The Last of Us episode 7

We recap and review the emotional and heartbreaking The Last of Us episode 7, which is based on Ellie's backstory and DLC game content.

However, one major difference was the number of infected that Riley and Ellie have to face down in the mall. The episode, based on The Last of US DLC (Downloadable content), follows Ellie and Riley on a night out, as Riley prepares to exit FEDRA for a new life with the Fireflies. That means the magical moment where Ellie is staring out into the mall as the lights are switched on had to be shot on a soundstage and created with visual effects. That scene and her words about an old friend she used to play it with get a whole new level of meaning after this scene. In a computer game, you’re going to need more than one monster to battle to make it interesting. “And we want them to be challenged by their darkest fears. HBO® and all related programs are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. [The Last of Us](/tv/drama/the-last-of-us-tv-series-release-date-cast-story) is going to give us joy, happiness and melt our hearts… “And they said, you can do what you want,” said Mazin. Picking up after last week’s stabbing of Joel, Left Behind begins with Ellie facing a near impossible decision about what to do with her wounded friend. And it also captures Ellie’s personality – it’s all or nothing.” For me, [Pearl Jam, All or None] was one of those songs.

This week, an extended flashback fills in significant aspects of Ellie's life in the Boston Quarantine Zone.

Nearly everything in Ellie and Riley’s room either comes up again in this episode or is a part of Ellie’s lore. Ellie comes back though, because Riley is about to be reassigned to Atlanta, and Ellie doesn’t want their last memory of each other to be her storming away in anger. It takes a while before any trouble starts; and in the hour or two before then, these two girls have the greatest night of their lives. The scene where Riley lights up the mall is absolutely beautiful, rich with the soft, colorful glow of retail outlet signs. (Her death is not shown, but it is possible that when Ellie hinted to Joel back in Kansas City that she had killed before, she meant Riley.) When Riley makes fun of the mall’s un-looted Victoria’s Secret store and jokes about what Ellie would look like in lingerie, Ellie blushes and then surreptitiously checks her hair in the window’s reflection. The friends later briefly split up after Ellie realizes that Riley didn’t just stumble across this mall but has in fact been posted there by the Fireflies, who have her building explosives for them. Ellie is skeptical, but still agrees to join her best friend for a wild after-hours excursion — which turns out to be a trip to the mall. About 95 percent of this week’s episode consists of an extended flashback to Ellie’s life in the QZ, while in the present day she scrambles to keep the wounded Joel alive. Most of what we see in the flashback confirms what we already knew. When the flashback starts, Riley has been AWOL for three weeks; but while Ellie is asleep in their barracks after lights-out, Riley sneaks back in and explains her where she has been. She was bucking authority, sneaking out at night, and fighting with the other girls — spurred on in part by her rebellious roommate Riley (Storm Reid).

A post-apocalyptic romance as good as a mushroom monster world will allow.

[Henry and Sam!](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42825522/the-last-of-us-episode-5-henry/) [Frank and Bill](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42687278/the-last-of-us-episode-3-recap/). [Tess](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42618596/the-last-of-us-tess-death-show-vs-video-game/). [Frank-and-Bill](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42691787/how-do-bill-and-frank-die-in-the-last-of-us/) us all. This time, she’s going to save the person closest to her. There’s even a damaged photobooth and a big carousel that plays a toy-box piano version of The Church’s 1987 hit song “Under the Milky Way.” The Last of Us's trend of [picking out good songs](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42705769/the-last-of-us-linda-ronstadt-bill-frank-song/) is one of the only things in this series that's alive and well. [recapping last week's The Last of Us episode](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42955394/the-last-of-us-episode-6-recap/) while I was off meeting Mario in [Super Nintendo World](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a43012062/doug-bowser-super-nintendo-world-mario-movie-interview/). He strikes at the perfect time—right as the two girls argue about how Riley’s leaving the city and wants Ellie to come with her. (AKA Danger Land, USA.) Ellie warns her that the building is full of infected, but Riley doesn’t believe her. Riley already quotes their ideology as freedom fighters against the fascist FEDRA “dickbags.” Ellie and Riley escape in the middle of the night to explore a random building, which feels even less safe since, you know, this world is full of monsters. It’s been a minute since I've been in this mushroom world—the apocalyptic one, not Princess Peach's kingdom—and I come back to my The Last of Us home to find that Joel is fighting for dear life. We kick things off with Ellie in the Boston QZ military academy, getting reamed out by the corporal for misbehaving. But I’m shocked to learn that I leave for one minute and Joel ends ups (possibly) dead?!

