The Last Of Us has been one of HBO Max's most anticipated series for a long time. Derived from the popular video game, this new offering on the streaming service promises to faithfully adapt the story and expand on it effectively. And as the first installment is made available just recently, there's certainly a lot of ground to cover. We take a look at this The Last Of Us episode 1 ending explain to know what went down.

The Last Of Us episode 1 ending explained

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The Last Of Us episode 1 opens with a flashback to 1968 as prominent medical experts give their opinion on a possible epidemic caused by fungus. They explain that fungus has the potential to take control of a body and use it as a form of sustenance, granted that the entire planet experiences an increase in temperature. This prologue ends with a cryptic warning that if this happens, mankind will lose.

Moving over to 2003, Joel Miller wakes up on his 36th birthday and plans to spend it at work. Meanwhile, Sarah, Joel's daughter goes to school for the day. After class, she has an old watch fixed to give to her father as a present. As this is happening, the shop owner's wife abruptly closes the shop as everyone goes home. Sarah visits her elderly neighbor and spends the afternoon there.

Without any warning, Sarah's senior neighbor twitches awkwardly without her noticing it. She leaves for home and notices fighter jets racing toward an unknown target across the horizon. After a few hours, Joel arrives and receives his daughter's gift. He then receives a call from Tommy, his younger brother, who's in need of bail after getting arrested. He leaves Sarah at home to sleep.

Waking up to noises of guns going off from a distance, Sarah turns on the news to find a national alert all over the country as an unknown crisis starts to unfold. As she's trying to bring her neighbor's dog back home, Sarah is attacked by Mrs. Adler. Sarah quickly runs as Joel comes in the nick of time to stop the old lady from killing his daughter. He, Sarah, and Tommy hurriedly leave in a pickup truck to race toward a safe location in Mexico.

As they're making their escape, Joel's family encounters those taken by the virus, individuals who seem to resemble zombies at this point. A passenger plane then crashes near them, causing their vehicle to get caught in the explosion. Joel and Sarah get separated from Tommy shortly after they recover. The pair is then chased away by one of the transformed individuals and they run until a soldier apprehends them. The latter then opens fire on them to prevent the spread of the diseases. Tommy arrives and kills the soldier to save his brother and niece. Unfortunately, Sarah was found with a bullet inside her stomach from the soldier's rifle, causing Joel to lose all composure in the middle of nowhere.

20 years later, we see a child walking in a strange manner out in the ravaged streets outside of Boston. He is taken beyond the city's walls where he is examined by authorities. It was later found out that the child was contaminated with the virus and Joel was tasked to burn his corpse. After his job is done, Joel then meets secretly with a soldier to collect payment from him in exchange for sleeping pills. They then agree to proceed with their agreement as the soldier warns him to be careful for the following nights.

In another part of Boston, Tess Servopoulos is being held by an arms dealer named Robert and his men. All of a sudden, an explosion occurs and Tess walks out into the open. A firefight then ensues between the authorities and the Fireflies, a group of local rebels. Meanwhile, Ellie Williams is being held in an undisclosed location where two individuals conduct a routine inspection of her.

Over in an apartment building, Joel asks his contact for any sign of Tommy. He then gets the location of the tower Tommy was last heard from. After obtaining the information, Joel plans out his journey to Wyoming to search for Tommy and falls asleep shortly after. He then wakes up and finds Tess with a swollen eye. She explains that Robert got hold of her and took their car battery, the one thing he needs to escape Boston. They agree to talk to Robert first before going for more violent means to get the battery.

Marlene, leader of the Fireflies, convenes with Kim to talk about their strategy to fight FEDRA. Kim then asks her about the girl she's keeping in the other room. Marlene replies that they're taking the girl out West while showing Kim something of great value. Meanwhile, Joel and Tess discover that Robert is taking the battery to another part of Boston to sell it.

Still locked up in her room, Ellie receives a pocket knife from Marlene. She is then released by her and the pair talk about where they come from respectively. Ellie then asks her why she can't go home yet. Marlene responds that she's taking him out of Boston because she has a greater purpose to serve. As this is happening, Joel and Tess prepare to engage Robert to take their car battery back. As they're making their way inside the building Robert is supposedly in, Joel and Tess find out several dead bodies and a non-working car battery.

Joel then fends off an attack by Ellie and meets Kim and Marlene afterward. The latter reveals that they're going to move Ellie out of the city and he asks Joel to help her smuggle the teenager away from FEDRA's presence. Joel reluctantly agrees as Ellie is forced to go with him and Tess. The latter then leaves the two behind in Joel's apartment with the pair forced to wait for nighttime to escape.

After a few hours, Tess returns and tells them it's time to go. They get out of the city and proceed to a safe zone where they can leave using a repurposed FEDRA vehicle. The trio is spotted by the soldier Joel sold sleeping pills earlier in the episode. While he is apprehending the escapees, Ellie stabs his leg with a knife and Joel attacks him. Ellie watches on as the older man pummels the soldier to death. Tess then discovers that Ellie is infected using the soldier's scanner. Even with that knowledge, they still go off to prevent being caught by the authorities. Back in Joel's apartment, a song from the 80s plays, signifying that trouble is on its way.

What just happened? The Last Of Us episode 1 recap

In this The Last Of Us episode 1 recap, viewers are introduced to the post-apocalyptic world Joel and Ellie are living in. It's established that Boston is one of the few remaining safe cities around with the Infected ravaging all that there is. We also see how Ellie's path crosses with that of Joel as the whole series starts from there. Although it hasn't been revealed yet, it seems that Ellie's condition is the whole crux point of The Last Of Us. It remains to be seen in the coming weeks how this will be explained.