The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6: The Price

Courtesy of HBO

Joel is back! The Last of Us season 2 episode 6 sees the return of Joel in flashback form in a powerful episode with him and Ellie. The episode dives into Joel and Ellie's relationship starting from her 15th birthday to her 19th birthday and present day. We see how Joel and Ellie's relationship starts to deteriorate to where we see it in the beginning of season 2. Some of this can be an attribute to Ellie growing up and not wanting to listen to Joel. Other parts can be Joel making mistakes. But, in the end Joel and Ellie's relationship is like most fathers and daughters. This episode shows that she needs him and he needs her.

Joel's Flashback

The episode begins with a flashback to Joel's childhood. We see Joel and Tommy as teenagers waiting for their father to come home to punish them after an incident involving drugs. Joel tells Tommy that he will take the beating for him. Through this flashback, we find out that Joel's father was a cop. His father comes in and they share a beer. He talks about how one time there was an incident and his father beat him so bad they had to wire his jaw shut for two months. Instead of beating on Joel, he tells Joel that whenever he becomes a father, to do better than him. This line is a symbol for the episode as Joel tries to do better with Ellie.

Joel and Ellie's Relationship

As the episode goes on, we see Joel and Ellie's relationship grow. It starts on her 15th birthday as he gets her a nice cake and a guitar with one of her drawings carved into it. He then sings a song to Ellie for her birthday. We then move on to her 16th birthday where Joel really outdoes himself. He takes her to see a dinosaur statue and Ellie immediately loves. She then sees a museum in the distance and Joel takes her that. She sees the planets and starts rotating them with a lever. Ellie then starts to talk about her desire to go into space. Joel has another surprise up his sleeve as he takes her to the Apollo 15 spaceship. Ellie gets a real space helmet by breaking the glass and goes into the spaceship. Joel then gives Ellie a tape of the Apollo 15 blasting off and imagines herself going to space. This is the peak of Joel and Ellie's relationship.

Ellie's 17th Birthday

Joel and Ellie's relationship starts to change on her 17th birthday. Ellie gets caught getting a tattoo, doing drugs, and fooling around with another girl. In that moment, you can see Ellie go from being a little girl to becoming a rebellious teenager. Ellie was always a rebel to an extent but this birthday pushed her rebellious side further. She shows more of her rebellion by trying to move her mattress into the garage in the middle of a night in a rainstorm. Joel catches her doing this and you can see the heartbreak immediately in his eyes and voice. He then agrees to let Ellie move into the garage. Ellie's move to the garage changes their whole relationship. Instead of being a happy family living together, the move to the garage signified the downward trajectory of their relationship.

Ellie's 19th Birthday

Ellie's 19th birthday is where the relationship between Joel and Ellie is at its worst. It starts off with Joel taking Ellie on her first patrol. Everything starts fine until Joel hears trouble on his radio. They both find Eugene and he reveals he has been bit. Eugene begs to have the opportunity to say goodbye to Gail. Joel tells Eugene that they can't do that but Ellie steps in and tells Joel to let him say goodbye. Joel sends Ellie to get the horses and promises her that he'll allow him to see Gail again. Joel takes Eugene on a walk and takes him to see a nice view. He then pulls out his gun and Eugene starts to panic. He tells Joel he wants Gail to be the last thing he sees before he dies. Joel then says that you can see her face at anytime. Eugene then imagines Gail's face and you can his facial expression change. Joel then kills Eugene as Ellie comes. They then go back to Jackson and Joel tells Gail a fake story about what happened. Ellie exposes Joel's lies and tells Gail that Joel killed Eugene and that he begged to see her before he died. Gail slaps Joel and then Ellie storms off mad at Joel because he broke his promise.

The Final Scene

We are then brought back to the New Year's Eve incident where Joel pushed Seth and Ellie tells him she doesn't need him anymore. We thought that Ellie went straight to the garage after seeing Joel on the porch but we were wrong. Ellie confronts Joel about what happened with the fireflies. Joel tells the truth to Ellie and tells her that there could have been a cure but she would of have died. Ellie says her life would have had a purpose if she died because of her immunity and would have been happy if she brought a cure to the world. Joel tells Ellie that he couldn't let that happen because he loves her. Joel then tells Ellie that if she has a kid then he wants her to do better than he did. The episode ends with Ellie telling Joel that she might not be able to forgive him but she would like to try. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were awesome in this scene. The raw emotion coming from both actors was great to see and this scene gave fans closure on their relationship. This was a great way to end the relationship of Joel and Ellie.

What did you think of this episode of The Last of Us? Leave your opinion in the comments below.