Season 2 of the series will likely follow the ramifications of this lie and pose questions about its endurance: is normalcy even still possible in a collapsed world? His desire to protect Ellie has ultimately become a desire to return to pre-pandemic life, regardless of whether such regression benefits Ellie or the last of humanity. A survivor himself, and having failed to save his daughter, Joel wants only a return to normalcy. Therefore, Joel acts out of purely selfish motives. With that information, viewers are arguably made to see Joel’s final decision as incongruent with Ellie’s wishes. We're made to see that Ellie's reason for searching out the Fireflies stems from this guilt she wants to save others as a kind of penance. And now, at the very end, she believes, Marlene and the Fireflies. Beginning with Riley-who Ellie names during the very last scene-Ellie has been the left-behind (the last of us?), the survivor who blames herself for failing to prevent the suffering of others. Throughout the season we learn of Ellie’s repeated survivor’s guilt. The question for viewers will be whether or not this decision is one Ellie herself would have wanted. While Joel lies to Ellie, his falsely reported actions ultimately did save her life. The selfishness of that decision will, of course, come with some viewer debate. His final decision, however, which includes slaughtering several Firefly soldiers and then this ultimate lie, audiences are meant to read differently: this choice, Joel makes for himself. Each of these decisions Joel makes in order to save and protect Ellie. His final words to Ellie, his reassurance that the Fireflies failed, come at the tail end of a series of morally nebulous decisions- beginning with beating a FEDRA guard to death while escaping with Ellie, continuing through his killing defenseless scavengers in Kansas City, and again torturing and killing hunters in the west. Of course, the Fireflies are still looking for the cure. The Last of UsSeason 1 ends with the same false promise reassured in the 2013 video game: that the Fireflies failed to find the cure to the global pandemic, that they are no longer looking for it, that Ellie and Joel should just continue on, live on, as if no hope exists. “Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true.”
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