Heartwarming / The Last of Us (2023)

"This isn't the tragic suicide at the end of the play. I'm old. I'm satisfied. And you were my purpose."

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

When You're Lost In The Darkness

• For Joel's birthday, Sarah gets his watch repaired, knowing that he would never do these little things to take care of himself, and he's touched when she presents the fixed watch to him. Even twenty years later, Joel has held on to the watch (which broke again in the same incident that claimed Sarah's life) as a reminder of his daughter's love.
• The FEDRA officer is nothing but kind to the little boy found outside the QZ while they examine him, and offers assurances of food and toys to keep the boy happy even as he tests positive and her colleague administers a lethal injection.
• The upgrade of Joel and Tommy's relationship as compared to the game. Rather than making a deal with Marlene for the return of weapons, Joel is searching for a car battery; he's been planning for weeks to make the dangerous journey to Wyoming in order to find Tommy, who has seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

Infected

• Tess' Heroic Sacrifice to save Joel and Ellie from Infected, but not before making him swear to deliver Ellie safely to the Fireflies. Tess's words make it clear that she wholeheartedly believes that if they do so and create a cure or vaccine, it could redeem the two of them for all the things they did in order to survive.
  • Tess' last words to Joel:
    Tess: Save who you can save.

Long, Long Time

• Bill and Frank's love story.
  • In the game, the relationship was implied to have been incredibly rocky, to the point where Frank grew sick of Bill's attitude and left him, even berating Bill in his suicide note. The series instead portrays them as a loving Opposites Attract couple, Frank in particular bringing out Bill's softer side. The scene in particular where they sleep together for the first time showcases this shift; when Bill admits it's his first time with a man, Frank softly comforts him and insists they'll go as slow or as fast Bill is comfortable with.
  • This reflects in their makeshift compound as Frank insists on maintaining upkeep of their section of the street including mowing the lawn and repainting the house. Compare this to the Boston QZ which was dirty, rundown, and covered in graffiti while their street looks like it was frozen in amber from before Outbreak Day. Its only weeks later after they've died that things have started to fall to the wayside which Joel immediately takes to mean something is wrong.
  • Frank's sheer delight at the wonderful meal Bill serves him when they first meet. It's likely the first good food he's had in four years and he savours every mouthful.
  • In a very bittersweet example, Bill chooses to die alongside Frank when he asks him to help him commit suicide due to his terminal illness. Bill started out as a paranoid survivalist who mistrusted people and took every precaution to keep himself alive when the outbreak happened. After spending nearly two decades with Frank, he willingly takes his own life because he doesn't want to carry on living without the man he loves. After laughing about how "romantic" it is, they retire to bed and peacefully pass away together.
    Bill: This isn't the tragic suicide at the end of the play. I'm old. I'm satisfied. And you were my purpose.
  • Frank showing Bill the strawberries he secretly planted in the garden, much to his delight. They share a few strawberries together as the sun sets and there's a sheer look of happiness on both of their faces.
  • During the montage of Bill and Frank's Last Day, we see the tiger pit that Frank fell into, and that Bill had neither re-set the trap nor filled the hole in at any point. It's like he kept it that way, because that was where they first met.
  • Through Frank's influence, Bill becomes more open, showing vulnerability and admitting that he was never scared before Frank showed up. He also gradually comes to see Joel and Tess as his friends.
    • The friendship between Frank and Tess is also very sweet. Frank being the one that first contacted her (and by extension, Joel) and bonding with her, even coming up with the radio code based on 80s Songs, akin to two friends at a sleepover.
  • Bill and Frank were able to experience what very few people ever could in this post-apocalyptic wasteland: a long, happy, and fulfilled life where they grew old together and died contentedly in each other's arms.
• It's a small moment, but Bill and Frank kept the window of their bedroom open so that Joel and Tess wouldn't be bothered by the smell if they ever came by.
• Bill's last letter to Joel is what convinces him to finally take his role as Ellie's protector seriously by reminding him that someone is worth protecting in this world. In the game, Bill serves as a cautionary tale of who Joel should not let himself become, while in this series he serves as an example that Joel should aspire to follow. In both cases, particularly the series's version, Bill plays a role in Joel's Character Development which would eventually develops into a familial bond between him and Ellie down the road.
• Despite still being annoyed by Ellie for the most part, Joel's parental instincts kick in sometimes, like when he tries to prevent her from seeing the littered corpses of the people who weren't able to get to the evacuation zones and when he helps her put on her seatbelt in the car.

