A heavily pregnant woman is being chased through a forest by the infected. She reaches a house and calls for whoever was supposed to meet her there before she realizes that they're not there. As she climbs upstairs, her water breaks and she barricades herself in one of the rooms. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to stop one of the infected from breaking in and attacking her. The woman fends off the infected with a familiar switchblade and looks down to see that she's just given birth - and also discovers an infected bite mark on her thigh. She frantically cuts the umbilical cord and picks up her baby. As the newborn cries at the top of her lungs, the proud mother says to her child, "Yeah, you tell 'em. You fuckin' tell 'em, Ellie."
Some hours later, Marlene and the Fireflies show up at the house. They were supposed to pick up the woman, Anna, earlier but were delayed. Instead, Marlene discovers her friend upstairs singing to her newborn daughter with a bite mark on her leg. Anna extracts a promise from Marlene that she'll ensure that Ellie is taken care of and that she'll get her switchblade when she's old enough. Anna begs to be killed before she turns, but Marlene is reluctant until she hears Anna's pleas and changes her mind. As the gunshot heralding her mother's death reverberates, baby Ellie begins crying again despite Marlene's best efforts to shield and comfort her.
In the present, Ellie is somewhat distant as she and Joel approach Salt Lake City. After discovering a broken guitar in an RV, he offers to teach Ellie how to play one when everything's done, which she agrees to. Her attitude doesn't improve when they enter the city, snarking at Joel about how he plans to get around a pile of rubble blocking an alleyway. Joel boosts Ellie up a level in an abandoned building so she can lower a ladder to him, but she drops the ladder after getting distracted by something outside, forcing him to chase after her. As it turns out, she spotted a giraffe wandering around, and they feed it before following it to its herd. Joel then offers for them to forget about the Fireflies, to turn back and return to Jackson, but Ellie insists on pressing forward.
Stumbling on an abandoned Army medical camp, Joel remarks that he was once in such a camp shortly after the outbreak to get treatment for the grazing bullet wound on his head. Ellie replies that the army was much better at stitching than her, but then Joel reveals that the bullet wound was actually self-inflicted: he tried to kill himself but flinched as he pulled the trigger. Ellie expresses her relief at his survival. Afterwards, Joel requests some puns to cheer him up after that depressing topic. They're laughing at some of the puns in Ellie's book when they're suddenly ambushed and captured by the Fireflies.
Waking up inside the hospital, Joel is greeted by Marlene. He demands to see Ellie, but she denies the request- Ellie is being prepped for surgery. The Fireflies believe that her immunity is due to her exposure to cordyceps at birth, and they intend to remove the latent fungus from her in order to create a vaccine. As the growth is in the brain, they both acknowledge that it would kill her. When Joel protests, Marlene orders two of her guards to escort him back to the highway.
However, Joel refuses to abandon Ellie and kills both of the guards. Grabbing their weapons, he goes on a rampage through the hospital, killing any Fireflies standing in his way. When he reaches the surgical suite, he kills the surgeon before ordering the nurses to unhook Ellie from the medical equipment. He then grabs Ellie and carries her down to the parking garage.
Before he can escape, Marlene confronts him and condemns the selfishness of denying humanity a cure and Ellie her choice. Despite this, she's willing to forgive as long as he hands over Ellie, putting down her gun as a gesture of goodwill.
Abruptly, the scene changes to Joel driving away in an SUV, with Ellie still in her hospital gown lying in the back seats. As she comes to, Joel offers an explanation: the Fireflies ran some tests on her and the dozens of other immune people they've discovered, couldn't find a way to make a cure, and gave up. Shortly after, raiders attacked and he had to get Ellie out quickly, hence why she's still wearing a hospital gown. Of course, this was a lie, as flashbacks show Joel shooting Marlene after she makes her offer and stuffing Ellie into the back of the SUV. A not-quite-dead Marlene begs for her life, but Joel shoots her dead to prevent her from ever following him and Ellie. As Ellie goes back to sleep, Joel apologizes for the lie.
