The Last of Us Episode 2 Insights and Highlights: Understanding the Fallout of the Infection and Ellie’s Role

In the middle of “The Last of Us,” which came out last week, we got a tantalizing look at how post-apocalyptic Boston looks outside the Quarantine Zone. This week is more like a grand tour, and to be honest, it’s pretty cool. People are drawn to movies and TV shows about the end of the world because it’s both exciting and scary to see the bones of our world twisted and used in new ways.

The Last of Us Episode 2 Insights

• The episode takes place in a post-apocalyptic Boston, where the city is crumbling and taken over by nature
• Ellie, a young girl, is immune to the fungal infection that has ravaged the world and has grown up in this environment
• The episode follows Joel, Tess, and Ellie on a hike to a Firefly compound, where Ellie is to be taken as a resource for a possible vaccine
• Along the way, the group encounters challenges and obstacles, including mindless infected creatures and a tense chase through the ruins of the city
• The episode also provides more information about the origins of the outbreak and the consequences of the bombing that stopped the spread of the disease
• The episode ends with the tragic death of Tess, who sacrifices herself to save the others and destroy the infected
• The episode highlights the cost of survival in this new world and the group’s struggle to let go of the past and move forward.

The Last of Us Episode 2 Highlights

Exploring the Fallout: A Hike to a Firefly Compound with Ellie

Joel and Tess take Ellie on a hike they hope will be easy up to a Firefly compound on Beacon Hill. Along the way, they walk through a crumbling city where some skyscrapers have fallen down and others have been taken over by nature. The first time we see Ellie in this episode, she is curled up in a sunny patch of grass with a butterfly flying by. When the camera angle changes, we can see that she is actually sleeping inside one of those old buildings that are falling apart.

Ellie has never known anything else, of course. She grew up with it, was shaped by it, and, since she is immune to the scary fungal infection, may have figured out how to thrive in it better than anyone else.

This episode has a lot of good “getting to know you” scenes for Ellie, who was first shown as a sassy, angry prisoner. She’s still being rude this week. At one point, she made fun of Joel and Tess for being worried about the plague by twitching like a sick person. But she also tells dry jokes that are funny. (When asked where she learned to juggle a sharp knife, she jokes, “The circus.” When told that they can get to Beacon Hill “the long way” or “the “we’re dead” way,” she says, “Based on what I know so far, I vote “long way.””) Because she talks all the time, by the time the travelers hit their first big roadblock, she has told them a lot about her life up until then: how she spends her days in classes with the other QZ kids, learning about the culture they can’t see for themselves, and how she spends her free time exploring places she’s not supposed to go.

Understanding the Fallout of the Infection and Ellie’s Role

This episode is also kind of a “fitting the pieces together” episode. It gives us more information about what the heck is going on with Earth and moves the characters to the next big turning point in the story, which is Joel and Ellie leaving Boston on their own, without the Fireflies or Tess.

Again, there is a prologue before the opening credits that takes place in Jakarta in 2003. It shows how the chaos we heard about on Joel’s radio in Austin last week started. Ibu Ratna (Christine Hakim), a professor of mycology, is called in by the government to look at the body of a woman who went on a killing spree while under the influence of “cordyceps,” a bad-vibes mushroom that makes people feel bad. The doctor says there is no medicine for this and that bombing any city where the fungus takes hold is the best way to get rid of it.

This is what happened in Boston, where the bombing “worked” because it stopped the spread of the disease long enough for the government to set up a safe zone. But Joel and Tess tell Ellie, who only knows about the plague from books and rumors, that there are still a lot of mindless infected killing machines all over the city. They crawl around on their bellies in the streets to stay connected to an underground fungal network. They also say that Ellie may be the only person who can’t be “turned” by one of these humanoid beasts, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be torn apart.

So, now that the risks are clear, this tight, tense episode is about a simple mission: deliver Ellie to the Fireflies, who will then take her to a base out west to be a resource for a possible vaccine that could save humanity. Meanwhile, Joel and Tess will get a gassed-up, battery-charged truck that they can use for their own business.

Navigating the Dangers of the Infected City and Losing the Past

One important thing to remember is that Joel, in particular, doesn’t want to help people here. If they offered a similar reward or if he had to do it to save his own life, he would give Ellie to the police right away. He doesn’t have a connection to her, at least not yet. Around the middle of this episode, Tess leaves the other two to look for a path behind some rubble while Joel and Ellie have an awkward conversation that is almost painful to watch.

Soon after this, the plan goes off the rails. When “the long way” doesn’t work, the three try to sneak through an old museum, but they wake up the mushroom hordes in the process. Most of the second half of this episode is a tense chase through the Boston ruins. Everything we’ve learned about the monsters so far, like how they can talk to each other through the ground, comes into play.

When the group finally gets to the Fireflies’ base at the Massachusetts State House, with its gold dome, they find that everyone they were supposed to meet there has been infected or killed. Worse, Tess has bitten herself during one of their narrow escapes. She gives up her life by blowing up the capitol building, which keeps the creatures away long enough for Joel and Ellie to get out of danger.

This explosion, which destroys a classic piece of American architecture, has some meaning. In fact, our heroes throw away a lot of the past during the course of the episode. When they rush through a museum, they knock over artifacts and it seems like, with each step forward, the path behind them closes. In other words, things can’t go back to how they were. What Tess says before she dies is all that matters: “Save who you can save.” Not “what,” but “who.”

How to Watch The Last of Us?

The Last of Us will only be shown on HBO and only be available to stream on HBO Max. Episode 3 will air on HBO on January 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and it will be available on HBO Max at the same time. The planned length of Episode 1 is 1 hour and 20 minutes.

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Final Words

“The Last of Us” returns with a look at post-apocalyptic Boston. Joel and Tess take Ellie on a hike to a Firefly compound. This episode has a lot of good “getting to know you” scenes for Ellie. She’s still rude, but she also tells dry jokes that are funny. It gives us more information about what’s going on and moves the story to the next big turning point.

The episode also shows Joel and Ellie leaving Boston without the Fireflies or Tess. Most of the second half of this episode is a tense chase through the Boston ruins. Everything we’ve learned about the monsters so far comes into play in this episode. The Last of Us: Episode 2 is about a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic Boston. Tess sacrifices herself to save the others and destroy the infected. The episode highlights the cost of survival in this new world and the group’s struggle to let go of the past.