Ellie grapples with love, death, and ideology in a (mostly) abandoned mall in a touching flashback episode. By Randall Colburn February 26, 2023 at 10:00 PM ...

"But you mattered to me first," Ellie says, softening enough for Riley to rope her into her last event of the evening. The gift, which Riley's stored with her bedroll in the backroom of a taco restaurant, is the book of puns Ellie will later entertain Joel with on the road. This is her last wonder of the mall. Riley takes her to one of the several "wonders" of the mall: a working carousel. The moment passes, though, and Ellie, uncomfortable by this rush of emotions, says that she needs to get back to the facility before they discover she's missing. Riley reveals she's being sent to the Atlanta QZ by the Fireflies and that this is her last night in Boston. A buzzing arcade is the next wonder, and Ellie declares its array of glowing, blooping cabinets "the most beautiful thing" she's ever seen. Riley's next wonder is a photo booth that snaps five photos of the pair before spitting them out in a strip that Ellie tucks into her bag. Ellie, who's spent the majority of her life being told that the Fireflies are terrorists, is concerned, but nevertheless intrigued when Riley tells her she has a surprise for her. The shops are trashed and looted, but the breadth of this consumerist wonderland, a relatively intact relic of a time she never knew, dazzles nevertheless. "We're the only thing holding all this together," Kwong says of FEDRA. "Put me in the hole," says Ellie, who's now got a black eye.

The Last Of Us gives us a major flashback taken directly from The Left Behind DLC from the game.

And I don’t hate flashbacks, but at this point one thing that never bothered me in the games is starting to bother me here: Everyone outside of Joel and Ellie is starting to feel disposable. Overall, I think the games handle this very well, though the writing in Part II suffers from a heavy hand at times (in other ways beyond sexuality, including the cartoonish bad guys). I have more to say about the game vs the show but I’m going to save it for a separate post. Well all I can say is welcome to The Last Of Us. I got in some arguments with people saying things like ‘I’m not homophobic but why do they have to shove this stuff down our throats!?’ Overall, I did like this episode a lot, but it’s another depressing entry in the show in the end, for all its lighter moments. I suppose my problem with this episode, even though it’s plucked from the game and at the same juncture as the game, with Joel wounded, is that it interrupts the story again to give us yet more flashbacks. I think she’s great, don’t get me wrong, but Ellie of Part II is a tour de force and I’m just not sure. The Ellie of Seasons 2 and 3 of HBO’s adaptation. As with episode 3’s glimpse back in time, the episode works in many ways, giving us a clearer portrait of Ellie’s past and exactly what happened to her just weeks before she meets Joel. On the one hand, I really liked this episode as a self-contained story. I loved the music in this episode as well.

The Last of Us episode 7 features a flashback to Ellie's (Bella Ramsey) past as Joel (Pedro Pascal) is fighting for his life. We meet Storm Reid's Riley.

