‘The Last of Us’ season one ending, explained

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season one finale, “Look for the Light.”

The first season of HBO’s The Last of Us ended in pretty much exactly the same fashion as the 2013 video game that inspired it. Whether you’re a gamer or not, the finale left its audience absolutely stunned regardless.

Joel and Ellie finally completed their journey across the post-apocalyptic United States and linked up with Marlene and the Fireflies. Things got very complicated very quickly in no small part thanks to the bond that the two series leads had formed along the way. It led to a morally complex ending, which can perhaps be viewed as a “happy” one from Joel’s perspective but a devastating one for the world at large. 

While post-apocalyptic “zombie” fiction more often than not tends to end on a bleak and decisive note, the ending to the The Last of Us season one finale, “Look For The Light” ends by evoking a very broad range of emotions and leaves its audience questioning a fair bit. Why did Joel do what he did? Who was morally in the right? What was the lesser of two evils? Does Ellie know more than she’s letting on? Let’s break down everything that happened, so you can formulate your own answers.

“Look for the Light” explained

Joel and Ellie finally arrive in Salt Lake City. Despite Ellie still being quite shaken by the events of the preceding episode, it is clear that their bond now runs deeper than ever, particularly from Joel’s point of view. A man who has been emotionally closed off to his “cargo” for the better part of the series is now calling Ellie by his deceased daughter’s pet name, after all. 

The pair are ambushed by a Firefly patrol who don’t know who they are, and Joel is knocked unconscious. He awakens in a hospital room with Marlene, who tells him Ellie is being prepared for surgery. She elaborates that they will be extracting a sample from Ellie’s brain which will result in a cure for the cordyceps infection, but she will die in the process.

Joel protests, but Marlene implores him to think of the greater good. Having grown an emotional attachment to Ellie, with an acute fear of failing her just as he did with his own daughter, he wasn’t about to allow history to repeat itself. As he is being escorted out of the hospital, he snaps and begins a murderous rampage towards the operating theater where Ellie’s surgery is to take place.

Joel kills a surgeon coming at him with a knife and retrieves Ellie from the operating table. He takes her to the hospital’s parking deck, where he runs into Marlene, who appeals to him one last time, asking him to think about what Ellie would have decided. Joel shoots Marlene and puts Ellie in a car. Marlene begs for her life, but he finishes the job after telling her that she would only come after Ellie.

Later, Ellie’s anesthesia wears off, and she finds herself in a car bound for Wisconsin with Joel. He tells her an elaborate lie about there being dozens of immune people whom the Fireflies had already tested but weren’t able to glean anything from, and they had stopped looking for a cure. When they arrive on the outskirts of Jackson, Ellie tells Joel about Riley before asking him to swear he is telling her the truth. He swears, but Ellie pauses before finally telling him, “Okay.” 

Whether she actually bought it is up to you to decide. You also can go searching for answers in The Last of Us Part II video game if you’re way too antsy to wait for the second season of the HBO adaptation. We can’t say we blame you.