Look for the Light

"Look for the Light" is the ninth and final episode of the first season, and the ninth episode overall, of HBO's The Last of Us. The episode was directed by Ali Abbasi and written by series creators and . The episode aired on HBO on March 12, 2023.
== Synopsis ==
After being pursued by , a pregnant places her trust in . Years later, is forced to grapple with the emotional toll of her journey, while faces a devastating decision of his own.
== Cast and characters ==
 Main cast 
* as 
* as 
 Guest starring 
* as 
* as 
 Co-starring 
* Pardeep Sooch as soldier
* Andy McDermott as Firefly soldier
* Primo Allen as Firefly soldier
* Darren Dolynski as surgeon
* as nurse
* Ana Rice as nurse
== Plot ==
=== Flashback 14 Years Ago ===
14 years ago, a heavily pregnant woman named runs through the woods while in the midst of labor. She arrives at an agreed-upon meeting location in an abandoned farmhouse, but finds no one there, forcing her to lock herself in a room. Hearing the shrieks of an infected outside the room, she arms herself with a switchblade and starts to give birth just as the infected rushes in and thrashes at her. Anna manages to kill the infected with the switchblade, just as her baby is born. Realizing she was bitten during the fight, she quickly severs the umbilical cord and cradles the baby, who she lovingly names "." Later that night, and another Firefly arrive to find Anna still holding Ellie. Revealing her bite, Anna insists against Marlene's doubts that she severed the umbilical cord before she was bitten. Knowing she will soon lose her mind to the infection, she instructs Marlene to kill her and take Ellie, making her promise to find someone to take care of her. Marlene sadly hands baby Ellie off to the Firefly before putting Anna down.
=== Arrival in Salt Lake City ===
In the present day, a sullen Ellie ventures with through . Joel, now settled into accepting Ellie as his child, tries to cheer her up by reminding her of some of the happier moments of their journey, scavenging another can of and offering to teach her how to play guitar. Ellie musters a happy facade but is still troubled by the events in . While climbing through an abandoned building to seek out a path to the hospital, they come across and interact with a giraffe, the sight of which briefly cheers up Ellie. As they take in the view, Joel points out that they do not have to go to the hospital, noting they could just as easily turn back to and reunite with . Ellie promises she will follow Joel to wherever he wants, but insists that they finish their journey first, claiming they have come too far and done too much to turn back now.
As they walk through an abandoned Army hospital, Joel stops and tells Ellie the truth about a gunshot wound to the head he previously told her about – rather than from a fight, it was actually from a suicide attempt, prompted by 's death as he once thought he had nothing left to live for. At the last second, he flinched. Ellie guesses that he is telling her the story to say that time heals all wounds, but Joel knowingly tells her, "It wasn't time that did it." As they continue, he asks her to tell him some more bad puns. Due to the distraction, they fail to notice two guards following them until one throws a flashbang grenade, and Joel is soon knocked out.
=== Hospital fight ===
Joel awakens in the hospital where he is greeted by Marlene, who expresses stunned gratitude to him for escorting Ellie. Joel asks to see Ellie, but Marlene reveals she cannot take him to her as Ellie is being prepped for surgery: their head doctor thinks that Ellie's immunity is caused by the growth that has been in her since birth, releasing a chemical messenger that tricks the infection into thinking she is already infected. The doctor hopes to replicate the chemical messenger in a lab, potentially creating a cure. However, Joel knows that Cordyceps grows in the brain, meaning Ellie will die in surgery. Marlene insists they have no other options, as Ellie is the only immune person they have found. She notes she understands Joel's devotion to Ellie, having made the pledge to Anna to keep Ellie safe all those years ago. She instructs two of her armed men to escort Joel out of the hospital and to the highway, telling them to kill him if he tries anything.
However, Joel manages to disarm one of the men and kills both of them. Bent on saving Ellie whatever the cost, Joel storms through the hospital massacring every Firefly he meets along the way, including ones who try to surrender. Arriving in the operating room just as they are getting ready, he demands that the surgical team unhook Ellie from their equipment. The head surgeon tries to threaten Joel with a scalpel, but Joel simply kills him, prompting the frightened nurses to comply. Joel picks up Ellie and takes her down into the hospital's garage, where he finds a car. However, he is stopped at gunpoint by Marlene. Marlene insists that Joel cannot protect Ellie from harm forever: in this case, she has a chance to make a difference in the world with her death. Joel argues that Marlene cannot make that choice for her, but Marlene points out that neither can he, and they both know Ellie would choose to sacrifice herself. She lowers her gun and offers Joel a chance to make the right decision.