The SUV breaks down near Jackson, forcing them to walk the rest of the way. As they hike on a trail, Joel happily reminisces about Sarah, comparing her and Ellie and declaring that they would've liked each other, all the while Ellie remains quiet and sullen. They stop at a point overlooking Jackson, where Ellie tells Joel about what happened to Riley and how she was forced to kill her. Joel tries to assuage her guilt over all the deaths that have occurred along their journey, but then Ellie forces Joel to swear that his earlier story about what happened with the Fireflies was true. After a brief hesitation, he does so. Ellie doesn't look like she believes him, but still nods "okay."
Tropes in this episode include:
- Age Cut: As Marlene comforts baby Ellie after the death of her mother, the camera pans over to the baby's face before it cuts to the face of present-day Ellie.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: Joel shoots Marlene in the stomach with a hip shot, and when that fails to kill her, goes back and shoots her in the head as she begs for mercy.
- Apocalyptic Logistics: Marlene and the Fireflies are so bent on just getting a cure from Ellie that none of them seem to ponder exactly how they would actually manufacture and distribute it. There's no global transportation or industry to mass produce it or get it to other parts of the world, nor do they have nearly enough recruits to help, considering Marlene lost nearly all of her people just getting to Salt Lake City.
- As You Know: When Anna rhetorically asks Marlene how long they have known each other (for Marlene to deny her Last Request), the latter answers for the sake of the audience "our whole life".
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Ellie drops the ladder and it almost hits Joel because she spotted a giraffe.
- Bittersweet Ending: Joel and Ellie finally arrive at the Fireflies' base, but the news they receive is devastating: Ellie must die in order to create a cure. Unable to fathom another loss, Joel takes matters into his own hands, killing several Fireflies, including Marlene and the doctor who was supposed to perform the procedure. Together, Joel and Ellie escape, potentially dooming humanity. In the end, Joel and Ellie arrive at Jackson safe and sound, but Joel lies to Ellie about the Fireflies giving up on the cure. Ellie seems to accept his explanation, but the doubt on her face hints that their relationship may be changed forever.
- Book Ends: The beginning of the episode has Marlene initially refuse to kill Anna, Ellie's mother, before reluctantly delivering a Boom, Headshot! on her. Fourteen years later, Joel (Ellie's adoptive father) reluctantly shoots Marlene (Ellie's foster mother) in the head after initially dealing a serious but survivable shot to her abdomen.
- Boom, Headshot!:
- Marlene kills Anna with a headshot at her request.
- Joel kills both the doctor and Marlene with headshots.
- Bridal Carry: Joel carries an unconscious Ellie out of the Fireflies' hospital after saving her and killing the Fireflies. It recalls the scene from episode 1 where Joel carried Sarah.
- Bungled Suicide: Discussed. Joel tells Ellie that he tried to shoot himself in the first few days of the outbreak after losing Sarah, but flinched and missed, leaving himself with his scar.
- Captive Push: The Firefly guard (presumably named Ethan like in the video game) ordered to escort Joel repeatedly pushes him from behind.
- Casting Gag:
- Ellie's mother Anna is played by Ashley Johnson, who portrayed Ellie in the games.
- One of the nurses in the operating theatre is played by Laura Bailey, the voice of Abby from the second game. Laura Bailey also played several incidental characters in the original game, including a nurse in the very same scene, making her the second actress from the game series to reprise their role in the television adaptation.
- Combat Pragmatist: Joel proves ruthless, practiced, and cold in his rampage to save Ellie. Gunning down unaware opponents, executing anyone that could remotely pose a threat to him, and rapidly scavenging weapons from his fallen enemies as he moves. He even kills at least one person who's actively surrendering to him and another who's crawling away. When confronted by Marlene, he waits for her to lower her guard, then shoots her in the stomach.
- Compound Title: This episode's title "Look for the Light", which also being the season finale, finishes the first episode's title "When You're Lost in the Darkness". Read together they form the slogan of the Fireflies.
- Continuity Nod:
- Joel finds another can of Chef Boyardee, which he and Ellie last ate on their way to Kansas City.
- Ellie refers back to their previous campfire conversation about what they'd do after their journey was over.
- Ellie pulls out the pun book again at Joel's request.
- Ellie confirms that Riley was her first kill after they were both bitten in the mall.
- Dirty Business: Marlene clearly isn't happy about sacrificing Ellie for a cure and breaking the promise she made to her lifelong friend Anna. But humanity escaping the fungal hell they're in is worth the terrible sacrifice in her eyes.
