We really should have come to expect that, right? After the heartbreak of Episode 3 and the suffering of Episode 5, everything was pointing towards Episode 7. Last of Us Another lesson in emotional pain.
And indeed, it did not disappoint.
The backstory about Riley (Storm Reed), Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) childhood best friend and first love, was a tragic punch in the gut. What happened to Riley after the final flashback ended.
People still eat bread in ‘The Last of Us’ and I don’t know why
What will happen to Ellie and Riley in Episode 7?
A major part of Episode 7 is a flashback that shows Ellie’s life at the FEDRA training compound before she met Joel (Pedro Pascal). At the beginning of the episode, we learn that Ellie’s best friend, Riley, has been missing for her three weeks. Ellie thinks she’s dead, but she’s wrong – in the middle of the night Riley sneaks in through her bedroom window and explains to Ellie that she was actually recruited by the rebel organization Firefly.
The two sneak out together and visit an old shopping mall that has been reconnected to the power grid without FEDRA’s knowledge. The bond between the two is tested by the revelation that Riley is leaving for the Firefly Post in Atlanta the next day. I managed to kill it, but I realized that both of them bit me while dodging it.
Exploring abandoned buildings after Cordyceps is never a good idea.
Credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO
In the flashback’s final shot, Ellie and Riley are sitting cuddling and crying, promising to keep going until they can’t go on any longer.
The thing is, we already know what happens to Ellie after this — she’s immune to cordyceps, and the bite she got that day is what happened to Joel down the road. By the time we met, it was nothing but an old scar.
But what will happen to Riley? The answer may lie in Ellie and Joel’s conversation in Episode 4.
Ellie’s final moments with Riley are linked to a scene from Episode 4.
Remember when Joel and Ellie were ambushed in Kansas City QZ by Kathleen’s militia in Episode 4 and had to team up to kill Brian, the man who was trying to kill Joel? However, please bear with us for a while.
After escaping to relative safety, Joel and Ellie exchange the following:
Joel: “I didn’t hear that man coming. You shouldn’t have needed to come…you know…”
Ellie: “But you’re glad I did it, aren’t you?”
Joel: “You’re just a kid. You shouldn’t know what that means….I didn’t kill him, I shot him…I didn’t know what it was like.” I know what it is.
Ellie: “Yeah, you really aren’t.”
Joel: “It’s my fault. You didn’t have to. I’m sorry.”
Ellie: “It wasn’t the first time.”
Joel doesn’t ask any more questions, so episode 4 leaves Ellie wondering what exactly Ellie means by this. Has she killed someone before? Is it a living person or an infected person?
Ellie hints to Joel in Episode 4 that she has killed someone before.
Credit: Liane Hentscher/HBO
We don’t know for sure, but it looks like we’ll get a terrifying answer to this question in Episode 7. Ellie didn’t have much of a chance to kill between her FEDRA training facility and her encounter with Joel, which was discovered by Marlene and Firefly, so it’s possible she’s referring to Riley in this exchange.
tragic meaning? Ellie watched her best friend succumb to her infection before she was finally forced to kill her when Riley finally turned her.
The Last of Us is streaming now HBO Max.(opens in new tab) New episodes air every Sunday at 9pm ET on HBO.