Please Hold to My Hand

• The sheer delight Ellie derives from her book of awful puns. Despite everything, she's still just a kid, and it's good to see her finding joy where she can.
  • The next to final scene of the episode ends with Joel and Ellie cracking up over a terrible, terrible pun, both of them laughing and grinning together in the darkness.
  • The aftershow interviews states that Joel does enjoy the puns she tells but tries to hide it making this all the more heartwarming.
• Joel may not be a pro at offering comfort, but he tries his best to soothe Ellie after she shoots one of the bandits. This culminates in him teaching her how to properly handle her gun, a quiet moment of building trust.
  • The reason he gives for not letting Ellie have a gun is because Joel believes that a kid shouldn't have to bare the guilt of taking a person's life. After a beat, Ellie admits to having taken a life before which causes him to, after a thought, teach her how to use the gun properly.
  • He patiently teaches her how to hold a pistol properly and practice gun safety like a parent would, much to Ellie's joy.
• Really all the scenes with Ellie and Joel after three episodes of him being stand-offish or outright hostile to her, especially when you strip setting and circumstances with their interactions being like a that between a father and his daughter.
  • Despite the first rule he gave Ellie was they could keep their histories to themselves (i.e. "don't mention Tess or ask about my past") Joel ends up doing exactly that. He explains how Tommy grew up Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life and Joel would have to bail him out when he got in trouble. That's why he's going to Wyoming: his little brother's in trouble and big brother is coming to help him.
  • The scenes when Ellie and Joel are on the road are exactly like that of a father and daughter on a cross country road trip together. This includes when they are sleeping under the stars like as if camping and when Joel takes an enormous and obnoxious sip of his coffee when Ellie states her distaste for it.

Endure and Survive

• Henry and Sam's entire relationship is sweet to a heart-crushing degree. Henry brings Sam a big bag of crayons and paint and encourages him to draw, and when they're escaping the attic, he helps Sam to be brave by drawing a superhero domino mask in paint over Sam's eyes.
  • When Sam learns their doctor friend isn't coming back, he goes in for a big hug with Henry, who's visibly tearing up.
  • A small moment when Joel and Ellie are asking them questions. When Joel asks how old Sam is, instead of answering on his behalf, Henry makes sure to translate the question into ASL for his brother and waits for his response. It would be easy for him to talk over Sam and answer on his behalf, but he makes sure to include him in the conversation. Henry's not just protective, he treats him with care and respect.
• Ellie quickly bonds with Sam, almost instantly falling into a big sister role, playing with him and geeking out over their shared love of comic books.
  • When Sam reveals he's been bitten, Ellie grabs her knife without hesitation to try and use her blood to heal Sam. She then gives him a long, reassuring hug and promises to stay up with him all night.
• Joel himself defrosts towards Henry, first by apologizing about calling him a rat (after watching Henry with Sam, he gets it) and then offering to take Henry and Sam along in the morning.
• A villainous moment, but Perry finds Kathleen in her and her brother Michael's old room, where she confides in him about how Michael used to make her feel safe during thunderstorms. When she asks Perry not to try and talk her out of her revenge against Henry, Perry reminds her that even though her brother was a beloved leader, it was Kathleen who eventually lead the resistance to victory over FEDRA, and therefore they are with her until the end.