- Dramatic Chase Opening: The episode begins with a pregnant Anna running through the woods from an infectee.
- Driven to Suicide: Discussed. Joel tells Ellie that he attempted suicide in the first couple of days of the outbreak but flinched just as he was about to pull the trigger on himself.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Ellie thinks the apocalypse pun might be in bad taste considering the current state of the world, but Joel actually enjoyed it.
- Dying as Yourself: Anna begs Marlene to kill her before she turns. Marlene at first doesn't want to do it, but Anna's continued pleas get Marlene to reluctantly kill her best friend.
- Fade to White: When Joel gets knocked out by a Firefly, the scene fades to white and then into the hospital room where he wakes up.
- Flashback:
- The episode opens on the day of Ellie's birth before cutting to present events.
- Marlene's death is shown as flashbacks as Joel is telling Ellie his false account of events.
- Forced Friendly Fire: Joel uses one of the Fireflies escorting him to shoot the other.
- Foreshadowing: After Joel shoots the operating room surgeon, the camera holds on him laying dead. In the game, at least, it is his death that is the catalyst for The Last of Us Part II.
- Heroic Willpower: By the time Marlene finds Anna and Ellie, Anna is showing signs of the infection growing strong in her, and it's clear she's doing her damnedest to hold it off for as long as possible.
- His Story Repeats Itself: Joel not being able to save his daughter 20 years ago repeats itself in Joel saving Ellie in the present. The rescue arc climaxes in the scene where he carries Ellie in his arms and is confronted by Anna pointing a gun at him. This time, Joel has the chance to kill the aggressor and save the girl which provides catharsis for him.
- Hypocrite:
- Marlene tries to talk Joel down by claiming Ellie would make the choice to sacrifice herself to make a cure, a sentiment that rings hollow when Marlene pointedly refused to offer that choice to Ellie to begin with. She may not even be wrong, but her behavior demonstrates that she wouldn't have accepted any other outcome.
- Similarly, Joel's first and only counter to Marlene is that sacrificing Ellie isn't her choice to make. Marlene rightly points out that it isn't Joel's, either, yet that's exactly what he's doing by taking Ellie by force, and he only further validates it by lying about why he took her once she comes to.
- Ignored Epiphany: Joel's distraught look when Marlene confronts him that Ellie wouldn't have wanted him to shoot up the hospital shows that deep down, he knows she's right. And then he shoots her and carries Ellie away anyway.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: None of the Fireflies even manage to graze Joel during his rampage through the hospital.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Anna is in the middle of giving birth as she is pursued by an Infected. She ends up having to stab it to death while she's pushing her baby out.
- Implied Answer: In the car at the end, Ellie asks Joel if Marlene was okay. He doesn't answer, which she knows how to take.
- Instant Birth: Just Add Labor!: Anna gives birth to Ellie shortly after her water breaks.
- Last Request: As Anna lay dying from an infected's bite, she asks Marlene to look after Ellie and give her the switchblade when she's older, then asks for a Mercy Kill. Marlene ends up going against this promise for the greater good.
- Life/Death Juxtaposition: Ellie is born while her mother Anna kills an infectee.
- MacGuffin Delivery Service: Marlene shows up in Salt Lake City to pick up Ellie who Joel escorted across the country for her.
- Mama Bear: Anna is a force of nature to protect Ellie, even readying herself to commit suicide to keep Ellie safe in the event she's about to lose her mind to the infection.
- Meaningful Background Event: The Firefly soldiers can be seen in the background while Ellie is reading to Joel from her pun book.
- Meaningful Echo: When Joel and Ellie look at the giraffes in the yard, they repeat their dialog from episode 2 when they were looking over Boston:Joel: Is it everything you hoped for?
Ellie: It's got its ups and downs ... but you can't deny that view. - Mook Horror Show: Joel walking through the hospital and killing random Firefly soldiers.
- Mythology Gag: Joel gives Ellie a boost to a higher level so that she can drop down a ladder and help him up. This is a very common game mechanic in The Last of Us and other Naughty Dog adventure games.
