THE LAST OF US Season 2 Finale Ends With A Bang As Ellie's Hunt For Abby Continues - SPOILERS

THE LAST OF US Season 2 Finale Ends With A Bang As Ellie's Hunt For Abby Continues - SPOILERS

In the season 2 finale of The Last of Us, things escalate in Seattle as Ellie continues her hunt for Abby before a shocking confrontation sets the stage for what promises to be a very different season 3.

By JoshWilding - May 25, 2025 10:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Last of Us
Source: GameFragger.com

This article was originally published on GameFragger.com.

The season 2 finale of The Last of Us finds Ellie on the hunt for Abby, but the situation in Seattle is worsening. 

Isaac Dixon, the leader of the Washington Liberation Front, takes the war to the Seraphites/Scars by heading to their island with his men (Abby is M.I.A.). Ellie also winds up there and is captured by the Scars after her boat capsizes. 

They're about to hang and gut her, but an explosion in the distance distracts them (as Isaac presumably unleashes hell on the savage group of survivors). Following that largely pointless diversion, Ellie makes her way back to the mainland, where she confronts Mel and Owen. 

She inadvertently kills the two of them and is horrified to realise that Mel was pregnant. It seems her desire for revenge has been extinguished, but after reuniting with Tommy, Jesse, and Dina, there's a commotion, and Jesse is shot and killed. 

It's Abby; she's there to avenge her friends and holds a gun to Joel's brother. Ellie pleads with her to leave him alone, pointing out that she's the one Abby wants. Abby, confused that Ellie would hunt her down after she let her live, points her gun at Ellie, and the screen goes black as a gunshot rings out.

With that, we're taken to the WLF base with Abby...it's Seattle "Day One" again, confirming season 3 of The Last of Us will explore the same few days as this season, albeit from Abby's point of view instead. 

That lines up with the game, but with likely upwards of a year until The Last of Us returns to HBO, that does make this ending feel a little unsatisfying. It's also asking a lot of audiences to follow Abby's story as Ellie will inevitably be sidelined, and with the flashbacks done, there's no room for Pedro Pascal's Joel. 

The Last of Us season 2's returning cast includes Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and Rutina Wesley as Maria.

Other announced new additions include Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.

In our The Last of Us season 2 review, we concluded with, "Pedro Pascal is a force to be reckoned with in The Last of Us, and with Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced matching him beat for beat, season 2 is a powerful, rousing triumph that cements this series as the best video game adaptation ever."

What did you think about The Last of Us' season 2 finale?

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THE LAST OF US Season 2 Finale Ratings Reveal A Significant Drop In Viewership Compared To Season 1 Finale

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PatientXero
PatientXero - 5/25/2025, 10:12 PM
Horrible episode. They butchered so many plot threads, and rushed a lot of story. Season. 3 will be the “Abby Story”. I get it, as they did it in the game, buy it was not executed well at all.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/25/2025, 11:42 PM
@PatientXero - certainly a disappointing ending
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/26/2025, 12:27 AM
@PatientXero - Ellie didn't kill Alice and they eliminated the portion where Ellie has to traverse the city on the boat before making her way to the Aquarium. We also didn't get to see the Shambler with Ellie and we didn't get the portion where Dina and Ellie are traversing through the town that's being bombarded by Tommy while the two have to hide from the WLF soldiers and dogs. I felt this way with season 1. It's very very rushed and to save on the budget they are cutting integral pieces to rush the story.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/25/2025, 10:20 PM
This is why keeping Abby’s reasoning for killing Joel ambiguous would’ve been better, in my opinion. The people who stopped watching the show was always going to stop for obvious reasons they won’t admit.

Part 2 of the game had a really good story, but people failed to see Joel as a villain in the game so they threw tantrums. I don’t agree with splitting the story up into 3 seasons though. But hey I’m more of a fan of the game than the show
Gabimaru
Gabimaru - 5/25/2025, 10:23 PM
@MyCoolYoung - joel did nothing wrong.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/25/2025, 10:30 PM
@Gabimaru - except murder a bunch of innocent people for selfish reason. The game gives an out by saying she Ellie isn’t the first person they worked on but Joel didn’t do it for morality. It was a trauma based response
mountainman
mountainman - 5/25/2025, 11:22 PM
@MyCoolYoung - They were going to kill a young girl without telling her for a small chance at salvation. Any parent could relate to his motives.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/25/2025, 11:37 PM
@mountainman – He wasn’t her parent. He didn’t even like her for most of the game. They got close during the game, no doubt. That’s not the point, though. Joel didn’t do anything in that game out of anything but selfish intent also started a vicious cycle of violence and revenge that Ellie inherited.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 5/25/2025, 11:38 PM
@MyCoolYoung - I wouldn’t call them innocent when they were prepared to kill a little girl without her consent. It’s also not a sure fire thing that the vaccine would work and the doctor sealed his own death when he grabbed a surgical knife to fight Joel when he simply wanted them to release Ellie.

None of them are innocent.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 5/25/2025, 11:43 PM
@MyCoolYoung - what he did was selfish, absolutely, but he did love her like a daughter and while you can say it was a trauma based response (it was) - it still came from a pure place of love.

I don’t get how people aren’t giving Fireflies shit for misleading Joel and Ellie to risking their lives just to kill Ellie without her knowing why. That’s pretty [frick]ed up.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/26/2025, 12:26 AM
@TheLobster – The Fireflies aren’t good guys either, but again, that’s the point. And c'mon comparing a surgical knife to Joel? After we had to fight through herds of zombies and scavengers, sometimes with just a bottle? That’s not a threat to Joel.

We don’t know what the doctor knows. The deception is on Marlene.

