"Through the Valley" is the second episode of the second season, and the eleventh episode overall, of HBO's The Last of Us. Directed by Mark Mylod and written by series co-creator Craig Mazin, the episode aired on HBO on April 20, 2025.
Synopsis[]
As a storm brews in the mountains, the people of Jackson Hole prepare for the worst amid increased sightings of infected. Meanwhile, Abby weighs her options.
Cast and characters[]
Main cast
- Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller
- Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams
- Gabriel Luna as Tommy Miller
- Isabela Merced as Dina
- Young Mazino as Jesse
Guest starring
- Kaitlyn Dever as Abby Anderson
- Rutina Wesley as Maria Miller
- Robert John Burke as Seth
- Spencer Lord as Owen
- Tati Gabrielle as Nora
- Ariela Barer as Mel
- Danny Ramirez as Manny
- Ezra Agbonkhese as Benji Miller
Co-starring
- Reedan Elizabeth as Amy
- Meagan Buggey as Vanessa's mother
- Everly Buggey as Vanessa
- June Laporte as June
- Bruce Crawford as trench worker
- Sandy Robson as lookout guard
- Malcolm Sparrow-Crawford as bell guard
- Jon Ray Dy Buco as running guard
- Barry Nerling as detonation guard
- Darcy Laurie as foreman
- Doug Chapman as flamethrower guard
- Glenn Ennis as bloater
- Andrew Prest as bloater
Plot[]
Calm before the storm[]
Abby suffers a nightmare, recalling the day she discovered her father's dead body in St. Mary's Hospital. She wakes up in a lodge to find Owen surveying the town of Jackson below. Manny, Mel and Nora wake up soon after, and are alarmed to realize that Jackson is not a small camp but a well-fortified city complete with patrols, meaning it would be next to impossible to sneak in, much less find Joel. Abby volunteers to take first watch out in the oncoming snowstorm, claiming if they find a patrol they will ambush it and get them to give up Joel's location. While she is away, her friends discuss their concerns over her revenge quest, with Owen declaring when she returns they will convince her to go back, warning if they do not that they will all likely be killed.
Ellie is woken up by Jesse, summoning her to meet with Maria in the restaurant. He inquires about her fight with Joel the previous night, and playfully teases her about her kiss with Dina, admitting he doesn't mind. They walk through Jackson to find it on high alert: on top of Ellie's story of the intelligent infected, Kylie and Max's patrol the previous night found a pile of dead infected that were concealing a live horde underneath the snow. Ellie tries to blow Jesse off, claiming she wants to go on a patrol with Joel, much to Jesse's surprise. Ellie admits she and Joel are in a rough patch, but they still have their history together and she would rather stick with him on patrol. Jesse reveals that Joel had left an hour earlier with Dina.
Tommy leads a meeting in the restaurant, reminding the town of Jackson Hole their emergency plan: if the alarm is rung, all non-combatants are to barricade in basements and cellars while the rest will take to the rooftops with guns. He also jokes they should not hide in the forest as Vanessa suggested and to make sure they all keep the safeties on their weapons active, so as not to repeat an accident like Earl had the previous week. After the meeting finishes, Maria sends Benji to be with Tommy while she takes Ellie over to the expo station, where Seth apologizes for his behavior and offers Jesse and a stone-faced Ellie steak sandwiches for their patrol. As Jesse and Ellie head out, they notice the oncoming snowstorm, but Jesse claims it will only be in the mountains.
The storm[]
In the mountains, Abby is about to head back to the lodge when she spots one of the patrols (Joel and Dina) and starts venturing down to intercept it. Out in the field, the patrols begin encountering the snowstorm, which turns out to be worse than forecast and begins messing with their radio signal, so Jackson's radio operator Amy recalls all the patrols. Jesse and Ellie are too far to safely return, so after storing their horses in a stable, they shelter-in-place in an abandoned 7-Eleven, which Ellie is amazed to discover contains a home-grown marijuana lab. Jesse reveals this belonged to Eugene, who was his old patrol partner. Ellie is surprised to discover a Firefly pendant, indicating that Eugene was a Firefly: Jesse explains Eugene had quit in 2010, due to getting tired of killing people. They comment on how Joel had to put down Eugene after he was infected.
Abby's journey down the mountain turns to trouble when she encounters one of the fields of frozen dead infected at the base of a hill. The live infected beneath dig themselves out, revealing an entire horde, which immediately begin to chase Abby through the forest. Abby makes it to the abandoned Copper Mine, where she narrowly escapes the horde through a passage between a wall and a collapsing fence. Just as one infected catches up to her, Joel kills it, picking her up and helping her escape the horde. They reach Dina with the horses; hearing Dina say Joel's name, Abby refrains from taking action as Joel and Dina discuss whether to go back to Jackson or remain in the mines. Abby proposes they go up to the lodge in the mountain, where they can regroup and get more weapons to fight off the infected.
Tommy learns from Amy that Joel and Dina are the only patrol who did not respond to the recall or reported sheltering in place. Jesse and Ellie hear this over the radio and immediately venture back into the storm to try to find them. Meanwhile, a construction group continuing work in Jackson finds the pipe full of roots and start to clear it out, only to discover to their horror the Cordyceps tendrils. The disturbed tendrils draw in the horde, which begin their attack on Jackson, breaking off from chasing Joel, Dina, and Abby. A watchman notices the horde charging in the distance, informing Tommy and Maria, who sound the bells to warn the others to prepare for battle.