In the past, Ellie smashes up the shop and she and Riley consider what to do. Riley apologises to Ellie and the pair hold each other close. Playing Etta James' I Got You Babe, the pair dance together, before Ellie pulls off her mask and tells Riley not to go, before kissing her. With the pair of them close to tears, Riley admits she wanted to say goodbye. The pair enjoy the ride before it shuts down, with Ellie asking Riley if she really believes she can change things with the Fireflies, before urging her to come back. Making sure Riley's certain with her decision, Ellie tells her she's her best friend, before Riley decides to show her one last thing, handing her a wolf mask and putting on a clown mask. Ellie decides she wants to leave, reasoning that she doesn't want to get in trouble. Jumping across roofs, the pair make their way to the mall, which Ellie believes is "full of infected". He explains that she has a choice - she can either continue to get into fights and have "the life of a grunt" or she can work hard and become a FEDRA officer in the future. Riley explains that she got inducted into the Fireflies after an older woman, who we later realise is Marlene (Merle Dandridge), saw her sneaking around and argues that FEDRA are "fascists". After getting into a fight in gym class, a younger Ellie is taken to the principal's office. The Last of Us episode 7 begins with Ellie hiding a seriously injured Joel out in an abandoned house.

In "Left Behind," we get to know Ellie on her own terms.

In the video game, the arcade machines are busted, and instead Riley asks Ellie to imagine the video game in her head. Ellie smashes up the store in frustration as Riley sinks to the floor in disbelief. Although we don’t see it, we know as the audience that Ellie had to kill Riley before realizing her own immunity. The Fireflies have assigned her to a post in Atlanta, and Marlene (the Boston Firefly leader from the first episode) has refused to let Riley take Ellie with her. In an effort to save the night, Riley pops a tape into the store’s speaker system and the two dance. This is probably also the episode that most mimics the video game version, as the “Left Behind” gameplay consisted mostly of Ellie delights in seeing an escalator for the first time, and spends a minute or two charming the pants off Riley (and the audience) by playing with the seemingly impossible physics of escalators. Riley takes Ellie to a room she’s turned into a hideout to offer a gift (the pun book that Ellie obsesses over throughout the show) and Ellie discovers Riley’s been making bombs for the Fireflies. Riley is here to show Ellie a great time at the mall. Throughout this whole trip to the mall, Ellie pokes and prods Riley over her supposed “betrayal” of FEDRA and defection to the Fireflies. Riley chides Ellie for fighting with her bully, advising her to pick her battles. Maybe a bit high off seeing a dead body, Ellie asks Riley to hold her gun.

The Last of Us breaks away from the crisis at hand to show a glimpse of who Ellie was before hitting the road with Joel. A recap of “Left Behind,” episode 7 ...

After taking steps to leave the mall, Ellie returns, following the sound of screams to a Halloween store, the fifth wonder of the mall, where Riley awaits and explains herself. Back to the present: If Ellie thought for a moment about abandoning Joel, the thought didn’t last for long. They have to deal with adult matters like sexuality and postapocalyptic politics, but, like teens before the apocalypse, they really just want to goof around and fall in love and decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Though unaware of the looming danger, Ellie notes that it’s getting late and that she needs to return, but Riley’s not having it. But The Last of Us is a heartbreaker, and the story keeps going. It doesn’t last, and Riley counters Ellie’s doubt with the information that the Fireflies have “set things right” in other cities. When Bethany taunts Ellie by saying she doesn’t fight and that the friend who does fight isn’t here, Ellie responds with a punch that, we’ll soon learn, sends Bethany to the infirmary in need of stitches. That tension complicates the show, and it’s at the heart of this episode. But then Ellie pauses to fix her hair in the shop’s windows, the comment not quite forgotten. The episode’s action shifts back to the Boston QZ and Ellie’s life as a FEDRA soldier in training, a grind of schoolwork (with a heavy emphasis on physical fitness), and bullying at the hands of a much taller classmate named Bethany. And it’s obvious he’d like to have a smart kid like Ellie as an officer. She gives a look that suggests she’s steeling herself for the decision, and though she hesitates before turning the doorknob, she walks through it.

We again interrupt your regularly scheduled zombie drama with a touching love story, this time in the form of an extended flashback during a different phase ...

