The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6 recap: Joel and Ellie's rift explained

The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 6, titled The Price, was an emotionally powerful episode. We knew right from the closing minutes of the fifth episode that the next one would be an episode heavy on flashback, focusing on Joel and Ellie's relationship. It also finally reveals the reason why Joel and Ellie's relationship deteriorated the way it did, as witnessed in Episode 1.

This episode delivers on the hype of Pedro Pascal's return as Joel Miller, after he died in the second episode of Season 2. Pascal's tearful performance in the concluding minutes of this episode in The Last of Us Season 2 might be one of his best in the entire series. Per IMDb, the synopsis of Episode 6 is:

"Joel surprises Ellie for her birthday. Years later, Ellie prepares to confront Joel about her past."

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SPOILER ALERT: The article discusses spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 6, The Price. Reader discretion is advised.

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6 recap:

Here are the highlights in The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 6, The Price:

Joel's Father, Javier Miller

The episode opens in 1980s Texas, as a young and terrified Tommy is assured by Joel that the latter will take the blame for Tommy's action. Tommy is terrified of his father's violence against him, rather than getting caught. Enter actor Tony Dalton as police officer Javier Miller. Joel reveals that he was purchasing a substance, but his father doesn't buy it, and reveals that he knows that the buyer was Tommy.

To Joel's surprise, Javier invites his son to talk about his past as he tried to steal candy. Javier reveals his father made him return the stolen candy and hit him so hard that he ended up with a broken jaw. Javier tries to justify his parenting by saying that he never went as bad as his father and that he hopes that Joel would understand him one day.

Ellie's birthdays

The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6 covers four of Ellie's birthdays: 15, 16, 17, and 19. On her fifteenth birthday, Joel gifts Ellie a handmade guitar, and on the next one, he takes her to a space museum. In the museum, he makes her sit inside a space capsule and plays her a cassette, which is a recording of a launch.

The seventeenth birthday is a more contentious one, as Joel interrupts Ellie's intimate moment with another girl. It is the nineteenth birthday, which is the eventful one. At the beginning of the day, she is rehearsing questions that she had in her mind for a while: What really happened in Salt Lake City hospital? But her rehearsal is interrupted by Joel, who takes Ellie out on her first patrol.

Her and Joel's first patrol is on the safest possible route when Joel is instructed to visit a nearby area to help Eugene, who encountered infected people.

Eugene's truth revealed

While Eugene has killed the infected, he is also the survivor who is bitten. His only wish is to see Gail once before he is executed. Ellie makes Eugene hold out his hand and make him count to 10, and deduces that Eugene has enough time to turn. She suggests tying Eugene and taking him to see Gail, and she goes to fetch the horse and ropes.

But Joel takes Eugene to a beautiful view and tells him that if he really loved Gail, he would always see her face regardless of her presence. Eugene sees the point and tells Joel that he can see Gail's face. Joel shoots Eugene and takes his body in a way similar to how Joel's body was taken back in Through the Valley, the second episode of The Last of Us Season 2.

At Jackson, Gail is told that Eugene chose to end his life, but Ellie reveals the truth, and she walks off in anger. Thus, we know why Ellie is angry with Joel in the first episode of season 2. After this flashback, the episode then cuts to the celebratory night from the first episode, nine months later.

• Ellie is finally told the truth about Salt Lake City

We see Seth tell off Ellie and Dina, using a homophobic slur. It plays off the way it did back in the first episode, Future Days. Joel pushes Seth, but Ellie is still mad at him. A heartbroken Joel is playing the guitar he gifted Ellie, and Ellie comes to speak with him. It is here that she finally brings herself to ask about Salt Lake City. Joel reveals the truth to her that she would have died if the cure had been created.

But he also reveals that he would kill the fireflies if he were put through the situation again because he loves her and repeats the words his father told him back at the beginning of the episode. To this, Ellie replies that she doesn't know if she can forgive him, but she would like to try.

Then, the episode cuts to the present as Ellie is walking towards the theater where she and Dina stayed in Seattle.

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