April may have just started, but I am fully preparing myself mentally for The Last of Us Season 2 on April 13. It’s been two years since audiences got to see Joel and Ellie travel throughout the United States in the midst of a global outbreak, and fans are finally getting the opportunity to see how their worlds have changed in the last five years. The Last Of Us follows Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler who is tasked with escorting and staying with Ellie (Bella Ramsey), an immune teenager, in order to prevent the outbreak from spreading further. Over the course of a few months living together, Joel and Ellie travel and meet various factions in other cities, and fight for their chances to stay alive together as they battle infected creatures. Spoiler alert: Spoilers for The Last Of Us Season 1 follow.
With Season 2 of The Last Of Us set to release, there’s a lot that has changed in both Joel and Ellie’s lives as they have matured together. While Season 1 of The Last Of Us gets to explore their meetings and interactions, Season 2 will take them in new directions that no one will expect. After waiting for two years for Season 2, here’s the recap you need to get caught up on The Last Of Us.
The Last Of Us Season 1 begins 20 years earlier.
The Last Of Us begins in 2003, and audiences are introduced to Joel Miller. Joel lives with his teenage daughter Sarah in Austin, Texas, and keeps a close relationship with his brother, Tommy. In the first episode, both Joel and Sarah begin to notice strange behaviors throughout their suburban neighborhood as a pandemic starts to ensue. When their neighbors get attacked by one of their relatives, those who are infected begin attacking their families and those who are not infected. Joel, Sarah, and Tommy begin to escape the city in their car, until an airplane falls from the sky and crashes near Tommy’s truck, forcing them to escape. As the three attempt to escape without the car, a soldier confronts them, believing that they are infected. The soldier shoots at both Joel and Sarah, fatally wounding Sarah in Joel’s arms.
The end of the episode flashes forward to 2023, where the world has been overrun by the infected, and those who have survived live in camps and survival groups throughout the United States. Joel — now a smuggler who works with his partner, Tess — is tasked by Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies gang, to transport a 14-year-old girl out west. Joel and Tess are introduced to Ellie, and she reveals to them that she was bit weeks ago but is immune to the infection. It’s also revealed that the military (called FEDRA) is working with the Fireflies, and that Ellie may be the cure that could save the world.
Joel & Ellie begin to travel together.
After Tess gets bit by one of the infected, Joel and Ellie are left to travel west together. The two do not originally see eye-to-eye, with Joel’s stern nature and Ellie’s brazen personality. Ellie and Joel meet a variety of different individuals throughout different states, like Kathleen and her gang, and find themselves getting close to Henry and Sam, two brothers they end up meeting while on the run. Henry reveals to Joel that he betrayed Kathleen’s gang in order to secure medicine for Sam’s leukemia. As the four begin to travel together after being attacked by the infected and defeating Kathleen’s group, Sam reveals to Ellie that he was bitten by one of the infected. Ellie reveals to Sam that she has the cure to the infection, and puts her blood on Sam’s infection in hopes of making him immune. The next morning, Sam turns into an infected and attacks Ellie, and Henry kills him in front of Joel and Ellie. After this, Henry also kills himself, and Joel and Ellie make a burial site for the two brothers.
Three months after Sam and Henry’s deaths, Joel and Ellie make a stop in Montana, where Tommy lives. Joel asks Tommy for help in traveling with Ellie to deliver her to the FEDRA camp, believing that Tommy is more equipped and prepared to take care of Ellie. Tommy declines originally, explaining that the reason why is because his wife is pregnant. Ellie discovers that Joel lost his daughter 20 years prior, and confronts him about the fact that she is not Joel’s daughter. The two get into an argument, and Ellie reveals that she would not feel safe traveling with Tommy as Joel is the only person who hasn’t left her yet. Joel and Ellie ultimately begin their travels again to Salt Lake City, until Joel is wounded by a rivaling gang.
While Ellie begins to sew Joel’s wounds up, we get to see more of Ellie’s backstory. It’s revealed that Ellie was a student at a military boarding school in Boston, where she was being trained to become a FEDRA officer. While in her bedroom, Ellie’s best friend, Riley, sneaks into her room and convinces her to go to an abandoned mall. The two spend the night at the mall, and Ellie discovers the reason why Riley wanted her to come was to say a final goodbye, as she was leaving with the Fireflies. Ellie begs Riley to not leave, and the two kiss as Riley agrees to stay for Ellie. During this, an infected hears the two and bites both of them. Ellie is immune and she is the one who killed Riley after she got bit.
Joel saves Ellie from being killed.
During the finale, it’s revealed that Ellie’s mother was bitten while giving birth to her, giving her the immunity that she carries inside her bloodstream, as she was bitten while the umbilical cord was still attached. Ellie and Joel finally make it to the destination where Ellie is supposed to be killed and have her blood extracted. Joel ultimately goes against his words as Ellie is taken away to surgery. Joel goes through the entire hospital, and kills all of the Fireflies that are in there. He retrieves Ellie back, in which Marlene reveals to him that he still has time to make things right for the world. Joel disagrees and kills Marlene before driving off with Ellie, away from the hospital.
As Ellie awakes from her anesthesia, Joel reveals to Ellie that there was “no cure” for the infected and that they had stopped searching. During the final scene of Season 1, Ellie makes Joel promise that he’s telling her the full truth and that they would no longer lie to each other. Joel swears to Ellie that the story is true, and that she has nothing to worry about. However, it’s implied that Ellie believes Joel is not telling the full extent of the story, but she ultimately agrees to believe that Joel is telling the truth.
April 13 can’t come fast enough. I will be sat for whatever Ellie does next in Season 2 of The Last Of Us.