Before diving into the next chapter of HBO's hit series, let's revisit the crucial moments that shaped the first season. From heartbreaking sacrifices to shocking revelations, we're breaking down the essential plot points you need to remember about Joel and Ellie's journey across post-apocalyptic America.
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00:00I have lost people too.
00:02You have no idea what loss is.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're revisiting key plot points from The Last of Us Season 1 to remember for Season 2.
00:11There will be spoilers for the show and the first game, although we'll avoid discussing what happens in The Last of Us Part 2.
00:17She's gonna grow up, Joel. And then you'll die, or she'll leave, then what?
00:23Number 10. Virus Origins
00:26The first episode commences with a flashback to 1968.
00:30On a talk show, two scientists discussed the possibility of a global pandemic, pointing to fungi as a potential cause.
00:36It's suggested that fungus could infect a host's brain, essentially turning them into a puppet.
00:41Any one of them could become capable of burrowing into our brains and taking control, not of millions of us, but billions of us.
00:49Billions of puppets with poisoned minds, permanently fixed on one unifying goal.
00:54This seems unlikely to happen at the time, as fungi require higher temperatures to ensure growth.
01:06If the climate were to change, fungi could evolve, leaving humanity powerless without a cure.
01:12So if that happens, will you lose?
01:17This theory becomes a reality in 2003.
01:20The cordyceps virus is traced to an Indonesian factory where a fungi-ridden female employee with a bite mark was killed after attacking her co-workers.
01:27Uncertain who bit her.
01:29It's recommended that the city be bombed to prevent an outbreak, but the virus inevitably spreads.
01:34It isn't long until the virus reaches Austin, where Joel Miller, his brother Tommy, and daughter Sarah find themselves fleeing from infected Texans.
02:01Are we sick?
02:02No, of course not.
02:03Why did things go up?
02:04No cell phone, no radio.
02:07A minute ago, a newsman wouldn't shut up.
02:08How do you know?
02:09What?
02:10How do you know we're not sick?
02:11They don't realize it at the time, but this is a global catastrophe that'll cost countless lives, Sarah's included.
02:17Emerging from a car accident, Joel attempts to get Sarah to safety, only to be confronted by a soldier.
02:23Hey, no one told you to move.
02:26Yes, sir.
02:29Yes, sir.
02:33We're not sick.
02:40During a heated standoff, Tommy shoots the soldier, but Sarah loses her life.
02:45In a way, so does Joel, who attempts to end it all amid his grief.
02:49Missing the shot, Joel goes on for another two decades against a collapsing society.
02:54While he survives, it isn't until another young girl comes into his life that Joel finds purpose again.
02:59Well, I'm glad that that didn't work out.
03:07Me too.
03:08Number 8.
03:09Ellie is immune.
03:10By 2023, Joel teams up with another survivor named Tess, smuggling and selling goods.
03:16Hoping to reunite with Tommy, Joel and Tess attempt to acquire a car battery.
03:20Instead, they strike up a deal with Marlene, leader of a resistance group called the Fireflies.
03:26She tasks them with transporting teenager Ellie.
03:29What are you doing?
03:30Killing time.
03:31What am I supposed to do?
03:32I'm sure you'll figure that out.
03:34Joel and Tess don't understand what makes Ellie so special until they see a weeks-old bite mark with no traces of infection.
03:41Ellie is immune to the virus, which may be the key to a cure.
03:44There's a Firefly base camp somewhere out west.
03:48With doctors.
03:50They're working on a cure.
03:51I've heard this before.
03:53And whatever happened to me is the key to finding the vaccine.
03:56That's what this is.
03:57Not even Ellie knows how her immunity is possible.
04:00In a flashback, though, it's revealed that Ellie's mother, Anna, was bitten while giving birth.
04:05Marlene prevents Anna from making the change, but gives Ellie a shot at life.
04:10Take her with you to Boston.
04:12Find someone to bring her up and make sure that she's safe.
04:17Number 7.
04:18Tess's Sacrifice
04:19Even with the knowledge that Ellie could help create a vaccine, Joel has reservations about completing their mission.
04:25Tess convinces him to press forward to get the supplies they were promised.
