What could The Last of Us possibly do to wreck viewers this week? You’re not ready for “Left Behind.” Trust me, this one’s different…
Slowing Down | Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is trying to heal Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) wounds, but he begs her to leave him behind. She heads upstairs to leave, but as soon as she opens the door, we flashback to Ellie running in a gym with a bunch of other girls. One girl steals Ellie’s Walkman and she beats the crap out of her, landing her in trouble with a FEDRA officer, who schools her on what she needs to do to become a FEDRA officer herself.
Later that night, a girl named Riley (Storm Reid) sneaks into her room and Ellie snaps at her for disappearing for three weeks. Riley says that she joined the Fireflies and demands that Ellie come with her for the best night of her life. Ellie reluctantly sneaks out with Riley into an empty building except for a fresh corpse who overdosed on pills with his whiskey. They take the bottle, before the floor gives out beneath the body, after which Ellie has her first drink.
Mall Walkers | Riley tells Ellie that she ran into a Firefly woman who offered her a spot in the organization before the two of them leap from rooftop to rooftop to get to a mall that Ellie claims is full of infected, which Riley casts doubt on. Once inside, Riley flips the breakers and turns the mall’s power back on. Riley promises to show Ellie “the four wonders of the mall,” including Ellie’s first ever time on an escalator.
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Riley explains that the mall was looted during the outbreak, before she takes Ellie to a merry-go-round in the middle of the mall. They turn it on and ride it, enjoying a peaceful moment. Ellie tries to convince Riley to return to FEDRA, but Riley says that they wanted to put her on sewage detail. She adds that she does miss Ellie and then they head into a photo booth to take pictures, which Riley lets Ellie keep.
Next, the girls head to the arcade, which Ellie calls the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. Riley breaks open the change machine to get coins for them to use on “Mortal Kombat 2,” and Riley kicks Ellie’s butt virtually. As they play, their noises wake up an infected a few stores away…
My Last Night | Riley takes Ellie to the food court and presents her with the next volume of her favorite pun book series. After reading a few puns, Ellie finds a pile of explosives made by Riley. Angry that Riley would make these and even more so when she finds out that the mall is a recruitment center for the Fireflies, Ellie storms off. Riley catches her and tells her that she’s being sent to Atlanta and couldn’t convince Marlene to take Ellie along. This only makes things worse and Ellie comes close to walking out of the mall, but turns back.
Ellie catches Riley and apologizes to her and they agree to enjoy their last night together. They put on Halloween masks and dance to music from Ellie’s Walkman and Ellie impulsively kisses Riley. Almost immediately afterwards, the infected man storms at them and Ellie stabs it in the head- but both of them get infected. Ellie and Riley tearfully hug, but agree to keep going, as we finally see Ellie back in the house with Joel, frantically searching for something to help him. She finds a sewing kit and goes back to stitch his wounds up.
The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO.