In a shocking and emotional twist, Pedro Pascal returns as Joel in episode 5 of The Last of Us season 2, though not in the way fans might expect.
The episode ends with Ellie torturing Nora in a dark, spore-filled hospital basement to extract Abby’s location, a brutal and defining moment that’s interrupted not by her return to the theater like in the video game, but by an unexpected flashback.
The scene cuts to Ellie waking up in her bedroom in Jackson, greeted by a smiling Joel standing in the doorway, telling her, “Good morning.”
While it’s a relief to see Joel alive again, the sudden appearance raises questions.
Has everything from Joel’s death to Ellie’s violent rampage in Seattle just been a dream? The answer lies in the timeline.
The sequence is not a dream, but a flashback to a time well before Joel’s death at the hands of Abby.
It likely takes place around Ellie’s 16th birthday.
In the game, there’s a chapter called “The Birthday Gift,” where Joel takes Ellie on a surprise trip to a museum filled with dinosaur exhibits and space artifacts.
Footage from season 2 trailers already confirmed that this beautiful chapter will be adapted, and this scene hints at its lead-in.
Another key detail is that Ellie is still living in Joel’s house during the flashback.
In the present timeline, she’s moved into the garage after their falling-out.
This placement makes it clear: the moment occurs before Ellie discovers Joel lied about what happened with the Fireflies, before the emotional fracture in their relationship.
The emotional weight of this flashback contrasts sharply with the violence Ellie inflicts on Nora, reinforcing the story’s core themes of love, loss, and vengeance.
Though Joel’s return is brief and out of sequence, it’s a powerful reminder of the bond Ellie is still trying to process, and sets the stage for more devastating emotional beats in the episodes ahead.
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