Jackson goes into high alert. They barricade the gates with forklift trucks and tractors and mount a defense. Tommy leads many of the citizens atop the main gate, rallying them. The horde reach the gates, smashing into it relentlessly. Tommy orders the citizens open fire, staving the infected off at the gate at first with a barrage of bullets and oil-filled barrels which they set alight. Meanwhile, the young and elderly flee into the basements and barricade themselves in. Maria and the rest of the able-bodied adults arm themselves and take positions on the roofs of the buildings around Main Street.
Joel spots the fires from the mountain and declares he has to go back, even if it kills him, but Abby convinces him and Dina to continue to the lodge. Eventually, the infected break through the wall with the help of a bloater, quickly overrunning the streets. The gunmen open fire, and Tommy repositions on to Main Street, acquiring a flamethrower in the process. Amidst the onslaught, Tommy spots the bloater approaching the building where Maria is stationed and draws it away, bravely engaging it with a flamethrower and eventually managing to burn it to death just as he runs out of fuel. Meanwhile, Maria fights her way through the horde to reach the kennels, releasing their hounds, who join in the fight against the infected.
Abby's revenge[]
Joel, Dina, and Abby arrive at the lodge, where the group escorts them in to recover from the cold. As Joel tries to radio Tommy at Jackson to reassure him he is on the way with help, Abby reveals his identity to the others. Immediately, the group turns hostile and hold Dina and Joel at gunpoint. Abby orders Mel to sedate Dina as Nora disarms Joel. After revealing their identities as former Fireflies from Salt Lake City, and Joel admitting he is the one they are searching for, Abby shoots Joel in the leg with a shotgun and makes Nora tourniquet his wound. She explains that in his massacre at the hospital, he killed a doctor, whom she reveals was her father. Realizing what Abby wants, he nods at her statement that what he did was wrong. However, as she begins talking again, Joel interrupts her rant while she brandishes a golf club, yelling at her to get it over with. Infuriated, Abby tells him he does not get to rush her and begins to brutally beat him.
Joel killed by Abby.
Ellie discovers Joel and Dina's horses outside the lodge and ventures inside, only to spot Joel near-death as Abby continues her attack. Her attempt to intervene is stopped by Nora and Owen. She pleads with Joel to get back up, while Owen demands that Abby finish it. Seeing Ellie, a barely-alive Joel musters an attempt to move, but Abby finishes her beating by stabbing the broken club into his neck, killing him.
Ellie mourning Joel.
Ellie swears she will kill all of them as the group departs from the lodge, leaving her to crawl over to Joel and weep over his dead body. Abby's group leave Jackson behind as Jesse arrives at the lodge. The residents of Jackson take out the last of the infected, exhausted and with many casualties. Tommy and Maria find each other within the chaos, holding each other close. Jesse and Dina solemnly bring Ellie back to Jackson, carrying Joel's body behind them.
Reception[]
The episode received highly positive reviews by viewers. The stand out moments for praise was for the highly intense action scene of the infected horde's attack on Jackson and for the emotional power of Joel's death. The episode has a 9.5 rating out of 10 on IMDb across 36,000 views, making it the highest rated episode of the TV series so far, albeit with only 36,000 reviews, which is one of the lowest total number of reviews including episodes from both season 1 and 2.[1]
Transcript[]
- Main article: Through the Valley/Transcript
Behind the scenes[]
Featured music[]
- "Through the Valley" by Shawn James, covered by Ashley Johnson (the voice of Ellie Williams in the video games, and the actor for her mother in the series), plays over the ending of the episode, beginning with Ellie mourning over Joel's body. Her version was featured in the first trailer for The Last of Us Part II, where it was sung by Ellie on guitar, and as an alternate end credits song for completing the game with the permadeath setting. The original version was also featured in the prologue. The version featured in this episode is a mix of the original vocals as well as an updated cover recorded by Johnson for the episode.[2]
Production[]
- The decision to kill Joel, as happens in the game, was never a question for Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin. In adapting it for the television show, they focused on deciding when it would happen, using the previous episode to establish exactly where Joel and Ellie's relationship is in order to underline the tragedy of its occurrence.
- Another change that was made in adapting the scene was clearly stating Abby's motivations for killing Joel from the outset, as in the game this was information that came out much later in the story when players take control of Abby.[3]
- Pedro Pascal recalls the filming of Joel's death on March 7, 2024 (what Ramsey jokingly calls "Kill Joel Day") did not elicit an especially strong response from the production crew until he walked on set in his final makeup appearance, whereupon he felt the onset of grief from the cast and crew.[3]
- Joel's slight nod after Abby's comment that there are some things in the world that are just wrong was a direction made by episode director Mark Mylod. Mazin praises this as showing that Joel understands that his actions at the hospital were, ultimately, wrong, albeit he does not care because in his mind saving Ellie was all that mattered to him.
Easter eggs and references[]
- A mentioned character in this episode, Earl, is a reference to a character from the video game The Last of Us Part I, whom was also a member in Jackson that Joel Miller and Ellie Williams met along with Maria Miller and Tommy Miller at the dam.
Gallery[]
Promotional images[]
Official stills[]
Behind the scenes[]
Videos[]
External links[]
References[]
| Season 1 | "When You're Lost in the Darkness" · "Infected" · "Long, Long Time" · "Please Hold to My Hand" · "Endure and Survive" · "Kin" · "Left Behind" · "When We Are in Need" · "Look for the Light" |
|---|---|
| Season 2 | "Future Days" · "Through the Valley" · "The Path" · "Day One" · "Feel Her Love" · "The Price" · "Convergence" |
| Season 3 | TBA |