This being “The Last of Us,” nothing good can last for long, and a zombie intruded on their moment together, wounding both of them. Yet as the hour unfolds, it pretty clearly becomes what amounts to a first date, with Riley exposing the wide-eyed Ellie to a host of wonders – escalators, arcade games, photo booths, a merry-go-round – before a spontaneous kiss that takes their relationship in a new and more romantic direction. Along the way, the show even identified the source of Ellie’s book of stupid jokes.

Episode 7 of HBO's The Last of Us is a beautifully faithful adaptation of the beloved Left Behind chapter of Ellie's story.

Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. Based on the short story by Stephen King, Children of the Corn is a chilling new re-telling for a whole new generation. A-ha’s Take On Me holds special significance to those familiar with the games, while The Cure's Just Like Heaven is a fun nod to Ellie – herself a form of cure – experiencing a moment of heaven amongst the hell of it all. It’s all the better for it as well, with this glimpse into Ellie’s past perfectly placed to give us a deeper understanding of her at this stage of the story. This is still The Last of Us, however; a show where the good times are never destined to last for long. It’s a refreshing lift in tone for a show that spends most of its runtime submerged in the despair this post-pandemic world relentlessly offers.

'The Last of Us' Season 1 Episode 7, titled "Left Behind," tells the story of Ellie and Riley (played by Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid).

She finds thread, and while she's no pro, is willing to stitch Joel up to the best of her ability before losing him. The situations are almost analogous, but present Ellie is doing anything she can to avoid going through any sort of loss again. The meat of the episode, though, centers on Riley taking Ellie on a surprise adventure to somewhere that Ellie is entirely not suspecting. Ellie gets in and is absolutely flummoxed by the idea of "moving stairs," aka... Ellie manages to kill the infected, but the cost is major: both Riley and Ellie have been bitten. Riley takes Ellie first through an abandoned house, where they see a dead body—which allows Riley to refer to the fact that it's not the first dead body she's seen. We know, now, that Ellie is immune, but you can only imagine the utter fear and heartbreak that both must have had in this moment, and Ramsey and Reid do a fantastic job in expressing that. He also makes the case that she could have a better life if she would simply apply herself and get her "assignment" (which, we learn in the episode, comes at age 17) to become an officer herself. Ellie does, though, and attacks and beats the crap out of Bethany. Joel is struggling, and Ellie is doing her best to get him safe and stable. The episode once again proves The Last of Us' greatest feature: its ability to reinvent itself into something new each and every week. The Last of Us hasn't gone full Lost—which split every episode between a character-centric backstory plot and a present-day on-island plot—but the post-apocalyptic present sure does lend itself nicely to this setup.

With Joel in bad shape, Ellie remembers a night of joy and loss. It's another killer episode.

The flashback ends with Ellie and Riley fleeing the mall as hordes of infected chase them. [fictional game The Turning](https://youtu.be/aecgd82z_No?t=3067) (which is basically Mortal Kombat) in the arcade... The thing you always have to remember is that life is worth living! This is when the romantic tension peaks and Ellie decides to make her move, giving Riley a brief but passionate kiss. The cabinet doesn't work, so Riley has Ellie close her eyes and place her hands on the controls, and then Riley describes the action. Avoiding infected and human marauders along the way, she discovers the meds in a military helicopter that's crashed through the mall's roof. Through some miracle, many of the booths still work and they hop on iconic 1993 fighter Mortal Kombat 2 (a poster for this game is also visible over Ellie's bed, hinting at her fascination). Ellie isn't at all happy with this but ultimately decides to continue onto the final wonder. Songwriter Robert Smith said this tune was inspired by [ the romance of a trip](https://thecuretc.wordpress.com/tag/2003/) he took with girlfriend Mary Poole, who'd later become his wife. Turns out the escalator was just a precursor to the real fun. After she gets in a tussle with one of her peers, a FEDRA officer presents her with alternative visions of her future in the zone: Continue messing about, end up a grunt with crappy duties, and likely die in some random accident. And run on an escalator to the tune of Norwegian synth-pop band

In the seventh episode of The Last of Us, "Left Behind" we flash back to the last time Ellie truly cared about someone.

