The Last of Us episode 9

The Last of Us episode 9 culminated season 1 of HBO's adaptation with resounding success. Here is everything about the climactic ending explained.

As hinted at by the end of The Last of Us episode 9, Joel and Ellie return to Jackson to live as part of Tommy's community. In this case, The Last of Us episode 9 is about how far Joel is willing to go to protect Ellie, and the harsh, morally gray areas that love can take him. [The Last of Us Part II](https://screenrant.com/kathleen-last-of-us-part-2-story-show-adaptation/) - the answer to what happens next to Joel and Ellie can be gleaned from the original game's sequel. Similarly, Mazin revealed in an interview that The Last of Us Part II will likely be bigger than one season of TV, meaning the second game's story could go into The Last of Us season 3, though that is unconfirmed at the time of writing. At the end of The Last of Us episode 9, Joel lies to Ellie on two different occasions. This - alongside his massacre of all the other Fireflies - was actually foreshadowed by Marlene herself in The Last of Us episode 1. The Last of Us season 2 will see Joel killed five years after this point by Abby, the daughter of the surgeon in The Last of Us episode 9. [Fireflies in The Last of Us](https://screenrant.com/when-youre-lost-in-darkness-last-of-us-meaning/) episode 9’s ending. Then, in the very final scene of The Last of Us season 1, Ellie calls his bluff and asks him to swear to her that everything he said was true, which Joel does with minimal hesitation. [The Last of Us game](https://screenrant.com/last-of-us-episode-8-game-changes-explained/) remain ambiguous on whether a cure is actually possible. That being said, The Last of Us episode 9 takes its first turn when the Fireflies capture Joel and Ellie, before culminating in an ending with plenty more twists in store. [The Last of Us](https://screenrant.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) episode 9 rounds off season 1 of HBO's adaptation with an ending full of spectacular twists and turns.

With just one episode left in The Last of Us season 1, all eyes are on Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to see if they can finally reach the ...

[Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels](https://www.amazon.com/b/?rh=i:instant-video,n:2858778011&ie=UTF8&filterId=OFFER_FILTER=SUBSCRIPTIONS&node=2858778011&ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1465430649312&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=fs-livedrops1-20&linkId=90b2815fb79ba0e403137c68e139db16%E2%80%9D) [we got to see Troy Baker](https://winteriscoming.net/2023/03/06/original-actor-joel-didnt-think-the-last-of-us-hbo-show-good-idea-bella-ramsey/), the original voice actor for Joel from the games, join the cast as a character named James, one of the men in David’s (Scott Shepherd) cannibalistic group of survivors. That said, we’ve probably got about two years until that actually comes out, so let’s hope the season 1 finale has a lasting effect. [The Last of Us season 1](https://winteriscoming.net/sci-fi-tv-shows/the-last-of-us/), all eyes are on Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to see if they can finally reach the Fireflies and complete their journey. It’s been such a strong season, so fingers crossed that the finale is just as great or even better than what we’ve seen so far. [ the final episode of The Last of Us season 1](https://winteriscoming.net/2023/03/09/how-long-is-the-last-of-us-episode-9-finale-run-time/) premieres tonight, check out all the basics of how and when to watch:

The second season that has already been ordered by the American channel will not be aired until next year … The producers hope to exceed the symbolic mark of ...

Thus, the release time of episode 9 of The Last Of Us will be set at 3am on Amazon Prime Video. We obviously won’t spoil those who have never played the video games but know that the end of the first season should be the apotheosis of this magnificent adaptation! The producers hope to exceed the symbolic mark of ten million viewers with episode 9 of The Last Of Us but the Oscars ceremony may thwart their plans.

If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now. In episode 8 of the show, Ellie fought to keep Joel alive while she herself stumbled into the ...

