‘The Last of Us’: The 24 Most Heartbreaking Moments From Season 1
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Last of Us, Season 1.]
The Last of Us is going to get the last of our tears as the HBO series delivered emotional moments week after week in its first season.
Already renewed for a second chapter, we can only imagine what tear-inducing events remain ahead, but already there have been several unforgettable scenes in the first season that have caused us to cry our eyes out. Whether it’s Episode 3 — you know what we’re talking about — or life-changing farewells for Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), the series has tested our emotional willpower.
Below, we’re ranking some of the most heartbreaking moments from the series so far, but do you agree with our listing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section, and relive every moment from The Last of Us Season 1 by streaming the series on HBO Max.
The Last of Us, Season 1, Streaming now, HBO Max
24. Doctor Ratna Pertiwi Gets Real
In the opening moments of Episode 2, Doctor Ratna Pertiwi (Christine Hakim) is called in to investigate an unusual medical case that turns out to be the initial signs of the pandemic that is about to go global. Realizing the nature of the situation, she advises the military to begin bombing its cities to prevent the spread. She also asks to be returned to her family so she can be with them before the world as they know it ends. It’s both chilling and heartbreaking to watch as it’s clear the doctor is meant to be a pillar of courage in the face of medical challenges, but even this is too big for her to fix.
23. Harsh Reality
In the first episode, the initial sequence set in present-day Boston sees a child enter the QZ where they’re tested and results show they’re positive for infection. The officer handling their intake tells the child they’ll be given food and toys, but a quick cut to a fire pit reveals where they’re actually ending up after being killed. We see Joel dump their body into the flames, and his resigned approach makes the disturbing job even more upsetting.
22. Joel's PTSD
As Joel, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and Tess (Anna Torv) attempt to sneak out of the Boston QZ, Ellie goes to drastic lengths to keep her infected status from being revealed. It leads Joel to beat a Fedra soldier to death as he remembers the night his daughter died. That PTSD drives his fist into the man’s face over and over again, and even as a viewer, you can almost feel the ice in your veins.
21. Bill & Frank's Window
Who knew an image of something as inoffensive as a window could hurt so much? A reference to the letter left for Joel; viewers bid Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) farewell through their open window to the room which houses their corpses. The symbolic viewpoint sees Joel and Ellie drive off into the distance in Bill’s truck as Linda Ronstadt‘s “Long Long Time” plays in the background. The moment is an emotional bookend to Bill and Frank’s love story, which began with a piano-playing session featuring the same tune.
20. Ellie Saves Joel
Despite their bickering, Ellie and Joel’s bond is really encapsulated when she’s forced to save him from an attacker. Flip-flopping between a knife and her secret gun, Ellie decides to shoot the attacker, freeing Joel from a literal chokehold. The situation’s intensity is enough to stir up varying emotions, including heartbreak.
19. Joel & Ellie Cross Paths With a Mass Grave
On Joel and Ellie’s journey to Bill and Frank’s, they come across a ditch filled with skeletons. The sight is something Joel tried steering them away from, but Ellie had other plans. The regret on her face is almost immediate as they walk close to the mass grave. Joel explains to her that the uninfected were directed to QZs (quarantine zones), but if they were full, the civilians were killed. As Ellie takes all of this in, viewers are shown skeletons and cloth which indicate the young age of some victims. It’s a tough pill to swallow even as viewers.
18. Bill's Letter to Joel
Ellie reads aloud Bill’s letter addressed to Joel. There are a few sharp daggers in this moving moment, including Bill’s reminder to Joel that they’re the protectors in this harsh post-apocalyptic world. While Bill has completed his run with Frank, Joel’s journey is ongoing. Offering up supplies to his acquaintance, Bill tells Joel to use them in order to keep Tess safe, unaware that she hasn’t made it. To say the three words “keep Tess safe” hurt is an understatement.
17. Ellie Ask for the Truth
Ellie asks Joel if he’s telling her the truth about the Fireflies not needing her for a cure. Of course, the audience knows he lied to her, but she’s still uncertain. When he reaffirms the lie, telling her he’s being honest, she continues to follow him, but it’s clear on her face that she’s not entirely certain about his words.
16. Bill Gets Shot
While living in a post-apocalyptic world has many challenges, Frank and Bill led a relatively comfortable life until scavengers encroached on their compound. Although Bill’s various traps served to protect them against the threat, he got shot, and it was clear as he pleaded with Frank to call Joel he believed he wouldn’t make it through the night. The revelation is hard to reconcile and is sure to make the most stoic of viewers choked up with concern.
15. Marlene & Joel Face Off
After massacring the hospital facility taken over by the Fireflies, Joel attempts to escape with a sedated Ellie, when Marlene (Merle Dandridge) blocks their path. She tries to persuade Joel not to leave and allow the surgery that could help the world but would kill Ellie to take place. Ultimately, Joel makes the choice to shoot Marlene and run with Ellie because he can’t let go of her. When she pleads for her life, bleeding on the ground, Joel delivers a kill shot in a moment of pure brutality.
14. Joel & Ellie Talk About Loss
While visiting Joel’s brother, he decides it’s best if Ellie continues her journey without him. But when Joel goes to tell Ellie, she’s already clued into his plan and shows bitterness because of it. Although Joel tells Ellie she knows nothing about loss, she argues the opposite, noting that anyone she’s ever cared about has either died or left her. The conversation is heated, dramatic, and revealing, making it a definite standout moment.
13. Ellie Tells Joel It Isn't Her First Time Shooting
After a brush with death at the hands of an attacker, Joel and Ellie regroup to catch their breath and map out their next plan. While talking, Joel apologizes to Ellie for putting her in a position where she has to shoot another person. She lets a tear or two drops before wiping them away. But her crying isn’t the most heart-wrenching aspect of the scene; it’s the reveal that Ellie’s had to shoot in the past.
