‘The Last of Us’ Stars Bella Ramsey & Gabriel Luna on Ellie & Tommy’s Grief Journey After Joel’s Death

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 3.]

The Last of Us dives deep into grief with its first Season 2 episode post-Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) death as adoptive daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and younger brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) come to terms with the major loss.

While the episode opens mere hours after the massacre in Jackson with Tommy going to visit Joel’s body in the community’s makeshift morgue and bidding his brother adieu with a “give Sarah my love,” as Ellie is experiencing PTSD in the hospital where she’s being treated with a chest tube, the action eventually jumps ahead three months later. And Season 2’s story, which began on New Year’s Eve, has now found itself experiencing springtime in Jackson.

Despite the months that have passed, though, Ellie and Tommy’s loss of Joel continues to weigh heavily. “You know, in the games, they are bound. Their bonds become stronger, but they end up being tethered together by a kind of poison adhesive… this thirst for vengeance,” Luna tells TV Insider. “And neither of them emerged from that,” he adds, pointing out where Ellie and Tommy are in the wake of Joel’s death.

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The three-month jump is marked with Ellie’s exit from the hospital as she returns to the home she once shared with Joel, a makeshift memorial lining the fence. Even though she’s cleared to leave the hospital by therapist Gail (Catherine O’Hara), she hasn’t fully coped with the events that occurred with Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) crew that fateful January day.

Walking through the house, she finds a box on Joel’s bed that includes his watch and gun, and she walks over to his closet, tearing up as she holds the garment close. Dina (Isabela Merced) pulls her out of the grief-induced trance when she stops by with cookies as a “peace offering,” revealing that she knows the names of Abby’s crew and likely where they are.

Making the argument that Ellie would have tried leaving the hospital far too soon if she knew earlier, Dina suggests they devise a plan, and they run the concept by Tommy as a means of delivering justice for Joel’s death. While Tommy is initially reluctant to such an idea, acknowledging revenge missions aren’t his or Joel’s typical course of action, it’s clear his own personal feelings sway his judgment in this matter. It is decided that a council meeting and vote will be held involving the town on the proposed mission, which would send nearly 20 of Jackson’s best to hunt down Abby’s WLF (Washington Liberation Front) team.

HBO

“I think it’s really important to see the love in that, even though they’re expressing this love and this grief through intense violence,” Luna notes of Tommy and Ellie’s desire to strike back. In the end, the vote is eight to three against the mission, leaving Ellie to set out on her own.

Of course, Ellie doesn’t let the outcome stop her from planning a solo mission, but her plans are changed when Dina once again surprises her at the door, noting Ellie will need help and better planning if she expects to make it to Washington. “I think they both have similar views of revenge,” Ramsey says of Joel and Ellie’s approaches. “It sort of equals love or an expression of love,” Ramsey adds, echoing Luna’s sentiments.

Ramsey sees Ellie’s approach as, “If you’ve done something to hurt this person, I’m gonna go and hurt you. And I feel that that’s like the truest display of love, and that’s not something that’s very conscious.” This similarity between Ellie and Joel is addressed in a conversation Tommy has with Gail as he worries she’ll act out because of the way Joel influenced her.

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While Gail didn’t refute the possibility that Ellie would act out, she reassured Tommy that no matter how Ellie was influenced by Joel, she’d always be the person she is now. “Both of them have individually been brought up and understand this world that they’re in,” Ramsey points out, and as a result, it “gets them into some pretty bad situations.”

And it seems that Ellie could be walking into quite a dangerous situation with Dina after they set out for Seattle, which is seemingly crawling with WLF soldiers and other groups. Before Ellie sneaks out of Jackson with Dina, though, she makes sure to bid Joel farewell at his grave, leaving a few coffee beans for the man she saw as a father.

Stay tuned to see how Ellie’s mission with Dina unfolds as they approach Seattle, and let us know what you think of her and Tommy’s grief journeys so far in the comments section.

The Last of Us, Season 2, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and Max