Riley also takes her mask off, and Ellie begs Riley not to go, and Riley agrees. With Riley out, Ellie stabs the infected in the side as she tries to fight him off. Ellie says she understands, and Riley says Ellie is the only thing she misses from that place. As Riley takes her turn, Ellie looks around and sees that Riley is keeping a whole stash of grenades. Riley then takes Ellie to a working photo booth, and Riley supplies the $5 for their photos. Unlike in the Left Behind, where Ellie and Riley had to imagine playing The Turning, a Mortal Kombat-like game, in the show, this pair can actually compete against each other in mortal kombat. When she arrives, Riley hits the light, and Ellie gets to watch the entire abandoned mall come to light. Riley jokingly says yup, but then says that one night, Ellie was in the hole and so Riley snuck out. Ellie and Riley crawl down a hole, and Riley explains that when FEDRA hooked up the new apartments with electricity, the mall was connected too. Riley says where they’re going to is secret, and that Ellie should trust her with her life. Later that night, Ellie is in her room reading her Savage Starlight comics as it rains, and looks over to the other side of the room to see an empty bed. We find Joel and Ellie camping out in the garage of an abandoned house in the suburbs.

In Episode 7 of 'The Last of Us', viewers finally got a glimpse into Ellie's past, and the tragic circumstances that led to her getting bitten.

We don’t see it, but we know that Riley turns and Ellie doesn’t, and Ellie probably had to kill her own best friend — a girl she may have loved. Did she take Riley’s revolver and kill her before she could turn completely or fight off an inhuman Riley like she fought off the Infected that bit her? Now, it’s up to Ellie to do whatever she can in return, but unfortunately, there’s not much she can do but watch Joel get worse and worse. Ellie manages to drag Joel into an abandoned house, but she doesn’t know what to do. Now, in Episode 7, it’s up to Ellie to take care of Joel, and it’s forcing her to remember the last time she wanted to save someone. After the end of [Episode 6](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/the-last-of-us-episode-6-lampshades-a-common-post-apocalyptic-trope) saw Joel and Ellie disappointed by the lack of Fireflies in the university in Colorado, the loss was only compounded when Joel found himself stabbed by a raider.

Ellie tended to Joel in a dilapidated basement, then flashed back to bliss, booze and photo booths with her best friend – just before disaster struck.

We know Ellie is still with us – this was, of course, the moment she found out she was immune – and Riley is not. The other seeing Ellie scouring an abandoned shopping mall in Colorado for medical supplies to treat the injured Joel before moving him to a hideout to heal and wait out the approaching heavy winter. The assumption here is that Riley will turn and Ellie will be forced to kill her best friend, no doubt using the pistol Riley tucked in her belt. From then on, it was merely a matter of time before they were attacked – not even the gorgeous scene of them dancing to Etta James and their eventual kiss could delay their inevitable demise. If nothing else, the fully stocked Victoria’s Secret window display did allow Ellie to think about desire for a moment, and question whether Riley could ever see her in that way. We left Riley and Ellie sobbing in the mall. We soon found out that Ellie and Riley’s glorious evening was also intended as a painful farewell – just as we were given our first glimpse of an infected. The realisation of their bites was heartbreaking, despite having been signposted from the beginning. After navigating “electric stairs”, we got a lesson in the logic of looting. Just as last week’s episode served up spectacular cinematography, this week was no less beautiful, despite being in the confines of a dilapidated shopping centre. It wasn’t so much a question of if some infected were going to appear, but when, and how many. Joel is still at death’s door, they’re miles from anything approaching safety and more than 500 miles from the Fireflies’ hospital in Salt Lake City.

How does the HBO show compare to the game in the latest episode? Jesse ...

Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. Children of the Corn, written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, opens in theaters on March 3, 2023, and will be available on Demand and digital on March 21, 2023.](/videos/children-of-the-corn-2023-official-red-band-trailer) Based on the short story by Stephen King, Children of the Corn is a chilling new re-telling for a whole new generation. [The Last of Us episode 7 review](/articles/the-last-of-us-episode-7-review), we said it "is a beautifully faithful adaptation of the beloved Left Behind chapter of Ellie’s story. Check out the slideshow, or watch the video above to see the scenes from both the show and the game in action. But how close does the show compare to the game?