In the short teaser it looks as if Joel and Ellie are barely surviving and the introduction of a pregnant woman, Anna Williams (Ashley Johnson), could complicate matters for them. A tense face-off with the group’s leader David (Scott Shepherd) saw Ellie narrowly escape with her life and she reunited with Joel who is starting to recover from his injuries. Ahead of the final episode, take a look at our image gallery:

Ellie fought her way to safety in episode 8, committing more than one murder to ensure she wasn't killed herself, assaulted, or taken in by a Christian ...

Anna is played by Ashley Johnson, the voice of Ellie in the Last of Us games. The series has been renewed for a second season. Ellie fought her way to safety in episode 8, committing more than one murder to ensure she wasn’t killed herself, assaulted, or taken in by a Christian cannibalistic cult run by David, a predator who wanted to “run” his group with her.

This season finale would be directed by Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi who also directed Episode 8 besides Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin. The previous episode ...

With this episode, Joel and Ellie’s long journey from the first game would come to an end. [this episode will leave the audience divided](https://www.essentiallysports.com/esports-news-the-last-of-us-star-bella-ramsey-claims-the-season-finale-will-divide-people-massively/). The Last of Us season finale is titled “Look for the Light” and would be a 45-minute long episode. ADVERTISEMENT But for now, everyone is more concerned with what will be there to unpack in Episode 9. [The Last of Us](https://www.essentiallysports.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) fans, as HBO Max would be dropping the much-awaited season finale.

The horror drama from Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann started strong with a premiere that was watched by 4.7 million viewers linearly. Its viewership has only ...

This Sunday, March 12, marks the season finale of The Last of Us on The Last of Us was originally designed to have a 10 episode first season, but life had other plans. So there are 9 episodes in Season 1 of The Last of Us. The finale premieres on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday, March 12 at 9/8c p.m. You can even watch live if you’re going to be away from your TV thanks to the If you’re subscribed to HBO through your cable provider, the simplest way to watch live is through your TV. That phrase is associated with the Fireflies, and in Episode 10, we finally get to meet them. The only award we care about is Best Dad, and it’s going to Joel Miller. [The Last of Us](https://decider.com/show/the-last-of-us/). This is all to say The Last of Us has been knocking it out of the park all season long. Its viewership has only grown from there with the penultimate episode hitting [8.1 million](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-last-of-us-episode-8-ratings-viewers-1235544609/) viewers. The horror drama from Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann started strong with a premiere that was watched by

HBO and HBO Max's juggernaut returns this week for its finale. When does The Last of Us episode 9 premiere in your neck of the woods?

Let us know in the comments below! ET on Sunday, March 12 BRT on Sunday, March 12 The Last of Us episode 9 (the season 1 finale), titled “Look For The Light”, will debut in the US on HBO on Sunday, March 12, at 9:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 12 MT on Sunday, March 12 PT on Sunday, March 12 [Season 2 is on the way](https://winteriscoming.net/2023/01/27/hbo-renews-the-last-of-us-season-2/), but audiences are eager to see how season 1 closes out. HST on Sunday, March 12 Along the way, they have gotten posthumous help from Bill and Frank, caught up with family (Tommy and Maria), and even survived a run-in with a cannibalistic cult. It feels like it’s only been on our screens for a few short weeks, but its January premiere on both HBO and HBO Max has been leading to this moment, and now here we are; nine episodes later and ready to see how the first chapter of this compelling story comes to a close. Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s journey has been all about survival; but at the end of that journey, there has been hope, as the pair have been searching for the Fireflies’ base of operations with the hope that they can synthesize a cure from Ellie’s immunity.

Those who played TLOU video game know that the storyline is coming to an end. It makes sense that the series took the first game and made an entire season out ...