- The Needs of the Many: Marlene and the Fireflies are prepared to kill an innocent girl in an effort to create a cure that will hopefully save the entire world. Joel isn't able to make that sacrifice,
- Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer: When Ellie drops the ladder and runs after something, she only tells Joel "you gotta see this" and it takes another 30 secs for Joel (and the audience) to catch up with her and see the giraffe.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Marlene lowers her gun while attempting to talk Joel into doing the right thing. Her moment of vulnerability is rewarded with a bullet to the gut.
- Oh, Crap!: Anna frantically cuts Ellie's umbilical cord when she sees the bite mark on her thigh.
- One-Man Army: Joel singlehandedly kills at least a dozen Fireflies on his way to retrieve Ellie.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Ellie's switchblade came from her mother, who died shortly after she was born.
- Papa Wolf: When Joel realizes that Ellie is going to be killed in order to extract the cordyceps from her brain, he goes on a rampage, killing many people in the building to save her.
- Parental Substitute: Anna begs Marlene to take care of Ellie in her stead. Marlene initially refuses but acquiesces after Anna appeals to their lifelong and very close friendship.
- Playing the Heart Strings: Melancholic string music (a Dark Reprise of the opening theme) plays over Joel slaughtering his way through the Firefly hospital to get to Ellie.
- Pragmatic Villainy: In the game, Joel tortures the single mook guarding him to learn where Ellie's operation is taking place. Here, Joel shoots the mook once in an attempt to get a location, but is aware that his gunshots have already attracted attention and executes the man with his next shot when he won't break. Joel instead makes the logical deduction that Ellie's operation will be held in an appropriate location — pediatrics — and goes there.
- Pull the I.V.: Joel orders the nurses to pull the anesthetic infusion from Ellie's arm with bloody results. To his credit, his next order is to quickly patch the wound.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Some fans complained that the giraffe in episode nine was "bad CGI". It was a real giraffe
. In fact, Joel, Ellie and the giraffe were the only things in that scene that weren't CGI! - Replacement Goldfish: When Ellie theorizes that it was time that healed Joel's psychological wound, he replies that it wasn't that, implying it was Ellie who made him whole again.
- The Reveal: Ellie is immune to cordyceps because she was exposed to it shortly after birth, possibly even through her umbilical cord. The fungus has grown as part of her since then and emits chemical messengers that make her appear already infected to any subsequent infections, thus preventing Ellie from becoming symptomatic. The Fireflies want to extract this inert fungal growth from her and use it to create a cure, but unfortunately the growth is in her brain, so removing it would kill her.
- Riddle for the Ages: Thanks to Joel's massacre of the Fireflies (and especially their surgeon), whether or not they would actually have been able to create an effective vaccine from the fungus in Ellie's brain to save humanity is left unanswered.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Joel brutally slaughters the Fireflies, even including those who surrender, in order to rescue Ellie from being sacrificed for a vaccine.
- Sadistic Choice: Joel has to choose between letting Ellie be killed to potentially save humanity or saving her and thus stopping the last chance to find a cure for Cordyceps. He chooses to kill everyone in the building and save Ellie.
- Single Tear: Marlene sheds a single tear as she orders the soldiers to escort Joel out of the hospital.
- Staking the Loved One:
- Marlene has to kill her lifelong friend Anna.
- Discussed when Ellie tells Joel how she had to kill Riley.
- Time Skip: The previous episode was set during winter. This episode picks up some months later with the lush vegetation indicating summer.
- Tragic Keepsake: Ellie's switchblade was her mother's last gift to her. Marlene tries to pass it to Joel as a memento, badly underestimating just how hard he'll fight to save Ellie.
- Unwanted Rescue: Marlene claims to Joel that Ellie herself would not want to be rescued and would rather die so her life can mean something. Ellie herself, ignorant of the consequences, expressed a similar sentiment to Joel earlier. Ellie does seem upset at the idea that Joel might have lied and the cure could have been found if he hadn't intervened.
- Villains Want Mercy: To the extent she can be considered a villain, Marlene begs for mercy after Joel shoots her in the stomach. Joel coldly shoots her in the head, confident that she'd come after him and Ellie.
- Wham Line: "It was me. I was the guy who shot and missed."
- The World Is Just Awesome: Joel and Ellie spend some time on top of an abandoned building just looking out at the herd of giraffes wandering through the ruins of Salt Lake City.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Fireflies are perfectly willing to perform fatal surgery on a young girl for a chance at a cure for the fungal plague to save humanity.
