Season 1 of ‘The Last of Us’ was never about saving the world

• Ellie and Joel set out to save humanity in Season 1 of  ‘The Last of Us.’
• The story was always about something far more personal.
• The Last of Us clears the air by demonstrating that Season 1 of this epic video-game adaptation.

Ellie and Joel set out to save humanity in Season 1 of ‘The Last of Us,’ but the story was always about something far more personal.

As Joel (Pedro Pascal) beats a FEDRA soldier to death with his bare hands in the first episode of The Last Of Us, it serves as an introduction to the wrath and sadness Joel has harboured since the day he witnessed his daughter, Sarah, killed down by a scared soldier at the start of the fungal epidemic. Joel has been a man without a purpose ever then, as he confesses when he tells Ellie (Bella Ramsey) about his failed suicide attempt in the show’s dramatic Season 1 conclusion. By the time Joel decides to join Ellie in Episode 9, “Look for the Light,” it is clear that Joel has developed feelings for his adolescent partner-in-crime. During this period, The Last of Us also appears to be shifting away from the emotional hardships and tribulations of Joel and Ellie as individuals and towards a sci-fi narrative about rescuing the planet. But, The Last of Us clears the air by demonstrating that Season 1 of this epic video-game adaptation was never about rescuing the planet.

Season 1 of The Last of Us features Joel as a devastated father who refuses to believe that there is anything worth protecting in the world. Joel is shown throughout the season suffering from the painful memories of the night the Cordyceps chose to take over and he lost his only daughter. Nevertheless, as his adventure with Ellie came to a conclusion, we witnessed Joel’s optimism rekindled. For a brief moment, The Last of Us Season 1 leads the audience to believe that Joel has discovered his calling in life: to give mankind one final opportunity. Yet, Joel’s actions in the finale show that the only world worth saving is one with Ellie in it.

Via Ellie, Joel re-connects with Sarah

Joel has discovered Sarah in Ellie. Of course, not literally, but when Joel points out all the similarities between Ellie and Sarah in Episode 9, it’s apparent he feels she fills the void left in his life by Sarah’s absence. Joel’s emotional spectrum varied from one extreme to the other on the same scale from the beginning to the end of the season. He begins as a cold and stubborn guy who has grown accustomed to the harsh realities of life in a post-apocalyptic world. Joel will not even recognise his background, let alone express his fears. Every time Ellie attempts to delve into his past, Joel keeps her from entering experiences he never plans to discuss again.

Joel’s progressive change occurs throughout the season, as Ellie evolves from cargo for the Fireflies to a part of his life worth sacrificing everything for, very literally in this case. In Episode 9, he admits to Ellie that she has made the world worth rescuing for him, revealing his worries and embracing the father within him whom he had left behind in time. Ellie concludes, after her harrowing experience with David in Episode 8, that too many people have died around her for her to live, including her mother, Anna, and closest friend, Riley. Ellie believes that if her life is to have any significance, she must fulfil her destiny of rescuing the planet. When Joel suggests returning midway through the Season 1 finale, she makes this clear to him.

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