With Joel in bad shape, Ellie remembers a night of joy and loss in yet another killer episode of the HBO series.

The flashback ends with Ellie and Riley fleeing the mall as hordes of infected chase them. [fictional game The Turning](https://youtu.be/aecgd82z_No?t=3067) (which is basically Mortal Kombat) in the arcade... The thing you always have to remember is that life is worth living! This is when the romantic tension peaks and Ellie decides to make her move, giving Riley a brief but passionate kiss. The cabinet doesn't work, so Riley has Ellie close her eyes and place her hands on the controls, and then Riley describes the action. Avoiding infected and human marauders along the way, she discovers the meds in a military helicopter that's crashed through the mall's roof. Through some miracle, many of the booths still work and they hop on iconic 1993 fighter Mortal Kombat 2 (a poster for this game is also visible over Ellie's bed, hinting at her fascination). Songwriter Robert Smith said this tune was inspired by [ the romance of a trip](https://thecuretc.wordpress.com/tag/2003/) he took with girlfriend Mary Poole, who'd later become his wife. Ellie isn't at all happy with this but ultimately decides to continue onto the final wonder. Turns out the escalator was just a precursor to the real fun. After she gets in a tussle with one of her peers, a FEDRA officer presents her with alternative visions of her future in the zone: Continue messing about, end up a grunt with crappy duties, and likely die in some random accident. And run on an escalator to the tune of Norwegian synth-pop band

IDS Needs Your Help! The Indiana Daily Student is funded entirely from our revenue and donations. Our journalism exists to keep our readership informed and ...

I know “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure backwards and forwards. And — if you’ve been there, and you’ve maybe even said exactly that — you know the kind of line that comes next from a distraught but hushed Riley: “You mattered to me first,” Ellie said when she finds out the Fireflies, a revolutionary group that Riley joined, were stationing her far away. “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure. And I don’t know — I might. “Road to Nowhere” by Talking Heads.

Episode 7 of HBO's The Last of Us goes back in time to explore Ellie's relationship with her friend Riley, and their last night together.

Ellie then delivers the final blow to its head with her switchblade, and indulges in a brief moment of victory before discovering that both she and Riley have been bitten. The two share a moment of respite, and Riley shares more about her loyalties to the Fireflies after Ellie questions her. Riley opens up about the longing she feels for a sense of family, and that despite discovering the Fireflies weren’t everything she thought they were before being recruited, she felt she mattered to them as they chose her. There is a growing tension between the two and Ellie storms off, saying her last goodbye to Riley before quickly running back after she hears screams echo through the Mall. Ellie is upset she withheld this information from her back home, but gains more of an understanding as to why Riley is more loyal to the Fireflies. Ellie figures out that Riley has been posted to this location by the Fireflies, and becomes angry as the time the two had spent together felt inauthentic. The carousel abruptly stops, and Ellie signals for her and Riley to return to the Quarantine Zone, explaining they may have a chance to run operations at FEDRA together in the future. Riley busts open a loose change dispenser, using the tokens to duke it out with Ellie on a Mortal Kombat II arcade machine – the same game Ellie was overjoyed to see in Ellie is instructed to wait patiently inside the Mall while Riley activates these, and she’s met with a sea of storefronts that light up in front of her, much to her amazement. She explains that on one of the nights when Ellie was in ‘the hole’, Riley snuck out, and on her way back was met by an older woman (Marlene) who claimed to be impressed by her stealthy abilities. They land at a Victoria’s Secret, and Riley notes the ‘uncomfortable’ nature of the risque garments they see. As she changes clothes, Riley peruses her desk and sees a cassette tape with the band A-ha on the cover – another musical call back to The Last of Us Part II.