For the first time, Ellie is completely on her own while facing a new enemy (Picture: HBO)
Warning: spoilers ahead for The Last of Us episode 8.
Throughout The Last of Us, it’s become apparent that one of the greatest fears of protagonist Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is ending up on her own.
That fear comes to fruition in episode 8 of the TV show, when she’s taken by horrifying villain David (Scott Shepherd) while Joel (Pedro Pascal) is on the brink of death.
While there are infected roaming the Earth, the video game and its TV adaptation make it clear that humans are still to be greatly feared in this post-apocalyptic world – particularly communities like David’s, where they literally eat other people.
The cannibals claim to lead a civilised community, but David’s true nature slowly unravels after Ellie is captured, when she realises the truth behind the dietary habits and that their leader is a psychopathic monster.
Has Ellie saved Joel’s life? They’re not in the all-clear yet
Ellie has sewn about Joel’s wound, but he’s got a way to go before he’s healed (Picture: HBO)
In episode seven, Ellie faced the prospect of losing her companion and father figure Joel when he was stabbed in the stomach by an attacker.
While he was bleeding out, she eventually managed to find a needle and thread, stitching up his wound.
However, they’re not in the clear yet by episode eight, as Joel’s wound has now become severely infected and he’s in dire need of medicine.
In the wild while Ellie is hunting for deer, she comes across a man called David and his associate James (Troy Baker, who played Joel in the video game), and she manages to strike up a bargain for medicine in exchange for some deer while holding them at gunpoint.
Ellie meets David – a preacher with a horrifying secret up his sleeve
David is one of the most horrifying monsters viewers have encountered in the series (Picture: HBO)
When Ellie first meets David, threatening his life, he speaks to her very calmly, explaining that he comes from a large community that – while starving – have room to spare for another member.
After sharing his story, revealing he became a preacher and a leader after the Cordyceps outbreak, David gradually discloses that he has some prior knowledge of Ellie, as he’s aware that she’s with a man who killed one of their own.
Ellie races back to Joel when she gets her hands on the medicine that was promised, managing to inject him with the much-needed remedy… but David’s group are on the hunt for them and want revenge for the murder that Joel committed.
Ellie heads out to lead the group away from Joel and is captured, winding up in a cell in the resort where David’s group are living.
While in there, she spots a dismembered ear on the ground… realising that David’s group are cannibals, even if the majority of them don’t realise the source of the meat that they’re eating at their meals.
She later discovers that David is not only a cannibal, but also a paedophile when he makes a move on her, and she breaks his finger before he threatens to chop her up into little pieces.
Joel goes on a rampage while Ellie fights for her life
Joel is desperate to rescue Ellie – but she manages that on her own (Picture: HBO)
Back where Ellie left Joel, he’s starting to have some of his strength restored when he clocks onto the fact that his surrogate daughter has been taken away from him.
Joel kills one of the men from David’s group and captures two others, torturing them to get information as to Ellie’s whereabouts, before also taking their lives with no mercy.
He hurries to the resort, coming across the abattoir where dismembered human bodies are being hung up, while inside, Ellie is on the verge of being killed herself for the group’s next meal.
David and James drag Ellie to the table in an attempt to kill her with their blade, but she manages to stop them in their tracks when she tells them that she’s infected, and shows them her bitten arm to prove it.
David gets his just desserts after horrifying true nature is revealed
Troy, who played Joel in the video game, stars as James in the TV show (Picture: HBO)
Stalling David and James by telling them that she’s infected gives Ellie the brief amount of time she needs to make an escape, grabbing the knife that David had slammed into the table next to her and using it to stab James through the neck.
She sprints out of the room while David attempts to shoot her, with the pair having a final face-off in the dining room, where the teenager sets off a blazing fire.
David taunts Ellie while he searches for her, claiming that she’s in need of a ‘father’ in truly gruesome scenes.
When she launches an attack at David with a knife that she’s found in the kitchen, he horrifying climbs on top of her, his true violent and paedophilic nature emerging.
Ellie desperately grabs for the large knife that had fallen to the ground, stabbing David before hacking at him until he’s dead.
As she gets outside, she’s in shock when Joel approaches her from behind, before they hug and he says the words that cement the fact that Ellie is now a daughter figure to him: ‘It’s okay baby girl, I got you.’
Having previously called his own daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) ‘baby girl’, there’s only one episode to go of the first season of The Last of Us as Joel and Ellie continue their mission to find the Fireflies.
The Last of Us is available to watch on Sky and NOW with new episodes released on Mondays.
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MORE : Oscar-winning actor ‘almost played Joel in The Last of Us’ instead of Pedro Pascal
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One of the TV show’s most horrifying monsters emerges.