BEWARE! This post contains significant spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 3!
The Last of Us, HBO’s award-winning adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name, continues its second season this week. Over the next four weeks, until May 25th, we at The Beat will deliver episode recaps for the new season, diving into what happens every week, how it reflects the game it’s based on, and how well the show is crafted.
The third episode of season 2, “The Path,” sees Ellie and Dina begin a new journey after the disastrous events of last week’s episode. Directed by Peter Hoar (Daredevil) and written by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), it helps set the path for what’s to come over the course of the rest of the season while also delivering an episode that is mostly material unseen in the game.
“The Path” begins with a montage of Jackson after last week’s disastrous attack from a massive horde of infected, and we see corpses in a makeshift hospital. Tommy (Gabriel Luna) arrives to visit his brother’s body, on the verge of tears. He leans down to speak to him, telling Joel to “give Sarah my love.”
We are mere minutes into the episode, and it’s already absolutely emotionally devastating.
We then cut to a chaotic hospital scene, where Ellie (Bella Ramsay) is being taken care of after her traumatic experience. She wakes up screaming in horror, with a flashback to Joel’s death, before being sedated.
After the initial opening credits, there’s a 3-month timeskip, as we see Jackson rebuilding. Jesse (Young Mazino) and Tommy are at work helping in the process. Meanwhile, Ellie is being checked on by an unnamed doctor, who gives her permission to leave the hospital, but not before she has a conversation with local therapist Gail (Catherine O’Hara). Their conversation is heated, with Ellie belittling and distrusting Gail and her methods.
Here, Ellie is grieving and angry, and she lies about the last time she saw Joel (Pedro Pascal). Gail advises, “Your final moment doesn’t define your whole time with them,” before mentioning her session with Joel, as seen in the first episode of the season. In response, Ellie acts like she doesn’t know what Joel might’ve been talking about. Pretending she’s fine, she leaves the hospital.
We then cut to Joel’s house, which has become memorialised by the people of Jackson. It’s overwhelmed with an eerie, haunting silence, incredibly true to life.
Ellie visits her old room before making her way into Joel’s room and opening a box left on his bed that contains his broken watch and gun. She takes both before heading into his closet. Curling up into one of his jackets and smelling it, she cries softly. It’s an incredibly visceral and heartbreaking sequence, and I think if you’re not at least on the verge of tears watching it, I’d be surprised (editor’s note: I was also on the verge of tears). The score is also incredible, amplifying the moment’s emotional devastation.
Then, Dina (Isabela Merced) walks in and calls for Ellie, and she goes downstairs. Ellie thanks her for regularly visiting the hospital, and Dina reveals that she had baked cookies as a preemptive apology for withholding information from Ellie while in the hospital. She reveals what she learned last week whilst being kidnapped by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her friends: they operate as part of the W.L.F., a paramilitary group working out of Seattle, Washington, and that she’s memorized the names of everyone who was there that night. Ellie and Dina reckon it must be a small group, otherwise they would’ve joined in with the Fireflies.
The two of them then meet with Tommy, who is tending to cows, to explain the situation to him. Tommy states that Joel wouldn’t do it—he would fight to save someone alive, but wouldn’t risk vengeance for someone who’s dead. Tommy indicates that he doesn’t disprove this, but he wants them to take it to Maria (Rutina Wesley) and use the system they have.
We are then introduced to a mysterious, pseudo-religious cult in Seattle, Washington. There are many of them, and they communicate through a series of organized whistles. A father explains what the whistles mean to his daughter, and they discuss their prophet, who is deceased, but they follow her teachings regardless. They don’t know where they’re going, but their prophet guides them. He gives his daughter a hammer to defend herself, and she remarks that she feels safer already, which serves as an omen. The father and daughter then hear a series of panicked whistles and hide in a bush. The daughter asks if demons are coming for them, but her father says it’s wolves instead.
Players of The Last of Us Part II will recognise this group. However, their introduction in the series is radically different from their introduction in the games, and the sequence is incredibly intriguing and mysterious.
