Just like in the previous episode, we learn a lot about Joel and Ellie’s relationship through Ramsey’s performance. She’s clearly still mad at Joel, but trying her best not to be and is tired of everyone asking about it.
In one of the biggest changes from the game, we see Tommy (Gabriel Luna) speaking to the town while Jesse and Ellie are preparing for patrol. He’s getting them ready for a potential attack on Jackson from infected after reports of growing numbers being spotted outside the gates. This moment, and the attack that comes not long after Jesse and Ellie have left, do a phenomenal job of showing just how much Tommy has become a true leader of this town. He and Maria (Rutina Wesley) both put themselves on the line for Jackson and rally the town to victory.
But their victory isn’t without loss, both within the town and outside of it. Because while Tommy, Maria, and the Jacksonites are fighting off an insanely large horde of infected, Abby is still dead set on revenge. Thanks to the horde of infected and the snow storm, Abby inadvertently runs right into Joel and Dina’s patrol. Joel saves her life and in return she offers them shelter in the lodge with her friends to wait out the storm.
Realizing that this is her chance, Abby orders Mel (Ariela Barer) to knock out Dina, which she hesitantly does. Abby then gets to work on Joel, telling him that he doesn’t get to rush this moment for her. It’s not easy to watch by any means. Even her friends start to show visible discomfort at her actions. But Dever is so powerful in this scene. She may not have the physicality that game Abby does, but she still embodies the full breadth of the characters’ grief and rage, especially in this moment.
When Ellie finally arrives, it’s heartbreaking to watch her realize what’s happening. She stands in for the audience, in a way, screaming out to Joel to get up as he lays there bloodied and broken. We know this is it, but we try to hold on to hope that he’ll somehow rally and make it through, until Abby takes the handle of the broken golf club and lands the final blow.
Ellie’s cries and screams as she crawls over toward Joel are haunting. We’re watching Abby do to Ellie what Joel did to her, only even more violently. When she threatens to kill Abby and her crew, we know that she means it. Because Abby may have finally gotten the revenge she’s been so desperately craving, but she doesn’t know that she just unlocked the same drive within Ellie.
