The Last of Us Episode 2 Recap and Ending, Explained – With its sad flashback between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Sarah (Nico Parker), the first episode of The Last of Us introduced us to the characters and the terrifying universe in which this drama will take place. The discovery that Ellie (Bella Ramsey) might be the last person on Earth resistant to the cordyceps disease that has killed most of humanity represents a significant plot surprise. Even though the second episode is much more subdued than the first, it is virtually equally heartbreaking.
As we leave the Boston quarantine zone and see Joel and Ellie’s future, this second episode, written and directed by the creative director and writer of the first game, is quieter. In this episode of The Last of Us, Tess (Anna Torv) is featured more. While there is a lot of action and tension in this episode, it is also one of the season’s quieter episodes as Joel and Tess attempt to understand Ellie.
Ellie starts to put her two traveling companions’ safety before her own as they set out to find the Fireflies, who may be able to assist them in developing a vaccine. Tess sacrifices herself so that Joel and Ellie have a chance to survive after an infected horde has overrun the State House. We have all the information you need if you’re looking for an explanation of “The Last of Us’s” second episode from the first season.
Also Read: Why is Ellie Immune in ‘The Last of Us’?
The Last of Us Episode 2 Recap
On September 24, 2003, we began in Jakarta, Indonesia, two days before Outbreak Day. Ibu Ratna (Christine Hakim), a professor of mycology at the University of Indonesia, is the first person we encounter. The police contact her to examine a sample. She recognizes it as Ophiocordiceps when told that it was taken from a human, but she laughs because the fungus isn’t supposed to be able to survive in humans. She visits the deceased individual from whom the sample was taken after donning a hazmat suit. The body had a bullet hole in its skull and a bite mark on its leg. Spongy material pushes out of the wound when the professor cuts into the leg bite. Moreover, the corpse’s mouth has immobile threadlike appendages resembling tentacles.
The professor is initially astonished and then confused to learn that the bite happened in a wheat and grains mill in the city 30 hours earlier. When she suddenly turned angry, the bitten woman bit three of her employees; they all had to be killed. The original biter is still at large, and 14 people are still missing. The military recruits the professor to help create a vaccination or medicine to treat the sick. She tells them sombrely that they had no choice but to “bomb.” Bomb the people in this city. She sobs uncontrollably and asks for a ride home to be with her family.
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After the credits, Joel and Tess can be seen keeping watch on Ellie as she sleeps in a desolate building. They are both understandably alarmed by this girl who seems impervious to the breakout. She will eventually become fully diseased; Joel is certain of this. Tess pressures him to explain what Ellie is doing with Marlene and why she is so important, but she also dissuades him from sending her back to the quarantine area where she would be murdered by scanning. She provides evidence that the bite is not getting worse and asserts that she is not infected.
The head of the Boston Fireflies, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), found Ellie after she had been bitten, imprisoned her, and had her men run tests to check if Ellie was getting sick. She informs them that she is en route to the Firefly base camp in the West, where doctors are looking for treatment. Joel thinks this is pure nonsense, but Tess is adamant that “we get what we want” if they can get her to where she is going. He grumpily nods. When Ellie starts to twitch and act ill, Tess interrupts her shenanigans.
Boston was blasted to stem the spread, and this was more successful there than in many other major cities. The three move through the ruins of the city. Ellie tells her traveling companions that she is 14 years old and describes how she was bitten as they scale cars and other barriers. Additionally, she mentions being an orphan. She also speaks a lot and expresses amazement that the outside world is not as immediately lethal as she had been led to believe. Their search takes them into a flooded hotel, where they go to the top level to get a better perspective of the surroundings.
The bad news is that the number of infected has increased significantly since Joel and Tess’s previous trip to the city. We learn that the fungus also thrives underground and that affected people are connected. Therefore, if you step on a Cordyceps surface in one place, you can awaken many infected there. Therefore, the Bostonian Museum, a building that the fungus has completely taken over, is the only approach that might be feasible.
Joel discovers, however, that every piece of organic material coming out of the dry gaps and windows suggests that all of the infected insides may have already perished. They arrive holding their weapons and flashlights while Tess and Joel tell Ellie to keep quiet.
This advice is made useless when the building starts to collapse around them, resulting in a terrible infection that looks like a mushroom/Venus fly trap and makes an alien baby bird sound. Because of their strength and speed, the bat-like animals Ellie mentioned before are referred to as “clickers” during this stage of infection.
The clicker and several of its friends follow the trio in a tense and terrifying scene throughout the museum. When they’re done, Ellie’s arm has been bitting again, and Tess’s ankle is twisting, but it seems they handled it okay. Joel grouses that maybe Ellie’s second bite will be the one that sticks, but Tess reprimands him for not being able to handle some happy news now and then.
The Last of Us Episode 2 Recap: Ending Explained
They ultimately reach the State House, where the steps are stained with blood, and the car outside is deserted. Inside? There are body pieces everywhere. Based on the state of the bodies, Joel surmises that someone was a bit, while Ellie assumes FEDRA is to blame. Joel wants to return to the QZ, but Tess insists they not go there. Tess got hit in the neck during the brawl in the museum, although Ellie’s nip is already healing. Tess instructs Joel to take the young woman to see Bill and Frank.
Tess reassures him that he will persuade them despite his worries that they won’t accept her. If he can pull it off, Ellie’s survival will “set everything right.” During this horrifying scene playing out in the foyer, Joel shoots one of the corpses when it starts to move. Joel looks out the window and sees a swarm coming in just a few minutes. Tess starts throwing grenades throughout the area and bursting gas canisters. Tess approaches Joel and tells him to “save everyone you can save” because he knows what she is doing.
Ellie is pushed away by Joel as he grabs her in pain to exit the building before the crowd arrives. The infected are rushing at Tess as she struggles with a light that won’t ignite. One of the infected places his tongue on her tendril-covered tongue as she eventually gets the lighter to work. She lowers it onto the floor, where it catches the gas, catches fire, and bursts into flames. As he and Ellie exit the burning flames, Joel is understandably heartbroken at losing one of the last individuals on Earth who meant anything to him. She stops for a moment to watch the building burn and appears to realize that even if their journey has only just begun, it can’t be for anything.
You can stream “The Last of Us” episodes on HBO and HBO Max.
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