‘The Last Of Us’ Recap: Ellie Is Kidnapped By Cannibals As Joel Fights His Way Back To Her

Ellie encounters a group of survivors who are hiding a disturbing secret in the brutal eighth episode of ‘The Last of Us.’

The Last of Us episode 8 begins with a new batch of survivors realizing they don’t have enough food to feed their people. They only have a week left, even with rationing. The situation is growing more dire by the minute.

Meanwhile, Ellie checks on Joel’s stab wound after she sews it up. Joel is barely moving. Ellie takes his gun and leaves the house. She ventures into the woods and spots a deer. She shoots it once, but it runs off. She chases after it, but two of the survivors from this new group, James (played by Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in the video game) and David, find the deer first and decide to take it.

Ellie stops them in their tracks. David explains that they’re from a larger group that’s going hungry. He says he’ll make a trade with her. She needs medicine for Joel, so she agrees. Ellie orders James to go get the medicine and bring it back in exchange for half of the deer.

Ellie Crosses Paths With A Dangerous Group

David and Ellie are left alone. He offers her shelter and fire while they wait. Ellie discovers that David is a preacher. He wasn’t a believer in God until after the apocalypse. He left the Pittsburgh QZ after it collapsed and slowly picked up new people as they traveled until they found their permanent settlement in Silver Lake.

David doesn’t believe in luck. “I believe everything happens for a reason,” he tells Ellie. David says that he sent 4 of his men out to a nearby town in search of food and only 3 came back. The one who didn’t was murdered by a “crazy man” who was traveling with… a girl. The crazy man? Joel. The girl? Ellie.

The tables turn on Ellie. James has his gun pointed at her, but David asks him to lower it. He orders James to give Ellie the medicine for Joel. Ellie doesn’t bite when David says he can protect her. She runs back to Joel to give him the penicillin. She lies next to him to try and keep warm.

David announces to his people that they’re sending out a group tomorrow to trace Ellie’s steps so they can find Joel and “bring that man to justice.” The daughter of the man Joel murdered says that they should kill Joel and Ellie. David slaps her in front of everyone.

Ellie keeps giving Joel more penicillin, and he’s looking a tad better. When she steps outside, she spots crows flying in the distance. She soon sees a group, including David and James, walking through the snow. James questions bringing Ellie back because she’ll just be another mouth to feed. He thinks “maybe it’s God’s will” that she dies out here. David doesn’t approve of this mentality.

Ellie runs back to Joel and hands him a knife. She tells him that she’s going to lead the group away from him. She gets on her horse and shoots at them. David screams at his men to bring her back alive. James chases after Ellie and shoots her horse, throwing her to the ground. Before James can kill her, David lets out a shot. He carries her back to the settlement. He orders his men to go look for Joel. “If you’re so hungry for vengeance… deliver it,” he says.

Joel Rises Again

One of the men moves the piece of furniture that Ellie put in front of the basement door to protect Joel. When he goes down into the basement, Joel isn’t on the mattress anymore. Joel is up and back at it again. Joel stabs the man in the neck and kills him.

When Ellie wakes up after being thrown off the horse, she’s in a cage. She asks David why she’s being kept like an animal. “Because I’m afraid of you,” he says. He mentions that the others want to kill her, and she can’t survive on her own.

Meanwhile, Joel captures two of David’s other men and demands to know where Ellie is now. He stabs one man in the leg when he doesn’t answer the question. The man finally tells Joel that Ellie is in Silver Lake. Joel shows no mercy and stabs him in the stomach after getting the answer he needs. He doesn’t hesitate to kill the other guy as well.

‘You Have A Violent Heart’

Ellie soon realizes that David is much more sinister than she ever could have imagined. She figures out that they’re cannibals and not everyone in the settlement knows. David basically says that desperate times call for desperate measures. “You remind me of me,” David says to Ellie. “You’re a natural leader, you’re smart, loyal, violent.”

He adds, “You have a violent heart, and I should know… I’ve always had a violent heart.” David wants Ellie to join him and lead his people together. “We’d make this place perfect,” he says. He wants more than just Ellie leading alongside him. “Imagine the life we could build,” David tells her, implying he wants a sexual relationship with her. When he touches Ellie’s hand, she breaks his finger. She tries to grab his keys, but he bangs her head against the cage. He quickly runs out of the room.

Joel works his way through the freezing cold to get to Silver Lake. He follows a trail of blood and finds the dead horse and three bodies hanging nearby. David returns with James to grab Ellie from the cage. She bites David as she fights them off. They put her on the chopping block and prepare to kill her. Ellie screams that she’s infected (but doesn’t mention she’s immune). “And now, so are you,” she says to David.

She continues, “What did you say? Everything happens for a reason, right?” Ellie’s confession gives her just enough time to grab the butcher’s knife and stab James in the neck with it. She runs out of the room and evades several of the shots that David fires at her.

‘I Got You’

Ellie grabs a piece of burning wood and hides from David. She throws it towards him, hitting the curtains behind him. The curtains catch fire. Instead of running out, David continues to search for Ellie. He doesn’t believe she’s infected. The fire continues to rage around him.

Ellie runs at David and stabs him in the stomach. He throws her to the ground in response. He kicks her and pins her down as she tries to fight him off. “The fighting’s the part I like the most,” he says. Ellie manages to grab the butcher’s knife that was knocked out of his hand and stabs him over and over and over again, the blood splattering on her face.

She runs outside after killing David, and Joel sneaks up on her from behind. When she turns around and sees that it’s Joel, she bursts into tears in his arms. “It’s okay, baby girl. I got you,” Joel says to Ellie as he comforts her.