The Last Of Us Season 2, Episode 6 Review: After The Most Emotional Episode Yet, I’m Not Ready For Season 2 To Be Over

If you want to bawl your eyes out, The Last of Us season 2, episode 6 is the right episode of television to tune into. The final moments of The Last of Us season 2, episode 5, had me worried about the emotional devastation of episode 6, and, unsurprisingly, I was right. As usual, The Last of Us has no trouble bringing us to our absolute highest and lowest points, chronicling the five years we missed when Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) were navigating the fallout of season 1 in Jackson.

Since the end of "Through The Valley," I've been waiting for Pascal to make his return to The Last of Us, and the episode was about as Joel-centric as it could get, putting us through the wringer. The clarity with which The Last of Us reminds us of its central themes has almost become too much throughout season 2. However, the inherent emotional appeal of episode 6 makes me inclined to forgive a little heavy-handedness. Even in the apocalypse, the generational cycles of hurt and fear will never leave the human race, and Joel certainly didn't escape them.

The Last Of Us Asks If We Can Do Better Than Our Parents, Or If We're Doomed To Repeat Their Mistakes

Episode 6 Gives Us A Window Into How Much Joel Loved Ellie & How Hard He Was Trying

The young Joel who opens episode 6 might not be the gruff and grizzled man we've come to know, but he's instantly recognizable, putting himself in harm's way for his brother. A very bittersweet episode kicks off with a vulnerable Joel unable to understand why parents hurt their children. It ends with him unable to do anything but accept that he's as fallible as his father. Ramsey's performance is instantly uplifted by having Pascal back at their side, as the pair play off each other brilliantly, even when their characters are at odds.

We get to see the sides of Ellie that have been almost completely absent since season 1, and we get to share in her despair as her anger at Joel threatens to tear her apart. The Last of Us episode 6 doesn't tell us anything we don't already know or couldn't have intuited, but that doesn't make the story any less worthwhile. It's one thing to understand that Joel and Ellie drifted apart because of the lies that formed a wall between them, but it's another thing to see them finally address this problem head-on.

Somehow, The Last of Us managed to make Joel's death even sadder, giving us a glimmer of foolish hope, allowing us to imagine a world where Ellie got the chance to try and forgive him. However, in some ways, it was his death that allowed Ellie to accept his failings and move on. She's transferring the remaining anger she was holding onto away from Joel's ghost and firmly onto the very real Abby. "Feel Her Love" demonstrated how close Ellie is to being able to justify the endless violence the way Joel did.

Episode 6 also reveals what happened between Joel and Gail's (Catherine O'Hara) husband, Eugene, played by Joe Pantoliano. Unfortunately, the truth is almost worse than we could've imagined. Given the opportunity to win back a piece of Ellie's trust and let his humanity get the better of him, Joel lets his fear win out once again. However, the lies are the salt in the wound that force Ellie to confront him in the season's most heart-wrenching moment. As they stand on the porch, laying everything on the line, all I want is for Joel to live just one more day.

However, Joel isn't solely defined by his horrible or his altruistic ones. He's a beautifully complex character, and Pascal's performance is so affecting, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to let The Last of Us' story reflect our own. The episode is as much about the good birthdays as the bad ones; the lies don't erase them. Just as much as Ellie can't let these happy days erase what Joel did to her and the world. Maybe she never would have forgiven him, but the real revenge she's taking is on being robbed of the chance to find out.

The Last Of Us Episode 6 Confirms That The Season Will Be Over All Too Soon

It Feels As If The Season Has Only Just Begun, And It's Already Almost Over

While Joel might not have known how poignant his final speech to Ellie would become, the writers certainly did. Everything is now building to Ellie's choices in the final episode of the season, which will determine if she'll be the kind of parent Joel was and let her terror and heartbreak control her. Joel has done some truly horrible things, and we keep rooting for him, and the same will be true for Ellie. However, I'm not sure if the rest of the characters in The Last of Us will be willing to overlook the cost of her dangerous mission.

My only concern going into the season finale is whether this break in the action has come too late in the season. While it's impossible to forget the violent position in which we last saw Ellie, using the penultimate episode for the flashbacks isn't the most natural lead-up to an exciting conclusion. Of course, the story is far from over, and season 3 has a lot more of the narrative to cover. However, episode 6 shows us that The Last of Us season 2 is going to be over too soon.

The season has been pretty well-paced so far, but it would make more sense if there were two or three more installments instead of one. As we hurtle toward whatever fresh hell is waiting for Ellie, Dina, Jesse, and Tommy in Seattle, I hope parts of Ellie will hold onto those few happy moments she shared with Joel. There's always something to fight for, whether that be Dina or the memory of what Joel wanted for them. The Last of Us broke our hearts with episode 6, and I'll prepare to get mine broken even more next week.