Ellie then tells Joel to swear to her that everything she said about the fireflies is true. The biggest issue with this season is that it was lacking a bit in the infected. He tells them to unhook her but they don’t so he shoots and kills the doctor. He gets to the surgery hall and sees the doctor and nurses around Ellie. Ellie says time heals all wounds she guesses, and he says it wasn’t time — hinting that it was her. He also says that a hospital is close, and that might be the one they are looking for. When the giraffe walks away, she runs after it and ends up in a clearing, in front of a whole group of them. Joel sees a ladder up on a ledge and tells Ellie he will boost her and she can drop it down. She is about to stab and kill the infected, and then her baby is born. They need to cut through a building to get to the hospital, but most of the doorways inside are blocked. Ellie is sitting on a truck bed on the highway and Joel is yelling for her. Marlene is instantly on edge, so she assures her that she cut the cord before she was bit.

New images from the Last of Us finale show Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie preparing for the end as they finally reach the Fireflies.

In contrast to the title of the first episode “When You’re Lost,” the finale episode is titled "Look for the Light.” The episode preview teased that Ellie is focused on her task as “it all can’t be for nothing,” also it showed a glimpse of Ellie’s mother, played by Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in the video games, so probably we’ll also get to know how she is immune to the Cordyceps. All the emotions will come to a boiling point as Ellie and Joel now reach their final destination in the final episode of Season 1.

Warning: This story contains The Last of Us spoilers.] HBO has confirmed the running time of Sunday's Last of Us finale — and it's the shortest episode of ...

[The Last of Pods](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-ep-8-bbella-ramsey-podcast-interview/) podcast of The Last of Us season 2. [season finale trailer](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-episode-9-season-finale-look-for-the-light-preview-images/). Mary's hospital, where Joel and Ellie expect to find Marlene's (Merle Dandridge) Firefly faction working on a cure — and the key is within [Ellie's immunity to Infected bites](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-ellie-bella-ramsey-infected-immune/). Tonight, they [finish what they started](https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-last-of-us-episode-9-season-finale-look-for-the-light-preview-images/) all those months ago in the Boston QZ. That's the The network

'The Last of Us' concludes Season 1 with a stunning ending between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Here's how it ends and how we felt about ...

Joel is getting out of dodge, and the last person he sees—presumably the last person alive in the entire Hospital complex, other than Joel and Ellie—is Marlene, who tells him it's not too late. And on the road, Joel and Ellie get to discussing the bullet scar on his head, and the guy who "missed." Marlene tells the men to escort Joel out of the hospital, and once he's out, to find his way home. She wanted to get to the lab. He even makes his way into the surgery room where Ellie is being prepped and shoots the doctor wielding a scalpel right square in the head without hesitating. Ellie has a mission, and she wants to do the right thing. And he knows this means Ellie is not likely to make it out of the surgery. Anna's bite is getting bad, and she's holding a knife to her own neck in one hand—in case she turns—and a baby in the other. It's reminiscent of The Last of Us' Kansas City ordeal, when Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), in a fit of rage, returned to the storage unit and shot her childhood doctor. The Last of Us stuck us with Joel ( [Pedro Pascal](https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a30056754/who-is-the-mandalorian-pedro-pascal-actor/)) and Ellie (Ramsey) for the full duration of it's nine-episode cross-country first season journey, and anyone who was expecting this show, of all shows, to end with some sort of feel-good catharsis... Everyone will think about this finale a little differently, but we're mainly glad that we got to see the way the writing, along with Pascal and Ramsey, brought these characters and this story to life. And that messy start to a story came to a predictably messy conclusion.

This is Ashley Johnson who plays Ellie in the video games (and also Pike in The Legend Of Vox Machina, among myriad other roles). Even if you didn't recognize ...

