The second episode of THE LAST OF US SEASON 2, called “THROUGH THE VALLEY,” has one of the scariest scenes in the history of the series. It completely changes how the series makes you feel. People who have played the video game may have been ready for it, but HBO‘s version adds more layers of horror and intensity that make it even worse. As we learn more about the effects of past actions, the story gets tighter and the tension gets too high to bear. This makes for an unforgettable hour of TV that sets the tone for what’s to come.
Abby’s Nightmare: Ghosts of Salt Lake
The episode starts off in a creepy, quiet way that sets the tone for what’s to come. We’re in Abby’s head, where a bad dream has trapped her. With the alarms going off, she walks through the empty Firefly hospital in Salt Lake City while holding a gun. One of her past selves stays in the hallway, crying and telling her not to go into the operating room because “he’s dead” and “his brains are on the floor.” Abby’s guilt and anger over the death of her father, the doctor Joel killed in the last episode of Season 1, are shown in a broken and unsettling way. Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) wakes up in a ski lodge in a sleeping bag with a view of Jackson. The dream ends quickly.
Abby, Owen (Spencer Lord), Mel, Manny, and others in her group look out at Jackson’s huge neighborhood in the early morning light. They can’t handle the town’s high walls, patrols, guard dogs, and sheer size. Find Joel (Pedro Pascal) and make him pay for killing her father. That’s all Abby wants to do. But her plan isn’t very solid, and her friends are worried. Owen, a tall, bearded man who seems to be closest to her, tells her to be careful and tells the others in a whisper that he wants to talk Abby out of getting revenge. He thinks that if they move forward, they will all die. This shows how alone Abby feels; her anger is taking over, but her friends are beginning to doubt her.
Jackson’s Morning: Jesse and Ellie’s Patrol
In Jackson, on the other hand, life seems surprisingly normal. Jesse (Young Mazino), knocks on Ellie’s door when she wakes up, ready for their patrol. Their friendly banter shows how close they are as friends. When Jesse talks about his breakup with Dina (Isabela Merced), Ellie (Bella Ramsey) lightly teases him, and her smirk shows that she is guarded but playful. She was going to patrol with her fake dad, Joel, but Jesse says Joel already left with Dina, so Ellie got to sleep in. This hurts Ellie, who hasn’t been close to Joel since she found out he lied about the Firefly hospital. Her relationship with Jesse is “complicated,” but she tells him, “I’m still me, he’s still Joel, and nothing’s ever going to change that.” Her words show that she doesn’t want to give up, but she also wants to make things right with Joel.
At Tommy’s town meeting, people get ready for possible threats. Tommy, Joel’s brother, goes over what to do in an emergency while Ellie and Jesse eat sandwiches and hear a local man, Seth, awkwardly say sorry for getting angry while drunk at the dance the night before. “People get drunk and say awful stuff they’ve never thought before” was Ellie’s sarcastic quip that showed how quick she was on her feet and how angry she was at Seth’s behavior. As they walk away, Ellie sees dark clouds gathering, which makes her think of a storm. It doesn’t bother Jesse because he thinks it will stay in the mountains, but the weather soon shows him that he was wrong.
A growing threat: Eugene’s Hideout and Snow-Covered Danger
The episode gets more tense when a blizzard comes through and makes everyone’s plans harder to carry out. Tommy tells all the patrols over the radio to go back to Jackson, but Jesse and Ellie are already too far away. Jesse leads them to a place to hide—a 7-Eleven where Eugene grew marijuana. Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) used to be a Firefly and Jesse’s old patrol partner. This story about Eugene adds to Jackson’s history. He quit killing and left the Fireflies in 2010, but Joel “put him down” for unknown reasons. This detail shows how cruel Joel can be, a trait that hurts his relationships and sets the stage for what’s to come.
Abby’s chase after two riders, Joel and Dina, goes horribly wrong out in the snow. She slides down a hill into a field full of frozen infected people, some of whom are still alive. The ground erupts, and a terrifying swarm of infected fly out and chase her. Abby climbs up to a building and barely holds a chainlink fence up against the crowd. She is pinned down by an infected when the fence falls down, but a gunshot kills it. “Give me your hand!” Joel yells. He pulls her to safety, and Dina calls his name from behind. In a cruel turn of events, Abby finds out that the person she is after just saved her life.
Since the infected are still getting closer, Abby suggests that they run away to the lodge her group has built halfway up the mountain. Joel and Dina agree because they need to stay alive. Irony is strong in this moment because Joel’s act of kindness leads him right to his death. Ellie hears Tommy’s worried radio call about Joel and Dina’s lack of response. She runs into the storm quickly, with Jesse following behind. Their horses have a hard time getting through the snow.
Jackson’s Nightmare: The Attack of the Infected
The episode shifts its focus, weaving together the story of Joel’s fate with a bigger problem in Jackson. A worker breaks open a pipe under the town and sees live Cordyceps vines inside. This is a scary reference to the warning signs from the previous episode. At the same time, an unknown force is pulling a huge group of infected people toward Jackson’s gates. When the lookout sounds the alarm, everyone in town rushes to help. Tommy gives his wife Maria a kiss before leading the defense and shouting for everyone to get to the roofs. The counterattack is brutal: guards douse infected people with flammable liquid and set them on fire, making a wall of fire.
