One of the most exciting propositions aboutthis first time of year of HBO’sThe Last of Uswas that , at some level , it was go to incorporate a second slice of Last of Us lore : the 2014 hyperkinetic syndrome - on to the plot calledThe Last of Us : leave Behind . resign a yr after the original game , the downloadable content clued players into more of Ellie ’s yesteryear and sexuality , and revealed on the nose how she become the bite that changed everything .
Well , with more than half the season over , it finally befall . Episode seven of the The Last of Us is titled “ Left Behind , ” and in it we see Ellie ’s stray life before she was bitten , before she realized she was resistant , and before she met Joel . It was another incredible , standout episode thanks to maven Bella Ramsey and guest principal Storm Reid .
thing kick off soon after last week ’s cliffhanger of Joel being poke in the stomach and Ellie worrying he ’s going to die . Ellie has somehow moved Joel and their horse into an abandoned house and Joel is not looking expert . In fact , he ’s quick to exit and tells Ellie she should leave him and go back to Tommy . Ellie is n’t quite sure what she want to do so she covers him up , extend up the stairs and stops . She has a decision to make : try out to save Joel or attempt to make unnecessary herself .
Episode 7 of The Last of Us is called “Left Behind,” named after the game’s DLC.Image: HBO
It ’s with that on her mind that thing go back in metre , but not too far . Ellie still looks the same , keep open for the sweatshirt she ’s wearing that says “ FEDRA Training . ” She ’s at FEDRA school , doing laps in a gymnasium and listening to some line on an honest-to-goodness Walkman . That ’s when a much crowing girlfriend name Bethany grab the phone off her head . It ’s obvious there ’s bad blood here , something to do with a friend of Ellie ’s who leave , and so after exchanging lyric , Ellie perforate her in the side .
Like most school , when you get in a fight you get sent to the principal ’s place . And at FEDRA school , that means Captain Kwong ( Terry Chen ) . Ellie has been here before and Kwong is feed up with her always getting into problem . He state her she has two way she can take . One is to keep up the attitude , break the rules , and experience her life as a grunt answering to the Bethanys of the world . Or she can straighten up and utilize her smartness to become an officeholder . He believes there ’s a drawing card in her and she can help FEDRA in its mission to hold the Earth together . She decides to choose the second path and he let her go .
Immediately we see that Ellie is every snatch as jumpy and hot - headed as we ’ve seen in the show . This is n’t some newfangled thing for her . Nor is her obsession with the world before . In her dormitory there are pic posters from blank and sci - fi film like Red Planet and Innerspace , and a poster of the moon ; she ’s readingthe risible account book she and Sam learn togethertwo episodes ago , and even has a deadly Kombat II post horse , whichshe see in that Cumberland Farms in instalment three . There ’s also an empty bed in the room . The layer of , we assume , the lady friend Bethany was talking about .
Ellie is in the “principal’s” office.Image: HBO
Ellie accrue asleep and someone sneaks in through her window . The person puts their hand over her oral fissure which makes Ellie oppose violently , catch her knife , and almost knife the mortal . She stops when she see it ’s Riley ( Reid ) , her roomie who we hear has been miss for three weeks . Riley , it turns out , has joined FEDRA ’s main foeman , the Fireflies , which Ellie ca n’t believe . There ’s a chronicle and trust between these two so , despite the shocking turn of issue , Riley eventually coaxes Ellie to sneak out with her for a few hours promise the well Nox of her life .
The two make their way across the city , going in and out of windowpane , up staircase , and along the way even obtain a bottle of John Barleycorn a idle hombre bought to kill himself with . ( Last weekEllie said she ’d taste alcoholic drink before , right ? Now we get it . ) They debate the merit of their opposing points of view as a FEDRA trainee and newfangled Firefly ; both think their fashion of living is the right way , hence the constant warfare between them . The argument seems to be let out of helping hand when Riley secernate Ellie they ’ve made it to their terminus : an abandon shopping promenade .
Ellie is of the belief that this shopping mall is filled with infected , but Riley seems to know otherwise . Riley also mentions that a few old power grids were turn on in the field to house some new people in the Quarantine Zone . Which seems like an leftover composition of information , until it is n’t . Inside , Riley tells Ellie to make a few bit and look . She does just that and that ’s when things get really , really effective .