He puts Ellie in the van and hears Merle gasping. Marlene lowers her handgun and Joel shoots her in the stomach. The doctor turns, grabs a scalpel and stands between Joel and the operating table. Leaving a trail of blood and carnage in his wake, Joel finally reaches the pediatric ward and finds the doctor and several nurses in a room about to begin surgery. Marlene tells her men to escort Joel to the highway and leave him with his pack and Ellie’s switchblade. He enters the room and tells them to unhook her. “Was it everything you hoped for?” Joel asks, reminding us of a similar scene back in Boston—though he asked the question in a very different tone back then. Ellie stares at it in amazement, and Joel cuts off some leafy branches for her to give the animal. When they come to a bombed out area of the building with no way up, Joel boosts Ellie to the next floor so she can push a ladder down (another fun video game moment). The two have made their way up through a skyscraper to get a view of the city. In any case, the infected bursts through the door and she barely manages to fight it off with her switchblade. Ellie is out of sorts and Joel does his best to cheer and distract her.

When we rejoin Joel and Ellie in 2023, there's a dissonance between them that's illustrated beautifully by Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal. These two actors have ...

[infected](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-last-of-us-are-the-infected-zombies/) to speak of in the last two episodes of the season. The most salient reason is that, after the unforgettable appearances of the infected we’ve seen prior to this, it’s disappointing that the incredible-looking creations don’t get a showcase in the finale. And on top of that, they fight through a dark tunnel and emerge into the light of day, where the Fireflies await them, which is symbolism at its best. “And God help any motherfuckers who stand in our way.” [Henry](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-last-of-us-what-happened-to-henry-and-sam-in-the-game/) considered himself a bad guy because he “did a bad guy thing.” All of these interactions, along with the tragedies that befall Joel along the way, lead to him committing unspeakable horrors in that hospital. This is all done to underscore the fact that what Joel is doing is positively evil. [Bill](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/the-last-of-us-bill-and-frank-game-story-explained/) wrote to him in his letter that men like he and Joel are protectors. Love can be a destructive, even diabolical thing, and this idea is precisely what makes The Last of Us such a disquieting, exquisite piece of fiction. [why Ellie is immune](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-last-of-us-ellie-immunity-origin-story/), and most importantly, it underlines how precious Ellie’s life is to the people who have fought to protect her, from her mom all the way up to Joel. One of the masterstrokes of the episode is the brisk opening flashback. He’s finally found something to fight for—to live for—again, and losing all of that, at this point in his life, is unimaginable. He’s eager to connect with his new “Baby Girl” and share life with her in the way he wanted to with Sarah. Dramatically and thematically, the episode is a powerhouse, with moments so soul-crushing they cast a sinister shadow on every episode that came before.

Ellie and Joel get something resembling a happy ending in the finale, but at what cost? A recap of “Look For the Light,” episode 9 and the finale of HBO's ...

That’s largely a testament to the strength of the source material’s narrative, given how closely the series sticks to the source material. Some time passes, time enough for Ellie to find some proper clothes and for the pair to make it most of the way back to Jackson. The episode then cuts to Joel and Ellie on the road in the vehicle Joel was planning to take from the parking lot before Marlene intercepted him. Ellie may not know the full truth and, for all she’s been through, she might still be young enough to live in a kind of forcible denial to shield herself from the reality of what Joel has done. I certainly reference them in the preceding recap, and they’re evidence in moments like Joel giving Ellie a boost so she can toss down a ladder that will allow them to climb to the next level. She doesn’t want to kill him — she won’t take his life for the greater good unless she has to — but she will have her forces take him to the highway with nothing but his pack and Ellie’s switchblade. When Joel mentions he once spent time in a place like that, Ellie brings up Sarah and Joel offers none of the hostility he used to offer at the mention of his daughter’s name. It’s a moment of reflection for Joel and Ellie, and it feels like one for the series, too. The grazing giraffes and the overgrown ruins of the city look less like the aftermath of a disaster than a fresh start. Stop the episode here, in this pastoral, post-apocalyptic scene as Joel wipes tears from his eyes with just over twenty minutes left in the episode, and the season has a lovely happy ending, and in some ways, a logical one, too. (And, in some respects, it’s not even a good example of ludonarrative dissonance since, slaughter and all, it’s consistent with the grim world the game has created.) The series didn’t have to do the same. The sound of the gun blast causes Ellie to cry.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in Episode 9 of "The Last of Us." Liane Hentscher/HBO. Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers about ...

Dramatically speaking, though, it’s hard to argue with the impact of those closing moments, and the bleakness it augurs for a future that Joel has seemingly deprived of its one ray of hope. Doctors might be able to harvest it and produce a cure, but the girl would have to die as a consequence. It also established that Marlene (Merle Dandridge), now of the Fireflies, had known of Ellie since those events, deepening her history with the character. Unpersuaded by Marlene’s logic, he escaped his captors, freed Ellie and killed, well, pretty much everyone who got in his way. He then followed that by lying to the girl, telling her the scientists had “stopped looking for a cure,” and summing up his personal evolution by saying in terms of finding a reason to live, “If you just keep going, you find something new to fight for.” What if potentially saving the world came down to sacrificing an innocent teenager?

Well, friends. We've come to the end of the road, at least for now. Episode nine of HBO's The Last of Us is the season finale, bringing us to the.

All of this is to say that I appreciate that the creative team behind the HBO show approached this undertaking as an adaptation, not merely a retelling or recreation. On the other hand, I appreciate that the television show found a few opportunities, here and there, to remind us that even in its world, love is possible, and by extension, lives of meaning are possible. (And in case anyone is wondering, yes, in the game you do get a new weapon, the assault rifle, here, just like Joel does in the show.) In any case, he kills a whole mess of dudes on his way to Ellie. In both the game and the show, this is the site for a confrontation of sorts with Joel’s past, though that takes very different forms in each version. In both the show and the game, Marlene asks Joel to consider what Ellie herself would want. (It’s just a game, of course, but you’d better believe that at the end of Life Is Strange, I made the choice to save the one person I felt close to and cared about deeply over a town full of others.) And I have no problem with Joel doing what he does. In the show, he encourages her to grab some leaves and feed it a little bit, and the sight of its long tongue reaching out for that green goodness is pretty great. In both the game and the show, her response is the same: “After all we’ve been through, everything that I’ve done, it can’t be for nothing.” She tells him that once this is done, they can go wherever he wants, but “there’s no halfway with this.” In the game, Joel looks up just in time to see the last giraffe disappear into the distance. One interesting detail from the game that’s omitted from the show is a dream that Ellie tells Joel about, in which she’s on a plane and it’s going down, so she busts into the cabin only to find that there’s no captain. Episode nine of HBO’s The Last of Us is the season finale, bringing us to the end of the story told in the first game. Joel pursues her, perhaps worried at first that she’s in danger, and what follows is one of the game’s most famous moments, faithfully recreated in the show. But it speaks to the idea that Anna, Ellie’s mother, is a character who the writers of the game (and now the show) have thought a lot about, even if, until now, she’s never actually been seen.

Season 1 of the adaptation finally ends with a heartbreaking choice. But what lies ahead for the show's central duo?

It’s hard to speculate from here, but trust that Ellie will learn the truth and Joel’s actions will not go unanswered. After a lighthearted moment of Ellie reading Joel her terrible puns, the two are ambushed by the Fireflies. Without any hesitation, he storms the operating room, killing the doctor and forcing the nurses to unhook her. She gives birth to a baby Ellie but is bitten mere seconds before she is able to cut the cord with the knife Ellie treasures so much. She hands Ellie to Marlene to watch over before she fully turns, and Marlene is forced to kill her. We don’t get firm answers, but knowledge of the game and some additional moments in the series may shed some light on what’s happening.

Joel Miller commits a mass shooting at a hospital to “save” his adopted daughter Ellie Williams from being killed during a surgery that could've potentially ...

