The Last of Us Season 2, episode 6 reminds us what the shows been missing

Ever since The Last of Us killed off Joel (Pedro Pascal), my complaints with The Last of Us Season 2 have been twofold.

First, the series finds itself with the unenviable task of filling the void left by the lack of Joel and Ellie's (Bella Ramsey) dynamic. As sweet as Ellie and Dina's (Isabela Merced) blossoming romance is, it simply doesn't hold a candle to Ellie and Joel's relationship. (Nor has The Last of Us given it enough time to merit its placement as the show's focal pairing.) Second, Seattle's factions are so thinly drawn that it's almost impossible to latch onto anything in that world, doubly so when that storyline is moving at a glacial pace.

Enter Season 2, episode 6, an installment of The Last of Us that alleviates my season-long quibbles for one heartbreaking hour. The episode reunites Joel and Ellie in a series of flashbacks spanning years, reminding us of both how impeccable Pascal and Ramsey's chemistry is and how much more well fleshed-out Jackson is compared to Seattle.

Really, the whole episode feels like a reminder of everything Season 2's been missing — sometimes literally, as it fills in gaps about the rift in Joel and Ellie's relationship. The effect is undoubtedly a season high, but also frustrating proof of how great The Last of Us can be amid an otherwise underwhelming season.

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in "The Last of Us." Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

When it comes to Joel and Ellie, much of The Last of Us Season 2's focus has understandably been on the rift between them. Pascal and Ramsey both do an incredible job playing the pain of this divide, with Pascal skewing more melancholy and Ramsey channeling a simmering rage. But the flashback format of episode 6 allows them to switch course and play some of the lighter moments Joel and Ellie have shared over the years — and the show is better for it.

After spending all of Season 1 and most of Season 2 watching Joel and Ellie deal with peril after peril, it's a gift to watch them enjoy normal, happy lives. We've gotten glimpses of this joy in moments like Season 1's giraffe scene, but episode 6 gives us years' worth. From birthday celebrations to Pearl Jam singalongs to awkward talks about the birds and the bees, episode 6 provides catharsis following so many episodes of relentless suffering. Joel gets to embrace being a father again, and Ellie finally gets the opportunity to be a normal kid.

Even tough scenes like their argument about Ellie's "teenage shit" — smoking, getting a tattoo, and hooking up with Kat (Noah Lamanna) — have a bittersweet quality to them. These are the kind of growing pains any parent-child relationship goes through. Ellie and Joel's safety in Jackson allows them this normalcy, something they never had during their dangerous cross-country trip.

These sequences give Pascal and Ramsey new shades of their characters to explore, from Joel's dorky dad energy to Ellie's teen rebellion. They also serve as proof of how perfectly matched they are as performers. Pascal's only been out of the picture for three episodes, but even those three hours feel too long after you witness him back in action with Ramsey. Their chemistry is the foundation on which The Last of Us was built, so seeing it back onscreen is both a joy and a reminder of just how much the show's lost without it.

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in "The Last of Us." Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

While The Last of Us Season 2 has presented Seattle's Washington Liberation Front and Seraphites as mysterious new factions for viewers to interrogate, the season's most pressing and intriguing questions have not been ones of world-building, but of character. What caused Ellie and Joel to stop speaking? And what happened on the night before Joel's death to make Ellie believe they had a chance of reconciliation?

Episode 6 answers both questions in devastating fashion, first showing how Joel's final betrayal of Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) proved to Ellie that he'd been lying about what happened in Salt Lake City. It follows that heartbreak up with the quiet pain of the pair's porch discussion on New Year's, where Joel tells Ellie the truth, and Ellie admits that while she's unsure she can ever forgive Joel, she's willing to try.

In a kinder world, that discussion would be the start of a long healing journey for Ellie and Joel. But the world of The Last of Us is rarely a kind one, and Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) murders Joel the very next day. With that, The Last of Us traps us in a heartbreaking mire of "what ifs." What if Joel had told Ellie earlier? What if he hadn't killed Eugene? Would the pair have gotten more time for more happy memories? We'll never know, and that's the lingering pain episode 6 leaves us with.

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in "The Last of Us." Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

On top of leaving us with general heartbreak, episode 6 of The Last of Us prompts anxieties about what the show is going to do next. Yes, Ellie remains on the hunt for Abby, but with Abby MIA since episode 2, and with the Seattle storyline spinning its wheels, the chances of the Season 2 finale delivering anything as meaningful and satisfying as episode 6 are slim. Really, in providing some kind of closure to Joel and Ellie's broken relationship, episode 6 feels more like the climax of the season.

The placement of episode 6 as this season's penultimate installment is also troubling from a structural standpoint. Unlike Season 1's flashback episodes, which paired Bill and Frank's love story with Joel and Ellie's present-day visit to their house, or Ellie's failure to save Riley with her frantic scramble to heal Joel, this flashback episode remains fully in the past, with nothing to anchor us to the present. (No, that flash of Ellie heading back to the theater doesn't cut it.)

That choice is a double-edged sword: It allows us to fully immerse ourselves in Joel and Ellie's lives, but it also slows what little momentum has been built in Seattle. We get a gorgeous resolution to the questions brought up in the season's early episodes, at the cost of the latter half of the season. And with just one episode left in a seven-episode season — too damn short for one of the biggest shows on TV! — The Last of Us Season 2 has set itself up for a touch act to follow. How do you come back from an episode that's so heartfelt and so grounded the rest of the season already pales in comparison?

New episodes of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere on HBO and HBO Max Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.