Also, I haven’t played the game in a couple of years, so the finer details are a little murky — correct me if I’m wrong — but Joel never asked for details when delivering Ellie. He did not care one bit. He wanted the reward, and when he got there and they told him what was happening, then he expressed disdain for the plan, which led Marlene to say, “If he moves funny, shoot him.” because of his then bond with Ellie. That was not before

Joel’s choice is one a parent would make. Most parents would make it, but that doesn’t make it right. It’s a very gray area. It’s like in the movie Cabin in the Woods, when the god-things were asking for sacrifices and the guy said something like, “They had their chance,” as the giant thing came to stomp humanity.

It’s a decision: one person vs. the world. While most sane people aren’t sacrificing themselves or their child — myself included — it’s still a matter of perspective.

You say pure love. I say Joel is trying to heal the unresolved grief he’s had for Sarah by filling that hole with Ellie. Otherwise, why did he lie to her about it? Just like the deception you pointed out from Marlene toward Joel, Joel did the same to Ellie, which fractured their very relationship.

To Ellie joels a father
To abby he's a monster
To the fireflies he's a threat to humanity

To the people playing, he's complicated. Unless yall would like to keep looking past what he was and definitely who he was during the entire game
Gabimaru
Gabimaru - 5/26/2025, 12:30 AM
@MyCoolYoung - lol murder innocent people? You just prove you don't pay attention to details. You sure about that? Yeah if you played the game. the files you read even hint that they did alot of test subjects that failed. Joel knew there was no more decency left in the world and for selfish reason he chooses ellie like any parent would do in the post apocalyptic world that they have any assurance that the cure would work.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/26/2025, 12:41 AM
@Gabimaru - I already explained it. Go read what I said or don’t I don’t care
mountainman
mountainman - 5/26/2025, 12:45 AM
@MyCoolYoung - Despite their somewhat cold relationship, Joel saw Ellie as a surrogate daughter. He didn’t show it well, as us men often don’t do a great job of showing our feelings, but it was apparent that he felt it.

Sure he might have overreacted. I agree with you that it was likely a trauma response to losing his actual daughter. But there is really no way to claim they didn’t have a found father/daughter relationship. And many people would do very extreme things to save their children. Plus there is no guarantee that those people would have been able to extract a cure by killing Ellie. It’s all a really messed up situation. And the beauty of the Last of Us is that it gives us these complex human debates to discuss.

Joel wasn’t necessarily a villain. He wasn’t necessarily a hero either. But the 2nd game, and 2nd season of the show painting him as a villain for doing what he did deserves the pushback it has received.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/26/2025, 12:56 AM
@mountainman - The second game doesn't paint him as a villain. The second game shows that actions have consequences, and Joel's violent streak started a cycle that Ellie ends the minute she spares Abby.

Everybody says Joel made the right decision; I'm fine with that. As a father, I'm cool with it, but the thing about *The Last of Us* that a lot of people missed is that there are many mirrors being held up to their journey. Henry and Sam, Bill and Frank, Tess and Joel—none of them survived, which leads right into Joel's decision, but there's also a dark mirror: Abby and her father. It begs the question, what would happen if Ellie were killed? But it flipped it to Joel.

It received pushback because people didn't want to see what was right in front of them. They did well with the story
mountainman
mountainman - 5/26/2025, 6:38 AM
@MyCoolYoung - I get the actions have consequences message. I don’t personally think it’s effective in the 2nd game, but I get it.

And yes the 2nd game, and many misguided fans, have said Joel was the bad guy. The 2nd Last of Us majorly stepped it up gameplay wise, but the story and writing were far worse than the first one. The 4th Uncharted also was weaker in story than 2 and 3 were. Druckman has become quite full of himself after his early career success. Or, more likely, he had other people that were (allowed to be) more involved in some of his earlier games that had a positive impact on the stories. Left to his own devices, his hack nature really comes out.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 5/25/2025, 11:39 PM
I knew the Jesse kill was coming but goddamn it was so sad to see it happen. Dude was the best of the best in terms of being a good rational being. I get that’s the whole point of the game but sheesh.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/26/2025, 12:30 AM
@TheLobster - Jesse has been the only spot on casting in my opinion.
AleSir19
AleSir19 - 5/26/2025, 11:36 AM
@SonOfAGif - indeed
McMurdo
McMurdo - 5/26/2025, 12:06 AM
Ellie is genuinely incompetent in this show. Kid just spams her flashlight everywhere she goes. And I didn't buy Jesse saying she'd burn the world down for him considering she tried to run in 2 vs 6 not 15 minutes prior within the runtime and completely abandoned helping Tommy just a set piece earlier. Abby actress Kaitlyn Dever shoulda been Ellie. Or better yet Cailee Spaeny. I just don't buy Ellie at all more often than not.
NoobNoob
NoobNoob - 5/26/2025, 12:12 AM
can we pretend that this season never happened?
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/26/2025, 12:29 AM
OT: Anyone else disappointed with the Welcome to Derry trailer? It looked very "Made for TV" in regards to it's cast and the way it's filmed. Where the movies looked Cinematic, The show looks to be the opposite. Or is it just me?
Nomis929
Nomis929 - 5/26/2025, 12:36 AM
RIP Peter David :(
NGFB
NGFB - 5/26/2025, 1:04 AM
Blah, blah, blah, I just hope Ellie is dead. Abby is much more interesting, and her face doesn’t make me want to barf.
IAmAHoot
IAmAHoot - 5/26/2025, 7:54 AM
@NGFB - You either barf or you don't. Quit trying to faux how hurt you are.
archstar
archstar - 5/26/2025, 3:09 AM
last article was 5 hours ago...how can I be first when there's no new articles :(
AllsNotGood
AllsNotGood - 5/26/2025, 4:38 AM
Merced isn't a good actress, she over acts and isn't believable

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