8 Biggest Changes in THE LAST OF US Season 2 Episode 2 Explained
But the horde won’t go away. A bloater, a huge, infected monster, breaks through the wall, letting more zombies in. The blizzard makes things worse by blocking out light and muffled screams. Tommy has a flamethrower, but his friends are scared and run away as the infected take over the streets. The town looks like it’s falling apart as bodies pile up. To get the bloater to go into an alley, Tommy tries to lure it there but his flamethrower is almost out of fuel. As the creature lunges, it falls over, obviously dead from wounds that can’t be seen. Tommy drops his gun and runs away, tired but still alive.
This scene is very emotional and shows how weak Jackson is even though he is strong. Tommy and Maria’s short kiss before the fight shows how close they are, while the fear of the people in the town—some fighting, others running away—grounds the chaos in real life. The infected attack mirrors the personal tragedy going on somewhere else, making the episode’s sense of loss even stronger.
The Lodge: Abby’s Revenge Unfolds
At the lodge, the episode’s main emotional idea starts to take shape. Abby’s group lets her, Joel, and Dina in, but quickly the mood changes. Dina, who is frostbitten and tired from being outside, sees a backpack with a WLF (Washington Liberation Front) patch on it. This makes her think that Abby might be connected to the militia. Manny points a gun at Joel’s head, but Joel is too busy talking on the radio to Jackson to notice. The group takes Joel and Dina’s weapons away, and Abby’s anger takes over. She growls that they used to be Fireflies but are no longer around because of what Joel did in Salt Lake City. Mel gives Dina an injection of a sedative and says it will only make her sleepy for an hour. This leaves Joel to deal with Abby’s anger on his own.
Abby wants to know the truth: “Where did you see the Fireflies last?” In an honest but hurried tone, Joel says Salt Lake City. Even though he told her he saved her life, Abby shoots him in the leg, making him fall to the ground in pain. Friends of hers put a tourniquet on his wound to keep him alive while she questions him. Abby’s speech is honest and from the heart. She talks about how Joel killed 18 Firefly soldiers and her father, a doctor who wasn’t carrying a gun. She saw her father’s body and the hospital’s wreckage when she was 19 years old, the same age as Ellie. She has been in Seattle’s militia for five years and is now required by law not to kill people who can’t defend themselves. She says Joel is different, though: “Some things are just plain wrong, no matter who says them.”
In his pain, Joel tells her to “shut the fuck up and do it already.” His words make Abby very angry. “You stupid old man, you don’t get to rush this!” she screams as she grabs a golf club. Her friends are horrified as she beats his hurt leg and then his face, her screams becoming more primal. The violence never stops, and Joel’s face is hard to make out.
Ellie’s Sadness: Joel’s Death
Ellie is following horse tracks to the lodge when she hears Abby’s screams and draws her gun. But Manny takes the gun away from her, and the others pin her down. Ellie watches Joel’s last moments from the floor. Her cries of “Jooooooooooel!” are raw with pain. Joel’s hand moves, but his broken face shows that he’s going away. While Ellie begs him to get up, he tries with all his might but fails. Abby doesn’t seem to care and instead grabs the golf club, sharpening one end, and drives it into Joel’s neck. When the sound cuts out, Ellie can only hear the silence of her father figure dying.
You can feel Ellie’s sadness. Not only does her face show loss, but it also shows regret for the problems they haven’t solved. Her relationship with Joel had been strained by his lies, and they hadn’t talked much lately. There’s no time to fix it now. Before Manny’s group leaves, he kicks Ellie in the stomach, which stops her from screaming and getting angry. As she sobs and pulls the club from Joel’s neck, Ellie crawls up to his body by herself. She then holds his hand. She wraps herself around him and puts her face close to his as she mourns the man who always looked out for her and her family.
The Aftermath: Going Back to a Broken Jackson
The infected attack on Jackson is over, but the town is a mess. Tommy and Maria meet up again, and Tommy passes out with joy when he sees that Maria is still alive. Jesse finds Ellie and Dina at the lodge outside the gates. As the episode ends, a disturbing image plays: Ellie, Dina, and Jesse ride back to Jackson while the song “Through the Valley” plays. Joel’s body is wrapped in a sheet and dragged behind their horses. That scene is quiet and sad, and it’s a turning point for the show.
There are small, character-driven moments in the episode that make it more powerful. When Ellie made fun of Seth, it showed how sharp her tongue is, but when she talked to Jesse about Joel, it showed how vulnerable she is. Joel’s strong desire to protect Abby, even when she is in danger, shows how rough and caring he is. His final defiance, “do it already,” is typical Joel, refusing to beg. Even though Abby is angry, her nightmare and her reluctance to talk to her friends show that she is having trouble inside. The kiss between Tommy and Maria, Jesse’s love for Ellie, and Dina‘s quiet observation of the WLF patch all show that the chaos is based on real connections between people.
This episode gives fans of the game the shock they were expecting, but the closeness of the show makes it even worse. We’ve spent a season with Joel and seen him change from a tough survivor to a father figure. His loss, coupled with Ellie’s unfinished emotional journey, leaves a void that echoes through the story. Abby’s pain, too, is undeniable—she’s not a villain but a mirror of Ellie, driven by the same love and loss.
What Will Happen Next in Season 2 of The Last of Us?
As Ellie moves forward, she must get revenge and heal from what Joel did to Jackson. What will she say to Abby? In this broken world, can she find peace? Craig Mazin and Mark Mylod, who created the show, have created a moment that is both true to the game and uniquely devastating. It sets the stage for a season of reckoning. As we mourn Joel’s death, we can’t help but wonder what Ellie will become after this?
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