Contains big spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 2!
How is everyone doing? We only ask because, if you're anything like us, you'll have spent the last 24 hours sobbing over Joel's death in The Last of Us episode two. For those of us who have not played the game the HBO series is based on, the moment in which Abby slowly killed Joel, was a truly heartbreaking scene to watch. Even those who had played the game and knew this moment was coming, still seemed to be in shock watching the event unfold. And that's in part because the scenes leading up to Joel's death in the game are actually quite different to the TV series.
In episode two of the HBO series, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Dina (Isabela Merced) are on patrol, when a blizzard sets in and a large number of infected wake up from under the snow and attack a helpless girl. Expect the “helpless” girl Joel saves turns out to be Abby (Katilyn Dever), the woman who, unbeknownst to Joel, has been intent on killing him for the last five years.
After Joel and Dina save Abby from the infected, Abby takes them to the mountain house she and her friends are holing up at, under the pretense of being able to help them and head back to defend the Jackson town which is currently under siege.
However, she turns on them. Dina is drugged and Abby begins the process of killing Joel slowly. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) who has been on patrol with Jesse (Young Mazino), then turns up and this is when Abby makes the final blow, killing Joel in front of Ellie.
How does Joel die in the Last of Us game?
In the game, however, things happen a bit differently. Joel is actually on patrol with Tommy (Gabriel Luna), his younger brother. They then rescue Abby from a hoard of infected who takes them back to the mountain house. Dina and Ellie are on patrol when they have a romantic moment smoking cannabis together. They then search for Joel and Tommy who have gone missing.
The game scenes then unfold very similarly to how they do in the series, with Abby killing Joel slowly and waiting until Ellie arrives to deliver the final killing move.
In the TV series, while Joel's murder is going on, there's also a major incident happening in the Jackson community with thousands of infected taking over the town on a killing spree. But in the game this doesn't happen at all.
Ok, well at least there's some small mercies in the game, now why couldn't they have done this for the TV show too?