Ellie is in the “principal’s” office.Image: HBO
The power to the mall was doctor without FEDRA know and Riley lights the whole affair up , memory board by storage . Ellie watches with a spirit of joy that ’s nearly indescribable . She ’s never seen anything like it but Riley says that ’s not the one-half of it . She ’s planned a whole eventide for them to explore the wonder of the shopping mall .
In 2023 , most teenagers probably only have a obscure memory board of drop meter in shopping shopping centre so there might still be some wonderment and kitsch to them . But for anyone born before this 100 , there ’s nothing more mutual or relatable than a shopping mall . It ’s virginal nostalgia . So to see Ellie ’s amazement at the mere turn on of the ignitor — as well as everything that followed — was The Last of Us at its very salutary , give its consultation a very specific example of something that ’s mundane and forgettable to us , but not to a child in this world . It ’s the message of appreciation for the petty thing and that there ’s ravisher in the wide-eyed of spot , specially if you ’ve never experienced it before .
Case in point , the escalator clause . Ellie freaks out about the “ moving step ” to such an extent Riley has to modify her hitch from the four wonders of the mall to the five , with this being the first . The champion walk through the mall and Ellie marvel at what the humans who looted this place went after and what they did n’t . A jab at our forward-looking way of living because , of course , people cleaned out the canary storage but did n’t touch the goop store . In Ellie ’s world , max is much more important than the latest pair of sneaker .
Ellie’s room rules.Image: HBO
One store that also was n’t looted is Victoria ’s Secret and the two girls discourse about what the intimate apparel was used for and how it must feel . Riley jokes about what Ellie might look like in it and after she get out , you’re able to see that Ellie is curious about it . It ’s an intimate side of her personality that the show has n’t really touched on yet , but is about to get blown wide open .
After the bras and panties , Riley calls Ellie over to wonder number one : the carousel . They ride around on the Equus caballus with some lovely muzak playing and for the first time , the good friends experience like , perchance , a small more . There are big date vibration hap and in the vulnerable moment , Riley tell Ellie the real reason she joined the Fireflies . She was assigned her permanent FEDRA spatial relation and it was , alas , on the path Ellie tell the captain earlier that day she did n’t want . Riley was assigned to sewage item and felt so disrespected she had to leave . In fact , the only thing she miss about the position was Ellie .
Wonder two is a photo stall which , somehow , sort of sour 20 years later and the girls take some cute pictures . Then it ’s sentence for wonder four . Riley asks Ellie to listen and , again , shaver of the ‘ 70s , ‘ eighty , and ‘ ninety love the speech sound now . It ’s the mall ’s colonnade and when Riley shows it to Ellie , she call it the most beautiful thing she ’s ever seen . They take the air around , looking at the games , and if the show has done its job mighty , you should have this odd lilliputian twinge in the back of your foreland . All time of year we ’ve gotten these small hints that Ellie is obsessed with Mortal Kombat II . So as she deny the arcade we are left secretly hoping for that game to be there . Then it is . And the reveal is handled with such beauty by everyone involved that there may not be as felicitous a moment in this series to this item ( or , make a motion forward for that topic ) . The joy of Ellie eventually sustain to put some quarters and playact this game she ’s haunt with was tangible and never has Mortal Kombat been so lovely . Riley even learned the fatality so the two could see some real gore . ( A certain - fire mansion that even though it does n’t make logical mother wit , instalment writer Neil Druckmann was a big MK sports fan . )
Storm Reid crushed it as Riley.Image: HBO
This , however , is The Last of Us . And just as Ellie attain her peak moment of bliss , the tv camera slowly leaves her and Riley . It goes out of the arcade , across the mall , and into another memory board where the arcade noises wake up a clicker . Fuck .
Before they go to the last wonderment , Ellie tell Riley she has to go back to school . There ’s still time before she ’d actually get in trouble but this is our hint that she ’s really taking that public lecture with the master from this morning time seriously . She ’s quick to go all in on a FEDRA life history . But Riley tells Ellie she has a nowadays , and so they head to a restaurant .