04:29The trio makes it to the Massachusetts Statehouse, but the Fireflies they were supposed to meet have fallen.
04:34Joel's instinct is to turn back until Tess reveals she was bitten.
04:38I need you to get her to Bill and Frank's.
04:40They'll take her off your hands. They'll handle it from here.
04:42No, no, no, I can't. They won't take her.
04:44They're not going to take her.
04:45They will because she'll convince them.
04:46Ellie, meanwhile, would have turned by now if she weren't immune.
04:49Seeing the bigger picture, Tess persuades Joel to get Ellie where she needs to go.
04:54Say who you can save.
04:55No!
04:55With infected Fireflies still in the area, Tess stays behind, sacrificing herself so Joel can escape with Ellie.
05:14Although Joel is still a reluctant guardian, he's now committed to making sure Tess didn't die for nothing.
05:20I wasn't going to say I'm sorry. I was going to say that I've been thinking about what happened.
05:26Nobody made you or Tess take me. Nobody made you go along with this plan.
05:30You needed a truck battery or whatever and you made a choice.
05:34So don't blame me for something that isn't my fault.
05:37Number 6. Human enemies.
05:40Earth is overrun with the infected, or clickers as they're called.
05:44Humans may pose an even greater threat in this bleak new world, however.
05:47The Federal Disaster Response Agency, or FEDRA, has taken over the government,
05:52essentially turning quarantine zones into prisons.
05:55You got anything else?
05:56Nothing today. Tomorrow we got street sweeping or swear maintenance.
06:01Some groups oppose FEDRA's military rule, but that doesn't make them the good guys.
06:06Kathleen was a Kansas-based resistance leader, commanding with cruelty until a clicker got her.
06:12Just let the kids go!
06:14No. Sorry.
06:17The girl is with the man who killed Brian and Sam.
06:21Well, Sam's with you.
06:23You don't understand!
06:24But I do.
06:25I know why you did what you did.
06:28But did you ever stop to think that maybe he was supposed to die?
06:32Even worse was David, a cannibalistic preacher and predator who also got what he deserved.
06:37Although the Fireflies seek to cure humanity, their methods aren't entirely ethical either.
06:42The closer Joel and Ellie get to their destination, it becomes clear there aren't any heroes left,
06:48just survivors who've been driven to do the unthinkable.
06:51No one likes being humiliated, Ellie.
06:53You don't know how good I am!
06:59You don't know what I could have given you!
07:02If you would just let me!
07:04Number 5. Henry and Sam
07:06Passing through Kansas, Joel and Ellie ally with Henry, who once worked with FEDRA,
07:11and his deaf younger brother Sam, who has leukemia.
07:14There was one drug that worked, and, whoa, big shock.
07:20There wasn't much left of it, and it belonged to FEDRA.
07:23And if I wanted some, I was gonna take something big.
07:27Their truce becomes a friendship that ends in tragedy.
07:30After surviving a vengeful Kathleen, Ellie learns that Sam has been bitten.
07:35Rubbing her blood into his wound, Ellie hopes it's enough to cure Sam.
07:38I promise.
07:54Alas, Sam inevitably turns, forcing Henry to shoot his brother before turning the gun on himself.
08:00Although a cure might be inside Ellie, Sam's fate confirms that her blood alone isn't enough.
08:05She needs to reach the fireflies if humanity is going to stand a shot.
08:10Even if a vaccine can be achieved, Ellie will carry guilt over what happened to Sam and Henry forever.
08:15Let's go.
08:18Number 4. Bill and Frank
08:19After losing Tess, Joel considers passing Ellie on to fellow smugglers Bill and Frank.
08:25When the virus broke out, survivalist Bill found Frank in one of his traps.
08:29Look, first, my name's Frank.
08:32Oh yeah? Here's the thing, Frank.
08:34If I feed you, then every bum you talk to about it is gonna show up here looking for a free lunch.
08:40And this is not an Arby's.
08:43Well, Arby's didn't have free lunch, it was a restaurant.
08:45Although the paranoid Bill initially wishes to send Frank on his way,
08:48he opens his home and heart to him, despite the world around them.
