The latest episode of HBO’s The Last of Us features a subtle callback to The Last of Us Part 2 that many might have missed. By all accounts, Season 2 Episode 2 of The Last of Us is likely the most grueling of the entire series so far. Not only was it rife with gut-wrenching action sequences, but it also concluded with the death of a very prominent character. It’s in the final moments of the episode, though, following this death, that those in charge of The Last of Us opted to add a reference that fans of The Last of Us Part 2 might remember.
***Warning: Spoilers for Season 2 of The Last of Us are mentioned below. Read on at your own risk.
After Joel is killed off in The Last of Us, Ellie crawls toward his lifeless body and holds him while sobbing. The show then begins a montage of sorts, showing what happens in the wake of his death. Abby and her crew trudge off through the snow, presumably back to Seattle from where they came, while Ellie, Dina, and Jesse tie up Joel’s body and begin the process of bringing him back to Jackson. During this montage, a song titled “Through the Valley”, which is also the name of this episode, is playing in the background. And while this might not seem like a big deal, “Through the Valley” has major connections to The Last of Us.
Back in 2016, Naughty Dog and PlayStation first revealed The Last of Us Part 2 to the world with a teaser trailer that would go on to become iconic. The teaser features Ellie, played by Ashley Johnson, singing “Through the Valley”, written by Shawn James, before Joel enters the room and briefly speaks to her. The scene portrayed in this trailer didn’t end up actually appearing in The Last of Us Part 2, but it perfectly sets the tone for what that game would become.
The rendition of “Through the Valley” that is played in The Last of Us TV show is the same one that was seen in that initial teaser. It’s performed once again by Ashley Johnson, who also appeared in Season 1 of The Last of Us. Johnson portrayed Ellie’s mother, Anna, in the TV series, which means that the inclusion of “Through the Valley” at the end of this episode can be viewed in a much deeper way.
In the latest episode of The Last of Us Podcast, showrunner Craig Mazin talked about the decision to include “Through the Valley” in Episode 2. Speaking purely as a fan, Mazin said that he remembers being ecstatic seeing the first teaser for The Last of Us Part 2 back in 2016. When it came to Episode 2 of Season 2, he said that the choice to add “Through the Valley” was done not only to refer back to the game itself, but also to add a sort of “ghostly” element to the TV show that teases what comes next.
“I remember seeing that little, I guess you’d call it a teaser, as a fan of the game and losing my s**t,” Mazin said. “The moment before it begins is sort of why the song happens at all. Because Ellie makes this slow, painful crawl across the floor to Joel’s body. She has been kicked in the ribs and clearly injured badly. She might not make it at all. I think she thinks she’s going to die here and she just wants to be with him. And it is so heartbreaking to hear her little breaths as she just settles in with the only person in her life that she truly loved.”
“We wanted to drift away into a dreamy view of what happens now. Because you can’t keep doing reality after that. That is the peak of it. And what that means is a song. And Ashley isn’t just Ellie in the game, she’s also now in our show, Ellie’s mother. And there is 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.”
The Last of Us Season 2 continues to air on HBO and Max with new episodes debuting every Sunday at 9PM ET.
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