In the end, it’s clear that Ellie’s agency in this decision was taken away from her by all the adults in her life, Marlene included. He could say that it was to ensure Ellie has a future, no matter the cost. Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies — who we learn in this episode’s cold open has known Ellie since birth — begs Joel to “do the right thing here.” He says there are other immune people, that the attempt to find a cure had already failed, and that the hospital was attacked. [In episode 6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/the-last-of-us-episode-6-recap/?itid=lk_inline_manual_18), HBO laid the groundwork with his new confession (not featured in the game) to his brother Tommy: Joel struggles with the possibility of losing another young girl in his life. As she says, after all that’s happened — even after the lie — it can’t have been for nothing. Instead of accepting, he murders his escorts out of the hospital, takes their guns and proceeds to shoot almost every person in the facility — even those who give up their weapons and beg for their lives. Joel Miller commits a mass shooting at a hospital to “save” his adopted daughter Ellie Williams from being killed during a surgery that could’ve potentially resulted in a cure for the fungal infection that devastated human civilization. He enters the pediatric surgery area, shoots the surgeon and takes Ellie to the garage. Now, a new audience can ponder the moral ramifications of Joel’s decision, thanks to showrunner and writer Craig Mazin’s HBO adaptation of the story. Back in 2013, for those who played the game, this was a shocking end to a story already defined by so much human death and misery. This entire story discusses end spoilers for both the game and the show.

Episode 9 of HBO's The Last of Us gives Ellie's original voice actor, Ashley Johnson, the role of Anna, the protagonist's mother.

The DLC was also scrapped, which means HBO's The Last of Us represented the first opportunity for Druckmann to bring the story to the fans. For its first season, HBO's The Last of Us stuck close to the game story, expanding some characters' stories where the series had the opportunity. Since she and Marlene have been friends forever, Anna asks the future leader of the Fireflies to take care of her baby. [voices Pike](https://collider.com/legend-of-vox-machina-season-2-pike-ashley-johnson/) in Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina. Curiously, though, Johnson becomes Ellie’s mother in the show, while her voice acting gave birth to Ellie in the games. There are many reasons to admire Johnson, but one of her best parts is without questioning Ellie in The Last of Us games. However, while The Last of Us season finale teases a grim future for Joel and Ellie, Episode 9 also goes back in time to explain why the girl is immune to the [Cordyceps](https://collider.com/the-last-of-us-cordyceps-infection-explained/) infection. Anna is pregnant and about to give birth to Ellie when she’s bitten by an Infected, and only realizes she was contaminated after her baby is born. [The Last of Us](https://collider.com/tag/the-last-of-us-hbo/) wrapped its story with a dramatic ending where it becomes clear Joel ( [Pedro Pascal](https://collider.com/tag/pedro-pascal/)) is not a good person. It’s no surprise that HBO decided to bring Johnson to the series adaptation as a way to honor her legacy. She is currently the only person who won the award more than once, which underlines how her work in the franchise helped to shape Ellie into the beloved character she is. Johnson was part of beloved films such as What Women Want and The Help and series like The Killing and Blindspot, but most of us know the star through her work as a voice actress.

How does the HBO show compare to the game in the final episode? Dale ...

So ride along as we go through all of the biggest video game releases you’ll be able to play on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in March 2023.Also, you can browse the IGN Playlist of all the biggest titles launching in March. [The Last of Us episode 9 review](/articles/the-last-of-us-season-1-finale-review), we said "The season one finale of HBO’s The Last of Us is a thrillingly faithful adaptation of one video games’ greatest endings, even if it doesn’t pack quite the same punch as the original. Check out the slideshow, or watch the video above to see the scenes from both the show and the game in action.

When The Last of Us premiered on HBO, people discussed it like it was fated to some horrible demise. The “video game curse” has long been a point of debate, ...