The scene cuts to Joel quietly driving away from Salt Lake City. As he pensively looks out the window, Ellie stirs in the backseat, still wearing her hospital gown and confused about what transpired after she was anesthetized. Joel lies that the Fireflies had found several more immune people just like her, but the doctors failed to make a cure and they had given up – the hospital was then attacked by raiders, forcing him to escape with Ellie. Ellie asks if Marlene is okay: a flashback reveals that Joel shot Marlene as soon as she had lowered her gun. When he heard her struggling after placing Ellie in the car, he returned to finish her off. Marlene made one last plea to let her go, but Joel simply told her she still would come after Ellie and killed her.
=== The last promise ===
Sometime later, the car breaks down a few hours outside of Jackson, forcing Joel and Ellie to finish their journey on foot. As they walk, Joel tells Ellie about , commenting they were both very different, but would have liked each other. As they approach Jackson, Ellie stops. She explains to Joel her previous claim that she had killed someone by telling him about when she and were bitten at the mall, admitting she was forced to kill Riley after she turned. She reminds him of how many people have been killed due to their meeting, including and Sam, and begs him to swear he was telling the truth about what happened at the hospital.
Joel tells her he swears. Despite knowing for sure he is lying, Ellie simply replies, "Okay."
== Reception ==
The final episode aired on March 12, 2023 and was watched by 8.2 million viewers in the U.S. overnight.Hailu, Selome (March 13, 2023). "'The Last of Us' Season 1 Finale Scores 8.2 Million Viewers, Reaching Series High Despite Oscars Competition" Variety Despite its viewership remaining in line with the average for the series, it stands as the least publicly reviewed episode of the series, with only 42,000 reviews on IMDB. Although, it remains one of the highest rated, scoring 9 out of 10."The Last of Us" episode 9: Look for the Light, IMDB, (Accessed October 23, 2023).
The episode was noted for its slick storytelling, reflected in the episode being the shortest in the entire series by nearly 10 minutes in terms of screen time. Praise was given to Pascal's performance as Joel, with the standout scene for style and drama going to Joel's rescue of Ellie in the hospital. Santaolalla's composition was acclaimed the most here in the series, with his score in the hospital given similar praise to his composition used for and 's death scene.
== Transcript ==
== Behind the scenes ==
=== Production ===
* Ashley Johnson, who portrayed Ellie in the video game, appears in this episode as , 's mother.
* The giraffe scene was a combination of a VFX stage, scenery, and a location shoot with real giraffes. Filming took place at the Calgary Zoo, with the production spending time acclimating the giraffes both to the green screen set-up and being fed by strangers, culminating with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey filming opposite a real giraffe rather than a CGI effect.Tangcay, Jazz (March 13, 2023). "‘The Last of Us’ Used Real, Trained Giraffes and an Abandoned Hospital in Season Finale" Variety. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
* Laura Bailey, the voice of Abby Anderson, makes a cameo appearance in this episode as one of the masked nurses. Bailey is the fifth voice actor from the games to appear in an on-screen role in the television series, after Merle Dandridge (Marlene) reprising her role, Jeffrey Pierce (Tommy Miller) as Perry, Troy Baker (Joel Miller) as , and Johnson as Anna. Bailey had also voiced one of the Firefly nurses in the original game in her capacity as a background voice actor, technically making her the second actor to reprise their role from the games after Dandridge.
** As a joke, Bailey texted Neil Druckmann a photo from set of her posing next to the corpse of the head surgeon, a reference to the relationship of the surgeon's game counterpart to her character.Druckmann, Neil (March 13, 2023). "And the winner for funniest text of all time goes to @LauraBaileyVO for sending me this gem!" Twitter. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
* Director Ali Abassi filmed a slightly longer version of the ending that went unused, where after Ellie says "okay", she is shown walking away, followed after by Joel as they walk with some distance between them before the image fades out. This scene would have shown the growing distance between the two characters after the events at the hospital. felt that, ultimately, ending on a quasi-cliffhanger with a close-up of Ellie and no indication of what happens next was more thematically appropriate.The Last of Us finale writers on that cliffhanger ending and Joel's John Wick moment - GQ
=== Easter eggs and references ===
* The episode's title is a reference to the last line of the ' slogan, "When you're lost in the darkness, look for the light," which was previously seen in "When You're Lost in the Darkness". "Look for the Light" was also the name of the trophy for collecting all Firefly pendants in the game.
