I have never cried harder than when the song kvetch in at the goal of " The Last of Us " time of year 2 , Episode 2
There are obviously MASSIVE spoilers forward forThe Last of UsSeason 2 , Episode 2 !
So, if you’re like me, then you probably still haven’t recovered from the extremely emotionally drainingThe Last of UsSeason 2, Episode 2, aka “Through the Valley,” which was directed by Mark Mylod and written by show co-creator Craig Mazin.
This episode was one that gamers have been attempting to mentally prepare for. As Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Dina (Isabela Merced) get caught in a blizzard while out on patrol their path collides with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who has arrived in Jackson on a mission to kill Joel.
It’s a brutal scene as Abby brings Joel and Dina back to her group, and proceeds to tell Joel that the Firefly doctor he killed in the Season 1 finale was her dad, and now she’s here to kill him and make it slow and painful. Dever gives an award-worthy performance here. No question.
In a heartbreaking moment taken directly fromThe Last of Us Part IIgame, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) arrives while Joel is already bloody on the floor, struggling to stay awake. It’s a sob-inducing moment as Ellie pleads with Joel to get up. However, Abby ultimately deals the final fatal blow.
While Joel’s death scene is basically a shot-for-shot recreation from the game, the show dives even deeper and makes it arguably more brutal, as we see Abby stab Joel with a broken golf club, and then Ellie crawls over and lays her body over Joel’s after Abby and her crew leave. It’s a stunning performance by Ramsey, too.
Then, in another addition from the game, we see Ellie, Dina, and Jesse (Young Mazino) dragging Joel’s body back down the hill to Jackson, which has also just undergone an attack as a horde infiltrated the town’s gates.
Whew. It’s heartbreaking, and even though I knew it was coming, this scene was as much of a gut-punch as when the game was released in 2020.
And while all of those moments are devastating, it’s actually the music that plays over the final montage as the camera zooms out while Ellie lies on top of Joel, followed by them dragging his body through the snow, that actually made me burst into tears.
The song that kicks in is “Through the Valley,” which is also the episode’s title. It’s originallysung by Shawn James, howeverThe Last of Uselects to use a cover that has such a deep connection to the story.
The show uses a cover of “Through the Valley” that is sung byAshley Johnson, who voiced and did the motion capture for Ellie inThe Last of Us, theLeft BehindDLC, andThe Last of Us Part II.
Ashley has not only been instrumental in creating Ellie — so much of her real personality is infused in this character — but she’s also been nominated three times for the BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role for her work inThe Last of Us, and she’s won the award twice.
And, she notablyguest-starred as Anna, Ellie’s mom, in the Season 1 finale, where we see how she gave birth to Ellie after getting bitten by an infected. Speaking about appearing in the show, Ashleytold Deadline in 2023, “The layers of that are certainly not lost on me. It makes me emotional pretty much every time I think about it because this world and this project is so important to me and has been for a decade.”
So now, Season 2 has added another emotional connection between Ashley and this adaptation by using her memorable cover of “Through the Valley,” which wasoriginally used in a teaser trailerwhen Naughty Dog announcedThe Last of Us Part IIin 2016. The scene was never actually used in the game; however, the song can be heard when Joel comes into Ellie’s room to give her a guitar.
Speaking on HBO’s officialThe Last of Uspodcast, Mazindiscussedthe decision to incorporate Ashley’s cover of the song into the show, saying, “Ashley isn’t just Ellie in the game, she’s also now, in our show, Ellie’s mother. And there’s this ghostly sound of the other person who loved Ellie as much as Joel did. And what she is singing about is not good news in the end, even though Jackson is saved, even though Ellie survives. Someone’s soul might be damned. And that is rough.”
Mazin alsotold Entertainment Weekly,“It is an interesting thing in a moment like this, when your only parent is taken from you [and] the parent you’ve never met, the one you don’t even know about, is there watching.”
Using Ashley’s “Through the Valley” cover from the teaser also connects to Ellie’s line in the show where she threatens to kill “every last one” of Abby’s group because that’s exactly how the teaser trailer ended, too.
There’s something so incredibly special about howThe Last of UsTV show has honored the original voice and motion capture actors. Like Ashley, Season 1 featured a handful of them, includingTroy Baker, who played Joel in the games, and even Laura Bailey, who played Abby.
Basically, I adore these nods to the video game actors and also, man, we are about to enter an absolutely brutal period for Ellie, and I honestly cannot wait to see her destroy Seattle.
You can listen to Ashley Johnson’s full cover of “Through the Valley"here.
