The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7 Review: A Devastating and Deadly Finale

This review contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 episode 7.

It’s hard to follow the heartbreakingly beautiful and emotional performances we saw in last week’s flashback episode of The Last of Us. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey brought their A+ game as this episode revealed the ups and downs of Joel and Ellie’s relationship over the last few years, right up until the night before Joel died. And yet, despite this episode arguably being the best of the season, the season finale still manages to take us on a devastating wild ride.

Back in Seattle, Dina (Isabela Merced) and Jesse (Young Mazino) deal with the aftermath of getting caught up in the war between the W.L.F. and the Seraphites. While they wait for Ellie to catch back up with them, they deal with Dina’s arrow to the leg and Jesse gets her all patched up. Even though emotions are high, they are still able to have a touching moment together, and it’s clear that the two still care about each other, even if their feelings are no longer romantic.

We get to see another moment of care amidst the chaos once Ellie returns to the theater. She goes to check on Dina, who almost immediately starts taking care of Ellie and her battered and bruised body. Ellie is clearly still processing what she did to Nora (Tati Gabrielle) and what she learned about Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) location (which isn’t much). In this vulnerable moment, as Ellie verbally grapples with what she did to Nora, she tells Dina about Salt Lake City, including the fact that Joel killed Abby’s dad. Dina seems surprised by this, realizing that Abby may have been more justified in her revenge than she thought.

At this point, it seems like everyone but Ellie is ready to put an end to this revenge mission and head back home to Jackson. Jesse is focused on finding Tommy (Gabriel Luna), especially after finding out that he’s going to be a father. But Ellie can’t let her vengeance go. While they’re looking for Tommy, she realizes that Nora’s clues “whale” and “wheel” probably mean that Abby’s at the aquarium – so she ditches Jesse and sets off in that direction.

Ellie has so many close calls – if the W.L.F. weren’t planning an invasion of Seraphite territory at the same time, she would have been hung and fileted like the guy they saw in the park. She finds Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer) seemingly arguing over Abby and whether or not to chase after her. When they spot Ellie, she tries to get them to tell her where Abby is, like we’ve seen Joel do before. 

Owen moves for a gun, and Ellie reacts, shooting him in the neck and accidentally nicking an artery in Mel’s. Barer gives a devastating performance in Mel’s last moments as she begs Ellie to cut her open and try to save her baby. Ellie just kind of sits there holding her knife in shock over the fact that Mel was pregnant and she just killed her until Jesse and Tommy come rushing in. Tommy immediately goes to her, holding her and helping her up, while Jesse stares at the carnage for a moment after they leave. Even though he doesn’t say anything, it seems like he’s shaken up too – like he’s staring at himself and Dina if they don’t get out of Seattle soon.

They get back to the theater and Ellie finally seems ready to leave. Whether it’s the shock of what she just did to Owen and Mel, her near death experience with the Seraphites, or the fact that her leads to find Abby have simply dried up isn’t fully clear, but at least she’s starting to recognize how dangerous it is for everyone else she cares about if they stay. Tommy tries to calm Ellie’s fears, he reassures her that Owen and Mel were still complicit in Joel’s death even if they didn’t hold the golf club themselves, and then leaves her and Jesse to try and reconcile. Ellie thanks Jesse for coming back for her and the two have a heart to heart. Despite their differences, Jesse knows that Ellie would set the world on fire to save him.

Their moment is unfortunately short-lived when they hear a commotion in the lobby. They rush out and Jesse is immediately shot dead. We then see Abby for the first time since she killed Joel, now standing over Tommy pointing a gun at his head. Ellie pleads with her, telling her that she’s the one that she wants. There’s true fear in Ellie’s eyes as she worries that Abby will kill more people that she loves, more of her community.

Abby then says to Ellie with an intense ferocity, “I let you live. I let you live, and you wasted it,” before turning her gun to Ellie. The screen goes black as we hear a gunshot in the background, not knowing who fired the gun nor who was potentially hit. The episode then goes back in time, taking us to the start of Abby’s journey these last few days. Some may feel like this ending is odd or abrupt, but given how The Last of Us Part II’s story is split up between the two protagonists, Ellie and Abby, and the fact that this season only had seven episodes, this is arguably the best place to end season 2 and a great way to tease what’s to come in season 3.

It may not feel as concise as season 1’s ending, but that’s because season 1 had a clear beginning and end to the story. The source material for season 2 is a lot heftier and there’s plenty more of The Last of Us Part II left to be adapted for the show. This episode is a great way to effectively end Ellie’s Seattle arc and this chapter of the story while preparing the audience for next season to shift gears, and protagonists. Hopefully fans of the show will keep an open mind as we prepare to see Abby’s side of the story next season. I know I’ll be seated and ready whenever that time comes.

All seven episodes of The Last of Us season 2 are available to stream on (soon-to-be HBO) Max now.

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