How Incredible Was That Episode of ‘The Last of Us’?

When you’re done crying your eyes out, we thought it might be a good time to talk about the latest episode of The Last of Us. The penultimate sixth episode was just released on HBO, and it was incredible. We’ll have our full, traditional recap on Monday, but we had to give everyone a place to commiserate and discuss it before that, with full spoilers unleashed.

In this week’s episode, called “The Price,” we finally got to see Ellie’s birthday gift, the unforgettable flashback scene from The Last of Us Part II. And, from the watchful eye of franchise creator and episode director Neil Druckmann, it lived up to its predecessor. But building off that, the episode took things many steps further, creating scenes specifically made for the show, such as Ellie’s birthdays before and after the one at the museum.

Then, eventually, things caught up to the timeline of the show, catching up with the first episode of season two and revealing that before Joel died, Ellie found out. She finally found out that Joel killed everyone at the Salt Lake City hospital in a selfish act to save her life, sacrificing the lives of, well, the world. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey absolutely murdered the scene—no pun intended—as after years of tension, Joel and Ellie finally come clean and agree to forgive.

Which, of course, we now know from the show, is basically the last time they ever spoke. It’s a heavy, heavy episode and that’s before you talk about the whole storyline involving Eugene, played by Joe Pantoliano, as well as that first flashback of young Joel and Tommy with their father, played by Hawkeye star Tony Dalton.

So, below, feel free to discuss the episode however you see fit. Did it live up to your expectations if you played the game? If you haven’t, what did you think? Again, we’ll have a full, detailed recap and reaction Monday morning—but, for now, discuss “The Price” below.

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