The Last of Ushas always been a roughshod tarradiddle about love , red ink , and the cost of survival of the fittest . Season 1 end with Joel choosing Ellie over the future of human beings , leavinga trail of Firefly physical structure in his backwash . Now , in time of year 2 , the effect of his choice last catches up with him . The question fan have dreaded since the beginning finally get an answer : Does Joel die ?

“ In time of year 2 , Episode 2 , ‘ Through the Valley , ’ Joel ’s past returns to haunt him . Driven by years of pain in the neck , Abby finally exacts her retaliation for Joel ’s action at the Firefly infirmary . The episode delivers one of the most emotionally consign present moment in the series . permit ’s break down this turning stage , its impact on Ellie , and why Joel ’s circumstances was sealed long before the final blow .

Disclaimer : This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 .

Abby and Joel

Joel getting captured by Abby and her crew (Image via HBO Max)

Table of contentedness

Joel ’s time in Jackson gives him a rare moment of peace of mind . He ’s found a menage . He ’s found family unit . But peace does n’t last long in a world like this . time of year 2 episode 2 return a intestine - slug that fans of the game saw coming , but it makes the mo no less heartrending to bear . Joel dies . And it ’s not just any dying . It ’s slow , crimson , and deep personal .

The person who kill Joel in episode 2 is Abby ( Kaitlyn Dever ) . She is the girl of the operating surgeon Joel mutilate in the Firefly infirmary , the one who was about to perform the surgery to create a cure using Ellie ’s immunity . Joel did n’t just kill the Fireflies ; he destroyed Abby ’s intact mankind . Now , five years later on , she ’s do to claim her revenge . All these long time , Abby expect , trained , and planned . And when the clock time came for her revenge , she made Joel sustain a ghastly death .

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Joel getting captured by Abby and her crew (Image via HBO Max)

How Joel Dies in The Last of Us Season 2

The show does n’t hold back . Joel ’s death fit is just as ferine as it was in the game , down to the golf club . But there are a few key changes . In the game , Joel die out while on patrol with Tommy . In the show , it ’s Dina who ’s with him when they run into Abby at an abandoned outpost .

Joel saves Abby from a horde of infected , not know who she is . He brings her back to a nearby shelter , imagine he ’s helped a fellow subsister . But Abby knows exactly who Joel is . And when they ’re all indoors , she locks the room access behind her . That ’s when it all spiral . Her mathematical group restrains Joel , and she give away that she is the daughter of the Firefly surgeon , Dr. Jerry Anderson , who was killed by Joel back in the hospital in the finale of time of year 1 . To Abby , Joel is a man who shoot down her father , so what she is doing to him seems perfectly reasonable to her .

The whacking is n’t quick . Abby come to Joel again and again with a golf golf-club , each blow landing with thundering force . The others contain back , watching in silence . When Ellie and Dina arrive , Ellie race in , only to be restrained and pinned to the primer . She screams , thrashing unable to help as Abby delivers the final nose candy . Joel die on the floor , bloodied and broken . It ’s tedious , brutal , and there ’s nothing anyone can do to stop it .

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Abby killing Joel (Image via HBO Max)

Why Abby Kills Joel?

Abby ’s legal action are n’t random . She is strictly actuate by retaliation . Joel necessitate her don , the one mortal she loved more than anyone . And when the Fireflies fell , Abby ’s world did too . She drop the next five years rebuilding herself , finally bring together the Washington Liberation Front ( WLF ) , a militant group in Seattle .

Abby could have kill Ellie . She could have kill Dina . But she did n’t . Abby ’s mission was focused on killing one somebody – the orca of her father , her kinfolk . While she is a villain in the eye of the audience who have build an emotional connection , in her story , she ’s just avenging the last of her father . This is just a tragic monitor that there are no heroes and villains in The Last of Us , only busted individuals driven by their personal goals and motivations .

What Joel’s Death Means for Ellie

Ellie ’s Earth shatters in a single instant . She was n’t just tight to Joel , he was her Padre figure and her protector . Even though their relationship had grown strained over the geezerhood , the making love between them never evaporate . And now , that honey has turned into an untamable fury .

Joel ’s expiry marks a turning compass point for Ellie . She has lost the one person who break her life story substance , and that exit becomes the fuel for everything that observe . The Ellie we see now will be cold and more ruthless , willing to track lines Joel once kept her from . Her journey is no longer about survival or recover peace . It is about revenge . In chasing that revenge , she will mirror the very vehemence that took Joel from her , sacrificing everything just to defeat Abby .

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Abby and her crew (Image via HBO Max)

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Ellie lying beside Joel (Image via HBO MAX)