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Season 2 of The Last of Us picks up in a world still cracked wide open. Set a few years after the first season, the story now centers on the growing tension between survival and revenge. Joel and Ellie return, but the spotlight starts to shift. New faces enter the scene — like Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever — and suddenly, the lines between good and bad start to blur. The infected are still out there, but the real danger often comes from the living.
Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal carry emotional weight like second nature. Their performances still carry the story's weight, especially as the show leans deeper into the psychological fallout of past choices. Violence isn’t just a spectacle here — it leaves scars, emotional ones. This season aims to highlight that more than anything.
The tone is darker, and the pacing is slower in places, but that’s part of the design. Every episode brings something different to the table. The show's fans started loving the post-apocalyptic action but are sticking around for the raw, human drama.
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Here’s how every episode of The Last of Us Season 2 stacks up, from the boldest swings to quiet gut punches.
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Disclaimer: The following list contains HEAVY spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 and is a ranking based on the writer's opinion.
All episodes of The Last of Us season 2 ranked
7) Episode 3: The Path
In The Path, the story picks up three months after the events of The Last of Us season 2 episode 2. Ellie is physically healed from her confrontation with Abby and the WLF, but the emotional aftermath continues to shape her actions. Instead of staying in Jackson, Ellie asks the community to support her plan to travel to Seattle and confront the WLF. Dina (Isabela Merced) recalls specific details about the group responsible for Joel’s death, and she and Ellie share a quiet exchange about their connection to him.
The episode also explores Jackson's efforts to recover after a major attack by the infected. While most residents express concern over Ellie’s plan, it's clear that those closest to her and Dina understand the decision has already been made. The two prepare to leave the town behind, knowing what lies ahead.
Throughout the season, Ellie’s choices reflect a long, unresolved grief process. The episode also focuses on Abby, whose motivations mirror Ellie’s in many ways. As the narrative unfolds, it presents both perspectives without a clear judgment, allowing space to examine how grief, loss, and survival shape each character’s journey.
6) Episode 1: Future Days
In the The Last of Us season 2 premiere, Future Days sets the tone with a quiet start before the chaos. There's obvious tension between Ellie and Joel, but the show doesn’t immediately spell out why. Dina often acts as the go-between, spending time with both of them—sometimes on patrol runs with Joel, other times with Ellie. This version of Ellie is older, more assertive, and more guarded. She's got a tattoo, sharper instincts, and zero patience for small talk.
New characters are introduced early: Jesse (Young Mazino), Dina’s ex; Seth (Robert John Burke), who brings an edge to the Jackson crew; and Gail (Catherine O’Hara), a psychologist with a blunt, no-nonsense presence. Joel’s private conversations with Gail reveal the strain in his bond with Ellie while Ellie trains with Jesse, hinting at a deeper emotional burden beneath her focus.
The episode mirrors the original game’s pacing, easing back into life in Jackson before the story spirals. Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and Maria (Rutina Wesley) return and take on more defined roles in this season, Tommy especially stepping into the paternal space left behind after Joel’s emotional pullback. Ellie and Dina’s growing connection is at the center of it all, a thread that quietly runs through every episode after this.
5) Episode 4: Day One
Episode 4, titled Day One, marks the beginning of Ellie and Dina’s journey through Seattle. It’s the quietest episode so far but also one of the most intimate. As the pair settles into an abandoned theater, Dina takes multiple pregnancy tests—each one confirming what she already suspects. Their bond deepens through music, conversation, and long silences, and their relationship shifts into something more than survival.
There’s a tenderness in this episode that contrasts sharply with the chaos around them. Day One slows the pace and reminds viewers that life doesn’t pause for tragedy. Feelings still surface. People still connect. It’s an emotional reset, even as danger looms just outside the door. A brief but tense encounter with the infected pushes the stakes higher. When Ellie gets bitten, Dina prepares for the worst—until Ellie finally tells her the truth: she’s immune.