* The song Anna sings to Ellie as Marlene and the Fireflies arrive at the farmhouse is "" by ,HBO's The Last of Us Spoilercast w/ Neil Druckmann, YouTube (Accessed 2023) whose most famous hit, "" is featured in The Last of Us Part II and "Left Behind". Also in "Left Behind", an A-ha cassette tape is seen among Ellie's possessions.
* While trying to cheer Ellie up, Joel references events from previous episodes, such as when he and Ellie enjoyed a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli in "Please Hold to My Hand" and the time he revealed he played guitar in "Kin".
* Joel and Ellie repeat their previous exchange about the view from "Infected" while watching the herd of giraffes.
* The giraffes make a physical appearance in this episode. The encounter was foreshadowed throughout the series, from a cuddly giraffe toy in Sarah's bedroom in "When You're Lost in the Darkness", to the appearance of giraffe pictures in "Endure and Survive" and "Kin".
* Joel recalls how he received the scar on his head that Ellie asked him about in "Long, Long Time". This time, he tells her the truth that it was actually from his own attempted suicide the day after Sarah died rather than from a gun fight.
* Ellie confirms she was forced to kill Riley after she turned, which was previously hinted at in "Please Hold to My Hand". In the game series' canon, this information was only ever implied.
== Gallery ==
=== Promotional images ===
Look for the Light Promotional Teaser Image.jpg|Teaser Image
=== Official stills ===
S1E9 Anna 1.jpg|Anna in the woods near Boston.
S1E9 Marlene 1.jpg|Marlene carrying Ellie.
S1E9 Marlene 2.jpg|Marlene coddling Ellie in her arms.
S1E9 Marlene 3.jpg|Marlene shortly after executing Anna.
S1E9 Ellie 2.jpg|Ellie sat on the back of a truck.
S1E9 Ellie 1.jpg|Ellie in her spring time attire.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 1.jpg|Joel and Ellie overlooking the giraffe herd in Salt Lake City.
S1E9 Marlene 6.jpg|Marlene in the ward in Saint Mary's hospital.
S1E9 Joel and Marlene 1.jpg|Marlene informs Joel he found the Fireflies.
S1E9 Ellie 3.jpg|Ellie surrounded by the Firefly surgical team.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 4.jpg|Joel takes Ellie from the surgery bed.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 5.jpg|Joel finds Ellie in the surgery room.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 7.jpg|Joel ensures Ellie is okay.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 6.jpg|Joel cradles Ellie.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 3.jpg|Joel rescuing Ellie from the surgery room.
S1E9 Joel and Ellie 2.jpg|Joel carrying Ellie in the parking lot.
S1E9 Marlene 4.jpg|Marlene aiming her gun at Joel.
S1E9 Marlene 5.jpg|Marlene offers Joel the chance to surrender Ellie.
S1E9 Joel 1.jpg|Joel contemplates Marlene's offer.
=== Behind the scenes ===
TLOU 109 Look for the Light BTS01.jpg
TLOU 109 Look for the Light BTS02.jpg
TLOU 109 Look for the Light BTS03.jpg
S1E9 Marlene BTS 1.jpg
S1E9 Joel and Marlene BTS 1.jpg
S1E9 Joel and Ellie BTS 1.jpg
S1E9 Ellie BTS 1.jpg
=== Videos ===
Episode 9 Preview - The Last of Us - HBO Max
The Last of Us - Inside the Episode - 9 - HBO Max
Episode 9 - "Look For The Light" - The Last of Us Podcast - HBO Max
The Last of Us Finale Breakdown- The Great Joel Debate, Merle Dandridge Interview
== External links ==
* 
* 
* "Look for the Light" at 
== References ==
Category:HBO's The Last of Us episodes