SPOILER WARNING: The next article dives deep into two of an important moments from The Final of Us Season 2, Episode 6. If in case you have not but used your Max subscription to compensate for the apocalypse, I like to recommend you make like a survivor approaching an deserted constructing and proceed with warning.
I’m not a lot of a gamer, however as a fan of zombie films, I used to be very excited for the debut of HBO’s collection adaptation of the PlayStation hit, The Final of Us, and I can definitely say I’ve not been dissatisfied. That being stated, I couldn’t say the apocalyptic TV present had a personally emotional impact on me… till I noticed the sixth episode of Season 2, “The Value.”
Not solely can I confidently say that no program on the 2025 TV schedule (or in any current 12 months that I can consider) has left me as shaken as The Final of Us with this specific episode, which consists of flashbacks that bridge the hole between seasons. No different episode of this present has left me in such a state of heartbreak and lasting ponderance, which is absolutely saying one thing when you think about how this present thrives on tragedy. Enable me to elucidate why it took this lengthy for the collection to interrupt me.
As A Married Man, Eugene Pleading With Joel To See Gail Had Me In Tears
Probably the most talked-about moments from The Final of Us Season 2, Episode 6, sees Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) come throughout a bitten Eugene (Joe Pantoliano). Joel guarantees him and Ellie that he’ll look ahead to her to come back again and convey the ailing man to Jackson to see his spouse, the native therapist Gail (Catherine O’Hara, who cried so much whereas filming this episode), one final time. Sadly, Joel breaks that promise and shoots the person lifeless earlier than Ellie returns.
“Joey Pants” makes a terrific case for his second Emmy (which he beforehand gained after shaking up the solid of The Sopranos in Season 3) with this despairing efficiency that, fairly frankly, I’m not certain would have had as a lot of an impact on me if I weren’t married. Listening to him reply to Joel’s promise that he would ship his final phrases for Gail with, “No, I want her final phrases for me!” and begging for her face to be the very last thing he sees actually received to me as a result of I’d be pleading the identical. For my spouse to be the very last thing I see earlier than I go is all I can hope for, too.
Joel’s Line About Parenting Spoke To My Private Fears
I may have by no means anticipated that, after witnessing Eugene’s devastating ultimate plea (a welcome change from the Final of Us video video games, from what I hear), “The Value” would faucet into my feelings any additional. Lo and behold, I used to be wrecked by the ultimate scene, when Ellie confronts Joel about ruining the possibility for a Cordyceps treatment by rescuing her from the Fireflies, and he explains he did it out of affection for her and would do it once more if given the possibility. What actually did me in was when he tells his surrogate daughter that, if she has kids of her personal, he hopes she does “just a little bit higher than me,” echoing his personal father’s phrases from the chilly open.
In the mean time I write this, I’m not a dad or mum, however my spouse and I intend to have kids someday quickly, and but, to be completely candid, the concept of bringing a baby into this world terrifies me. Clearly, I’ve much less hazardous circumstances to cope with than Joel did (and I pray it stays that method), however I nonetheless agonize over, not simply holding my kids protected, but additionally doing proper by them in a simply method. Fortunately, Ellie’s admission that she could be keen to attempt to forgive Joel for his actions gave me hope that, so long as my strategy to parenting comes from a spot of affection, we will probably be all proper.
Inevitably, I’ve discovered many causes to match this collection to a present just like The Final of Us, The Strolling Useless, and even discovered a similarity between Joel’s homicide and one other tragic character dying. Nonetheless, that hit collection by no means received to me like this present has for the explanations above. So, for my cash, The Final of Us reigns as TV’s superior zombie apocalypse collection for now.