Like a kid on Christmas morning , Ellie retain guess what the present might be . She even indiscriminately infer a dinosaur , which , Last of Us Part IIfans knowis definitely not random , just like her erotic love of the moon . The gift is not a dinosaur though . It ’s the 2nd mass of the wordplay book Ellie loves so much . This , again , makes her so freaking excited , even if the fille do n’t understand the pun about computers dumbfound intoxicated by contain “ screenshots . ” ( They were acquit after computers would have been a thing , do n’t forget . )
I know Victoria’s Secret.Image: HBO
The book was in the back of a eating place that Ellie realizes Riley had been staying in . There , Ellie see why her friend was really in the plaza . Riley has been make bombs . bomb to probably use on FEDRA soldiers . Ellie is piddle and is about to leave when Riley hits her with an emotional bomb : Riley is leaving Boston . The Fireflies want her to go to Atlanta and even though she require the leader Marlene ( great callback to the first sequence and hint at what ’s to come ) if Ellie could go , she said no . That means Riley ’s leaving and she wanted this dark so she could say sayonara .
Hot - headed as ever , Ellie force that realness aside and storms out . She gets almost all the way out before she think better and turns around . She then hears a screaming . Running , quick for anything , she busts into another storage to receive … Halloween decoration . Wonder five is the store Riley though Ellie would like adept , a Halloween store . She does love it and sits down to hash everything out . The biggest departure between Riley and Ellie , we learn , is that Riley at one point had a syndicate . She know that sense of belonging . Ellie has n’t ( yet ) and does n’t quite get that while the Fireflies are n’t staring , they ’re giving Riley that nursing home that she involve .
This is an satisfactory apology for Ellie who forgives her , thanks her , and distinguish her she misses her . After sit in the mushy present moment for a beat , Riley leap mighty back into the night ’s planned bodily function . She grabs one of Ellie ’s tape measure , redact it on in the store , and hand Ellie a openhanded gargantuan werewolf masque . She herself puts on a buffoon mask and the two get going to dance . In a earth like this , with so many people fit and terror around every street corner , you almost got the sense this was the first prison term they ever just got to be kids . To live carefree and just trip the light fantastic like idiots in Halloween masks .
Is this… a date?Image: HBO
Caught up in the consequence , Ellie takes off her mask and asks Riley not to go . She then musters up some strength and buss her . Riley is n’t shocked though . She ’s happy about it and agrees to abide in Boston . It ’s another happy moment , perhaps the happiest moment , because in each other , they find what they need . Love . kin . Future . So of class , that ’s on the nose when everything ends .
That clicker from before burst into the store and a conflict ensues . It ’s manic and violent but , finally , Ellie is able-bodied to stab it in its head , vote out it . She ’s excited about the victory until Riley channelise at her . Ellie has been bit , and so has Riley . Their lives are over . At which point , for the first time in like 40 moment , the episode cut back to the present tense . Ellie is still at the top of those stair figuring out what to do . For the second time in her life , she ’s at a crossroads with someone she jazz who is in danger of dying .
Back at the mall , Riley and Ellie discuss their options . Do they put self-destruction or just go mad together ? If they peck the latter , at least they have n’t give up on each other . And while we do n’t see what occur next , the show bring us back to present - 24-hour interval Ellie . She makes the conclusion to not give up on Joel , even if he suggested it , and tears the house apart . She find a needle with thread and frantically attempt to sew him up . Which is the present moment the episode ends .
She’s always loved those puns.Image: HBO
“ Left Behind ” was just phenomenal . Truly wizard . Using Ellie ’s past tense as a way to contextualize the dread moment she ’s in at present , and to explicate her battle with it , was a stroke of genius . And in those flashbacks , we get to see Ellie for who she is . A potent , bright , queer young woman who was in love and lose that person . Because no matter what happen in that storehouse , we recognise that Ellie live and Riley does n’t . Bella Ramsey is perfectly incredible in the installment , Storm Reid bounces off her attractively , and in the end we ’re left with an add together appreciation of the lowly things we have in our living and the noesis that , at any import , soap may become more valuable than sneaker .
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One final night for the best friends who are something more.Image: HBO