But did the other part of the gaming experience — the heart-racing battles to achieve a goal — have to be sacrificed to get there? For now, we’ll have to fill in the gaps ourselves. It’s a lightning-quick scene for what is essentially one of the most consequential events in the entire series. Now that the episode is available to watch, it’s obvious the show’s solution to this issue is simply to cut out all the combat involved in this chapter at all. Some episodes crawled on and on, taking their time to tell the story, while others seem to jump from scene to scene in order to keep things interesting. Episode 9 of The Last of Us comes in at 43 minutes, an impressively speedy runtime for a typically hour-long show that hasn’t been afraid to stretch into the 80-minute mark (twice!).

The Last of US episode 9 saw Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie find the Fireflies, resulting in a shock ending.

For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to [The Radio Times Podcast](https://www.radiotimes.com/audio/podcasts/). As it's revealed that Joel shot Marlene to get Ellie away and to stop her coming after Ellie, he claims that the doctors couldn't make it work and that they've stopped looking for a cure. When Ellie asks where her clothes are, Joel lies again and tells her that raiders attacked the hospital and that he barely got her out. But, as we see in episode 9, there's currently no one else that could provide a cure - so Joel has potentially just doomed humanity to endless more years of the infection. As Marlene said, Ellie would likely want to do what's right, with her point pretty much being proven when she makes Joel swear that what he's saying is true. He tells Ellie that the doctors ran tests on her and that there are many more immune people like Ellie. She tries to cheer him up with some jokes from her book of puns and, just as the pair relax into their journey, they're ambushed, with Joel covering Ellie as a grenade is thrown towards them. As Joel states: "Cordyceps grows inside the brain," he realises there's no way Ellie's getting out of this alive and, as he demands to be taken to her, Marlene's soldiers fight back. Joel gears up using the dead soldier's gun and ammo, and begins his rampage through the hospital, leaving bodies in his wake. I had written that out and I put it in my pocket during the scenes just to have that little something from the game. Joel decides it's time to give Ellie an out, telling her that they don't have to continue and that there will likely still be risks. The finale episode of The Last of Us begins with a heavily pregnant woman, played by Ashley Johnson, running away from infected through the woods.

The final episode of HBO's adaptation is just as morally challenging and hauntingly ambiguous as that of the video game.

All of this is to say that I appreciate that the creative team behind the HBO show approached this undertaking as an adaptation, not merely a retelling or recreation. On the other hand, I appreciate that the television show found a few opportunities, here and there, to remind us that even in its world, love is possible, and by extension, lives of meaning are possible. (And in case anyone is wondering, yes, in the game you do get a new weapon, the assault rifle, here, just like Joel does in the show.) In any case, he kills a whole mess of dudes on his way to Ellie. In both the game and the show, this is the site for a confrontation of sorts with Joel’s past, though that takes very different forms in each version. In both the show and the game, Marlene asks Joel to consider what Ellie herself would want. (It’s just a game, of course, but you’d better believe that at the end of Life Is Strange, I made the choice to save the one person I felt close to and cared about deeply over a town full of others.) And I have no problem with Joel doing what he does. In both the game and the show, her response is the same: “After all we’ve been through, everything that I’ve done, it can’t be for nothing.” She tells him that once this is done, they can go wherever he wants, but “there’s no halfway with this.” In the game, Joel looks up just in time to see the last giraffe disappear into the distance. One interesting detail from the game that’s omitted from the show is a dream that Ellie tells Joel about, in which she’s on a plane and it’s going down, so she busts into the cabin only to find that there’s no captain. Joel pursues her, perhaps worried at first that she’s in danger, and what follows is one of the game’s most famous moments, faithfully recreated in the show. Episode nine of HBO’s The Last of Us is the season finale, bringing us to the end of the story told in the first game. But it speaks to the idea that Anna, Ellie’s mother, is a character who the writers of the game (and now the show) have thought a lot about, even if, until now, she’s never actually been seen. After the first two episodes, I actually thought this was something the show might be committed to in the long term, with each episode kicking off with a different, relevant glimpse of life before the pandemic or some other thread that could inform our understanding of what was to come.