The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6 arrived as a fresh breath of air after all the bloodshed that the previous episodes had made us witness. Abby has snatched Joel away from Ellie, who is in no mood to show any mercy on the one who tore her world apart. Every fan cried their heart out when Abby killed Joel, thinking that Joel didn’t get the chance to talk to Ellie one last time, but the father and daughter actually had an emotional conversation before the tragic death. Yes, we are talking about the porch scene where Ellie and Joel make peace with what happened at the Salt Lake Hospital.
Spoiler Warning:
The post includes heavy spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6. So, read at your own risk.
Ellie and Joel’s Final Chat Decoded
Before unpacking the final conversation between Ellie and Joel, we want the TV Show only fans to know that the HBO series has taken a different route, making the confrontation part entirely different from the source material.
In the video game, Ellie investigates the matter and finds out the truth when she comes across the recordings left behind at the Salt Lake City hospital. In contrast, the show sees Ellie growing suspicious, specifically after Joel kills Eugene, even after promising to let him meet his wife for the last time. He failed to keep the promise and lied to Gail instead. That was one instance that made Ellie grow distant from Joel.
However, the girl doesn’t confront her surrogate father about the Fireflies until New Year’s Eve. After getting things awkward at the party, when Ellie returns home, she sees Joel sitting on the Porch. The conversation started with Ellie asking Joel what he was drinking. He replied that the people who came through last week gave it to him. After that, he asked Ellie if she was dating Dina, to which Ellie replied that it wasn’t anything more than a casual kiss. After having this formal chit-chat for a bit, Ellie came to the point.
She began by calling Joel an A****** and then continued, ‘You lied to me. You looked straight into my eyes and lied to me.’ Ellie also revealed that she knew already, but she wanted to hear it from Joel, and this was the last chance that she wanted to give him. She clarified that if Joel lied to him this time, she would never be able to talk to him again.
Without delaying, Ellie asked, “Tell me what happened with the Fireflies, and were there really other Immune people?” Joel shook his head and said, ” No,” with tears in his eyes. Ellie then asked about the raiders, and Joel again said no. ‘Could they have made a cure? ‘ was Ellie’s next question, and this time, Joel answered it with a ‘Yes.’
Joel revealed that he killed the Fireflies and Marlene to protect Ellie. With tears in his eyes, Joel said, ‘Making a cure would have killed you.’ Ellie’s heart breaks, and she said that her death would have made her life matter because it could have saved humanity from falling. Joel explained that he did it because he loves Ellie, and even if he had a second chance at that moment, he would have done it all over again.
Joel knew that Ellie would grow apart from him after learning the truth, but the girl shocked him by saying that she doesn’t think she can forgive him, but she would like to try.
Why did Ellie decide to forgive Joel? Well, that’s maybe because Ellie loved Joel as much as the man loved the girl. Joel wasn’t a good man and was responsible for the deaths of innocent people, but he was still Ellie’s adoptive father. The love between these two was unconditional. Joel was okay being a bad guy when it came to saving Ellie, and Ellie was ready to forgive the man for what he did because he did all that for her. However, before their dynamic could improve, Abby arrived and took that chance from Ellie and Joel to enjoy their remaining lives together again.
Aparna Ukil
