I’ve been wearing my Pearl Jam shirt for the last few weeks just for this episode. Someone please check me in to the hospital I may be suffering from dehydration, I can only cry so much.
The Price is the penultimate episode of the second season of The Last of Us and to me personally it has been the best, and most well executed episode yet of this season. Whilst it doesn’t offer any huge shock factors like the second episode does, I personally feel this singular episode of The Last of Us offers us some of the greatest moments of acting from our two leads. In an outing that felt similar to Bill & Frank’s one of adventure, in that this episode was a diversion away from the core plot to tell a quick story about love between two characters. Other than all the monumental reasons they gave you to feel emotional in this episode, the one that makes me saddest the most is that this episode will likely mark the very last time we’ll see Pedro Pascal on our screens as Joel Miller.
Spoilers below for this episode, turn away if you’ve not yet seen it.
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
This episode kicks off with another great expansion of story that was completely left out of the games. But instead of a scene with scientists discussing the potential end of the world, or a scientist informing the military to blow up a town to prevent the virus spreading, this scene is instead of a Dad talking to his son. The Price, which in itself is one large flashback episode, starts out by showing the audience a teenage Joel attempting to dissuade his father from striking Tommy after being caught trying to buy drugs. Like me, many members of the audience when they saw Daddy Cop Tony Dalton walk in, were all pretty certain their conversation would end with violence. But in a nice twist, the father instead turns to acknowledge his own faults, his own failings and mistakes as a parent and then leaves his son Joel with a doozy of a quote “I was a little bit better than my Father at least. I hope that you’re a little bit better than me.”. A simple sentence that so many parents may relate to much too. But this single sentence sets the scene for the entire episode to come as we see more of Joel & Ellie’s life both Salt Lake City where they’ve embraced their Father-Daughter dynamic.
After this we were given a few delightful scenes of what was easily every woman I knows fantasy, Pedro Pascal putting in a lot of genuine care and effort to craft the perfect birthday experience for the woman in his life. (Image below of nearly every single conversation I’ve had with friends about this episode)
But seeing heartfelt and loving father Joel Miller was the perfect break away from the otherwise full on story we’ve experienced so far. Plus, seeing this side of Joel definitely adds fuel to the fire of what Abby took from Ellie. The first 20-minutes of this episode really benefitted from helping the audience reconnect with Ellie and give you fresh eyes into her anger, whilst the story would remain almost completely unchanged if we hadn’t seen those two moments of Joel making her guitar and Joel taking Ellie to the museum, they serve as anchors to weigh your emotions back into the core narrative and give weight to our quest. Plus they finally did the Future Days scene, okay so now I can sleep, Pearl Jam forever baby!
Everything after the museum scenes are the real meat of the episode, explaining the relationship that Joel & Ellie presently had at the time of his death. We all knew his lie about the Fireflies in Salt Lake City was never going to stay concealed. It was only a matter of time as Ellie grew older that she’d question his story and we start to see Ellie slowly start to recognise what he’s capable of. That’s where we find Eugene. I’ve seen a fair bit of discourse online that many don’t see the point of this scene, but this scene was integral for Ellie to figure out that Joel lied to her. Ellie made Joel swear to her he’d let Eugene say goodbye to Gail, but the moment she left he shot him in the head to protect Ellie. Then when presented in front of Gail he lied so easily, and naturally. It was this exact moment where Ellie knew he’d lied to her, she saw a man who killed without emotion to protect her, showing that swearing a promise meant nothing to him, and then lastly how easy it was to lie to someone. Ellie saw Joel for who he really was. Also, mad props to Catherine O’Hara and Joe Pantoliano for this scene, the two of them gave equally devastating performances.
Lastly, the show offers one of its best moments in game as the closer to this episode. Whilst the discussion on the front porch the day before Joel dies isn’t shown in game until the very end of the second game, presenting it now as they did was a smart play. Showing that Abby robbed Ellie of the chance to reconnect with her father after trying to make amends as we go into next week will give us that rage and feeling of emptiness. But then we circle back to the discussion from the episodes opening. Joel explains that what he did was wrong, but he’d still do it again, then hitting Ellie with the same remark his Dad gave him “If you ever have children, I hope you do a little bit better than me” a statement with more weight now that Dina is pregnant.
This entire episode was a masterclass in acting from both Bella Ramsey & Pedro Pascal. Offering scenes that displayed the entire emotional range from pure delight and warmth, to anger and despair. Bella Ramsey’s scene as she witnesses Joel lie to Gail about Eugenes fate is one of their best, the quiet rage boiling below the surface as they finally confront Joel for what he’s done. On the flip side of that I can honestly say the scene on the porch as Pascal openly weeps as he admits to what he did was the perfect way to show the inner turmoil he’s been hiding. He’s not sad for what he did, he’s just sad that she might leave him because of it and how much that’s going to destroy him. But then that flicker of hope afterwards and the look of hope he displays is enough to knee cap anyone emotionally. I will happily claim that this episode for me is easily one of the shows greatest in terms of writing and acting.
Next weeks episode will be the conclusion of this season, and with renewed feelings of grief and rage from what was stolen from the audience I am eager to see where season 2 concludes and what is in store for Tommy and Ellie. Guess we’ll find out next week. Until then, blast the Pearl Jam.
