The Last of Us Season Finale review: Spectrum of love examined in Look to the Light

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann conclude one of the best 1st seasons of television with a fittingly fantastic, dark season finale.

Throughout the 1st season, love has been a prevailing theme in this post-apocalyptic world. In some episodes, like Bill and Frank’s relationship, the beauty of love shines through the darkness. Other relationships like Henry and Sam present love in a darker context. Look to the Light is a look at love in it’s most twisted form.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are fantastic once again. Pascal, who looked dapper as a presenter at the Academy Awards, won’t be away from the award stage for long. The range of emotions Joel goes through in the season finale is extraordinary. The Joel-Ellie portion of the season finale begins in a sort of role reversal. Joel is almost jovial, while Ellie is entirely despondent and reeling from the events of the last episode. Although, Ellie is doing her best not to show any emotion at all. Flipping the emotions of the two characters is a terrific way of showing the duo’s kindred spirits.

A beautiful scene taken straight from the game featuring a giraffe breaks through Ellie’s spirit. As they get closer to their destination, Ellie becomes more determined to finish their task, while Joel becomes more hesitant. Once the duo is reunited with Marlene and the fireflies, Joel becomes a merciless killing machine in order to get Ellie back.

Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the video game, is incredible in the season finale’s opening scene. It’s a short, but powerful scene that echoes the series’ theme of love.

The season finale is an effective, emotional closing to the season. However, for the first time in the season, I wish there were more infected for Joel and Ellie to fight off.

Joel’s rescue mostly makes up for the lack of action. Similar to the story in the game, the season finale leaves Joel in a moral gray area. He kills a lot of people and then chooses to lie to Ellie about what happened. His decision will have ramifications for sure, but from his perspective at least his baby girl is alive.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the season finale. There may be some minor spoilers. The Last of US is streaming on HBO Max.

Ellie’s Mom

The season finale begins with another incredible opening scene. Ellie’s mom, Anna (Johnson), is pregnant and running from infected. She reaches an abandoned house and her water breaks. One of the Infected bangs on the door desperate to reach Anna.

Anna cuts her own umbilical cord just as the infected bites her. Ellie arrives into a dangerous world angry, which Anna encourages. After a couple of hours, Marlene and a few fireflies arrive at the house. Marlene and Anna have known each other since they were children.

Anna asks Marlene to watch over Ellie. She also asks Marlene to kill her before she turns. Marlene is hesitant about both at first but eventually relents.

Johnson is sensational in this heartwrenching scene that is balanced with palpable feelings of love.

Role reversal in The Last of Us season finale

The usually stoic Joel becomes suddenly pretty chipper with Ellie. Throughout the episode, Joel tries at different points to get Ellie to smile or talk. After killing David in the last episode, Ellie is still shell-shocked. Also, while Ellie never says it out loud, the enormity of her task is clearly on her mind.

When Ellie finally opens up, it’s not Joel who breaks through, it’s the stunning appearance of the giraffe. Joel and Ellie enter a skyscraper so they can get a better view of the city and plan out their best path forward. Joel asks Ellie to get a ladder which is in an unreachable area without a boost. After kicking the ladder down, Ellie runs off with Joel following after her. The encounter with the giraffe breaks through Ellie’s haze.

Joel wants to abandon the mission and head back to Jackson, Wyoming. Ellie is determined to see the mission through. Mazin and Druckmann make a wise decision to show outwardly that Ellie believes the procedure will work and that she will live. She tells Joel that she will follow him wherever after the firefly doctors run their tests.

Later, Joel opens up even more. He reveals the origin of his scar. Shortly after the outbreak, Joel tried to kill himself. He flinched as he pulled the trigger. Meanwhile, Ellie reveals what happened to Riley. A flash grenade and the butt end of a rifle end the conversation.

The warmth Pascal exudes as he tries to cheer up Ellie is fantastic. Not only does it make Ellie opening up to Joel more worthwhile, but it also paints a sharp contrast to the forthcoming violence. Ellie’s determination to do the right thing is admirable.

Choices

If love is the prevailing theme, then the choices and decisions people make dictate the type of love.

Marlene clearly has affection for Ellie’s Mom, Anna. However, her love comes from a broader viewpoint. She has a love for the world as well as Ellie. If one person needs to be sacrificed for the possibility of saving the world, then so be it. For Joel, his love is specific. Ellie is Joel’s entire world, which is Marlene’s tragic mistake.

Joel wakes up in the hospital. Marlene explains Ellie is being prepped for surgery. Joel interprets that since Cordyceps infects the brain, then the surgeons will have to operate on Ellie’s brain, which will kill her. Marlene does not explain this to Ellie, which gives Joel’s actions some wiggle room. Before Joel’s explosion of violence, he makes it clear Marlene isn’t giving Ellie a choice. However, Marlene and Joel both know Ellie would probably be willing to sacrifice herself.

Marlene orders Joel to be escorted out of the city. Joel responds by mercilessly killing everyone in his path. He eventually reaches Ellie where he orders the nurses to unhook her. Just like with his daughter in the premiere, he carries Ellie in his arms. He eventually reaches Marlene. She tries to persuade him, but to no avail. Joel kills Marlene.

He then puts Ellie in the backseat of an SUV and drives toward Tommy’s place. When Ellie wakes up, Joel lies. He makes up a story about ravagers killing the fireflies and says there were multiple people being tested for a cure, but none of them worked.

After the SUV dies, Ellie and Joel take another hike. Joel makes a funny remark about it being 5 miles, but they can handle it, which is what Ellie said to him earlier in the series. Joel opens up about his daughter and how Sarah would have loved Ellie’s humor. Eventually, Ellie asks if Joel’s story is the truth. Joel once again lies to her face and the season comes to a crushing end on that note.

Joel and Marlene each make choices for Ellie in the season finale. Their actions have consequences. For Marlene, her decision in passing Ellie to Joel resulted in her death. For Joel, the weight of the lie he tells Ellie is evident. The lack of action in the series does make the violence at the end of the season finale more visceral.

The Last of Us Season finale final thoughts

Joel’s actions are divisive. On one hand, you understand Joel’s love for Ellie and how the regret over Sarah’s death informs his actions. Plus, there’s no guarantee that the tests would work in which case Ellie’s death would be for nothing. On the other, he doesn’t let Ellie makes the decision and winds up killing everyone in his way.

Druckmann and Mazin have done an exquisite job of adapting this game for television. The focus on character and reinforcing different types of love is predictive of Joel’s actions. Like Bill, Joel exists to protect Bill. The same holds true for Henry and Sam. For these characters, their whole existence is defined by one individual. Joel’s decision has doomed a world, but for Joel, his world is safe.