Grief Gives Way to Vengeance in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 3 [Spoiler Recap]

Warning: This article contains spoilers for this week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” which is available now to stream on Max.

There’s not a Clicker in sight as HBO’s “The Last of Us“ jumps ahead multiple weeks after the catastrophic events from last week. Jackson barely survived its harrowing onslaught and sustained significant losses. Then, of course, there was the major character death of Joel (Pedro Pascal) at the hands of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), and the pummeling that Ellie (Bella Ramsey) took as she was forced to bear witness to Abby’s vengeance. Fittingly, Season 2, Episode 3’s title, “The Path,“ sets Ellie down an irrevocable one in the wake of these events.

The Last of Us, both the game and its series adaptation, centers around the deconstruction of the hero concept. That’s reinforced over and over in “The Path,“ which begins with Tommy (Gabriel Luna) saying goodbye to his brother and focusing on repairing his community, both physically and emotionally, after its near downfall. Tommy wants justice, but not to the detriment of the township. It’s a stark contrast to Ellie, and the adoptive daughter to Joel takes after her dad well when it comes to lashing out in pain and acting brashly. That’s highlighted by Jackson’s resident and only therapist, Gail (Catherine O’Hara), who astutely connects that the father-daughter duo kept a dangerous secret between them and that Ellie will easily lie to keep it.

Photograph by Courtesy of HBO

She rightly points that out to Tommy in a later exchange; Ellie is very much like Joel in many ways, but that’s entirely her nature, not Joel’s influence. She also distinguishes that Ellie is a liar, as opposed to just telling a lie, which is also true. It’s a conversation that reinforces that Ellie is still just a reckless teen operating on pain and anger. She’s not conventional hero material, and her actions in this episode only continue to highlight that. It’s a conversation that’s layered; Gail’s observations are astute and correct, but are they solely professional in nature? She previously confessed that she harbors ill-will toward Joel in regard to the death of her husband and quips in this episode that she takes payment in booze and weed. She’s got a few beers already down and a cooler full of more when Tommy engages with her over Ellie, a sign that she’s self-medicating through a world of grief and pain herself beneath that calm, psychologist demeanor. How much of her perception of Ellie is colored by her barely contained animosity for Joel remains to be seen, but so far, Gail remains a tricky one to pin down.

Under Tommy’s urging, Ellie plays by the rules and pleads her case to the Jackson board to approve a justice committee to track Joel’s murderers thanks to key intel by Dina (Isabela Merced). When the board votes to focus on repair efforts and protect their limited resources, it’s Seth (Robert John Burke) who is surprised with an angry outburst demanding that Jackson protect its fearsome image to stave off any further attacks on their people.

As a refresher, our introduction to Seth in the season premiere was a jarring one; he hurled homophobic slurs at Ellie in a drunken haze at Jackson’s New Year’s Eve gathering, leading to a burst of violence from Joel. That’s where the game leaves Seth, but “The Path“ brings him back into the fold as an unlikely ally in Ellie’s bid to secure a caravan to pursue Abby’s group. She reluctantly accepts as he arms her with a better gun and a procured horse to aid her and Dina as they set out alone to hunt down Abby’s group in Seattle.

Ellie’s reaction and body language toward Seth says it all; any support for Ellie’s dangerous new path forward is welcome, even if it comes from a rotten place. Seth’s two previous scenes are rooted in fear and hatred, where he meets compassion and calls for mercy with derision, not the type of emotions that lead to genuine acts of heroism. It’s another sign that Ellie’s motivations are, understandably and obviously, not rooted in altruism but pure devastation.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

In a morally grey world rendered even murkier in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event, “The Last of Us“ constantly works to support the notion that the squeaky clean concept of fictional heroes is just that, fiction. Humanity is deeply flawed, and the brutal post-apocalyptic setting forces tough choices amidst unthinkable hardships. It’s not just Joel and Ellie that dismantle the idea of a hero; it’s reflected in just about every facet of the show.

“The Path“ demonstrates that with the introduction to the cultish Seraphites, aka the Scars, a terrifying threat in the game known for their unsettling whistles and facial scars. Through a conversation between a young girl, Constance (Makena Whitlock), and her father (The Dark and the Wicked‘s Michael Abbott Jr.), we learn that this group of migrants is seeking a safe place to live as their beliefs tend to make them a target of persecution. In this case, they’re being pursued by “wolves,“ the W.L.F. or Washington Liberation Front.

Fans of The Last of Us Part II already know that the escalating feud between the Seraphites and W.L.F. will play a massive role in what’s ahead, especially as Ellie and Dina encounter Constance’s body among the massacred Seraphites by episode’s end.

Photograph by Courtesy of HBO

It’s not just the shock that someone is vicious enough to slaughter a young child that holds significance in this scene. It’s in the way that Ellie immediately assigns blame to Abby, fortifying her resolve and hardening off any empathy as she continues her dark, spiraling path toward revenge. It’s also in the way that Dina’s caught off guard by the way the scent of death prompted her to lose her lunch when she’s used to grisly scenes like this. 

While fans of the game know precisely what that means, Dina’s confession that she’d reconnected with her ex-boyfriend sometime after her New Year’s kiss with Ellie earlier in the episode offers a clear clue. Pregnancy is going to add incredible stakes and complications for the pair going forward.

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