The Last of Us Recap: Into the West
Though most of this episode takes place on the other side of a time jump, its opening depicts the immediate aftermath of the events of the previous episode via two scenes: one of quiet mourning and one of resounding grief and rage. The first belongs to Tommy, whom we see gently tending to Joel’s body and asking Joel to give his love to Sarah, the daughter Joel lost at the onset of the cordyceps infection. It’s a moment made all the more affecting by the slow pan back that ends the scene to reveal a room filled with corpses, a reminder that Joel was just one of the many lives recently lost. The second belongs to Ellie, who wakes in the hospital and takes a moment to realize what brought her there. When she does, she screams.
After the credits, we return to Jackson after the passage of three months. The community is deep in the process of rebuilding after the infected onslaught, but that’s not the same as moving on. Ellie has physically recovered, but before she can be declared fit for release, she has to talk to Gail. As usual, Ellie attempts to mask her feelings with sarcasm, but this doesn’t really work with Gail (who’s skilled at doing the same). Nor does Ellie’s attempt to speed-run through her therapy session and the fact that she and Joel ended their relationship with unresolved tensions. “Your final moment with someone doesn’t define your whole time with them,” Ellie says, which sounds sensible. But it’s not quite convincing, particularly after Gail notes that Joel said he’d wronged Ellie in some way. Ellie feigns not knowing what she’s talking about. Gail feigns believing that Ellie’s okay. Each knows the other is faking but also that there’s nothing really for them to say or do about it.
So Ellie leaves and returns to Joel’s house, which is sort of her house. But the room she used to live in contains a bed without a mattress, a reminder that she had moved out (even if she’d only gotten as far as the garage). Predictably, everything here reminds her of Joel even before she finds the box placed on a bed containing his watch and gun. She assumes a purposeful look and then breaks down, crying at the sight of one of Joel’s jackets. Ellie is going through a lot, and she has just enough time to hide her tears before going downstairs to talk to Dina.
Dina’s all business (after she shares some cookies). She admits she’s been lying to Ellie, at least a little. She knows the names of Joel’s attackers and where they live, and she’s been keeping this from her friend. But Dina has an explanation: No one could do anything while the town buried their dead, and wasn’t it better to let their enemies return to their home base, where they could be easily found, rather than to try to track them down? She then shares what she knows, including where they live: Seattle, where they’re part of the Washington Liberation Front, or WLF, which explains the wolf’s head on the patch Dina draws for Ellie.
First step: They consult with Tommy, who understands their desire for revenge and even backs it but tells them to go through proper channels by talking to the town council. Tommy also tells them where she can visit Joel’s grave, which Ellie says she’ll do on her way to Seattle.
The episode then leaps to characters we’ve never seen before. In fact, it’s a whole subculture we’ve never seen before, a group of green-clad, bow-carrying wanderers with scars on their faces who, it quickly becomes clear, communicate with one another across distances by whistling. This particular bunch is on its way to a new home, or so they hope. A father and daughter named Constance discuss the plan, making reference to a prophet who’s no longer living. When the girl says she’s been told the prophet is eternal, her father replies, “She is, in a way. A prophet isn’t magic. They’re just people who see truths hidden from others and share that truth no matter what the cost.” He then gives her a hammer but promises the distance they’re traveling will keep her even safer from the war they’re fleeing. Or so he believes. A whistle warns of an imminent attack from an enemy with a now-familiar name: “Wolves.”
Ahead of the council meeting, Ellie trains with Jesse, who, to her annoyance, doesn’t assure her he’ll back her plan to take a revenge trip to Seattle. At the meeting, Ellie and Dina can barely contain their annoyance and frustration while a citizen named Scott (Haig Sutherland, whose character is listed in the credits as “Boring Scott”) drones on about corn before revealing that he “doesn’t really have an opinion” about the “Seattle thing.” It’s a funny moment but also a telling one. Avenging Joel has become Ellie’s focus, but it’s hard to argue that it serves Jackson’s best interests. And that’s pretty much what another resident, Rachel (Erica Pappas), says in an attempt to dissuade the council from sending a war party of 16 to Seattle. Why lose more, especially now? Then the debate gets heated, particularly once a belligerent Seth starts up about how “they’ll come back because we didn’t make them pay.”