08:52The two build a beautiful life together.
08:54Ironically, if the world hadn't ended, Bill probably never would have shown his true self to anyone.
08:59What?
09:01I was never afraid before you showed up.
09:07When Frank faces an incurable disease, they choose to end his life with Bill joining him.
09:12Once Joel and Ellie arrive, Bill and Frank are gone.
09:16Yet Bill left a note that inspires Joel to protect who matters most to him.
09:20That used to be Tess. Now it's Ellie.
09:22There was one person worth saving.
09:26That's what I did.
09:27I shaved him.
09:30Then I protected him.
09:32That's why men like you and me are here.
09:35We have a job to do.
09:36Number 3. Ellie and Riley
09:38Not long before meeting Joel, Ellie was confined to a Fedra-run military school.
09:43One of the few friendly faces in Ellie's life was Riley, who ditched Fedra to join the Fireflies.
09:48Riley comes back for Ellie, taking her to a deserted mall.
09:52This is another goodbye, as Riley plans on following the Fireflies to Atlanta.
09:56You're my best friend.
09:59And I'll miss you.
10:08Well, Nate's not over yet.
10:12Riley is convinced to stay upon seeing Ellie's feelings, sharing a kiss.
10:16Unfortunately, their love story ends before it can truly begin.
10:20Both are bitten, deciding to spend their remaining time together.
10:23We just keep going.
10:29What are you talking about, Ellie?
10:30It's over.
10:32It will be.
10:34But not yet.
10:35Although the viewer doesn't see the aftermath, we know Riley turned, while Ellie discovered her immunity.
10:42The trauma of losing Riley impacts Ellie in the present, as she fights to save herself and Joel.
10:47Be all poetic and just lose our minds together.
10:51And then she did.
10:54And I had to.
10:58Her name was Riley.
11:01She was the first to die.
11:03Number 2.
11:03Joel's Choice
11:04Finally making it to the Fireflies Hospital, Joel faces an impossible choice.
11:09Marlene reveals that the only way to find a cure is to remove Ellie's brain.
11:13There are no guarantees that this will result in a vaccine, but it seems to be humanity's best bet.
11:20Ellie is unconscious during all of this, unaware that her death is the price for hope.
11:24It makes normal cordyceps think that she's cordyceps.
11:27It's why she's immune.
11:29He's going to remove it from her, multiply the cells in a lab, produce those chemical messengers.
11:35And then we can give it to everyone.
11:38He thinks it could be a cure, Joel.
11:41A cure.
11:42It's hard to say how Ellie would have responded had she been given the choice.
11:46Joel chooses for them both, however.
11:48I'm sorry.
11:51I have no other choice.
11:56I do.
11:58He retrieves Ellie from the operating room and flees from the hospital.
12:01Joel kills anyone who gets in his way, including Marlene.
12:05So what would she decide, huh?
12:08Because I think she'd want to do what's right.
12:10I don't know.
12:12Let you know it.
12:16Whether or not a cure was possible, Joel already lost one daughter.
12:20He refuses to lose another, no matter the repercussions.
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12:37Number 1. Joel lies to Ellie.
12:42Following the hospital incident, Ellie regains consciousness in the back of a car as Joel drives them out of the city.
12:48Joel tells Ellie that she isn't the only immune person.
12:51Turns out there's a whole lot more like you.
12:53The fireflies tried extracting a cure from them, but it was deemed impossible.
13:07The hospital was then attacked, forcing Joel and Ellie to make a getaway.
13:11Of course, this is all a lie.
13:16Ellie senses that Joel isn't sharing the whole story.
13:19Once Joel promises he's telling the truth, Ellie accepts his word.
13:23Deep down, Ellie might know that Joel isn't being honest.
13:26Swear to me.
13:30Swear to me that everything you said about the fireflies is true.
13:38I swear.
13:39At this moment, though, it's easier to believe that her father figure isn't capable of such a thing.
13:44The lives lost aren't in vain, and Ellie is still alive for a reason.
13:48Okay.
13:49Are you hyped for season 2?
13:51Let us know in the comments.
13:52Now come Dawn, we're going our separate ways.
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