Kin

• Marlon and Florence are seen as a breath of fresh air after the horror of previous episodes. While they're initially being held hostage by Joel and Ellie, they take the pair's threats completely in stride — Florence even makes them soup! — and are perfectly comfortable and content with each other, snarking one moment and sharing in the other's amusement the next.
• When Ellie asks Joel who her favourite astronaut is, he immediately guesses (correctly) that it's Sally Ride. It's a small moment, but even before he formally accepts the role of her surrogate father he knows Ellie well enough to know the sort of person she'd admire, and given that Ellie doesn't comment on his guess, just firmly repeats what he said, it's clear that she knew he'd know.
• The Jackson border guards have their guard dog check Joel to see whether he's infected. After it's done with him, it moves on to Ellie - who's actually infected. Joel is initially terrified that the dog will hurt Ellie after it starts growling at her, but the dog turns out to actually be quite friendly to Ellie, even allowing her to pet it, which ultimately convinces the Jackson border guards to let both of them into the settlement.
• After several harrowing months, Joel and Tommy are finally reunited.
• The whole town of Jackson qualifies, as one of the few remaining outposts of life before the fungus. The people work together to make sure everyone is safe and cared for, and they even have movies and Christmas trees and other pleasures that Joel likely hasn't seen in twenty years.
  • There is also a more subtle bit of heartwarming involved here. Aside from the nearby hydroelectric dam, Jackson isn't special. It doesn't have a large and well armed military, it isn't any more or less naturally defensible than anywhere else, it's not technologically advanced...it's just normal and a bit out of the way. Now think of how easily any small town far enough from the major cities could have done the same things with the same resources. The fact that Jackson can thrive despite its meager starting point means that there could easily be dozens of towns like it across America, much less the rest of the world. And if there are, then in the long run humanity will be just fine, cordyceps cure or no.
• Maria invites Ellie to greet a foal in the Jackson stables, and Ellie does so gleefully, petting its face and nuzzling her own against it. (As of the second game, this foal would grow up to become her horse, Shimmer.)
• Ellie and Joel bond quite a bit during their five day trip to the university, including Joel teaching Ellie how to use a rifle and patiently explaining the rules of football.
• After their fight in the evening, Ellie is packed and ready to go when Tommy shows up at her bedroom door. They leave the house and go to the stables... where Joel is harnessing a horse, ready to go. He gravely informs Ellie that she deserves to have a choice and if she feels like she's safer with him, then—Ellie barely let him finish his sentence before she's tossing her bag at him and climbing up onto the horse.
• Ellie confesses to Joel that her dream is to be an astronaut. He later reveals to her that as a kid, he dreamed of being a singer, and Ellie makes him promise to sing to her one day.

Left Behind

• A badly wounded Joel urges Ellie to leave him behind and go to Tommy for help. After only a moment of hesitation, she frantically searches the house for a needle and thread, which she uses to stitch up Joel's wound. She's lost Riley, but she won't lose him too.
• Before it goes to hell, Ellie and Riley's run through the mall is packed with great stuff. The highlight is passing a working video arcade with Ellie just staring in wonder at it.
  Ellie: This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
• After dancing together to "I Got You Babe," Ellie begs Riley not to leave her for the Fireflies. Riley agrees, and the two share their First Kiss.
  Ellie: Don't go.
  Riley: Okay.
  Ellie plants a kiss on Riley's lips
  Beat
  Ellie: I'm sorry.
  Riley (grinning): For what?
  • The look of pure joy on Ellie's face when she realizes that Riley reciprocates her feelings.

When We Are In Need

• Ellie caring for Joel in the basement of the home they're hiding in; giving him small drops of water, trying to give him food, and cuddling against him to sleep (with her head on his chest to hear his heartbeat).
  • Joel slowly leans his head over to rest against hers as she cuddles up next to him.
• Joel gives a tight hug to comfort a severely traumatized Ellie after she escapes David.
  • Joel calls her "baby girl" (the same affectionate name he used for Sarah), thereby finally admitting out loud that Ellie is his daughter in all but name.
  • Joel fought through hunger, exhaustion, pain, and fever, killing three cannibals to get to Ellie even though he could barely keep himself conscious hours earlier. And he did it.

Look for the Light

• In the aftermath of her ordeal in Silver Lake, Ellie is withdrawn and quiet. Joel spends half the episode trying to cheer her up: finding a board game for her to play, scrounging up a can of Chef Boyardee and offering to teach her to play guitar. It isn't until they run into a docile giraffe that Ellie starts acting more like her old self, and Joel is visibly overjoyed at her giggles.
• After Joel recounts the story of his near-suicide after Sarah's death, Ellie assumes Joel eventually just got over his daughter's death, but he never really did until Ellie came into his life.
  Ellie: So time heals all wounds, I guess.
  Joel (hesitantly): It wasn't time that did it.
• After their conversation mentioned above, Joel further helps Ellie cheer up by asking her to read him some more "shitty puns" from her joke book. Ellie is more than happy to oblige and they proceed to share a laugh over the terrible jokes.
• While Joel's massacre of the Fireflies was an extremely heinous act that has possibly doomed humanity, he only did it out of love for Ellie. After what happened to Sarah, he couldn't bear to lose yet another daughter to a bunch of faceless soldiers.
• As they return to Jackson, Joel opens up to Ellie about what Sarah was like, and in turn, she finally tells him about Riley.

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