Meanwhile, Jesse and Ellie are practicing boxing, and it is revealed that Jesse is the council’s newest member. Ellie remarks that she wants to be able to count on him.
The next day, there is a council meeting. First, a man discusses raising turkeys instead of chickens, but he is shot down because everyone is at the meeting to discuss one issue: sending sixteen people to Washington to get revenge on Abby for Joel. A young woman advocates against it, pointing out that Jackson needs all the help it can get during such a precarious time. Another man advocates against it, as well, stating that forgiveness is all that separates the people of Jackson from raiders and violence outside their walls. Seth (Robert John Burke) loudly fights against the two of them, stating that Jackson can’t show weakness, otherwise people will continue to attack and decimate their community.
Ellie follows up on Seth’s statement, reading off a prepared speech. She claims to want justice, not revenge, and wants to be someone that the community can count on, the way she wants to be able to count on the community. “Jackson is still here,” she states, adding that a huge part of that is the community having each other’s backs. Dina is impressed, and the council takes it to a vote; ultimately, they vote no, despite the efforts of Tommy and Jesse.
We then cut to a kid’s baseball game in Jackson, which Gail watches while drinking beer. Given recent events, Tommy arrives and talks about how busy she must be. She agrees, but offers Tommy a free session to discuss Ellie. He’s considered that she will end up on the same violent path Joel was on after his daughter’s death, and Gail tells him that she thinks Ellie is a liar—her and Joel have always been on the same path, “walking side by side from the start.”
Meanwhile, Ellie prepares guns and equipment in her room, planning to sneak out to Seattle regardless of the council’s verdict. Dina arrives and asks what Ellie’s plan is. When it becomes clear Ellie has no plan, Dina gets Ellie to consider practicalities such as clothing, routes, medical supplies, and ammunition. Dina lets Ellie know that if she wanted help, she could’ve asked, and Dina always would’ve aided, saying, “I loved him too.” Merced continues to be a highlight of the season and an incredible scene partner for Ramsay to work against.
Later that night, the two meet to leave, with the assistance of Seth, who trades Ellie a better rifle and gives her a horse. The two shake hands and make genuine amends, and Ellie and Dina leave for Seattle.
On their way there, Ellie visits the Jackson graveyard and bows down to Joel’s grave, which is marked “Beloved brother and father.” She leaves coffee beans on his grave and cries. It’s an incredibly well-acted scene by Ramsay, who portrays a gentle and quiet devastation that feels incredibly realistic and true to life.
After leaving the grave, we see the two travel to Seattle in a montage—much of this episode has been made from content that doesn’t happen in the game, which sees Ellie and Dina arrive in Seattle very shortly after Joel’s death. While not all of the context feels necessary, it does help the pacing of the story feel less relentlessly overwhelming and dark, and allows things to settle a bit before they get worse.
Ellie and Dina stop to camp due to rain, and Dina asks Ellie if their shared kiss (seen in episode one) was good. Ellie’s incredibly flustered, and their chemistry is remarkable. Ellie says it was a 6/10, and Dina takes issue with the lack of generosity, and the two go to bed.
The next day, they find the trail of dead seraphites, including the corpse of the daughter and father seen earlier. The W.L.F. has massacred the entire group.
When they finally arrive in Seattle, the two express concern that there may be more W.L.F. members than expected, but Ellie remarks there are about to be “a whole lot less.”
The episode ends with one of Abby’s friends being called on the radio, giving the go-ahead for a brigade to move out. We then see a literal tank and a variety of other military vehicles moving into central Seattle, including a whole group of trained soldiers with gear.
“The Path” continues off the second season of The Last of Us with a more subdued episode, mainly letting things settle after last week’s massive and incredible peak. It sets up the remaining plot of the season well, introducing plot threads and character conflicts that will surely be explored over the next four episodes, as well as finally arriving in Seattle, where a large part of the rest of the story will take place. The darkest things are yet to come, and this week is a much-needed piece of calm before the storm.
Join next week for a recap of Episode 4, and check out The Last of Us season 2, now available on Max.
