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Spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 2, “Through the Valley.” HBO’s second episode aired on April 20, 2025, and delivers the season’s defining rupture: Abby kills Joel in front of Ellie. A large infected assault on Jackson makes the community’s danger physical before the lodge ambush transforms that danger into an intimate moral catastrophe.
What happens in “Through the Valley”
The episode opens with Abby’s recurring nightmare of the Salt Lake City hospital, where Joel killed her father, the surgeon, while rescuing Ellie. That image establishes the grievance driving Abby before the story returns to Jackson.
![The Last of Us Season 2 [2025] [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41FoaY99CuL._SL160_.jpg)
Jackson’s patrol routines and strained relationships give way to a snowstorm and an infected horde attacking the settlement. Joel and Dina encounter Abby and rescue her from the infected. Abby’s group later ambushes them at a remote lodge.
Abby shoots Joel. Mel keeps him from bleeding out long enough for Abby to identify him as the man who killed her father. Abby then beats Joel to death with a golf club. Ellie reaches the lodge in time to witness the killing but cannot stop it. The episode ends with Ellie, Dina and Jesse carrying Joel’s body back toward Jackson as “Through the Valley” plays.
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#1 Best Overall
Why the episode works
The Jackson siege makes the personal disaster feel communal
The infected attack is not merely an action interlude. It shows Jackson as vulnerable and forces characters into shared survival before the lodge sequence isolates Ellie inside a private trauma. The two set pieces therefore reinforce one another: the town faces an external emergency, then Ellie’s world collapses through a targeted act of revenge.
Joel’s death is consequence, not a mystery
Because Abby’s hospital connection is shown at the start, the episode is less interested in hiding who will kill Joel than in making viewers inhabit the consequences of his Season 1 decision. Co-creator Craig Mazin said the death was never being delayed for a later surprise: “We’re not interested in shock value. That’s not what we do.” Joel dies in the second episode, leaving five episodes to explore what his absence does to Ellie, Jackson and Abby.
Rank #2
The performances refuse easy catharsis
Kaitlyn Dever makes Abby’s motive understandable without making her violence comfortable. Pedro Pascal plays Joel’s recognition and helplessness rather than turning the scene into a final heroic stand. Bella Ramsey responds to the killing with stunned devastation, choosing a restrained reaction instead of the game’s more explosive vocal performance. That quietness makes Ellie’s shock feel arrested and disorienting.
How the episode differs from The Last of Us Part II
The television adaptation preserves the essential event but rearranges the route to it. The show reveals Abby’s connection to the surgeon earlier than The Last of Us Part II does, giving viewers context before Joel’s death rather than withholding it as a later reversal.
Rank #3
![The Last of Us: The Complete 1 & 2 Seasons [7-Disc Set] [2023–2025] [Blu-ray] [Region Free]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51xxB0fkBTL._SL160_.jpg)
- COMPLETE SEASONS 1 & 2 COLLECTION – Includes every episode from the first two acclaimed HBO seasons across a 7-disc Blu-ray set
- BASED ON THE AWARD-WINNING VIDEO GAME – Faithfully adapts Naughty Dog's legendary post-apocalyptic masterpiece with cinematic storytelling
- STARRING PEDRO PASCAL & BELLA RAMSEY – Outstanding performances alongside Gabriel Luna, Kaitlyn Dever, Jeffrey Wright, Isabela Merced, and Catherine O'Hara
- HIGH-DEFINITION BLU-RAY – Experience every episode with exceptional picture quality, immersive audio, and bonus features
- REGION FREE BLU-RAY – Compatible with Blu-ray players worldwide
| Story element | HBO’s “Through the Valley” | The Last of Us Part II |
|---|---|---|
| Abby’s motive | Connected to her father in the opening nightmare before the lodge killing | Revealed later, after the game has established the killing and its aftermath |
| Jackson patrol pairing | Joel rides with Dina; Tommy stays in Jackson to help defend the town | The patrol arrangement is different |
| Jackson attack | A large infected assault during a snowstorm is created or substantially expanded for television | No direct one-to-one recreation of this television siege sequence |
| Joel’s final scene | Joel is ambushed at a remote lodge; Ellie arrives while Abby is killing him | The same core tragedy is adapted with changed staging and supporting-character placement |
| Ellie’s immediate response | Ramsey plays stunned devastation and helpless witnessing | The game presents a more explosive performance in the comparable moment |
These changes address television’s different pacing and lack of player control. Moving Abby’s motive forward helps the audience understand the revenge framework immediately. Pairing Joel with Dina develops their relationship, gives Jesse more room in the season’s social fabric and leaves Tommy in Jackson when the horde arrives.
Is Joel really dead?
Yes. “Through the Valley” presents Joel’s death as final, not a fake-out or delayed reveal. Ellie sees Abby beat him to death, and the closing journey carries his body back toward Jackson. His death is the season’s decisive turning point and the engine for Ellie’s likely pursuit of revenge.
Rank #4
- Pedro Pascal, Gabriel Luna
Critical response
The episode was broadly acclaimed. Rotten Tomatoes listed a 97% Tomatometer score from 30 reviews and classified the hour as Action, Adventure, Drama and Horror with a TV-MA rating. Its critics consensus called the episode “a poignantly tense episode” and “a catalyst that marks the point of no return for these beloved characters.”
The strongest praise focuses on the production scale, the sustained tension and the way the Jackson siege prepares the lodge catastrophe. The principal reservation is that the episode may push the series’ bleakness toward emotional oppression. That disagreement is central to the hour’s effect: its violence is designed not as spectacle alone, but as a demand that viewers sit with grief, culpability and the possibility that revenge simply reproduces the original wound.
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- Ellie’s objective: Joel’s death gives her a direct, personal reason to pursue Abby and the people who helped her.
- Jackson’s response: The town must process both the infected assault and the loss of one of its most important protectors.
- Abby’s perspective: Her motive is already legible, but the season must test whether understanding her history changes how viewers judge her actions.
- The cost of revenge: With five episodes remaining after Joel’s death, the season can examine consequences rather than rushing past the emotional aftermath.
Verdict
“Through the Valley” is a brutal, carefully structured episode that makes Joel’s death feel like the consequence of an old choice rather than a cheap shock. The expanded Jackson siege gives the hour blockbuster scale, while the lodge killing and Ellie’s stunned reaction supply its lasting force. Its bleakness will be difficult for some viewers, but the episode’s control, performances and adaptation choices make it one of Season 2’s essential hours.
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