Spoiler Warning: Main spoilers to observe for The Final of Us Season 2, Episode 2, “By way of the Valley”Nicely, the scene that online game followers knew was coming is right here. Think about this your closing spoiler warning. In The Final of Us Season 2, Episode 2, “By way of the Valley,” Joel was killed. Those that by no means performed the unique sport possible had no thought this was coming, as TV reveals not often kill off lead characters with out some behind-the-scenes drama. The demise of Joel was a jarring, shocking reminder that certainly one of TV’s most acclaimed trendy entries is not afraid to take massive swings. However it occurred, and all of us have to course of it collectively.
However why do it? Why kill off some of the critically acclaimed main tv characters, destroying an exceptional dynamic (Joel/Ellie) within the course of? Nicely, it needed to occur as a result of the online game dictated it. As tragic as Naughty Canine’s choice was, it may take the TV collection in an fascinating new course. Joel’s demise symbolizes a shift for the collection, permitting it to discover completely different avenues and themes that it couldn’t have earlier than.
Joel Meets His Maker in ‘The Final of Us’ Season 2
The hit second season of The Final of Us picks up 5 years after the tip of the primary, with Joel and Ellie now a part of the thriving neighborhood of Jackson Gap, Wyoming. Nonetheless, the connection between the 2 is strained on account of Ellie’s survivor’s guilt. Joel saved her from being sacrificed for a possible cordyceps vaccine on the finish of Season 1. After a rocky first episode, issues appeared to show a nook within the second outing. Ellie admitted to her fraught relationship with Joel however wished to go on their every day patrol collectively to hash issues out. However then all hell broke unfastened.
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As Joel had already left for patrol with Dina (Isabela Merced), Ellie is compelled to accompany Jesse (Younger Mazino). The 2 pairs quickly turn out to be trapped in a snowstorm, with each Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) crew and hordes of contaminated on the unfastened. Followers will recall that Abby tracked Joel to Jackson Gap on the finish of Episode 1, wanting revenge after he killed her father within the raid to avoid wasting Ellie from the Fireflies. By pure dumb luck, Joel and Dina encounter Abby within the mountains because the snowstorm intensifies. On the identical time, an enormous group of contaminated launches an assault on Jackson and breaches the perimeter. Joel desires to return and assist, however Abby convinces him to return to her cabin, as her buddies are armed and may again him up. That call proved to be his doom.
On the cabin, the group knocks Dina out and takes Joel hostage. Abby does the standard villain backstory monologue, although Joel has no persistence for that, with an irritated “oh simply shut the f**okay up and do it already” as his iconic closing phrases. Abby shoots and brutally beats Joel, whereas Ellie tracks him to the cabin simply in time for Abby to ship the deadly blow. Identical to that, our main man is not any extra. It could not have occurred in a extra violent, miserable, or heart-shattering method.
‘The Final of Us’ Season 2, Episode 2 Is Manufactured for Most Viewer Heartbreak
Joel was by no means afraid to die. You actually cannot be if it’s a must to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The specter of an contaminated taking one down is at all times on the desk. However this technique of demise was a lot extra human and uncooked. These weren’t senseless zombies; they had been individuals who selected to take Joel hostage and torture him. We fortunately did not see Abby take a golf membership to him on display, however we heard the blows and screams. We heard the punches and noticed Abby’s bloody fist and Joel’s gashed head. Abby did not simply need him lifeless; she wished him (and the viewers) to undergo in agony. For as a lot emphasis because the present placed on Joel’s “father determine/household man” standing, having him almost die alone, surrounded by strangers (minus the unconscious Dina) was definitely intentional.
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When Ellie arrived on the cabin, Joel was nonetheless barely clinging to life. She’s taken down, and we see Joel make a futile try and crawl to her earlier than Abby drives a damaged golf membership into his neck. Did Joel acknowledge his surrogate daughter as he was getting ready to demise? For at the least some semblance of peace, this author chooses to consider sure. Might Ellie have intervened had she made it to the cabin sooner? It is unlikely, as Abby’s crew simply overpowered her. However possibly she and Joel may have had a correct goodbye.
That “what if” will possible cling over Ellie for a very long time, as she and Joel had been nonetheless strained when he died. She by no means received to see him for that morning patrol like she wished. Their final interplay was her cursing him out when he punched out the homophobic bigot who harassed her and Dina the evening earlier than. Ellie got here house to Joel enjoying a guitar he had repaired for her, however she walked by with out saying a phrase. That might find yourself being her final likelihood to make amends.
As Ellie leaves the cabin with Jesse and Dina in tow, we see the guilt setting in. We do not want phrases; the look on her face tells us that she’s absorbing the truth that the person who saved her life died along with her offended at him. And that scene of her crying on prime of Joel’s corpse? It ought to be unlawful to tear out a coronary heart like that. As if this lady hasn’t handled sufficient. Joel’s demise hit almost each film and TV trope. Estrangement from family members? Test. Tortured? Test. Alone? Test. Died making an attempt to avoid wasting others? Checkity examine. It was engineered to inflict most devastation, and it completely succeeded. Significantly, give Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Kaitlyn Dever each award.
What Comes After Joel’s Stunning Dying in ‘The Final of Us’?
Is that this what sport followers have been reluctantly ready for? It was higher when the TV-only Final of Us followers lived in blissful ignorance. And the latter group would haven’t any cause to consider Joel’s time was up. He and Ellie had been the one two principal characters, and a profitable present would not kill off half their main stars with out some dramatic story shift. Joel continues to be concerned with the city, and there was no behind-the-scenes drama both, as Pedro Pascal appears to like his headlining function.
So… now what? Ellie will clearly be the only real protagonist going ahead, and we all know what’s at first on her thoughts. Revenge. As Abby’s band of murderers left Joel’s physique within the cabin, Ellie swore to seek out and kill each final certainly one of them. Will she obtain that? We do not know — and no spoilers from the sport gamers. As agonizing as this was to look at, it would form Ellie right into a stronger individual.
She actually has no selection. If she desires to honor Joel’s reminiscence, she wants to return into her personal as an grownup. Whereas she has grown since Season 1, there’s nonetheless a methods to go. It is unclear what the remainder of Season 2 will convey, however we should always anticipate an Ellie-centric vendetta mission. Simply no extra brutal deaths, OK? The Final of Us airs Sunday nights at 9 PM on HBO and streams concurrently on Max.