Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us.
The Last of Us fans are relying on their sense of humor to process the intensity of episode seven of the hit HBO series.
A fan took to r/TheLastOfUsHBOSeries subreddit to share a hilarious meme that summed up the absurd circumstances of the episode. Fans reacted to Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey) experiencing a flashback revealing the tragic events surrounding her infection by the cordyceps virus as her companion Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) lays on the ground in the throes of exsanguination.
The episode begins with Ellie attending to the stab wound Joel sustained in episode seven in the basement of an abandoned house when he tells her to return to Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and pushes her away. As Ellie goes upstairs, the thought of losing Joel triggers her post-traumatic stress. She experiences a prolonged flashback of the events leading up to her infection that lasts most of the episode.
Fans couldn’t resist joking about the thoughts that might have passed through Joel’s mind while Ellie was dissociating from the present.
Others speculated how Joel would have reacted if Ellie chose to open up to him about her past while he required medical attention.
One Redditor suggested that while it may have taken most of the episode to bring viewers up to speed with Ellie’s past, her flashback would have lasted seconds.
Some fans would have preferred the revelation of Ellie’s backstory as micro-flashbacks interspersed with other events in the episode. In their view, this would make her expression of grief even more moving.
Another Redditor empathized with the limited options Ellie had under the circumstances.
However, yet another fan felt it was important for the show to take the time to illustrate the events of Ellie’s past to underscore how significant Joel is to her.
Indeed, laughter is the shock absorber of life. It’s no wonder that some fans are reacting to some of the more suspenseful scenes in The Last of Us by using their funnybone.
The Last of Us airs on Sundays on HBO Max.
