Can MAX’s ‘The Last of Us’ Survive Its Own Code?

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for those who have not watched episode 2

One of the greatest strengths of HBO’s “zombie” series The Last of Us has been its willingness to kill off just about any character, whether they be name actors or members of the cast who grew on you. The brisk desire to kill off sizable names was a hallmark of the first season. Hey, there’s Anna Torv from Fringe and Mindhunter–not for long. Hey, there’s Nick Offerman of Parks & Rec and Murray Bartlett from White Lotus–not for long. Hey, there’s Melanie Lynskey from Yellowjackets–not for…well, you get the idea. The show has a code, and that code is that no one is safe. 

The Walking Dead employed that code, but only to a certain extent. No matter who else died, you always had the feeling that Rick, Michonne, and Daryl were going to survive somehow. That somehow is because they were too popular to kill. Sure, they might leave the show for a spin-off of some sort, but they weren’t going to put their locked-in audience through the pain of watching any of them die. 

Last night, The Last of Us proved that its “zombie” code is willing to go the distance with the brutal murder of Joel, played by the always terrific Pedro Pascal. Considering it’s been over two years since The Last of Us aired new episodes (mainly due to COVID), it’s worth reminding folks that Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are on the outs after he took Ellie to the Fireflies, who then attempted to operate on her to discover a cure for the infection spreading across the globe. The only catch is that the surgery will end Ellie’s life. To put it mildly, Joel does not accept that outcome and lays to waste as many Fireflies as it takes to rescue Ellie. 

The new season picks up with Joel and Ellie back in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the outpost Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) has helped bring to life as a functioning city/fortress. Bella and Joel are barely on speaking terms as season two begins. Ellie has a code of her own, and lying has no place in it. Joel’s original reasoning for leaving the Fireflies in Salt Lake City can be boiled down to “It just didn’t work out.” As Ellie learns the truth that the Fireflies intend to find a cure at the cost of her demise, she responds with genuine anger towards Joel. Not just for the lie of the slaughter and escape, but because he never gave Ellie a choice when it came to the operation. 

Much of the first half of the premiere episode meanders a bit as we learn Joel is in therapy, and while Ellie may forgive him, it’s not likely to be any time soon. All the while, the remaining Fireflies have decided to go on a manhunt (led by a fierce Kaitlyn Dever) to find Joel and kill him, “slowly.” Just when the episode started to feel a bit pokey, Bella and her friend Dina (a dynamic Isabela Merced) go on a hike where they discover an abandoned building. They kill off an “infected” inside, and then Ellie falls through the floor of the building and into a basement. There she encounters another “infected,” only there’s something different about this one. Most of the creatures in the show come running forward with their arms out, which may be terrifying, but it also makes them easier to kill. The basement dwelling “infected” is no such beast. It lays a cunning trap for Ellie, and while Ellie survives the encounter, the possibility that the “zombies” are evolving brings with it a whole different kind of danger. 

Later, at a party thrown by the good folk of Jackson Hole, Bella and Dina find their way to the dancefloor, and what starts as a seemingly innocent (if playful) do-si-do, turn suddenly romantic as Dina comes on to Ellie and the two share a passionate kiss in the middle of God’s country and everyone else. One patron refers to them as “dykes,” which just goes to show that some people can be homophobic even when trying to keep safe from a marauding hoard of the horrific. 

If the season two premiere was at times an exercise in patience for the show’s faithful, the season’s follow-up to it was anything but. Juggling multiple concerns (the Fireflies tracking Joel), the continuing tension between Joel and Ellie, and particularly the attack on the compound by the infected, who had been frozen in the snow, but the hint of a live interloper inspired the creatures to rise up from their icy bondage. The irony in all of this is that the person who caused the awakening is the head Firefly, Abby (Dever), who is then rescued by Joel, and along with Ellie, taken to a (for now) safe house. And then it happens: Abby finds out her savior is the person she’s been after, and one of the more difficult to watch killings in recent TV history occurs. Abby keeps her promise not to make it quick, and when she’s just short of finishing the job, when Elie and the audience have a glimmer of hope, Abby plunges a blade into Joel’s neck. There will be no coming back for Joel.

All of this savagery takes place in front of Ellie, who suffers not only from the death of her friend/father figure but also from knowing that their differences were never resolved. Joel is beaten so badly, he may not have heard Eliie’s plea for Abby to stop, and the regret you can hear in her voice. It’s one hell of a hard way for Joel to go out, but the repercussions for Ellie will surely reverberate.

It’s safe to say that The Last of Us has now made it clear that the show is fully committed to its code. The question will be who will fill the Pedro Pascal-sized hole in the show. And just to throw one other worry into the mix, one of the tropes that The Walking Dead fell into is making humans just as dangerous as the creatures they were taking shelter from. It’s a rational storytelling path to tread, but considering it’s already been done within the same genre, I do hear some alarm bells going off.

Still, that can be set aside for a moment. The death of Joel shows the series’ conviction to the code.

No one is safe. No one.

The immediate question the creators of The Last of Us, along with the suits at HBO, have to be wondering is whether the show can maintain its zeitgeist without the person who led it.