‘The Last Of Us‘ episode ‘Left Behind‘ takes an uncharacteristic stroll down memory lane for Ellie (Bella Ramsey). With Joel struggling to hold on to his dear life, Ellie’s future is not looking too bright suddenly. Joel seems to resign to his fate and asks Ellie to leave. After all that they’ve been through, Joel is still putting a wall between them.
It’s a little too much to take for Ellie, who leaves. But just as she’s about to walk out the door, her worst nightmares come back to eat her. ‘Left Behind‘ introduces a new character from the video games that play a crucial role in Ellie’s history. Find out who this character is and the actor who plays it in the HBO adaptation.
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‘The Last Of Us’: In Sickness And In Health
In ‘Left Behind,’ Ellie finds an abandoned warehouse for Joel (Pedro Pascal) to recuperate. That’s the hope, but Joel isn’t getting better. In what seems like his moments of finality, Ellie wants to be there and offer comfort. Joel tells of heading north and looking for Tommy (Gabriel Luna).
Heartbroken, Ellie does take Joel on his offer. As she fights back the tears on the way out, we travel back in time with Ellie. This is her time as an officer in training at one of the FEDRA schools, where she sends a mean girl straight into the infirmary.
Her friends Riley Abel (Storm Reid) is missing. Ever since her disappearance, she’s beginning to feel more uninterested in her training and general life. One night, Riley returns in the middle of the night and tells Ellie she’s now one of the Fireflies.
Regardless of their political allegiances, they go out on the town. Riley brings Ellie to an abandoned mall. What follows the night is a fun concoction of arcade games, a haunted house, a carousel, and a photo booth. All of these also become a catalyst for Ellie expressing her romantic feelings for Riley. Not too far away, another infected is about to end this lovely meet-up.
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All About ‘The Last Of Us’ Character Riley
Soon, all the fun is interrupted when Ellie finds out the abandoned mall is where Riley guards the weapons stash. Riley further reveals she’s been posted to Atlanta. Upset, Ellie leaves but stops when she learns it’s Riley’s last night in Boston.
As Ellie asks her to stay as they kiss and makeup. Alas, their bliss is cut short when an infected attack them both. Ellie kills it, but the harm’s done. Now infected, both decide to die by each other’s side. Ellie hurriedly snaps back to reality and searches for anything that qualifies for first aid for Joel.
Riley Abel is another character from the videogames who appears in the HBO adaptation. Based in Boston, she befriends Ellie and attends the same FEDRA military school. She hates the fascist regime of FEDRA, eventually becoming a member of the resistance Fireflies.
In the video game, Riley is voiced by Yaani King. Storm Reid plays Riley Abel in the HBO show. We don’t find out what happens to Riley in the video game and the television series. Riley and Ellie decide to wait out the infection and see what happens. However, we know Ellie made it alive since she’s immune to the Cordyceps virus.
How Riley dies remains an enigma to the audience. In the video game, we find out that Riley is dead. It’s never mentioned if Ellie had to do anything with it. We do, however, get a feeling that Ellie leaves her behind. Like Ellie, the audience doesn’t get any sense of closure. It brings Ellie back to Joel, the need to stick to her newfound family.
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