Well, it’s finally here. The infamous golf club and the death of Joel. A shift in the narrative that has left fans of The Last of Us fans arguing since 2020. There was plenty of speculation around this controversial shift and if the showrunners of the TV series would stick to the game script and let Joel die, or if they would choose to spare him. After all, Pedro Pascal is an enormous reason for the show’s success. But now that episode two, “Through the Valley” has aired, we can begin to digest the death of one of its most important characters(again).
After an establishing premiere episode of Season 2, where we got to catch up with familiar faces and meet some new ones, episode two puts those characters into motion and fully expands both the budget and our emotional wellness with an intense thriller from front to back. I felt on-edge from the moment Abby wakes up in the lodge from her dream recalling the death of her father, and Ellie’s departure for patrol as a blizzard rolls in early in the episode. Having played the game will always create a different viewing experience, for this episode especially, but the impending doom the showrunners created for television was obvious and haunting.
“Through the Valley” features two major plot sequences, with Ellie in the middle. The first is the dreadful cloud hanging over the episode in the aforementioned death of Joel, and the second, a major infected attack on the Jackson settlement. Both of these events swell like the incoming blizzard that they’re laid upon, making for an extremely unnerving watch.
As Abby and her fellow W.L.F. members try to formulate a plan overlooking the Jackson settlement, the citizens of Jackson are preparing a “worst case scenario” based on findings of dead infected in the snow up the mountain that use the bodies for insulation underground. Tommy, who’s shown out as a leader in Jackson, calmly and transparently delivers the roles of the people in the town in the case of a breach in a way that further builds anxiety towards what is to come. Both of these plotlines come together when Abby spots a two-horse patrol and begins pursuit, subsequently sliding into the valley and onto the pile of dead infected. In one of the creepier sequences in the series, the infected begin to crawl out of the snow in the hundreds and possibly thousands. This moment in the episode kicks both plotlines into overdrive, as the onslaught chases Abby to Joel, and furthermore into the town when a worker strikes a fungal nerve, prompting the show’s vast underground communication system of the infected.
Abby has a fantastic chase scene seeking shelter away from the infected on her tail, including the scene along the fence from the game. In a grit-your-teeth sequence, Abby makes it through the fence, only to be attacked by an escaped infected. Joel shows up and saves her life at the last second, bringing her to momentary safety. In the game, Tommy is the one on the patrol with Joel, not Dina like how it plays out in the episode. This change in the storytelling puts Tommy back in town, leading the upcoming resistance against the attack. This is somewhat of a major change in the storytelling, because although the game mentions “Jackson being attacked numerous times”, we never actually see any of these attacks. Mazin and Druckermann decided to add this event to the show in parallel to the completely different type of anxiety in the events with Joel, and placing Dina alongside him.
All the while, Ellie is on patrol with our new character, Jesse. Also caught out in the storm, they are forced to find shelter because of the blizzard. Having Ellie away from all of the tension-building of the episode makes you wish that you could scream at her through your television, telling her that she needs to get the hell out of there. With communications down because of the blizzard, Ellie and Jesse are out of the know, creating yet another layer of tension.
As the horde of infected move away from Abby, Joel and Dina and towards the town, we really get to see the expanded manpower and budget of the new season. Thousands of infected trample violently through the blizzard-stricken valley and into Jackson. The battle that ensues includes plenty of firepower, fire, explosions, and death of the infected at the hands of the townspeople. The pure scale of the resistance is impressive, with use of both practical and special effects. We also get to see our first bloater of the season, as it gets roasted in an alleyway by Tommy in an intense close encounter with his flamethrower.
As if you weren’t already on the edge of your seat worrying about absolutely everything, the episode begins to flip back and forth between the three different situations without fully resolving any of them. We leave the attack to come back to Abby and Joel, including Dina calling out Joel’s name and Abby’s revelation of what she is looking for falling right into her lap. Jesse and Ellie finally get a radio call through from Jackson telling them that Joel and Dina haven’t checked in, and they take off in a determined panic. The episode manages to balance these events in a way that leaves you wanting more information every few minutes.
As the battle in Jackson concludes, with the streets lined with the fallen infected, focus is shifted back to Abby and Joel. Kaitlyn Devers chillingly delivers the most divisive scene in the series with a range of emotion not seen in many performances. The built-up hate, sadness, grief and revenge all comes out as she slowly informs Joel who she is and why she’s there. Pedro Pascal also delivers in this sequence, presenting a man who not only knows that he’s done for, but a man at the low point of his life. The exchange is extremely palpable, and Abby begins her “kill him slow” plan by shooting Joel’s knee, leaving him immoble and helpless.
Ah the golf club… Many of us knew it was coming, but would the writers stick to the script? Indeed they would, and it was the best decision that they could’ve made. You can feel the angst from Abby as she pulls the club from the bag, and you can feel the doom from Joel as he watches. “I am going to kill you.” is delivered shortly before she swings the club at the knee, and after a couple more swings, we quickly cut back to Ellie, almost as if we’ve forgotten about her. She sees everything at once, Jackson burning and horse tracks up the hill in what she hopes to be Joel and Dina. It’s hard to imagine everything reeling in her head all at once, and you genuinely share in her anxiety.
Ellie sees their horses at the lodge and enters to screams of some sort of medieval beating. We see Abby laying into Joel with her fists now, with Joel helpless and in a concussed state. The sadness and worry begin to creep in along with Ellie as she opens the door to the horrific scene. Staying true to the game, Ellie enters and is subdued on the floor. She is pinned down and forced to watch as Abby glares back. The screams of “Get up Joel, fucking get up!” has haunted gamers for years, and Bella Ramsey absolutely slays the enormous weight of the series-changing event. It isn’t the final crack of the club that seals Joel’s fate in the show, however. Abby seems to have beat Joel hard enough to break the club and half, leaving a sharp edge at its end. She plummets the remaining club into his neck and all goes silent.
The things the player/viewer goes through in their head in this shocking twist while Ellie crawls upon Joel is overwhelming. You begin to reminisce. You remember everything he did for her, and you hate how their relationship ended. And to hit you even harder, the song, “Through the Valley” is used as the episode closer, a song featured in the game in an exchange between Joel and Ellie when she is learning to play guitar. A song in which Ellie’s original voice actress, Ashley Johnson, sings. The song ties a beautiful bow on an emotionally draining episode, as Joel’s body is dragged behind their horse as they head back into a war-torn Jackson.
“Through the Valley” was an episode that we knew was coming, but we weren’t quite sure how the showrunners would choose to play it out. Ends up, it was just as devastating as we remember.
The Birdict
Episode 2, “Through the Valley,” brilliantly delivers on The Last of Us’ most emotional and fateful plotline. It revels in its unnerving anxiety from start to finish, creating incredible uncomfortability and ensuring that both the viewer and the series will never be the same. Its addition of budget-busting infected sequences is some of the best work that we’ve seen in television, and its infamous series-altering scene leaves the viewer thinking about even more than what just happened in possibly the best episode in the series to date.
The Barn 