That leaves Ellie to make a closing argument. Reading from notes, she acknowledges that this is an inopportune time for this venture. But, she argues, it’s not a matter of revenge. It’s about justice because justice and the ability to depend on one another is what makes Jackson more than a bunch of strangers sharing space. It’s a strong defense of her plan, but not strong enough to persuade the council.
Later, at a baseball game, Tommy talks to Gail. Both are worried that Ellie will act on her own, Tommy because he sees so much of Joel in her, Gail because “she’s a liar.” Both are more or less right. But is Gail also right when she tells Tommy that “Some people just can’t be saved”? It feels like that’s the question hanging over the series in the wake of Joel’s death.
No answer will arrive imminently. In the meantime, Ellie prepares to disobey the council and set off on her own. At least that’s the plan. When Dina unexpectedly shows up, Ellie finds she has a partner who is better at planning such an expedition. Dina has a map and a list of supplies. She also immediately begins using the word we. Dina will be coming with her, and the two of them will be sharing Ellie’s horse as they make their way west. Her one condition: Ellie has to leave her Chuck Taylors behind and wear some decent boots instead.
Outside the gate, Ellie learns the identity of the ally who’s been helping Dina with supplies: Seth. Ellie’s not generous with forgiveness, and she doesn’t vocalize it here, but it’s obvious this gesture means something to her, especially after she shakes Seth’s hand. With that, they’re off into the great unknown, but only after paying their respects to Joel’s final resting place that leaves Ellie feeling overwhelmed with emotion.
As Ellie and Dina make their way across the plains, they pass their time creating an alphabetical canon of great musical artists before segueing to stories of their first kills. They live in a world that’s much like ours in some ways, but nothing like ours in others. Ellie can’t even share her story (for painful reasons). When a storm hits, they share a tent, and Dina wants to know how Ellie would rate her as a kisser. “You’re gay, I’m not,” Dina says, to which Ellie counters she should go back to Jesse. Dina informs Ellie she already has, but it’s clear she’s not quite telling Ellie everything.
Soon, they’re on the outskirts of Seattle, where they discover what remains of the unfortunate band of travelers seen earlier in the episode. They’ve been reduced to a pile of corpses, even young Constance. Whoever attacked them wanted to wipe their kind off the face of the Earth. Perhaps this won’t be as simple as walking into Seattle, killing Abby and the others, and leaving after all. But if Ellie recognizes this, she hides it by dropping badass statements, one taken from Curtis and Viper movies, another of her own invention. Ellie doesn’t see that Seattle’s Space Needle is now a WLF observation tower. And she doesn’t yet hear the armored vehicles rolling through the street or the sound of marching boots. But that can’t remain true for long.
Infectious Bites
• This is a transitional episode in every sense. Its predecessor wiped out the old status quo. This one sets up the new one, in which Ellie and Dina now have to deal with various factions in and around Seattle as they search for Abby and her friends. But there’s more going on here. In truth, Ellie’s argument before the council isn’t all that persuasive. It’s heartfelt and moving, and she makes a good point about how Jackson defines itself as a community. But even if she’s right in principle, there’s little for Jackson to gain by pursuing Joel’s murderers. Even Seth’s argument that they’ll return to wreak more havoc doesn’t feel true. It’s possible to view Ellie’s choice, however understandable, as fundamentally wrong. Maybe everything that follows is a cascade of mistakes stemming from this decision.
• If nothing else, this episode provides a respite from all the grimness in the form of beautiful scenery. It’s unclear how long Ellie and Dina spend in the wilderness. About 870 miles separate Jackson and Seattle, so presumably a while. The time between seems to have tightened Dina and Ellie’s bond but done nothing to steer them away from their mission.