12. Ellie Says Sorry
After burying Sam (Keivonn Woodard) and Henry (Lamar Johnson) with Joel, Ellie leaves a parting note to the youngest boy. A simple, “I’m sorry,” speaks volumes as she feels guilt over not being able to help Sam survive his bite from an infected. Despite being immune herself, the blood she tried to share wasn’t enough and the resulting survivor’s guilt is palpable.
11. Riley & Ellie Come to Terms With a Doomed Fate
While Riley (Storm Reid) and Ellie spend one of the best nights of their lives in the mall, the evening ends in tragedy when an undetected infected takes them by surprise and bites them both. Now, any hopes of a future together are dashed, but while Ellie chooses to let her anger out in destructive ways, Riley suggests they keep on carrying on no matter how long the infection takes to kick in. Her desire to spend whatever final moments they have together is heart-wrenching, but even more so with the understanding that Ellie probably watched Riley turn, while she never does.
10. Bill Gets Candid Over Strawberries
In one of Episode 3’s sweeter moments, Frank surprises Bill by presenting him with a patch of strawberries grown with seeds Joel traded for a small gun. As they bite into the fruit, Bill giggles with delight, but what he says next melts a viewer’s heart, and he was never afraid until Frank showed up in his life. The candid display of vulnerability won’t soon be forgotten.
9. Joel's Plea to Tommy
After being reunited with his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) in Episode 6, Joel begs him to take Ellie to her final destination because he’s so petrified he’ll let her down. It’s clear his fears stem from his own trauma around his daughter’s death, but it’s one of the first times we see Joel so vulnerable that it’s difficult to be unmoved by his tears here.
8. Anna's Final Wish
After handing her newborn daughter Ellie over to her childhood friend Marlene, Anna (played by the game’s Ashley Johnson) has one final wish, for her daughter to be sent to the Boston QZ with her old knife, and for Marlene to kill her before the infection from a bite takes control. It’s heartbreaking to see this perspective of Ellie’s story, knowing that without Anna’s unfortunate encounter with an infected, she might have survived.
7. Henry Doesn't Know What to Do
When an infected Sam attacks Ellie, both Joel and Henry are startled into action. Henry’s first instinct is to shoot at Joel as a defense mechanism against a threat to his brother, but amid the chaos, he shoots the young boy’s infected corpse and his resulting devastation is too much to handle, forcing him to turn the gun on himself. The whole scene unfolds quickly and dramatically, adding to the startling impact. It’s not a moment viewers are soon to forget.
6. Tess Makes Joel Move On Without Her
Not long into their journey west, Joel, Tess, and Ellie run into trouble in Boston, where clickers attack them. While Tess brushes off the encounter, claiming she only has a hurt ankle, she later confesses she’s been infected. Looking at Ellie’s wound healing, she makes Joel push ahead in the journey without her, sacrificing the small amount of time she has left to help him and Ellie escape. It’s clear he’s resistant, but his practical mindset puts Joel on the path toward Bill and Franks, fulfilling Tess’s wish to get Ellie where she needs to be. The lack of a proper goodbye makes the tense moment that much sadder.
5. Ellie Tries to Comfort Sam
Sitting alone together in an abandoned motel with Joel and Henry in the room next door, Sam and Ellie communicate back and forth. Sam asks a series of deep questions that seem confusing until he reveals he’s been bitten by an infected. Ellie tries to give Sam hope, telling him her blood is medicine and attempting to rub some of it into his wound. In a desperate final plea, he poses the question of whether she’ll stay awake with him. The quick friends share a hug that makes us want to sob just thinking about it, which lands this moment high up on the list.
4. Sarah's Death
As if the end of the world as you know it wasn’t enough, Joel’s apocalyptic journey begins with the devastating death of his only daughter Sarah (Nico Parker). Injured and fleeing from an infected in pursuit, Joel and Sarah meet a military man with the goal of elimination in mind. While Joel attempts to jump out of the way, his efforts are for naught as Sarah’s riddled with bullets. Equally horrifying is Sarah’s violent gasps as Joel tries to will the inevitable from happening. The moment certainly set a tone for the series, putting this moment high on our list of heartbreak.
3. Bill & Frank's Final Day
We could break up Bill and Frank’s final day together into several heartbreaking sections, but we’ll settle for the entire sequence in one doozy of a one-two punch. Set in 2023, this sequence begins with Frank declaring to his love Bill that he intends to die that day following a long-fought battle with an undisclosed illness, but there are a few tasks to accomplish first, including getting married and sharing one last meal before purposely overdosing on sleeping pills. Whether it’s Bill’s initial reaction, the use of Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight,” or Bill’s decision to follow suit and end his life because Frank was his “purpose,” the layered sequence takes the cake when it comes to this show’s emotional moments.
2. Joel Comforts Ellie
Terrorized by Pastor David (Scott Shepherd) and his followers, Ellie outsmarts her cannibalistic captors and slays the pedophilic leader in a fiery face-off. After the exhausting experience comes to an end, she exits the burning building to be approached by Joel who despite a lingering infection managed to trek all the way to the settlement and is there to wrap her in a hug and say, “it’s okay, baby girl. I got you.” Her relieved whimpers are enough to make the strongest viewer break.
1. Joel Tells Ellie It Isn't Time That Heals Wounds
As Joel and Ellie walk among the urban decay of a fallen city, he takes a moment to tell her about his healed gunshot wound. He tells her that on the second day of the outbreak, he tried to kill himself, but because he flinched, he missed. When she says “time heals all wounds,” Joel tells Ellie, that it wasn’t time that healed him, implying it was her. And if that doesn’t want to make you cry, we don’t know what will.
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