Meanwhile, the story expands with the introduction of Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), the WLF’s brutal commander. His screen time is short but memorable. Isaac’s presence adds weight to the ongoing conflict with the Seraphites, a cult-like group known for their eerie silence and brutal tactics. It’s a setup that hints at deeper violence and ideological warfare still to come.
4) Episode 5: Feel Her Love
The Last of Us season 2 episode 5, Feel Her Love, pushes Ellie into darker territory. With Joel gone, she steps fully into the kind of violence he once wielded—only this time, it’s personal. On Day Two in Seattle, Ellie and Dina get caught between the WLF and the Seraphites, whose brutal conflict leaves blood everywhere. The phrase “feel her love” is plastered across the city, tied to a woman the Seraphites revere, treating her vision like doctrine.
The episode opens with a tense exchange between Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach) and Elise Park (Hettienne Park), who reveals that the basement of Lakehill Hospital is overrun and the infection is now airborne. That sealed-off space becomes the setting for one of the show’s most brutal scenes. Nora (Tati Gabrielle), linked to Joel’s death, flees into the hospital’s depths & Ellie follows.
What unfolds is raw and unsettling. Rage takes over, and Ellie shows just how far she’s willing to go. The confrontation, drenched in red light, captures the shift happening in Ellie. It’s not just revenge anymore—it’s something deeper and far more dangerous. Episode 5 doesn’t just raise the stakes. It shifts the emotional tone of the season.
3) Episode 7: Convergence
The season 2 finale, Convergence, doesn’t hold back. Ellie and Dina are still in Seattle, and Jesse, who finds them in Episode 5, starts pushing back against Ellie’s choices. The tension builds until, in a blink, Jesse is shot by Abby. Just as Abby turns her gun on Ellie, the screen cuts to black. A gunshot rings out with no answers.
Then comes the twist—Abby wakes up at WLF HQ three days before that standoff. Title card: “Seattle Day One.” The reset makes it clear this is only half the story. Season 3 is picking up right where this left off, though it’s likely to shift focus to Abby, just like the game did.
Convergence tracks Ellie’s inner tug-of-war—revenge vs restraint. Bella Ramsey carries that weight in every scene. Meanwhile, Young Mazino’s quiet performance as Jesse adds gravity without saying much. There’s a flicker of that young Keanu Reeves charm in him—steady, subtle, and impactful.
With no closure in sight, the finale leaves everything dangling—and that might just be the point.
2) Episode 6: The Price
Episode 6, The Price, flashes back to the five years Joel and Ellie spent in Jackson. They live like family—sharing a home and celebrating birthdays—but cracks start to show as Ellie grows up. She wants honesty. Joel wants to protect her. And the truth about the Fireflies still sits between them.
The episode finally lays out why Ellie had shut Joel out. His choices—killing Eugene before he could say goodbye, wiping out the Fireflies to save Ellie, and trying to control her life—left lasting scars. Their bond starts to crumble under the weight of those decisions.
As Joel senses he might lose her for good, he opens up,
“I hope you do a little better than me,” he says, echoing his father’s words.
It was a gut-punch moment and easily one of Pascal’s most raw performances to date.
1) Episode 2: Through The Valley
The Last of Us season 2 episode 2, Through the Valley, is easily the most gut-wrenching entry of Season 2. The episode delivers a brutal mix of loss and chaos, starting with Abby triggering an avalanche of infected outside Jackson and ending with Joel’s violent death at her hands.
Abby lures Joel into a cabin and kills him just as Ellie arrives—too late to stop it, too shocked to process it. Meanwhile, Jackson is thrown into survival mode. The infected swarm the colony, and chaos erupts as Tommy, Maria, and others fight to hold the line. The action doesn’t let up, and neither does the heartbreak.
It’s a devastating hour of television—no getting around that. The aftermath leaves Ellie wrecked, Jackson shaken, and everything that once felt safe now up in flames.
Season 2 of The Last of Us didn’t pull any punches. Grief, revenge, and survival collide across its most pivotal moments. Every episode adds another layer to the fallout. Some broke hearts, others sparked debate—but all of them mattered. The series is currently available to stream on Max.
