question?” Dina says. “Why is she angry at you?”
Joel replies, “She said she was angry?”
Joel, shaking it off, chalks Ellie’s mood up to “normal” teenager behavior — mentioning his late daughter, Sarah, introducing a new and improved Joel Miller. Dina also drops the news that Joel is in therapy.
Ellie, more or less unhinged, is shooting Infected any chance she gets despite Joel’s protests to take her off patrols. Tommy (Gabriel Luna) has no choice but to side with Ellie, even though that’s not what his older brother wants.
It seems Joel’s relationship with his sister-in-law Maria (Rutina Wesley) has blossomed as the two are working together on an expansion plan for Jackson. The softer side — some might even say the daddy side — of Joel really comes out when he’s with nephew Benjamin as well.
Viewers also get an inside look at his aforementioned therapy sessions with Gail (Catherine O’Hara), who’s drunk and knows that Joel “shot and killed” her husband. (He pays for sessions in marijuana.)
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The nature of their sessions surround Joel’s issues with Ellie, but Gail more or less declares that they’re not getting anywhere since he’s “lying” to her.
“Say the thing you’re afraid to say,” she coaxes him. “Did you do something to her?”
Joel replies, “I saved her.”
Elsewhere in Jackson, Ellie and Dina head out on patrol and (shocker) don’t do what they’re told. Because of this, Ellie comes face-to-face with an evolving breed of Infected — the Stalker. She gets bit again, and for those counting, that would be three bites for Ellie, our immune queen.
After the excitement of damn-near dying — again — Dina invites Ellie to the Jackson New Year’s Eve celebration. While at the party, Dina and Ellie share a kiss and promptly get called a slur by another Jackson resident. When Joel steps in to protect Ellie, it’s revealed how deep their issues actually are.
“What is wrong with you?” she asks. “I don’t need your f***ing help.”
The episode comes to an end with two major hints to what’s coming. The first, a live cordyceps tendril is flourishing in Jackson’s pipe system. The second, Abby and her crew appear to be on the way.
New episodes of The Last of Us premieres on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
