Spoilers ahead for the rest of Season 2, be aware!

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Last Sunday’s episode resumed the second season’s focus on Ellie’s revenge-fueled mission. A tense meeting and the resulting chase resulted in her eliminating a member of Abby’s crew in a way reminiscent of how Abby killed Joel. The following chapter took the flashback route to delve into the relationship between Joel and Ellie in the years leading up to the emotional moment between them on Joel’s doorstep.

I was shocked to see how this episode produced a wealth of new story beats that were entirely new or altered from how they transpired in the game. One of those newly introduced sequences took me back to Austin, Texas, in 1983 during this episode’s opening minutes. To my surprise, I got to see a young Joel and his younger brother Tommy for the very first time. Joel promised to speak to his father to hopefully help lessen the trouble Tommy had gotten himself into (he got caught buying some pot… allegedly). When things supposedly went left during that drug deal, Joel injected himself into the proceedings when a fight ensued. Joel’s father (who we find out is a police officer!) walked into their home and delivered some prophetic words that explained Joel’s history with violence and why he’s so dead set on being a father figure to Ellie: “Okay yeah, I’ve hit you. And I’ve hit Tommy. But never like that. Not even close. I mean, maybe I go too far. I just…I don’t know. But I’m doing a little better than my father did. And you know, when it’s your turn, I hope you do a little better than me.”

The episode then fast-forwarded to the day of Ellie’s 15th birthday. A series of events is introduced here that offer some more backstory on the lives of Joel and Ellie during their initial stay in the Jackson community. Joel’s discovery of LEGOs leads him to trade them all with Seth in exchange for a cake gifted to Ellie on her special day. Once we return to Joel and Ellie’s home, we’re treated to a familiar scene from the game when Joel uses the guitar he made for Ellie to perform an impressive cover of Pearl Jam's "Future Days.” One year later, viewers got treated to a full re-enactment of Joel and Ellie’s heartwarming visit to the museum. The episode then proceeded to the following year, which gave me some insight into the actions of an older Ellie who is beginning to exhibit the sort of behavior that worries Joel. With another birthday cake in hand, Joel walks up the stairs to deliver it to Ellie. The delivery of that treat doesn’t go as planned, however.

A spat between the two erupts when Joel finds Ellie in her room making out with a girl. Turns out she was also in the middle of getting a tattoo and smoking some weed. Later in the evening, they work out their issues with a brief conversation that explains the origins of Ellie moving out into her living quarters as she grew older. In the morning, Joel interrupted Gail during her breakfast break from her duties as a psychiatrist and asked her about the meanings of particular animals one sees in their dreams. His mentioning of the constant presence of a moth points to the connective tissue between him and Ellie, as it’s a symbol seen on the guitar Joel built and on Ellie’s arm as a tattoo.

Two years later, I was treated to another scene that expounded upon the game’s plot. Ellie was seen sitting in her home as she prepared for how she would confront Joel about what really happened back in Salt Lake City with the “Fireflies.” But as soon as Joel arrived, Ellie abandoned her plan of getting the truth from Joel once he told her they were going on her first approved patrol mission for her birthday. As they made their way across the woods on horseback, Joel received a distress call. After Ellie convinced him to let her stay by his side, they both made their way down into a section of the woods where dead bodies were spotted. It’s evident that a few of the members of the Jackson community got into some trouble after an encounter with the “Infected.”

The most shocking moment of this episode occurred soon after, as it introduced a character that was only mentioned in passing in the game, Eugene. Sadly, his character arc didn’t last long as Joel and Ellie found out he had already been bitten and was on his last legs. While Ellie ran off to get the horses in a bid to get Eugene back to Jackson to say goodbye to his wife, Gail, Joel committed an unforgivable act. Joel took Eugene to a cliff near the river and denied him from giving a final farewell to his loved one before he succumbed to his infection. Ellie came back moments later to see the result of Joel’s actions and was angered by the sight of Eugene’s dead body after being shot in the head. Back at the Jackson community, Joel arrived with Eugene’s body and told Gail that Eugene had decided to take his own life after discovering his bite from an Infected. But Ellie decided to tell her the truth of Eugene’s demise, which unsurprisingly pissed off Gail. This shocking moment caused an even bigger rift between Joel and Ellie that carried over to the uneasy events of the evening dance.

Nine months later, the episode revisited Joel’s awkward exchange with Seth and the resulting fallout that led to Ellie telling him off. During the first episode of this season, viewers were led to believe that Ellie walked past Joel’s doorstep while he was sitting there and passed on having a conversation with him. But it turns out Ellie changed her mind and came back to speak with Joel to finally learn the disturbing truth about everything that happened on that fateful day with the Fireflies. Unlike the game’s presentation of that tumultuous event, the show differed from it in a major way by having it take place on Joel’s doorstep instead of a designated spot outside of Jackson’s walls. Joel no longer kept the lie going and told Ellie everything she wanted to know as she grew more resentful due to his selfish actions. It hurts to know that one of Joel and Ellie’s last conversations was a melancholy affair before Joel met his untimely end. Ellie’s response to learning of Joel’s actions hit extra hard: “I don’t think I can forgive you for this. But I would like to try."

As The Last of Us is just a week away from the seventh and final episode of its second season, I’m excited to see the conflict that’s set to erupt between the “Washington Liberation Front” and the “Seraphites.” Judging from the rest of the preview for next week’s episode, I’m dreading what will happen to one of the game/show’s best characters (for those of you who’ve played the game, you know who I’m talking about!).