Ellie isn’t having it.
“Nobody made you or Tess take me.
Nobody made you go along with this plan,” she says.
Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal.Liane Hentscher/HBO
“Don’t blame me for something that isn’t my fault.”
Joel appreciates her candor.
Furthermore, he knows she’s right.
Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett.Liane Hentscher/HBO
Along the way, they stop at an old convenience store where Joel stashed some gear.
Ellie geeks out over aMortal Kombat 2cabinet before heading into the basement in search of goodies.
There, she finds a dusty box of tampons.
Nick Offerman.Liane Hentscher/HBO
She also finds an immobile Infected, buried up to its shoulders in tumbled debris.
She’s never seen one this clearly, and she’s disgusted.
She stabs it in the head, putting it out of its misery.
Further down the road, the pair spot the ruins of a fallen plane.
Ellie, who was born into an infected world, marvels at the idea of flying in the sky.
“Then they started biting,” Joel says.
It began on a Friday, and by Monday “everything was gone.”
“Dead people can’t be infected,” says Joel.
One Lincoln resident, however, did foresee such a fate.
But they don’t.
When he emerges from his house, it’s not horror that lights up his face, but relief.
The end of the world came and he’s a survivor.
And, if Lincoln is the only world he knows, then he is the sole survivor.
He puts up fencing and builds traps to keep out intruders.
He raises chickens and grows his own vegetables.
“It doesn’t get old,” he says with satisfaction.
Everything changes four years later.
Bill is hesitant to help him, but Bill relents after Frank begs him for a meal.
Suspicious as he is, he’s charmed by Frank.
He offers him a fresh change of clothes and a hot meal.
But what really wins Bill over is Frank’s love for music.
Frank admires Bill’s vintage piano and digs up a Linda Ronstadt songbook.
Bill is, too.
When they kiss, it’s urgent and emotional.
And when they retire to the bedroom, it’s sweet and awkward.
Three years later, they’re still together.
Frank wants to change that.
He has plans to fix up the street mow the grass, paint the houses.
He’d also like to renovate a few shops, like the wine shop and clothing boutique.
Frank proves him wrong.
He’s met a “lovely woman” over the radio who turns out to be Tess.
In 2007, she and Joel aren’t nearly so grizzled.
Still, as they enjoy lunch on the front lawn, Bill keeps a loaded gun on the table.
“If mine brought strangers into our situation I wouldn’t be happy, either,” he says.
But a partnership could be beneficial for both parties.
“We’ll be fine,” Bill says.
When we jump ahead three years, everything does appear to be fine.
Bill and Frank’s trading with Joel and Tess has allowed him to strengthen security.
It’s also netted them other things, like strawberry seeds.
The taste of fresh strawberries enlivens both of them.
Bill admits that before Frank showed up, he was “never afraid.”
But this is his sacrifice: With love comes fear.
But the raiders do come.
On a stormy night, a band of faceless invaders trigger Bill’s traps.
Flamethrowers light them up, as does the electric fence.
But it’s not enough for Bill to allow his traps to do the work.
He’s prepared to die, but death isn’t in the cards for him.
When we jump forward 10 years, Bill’s not the one who’s hurting.
Frank, on the other hand, is resigned to a wheelchair.
He’s not infected, but he’s dying.
He decides he’s ready to go, and wants Bill to give him one last good day.
But, though it was once all he desired, Bill no longer wants to be alone.
He’s spiked his wine, too.
“This isnt the tragic suicide at the end of the play,” he says.
“I’m old, I’m satisfied, and you were my purpose.”
They share a laugh, then go upstairs, where they’ll fall asleep and never wake up.
In it, Frank hangs himself after being bitten by the Infected.
Not quite the love story depicted in the show.
By the time Joel and Ellie arrive, the flowers outside Bill’s home have begun to wilt.
That’s all it takes for Joel to know something is wrong.
Inside, flies buzz around the remnants of their final meal.
Ellie finds a note, which is addressed “to whomever, but probably Joel.”
He left a window open, he writes, so the house wouldn’t smell.
“I never liked you but, still, it’s like we’re friends.
And I respect you,” he writes.
I saved him and I protected him.
That’s why men like me and you are here.
We have a job to do."
Joel and Ellie gather supplies and discover both a car and a battery.
As it charges, Joel asks Ellie to show him her wound.
It’s healing nicely.
He tells her not to let anyone else know about her “condition,” lest they kill her.
He also tells her to never bring up Tess again.
“We can keep our histories to ourselves,” he says.
The plan is this: Find Tommy, Joel’s missing brother, in Wyoming.
Ellie’s never ridden in a car.
“It’s like a spaceship,” she says with wonder.
She pops in one of Bill’s mixtapes and Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time” plays.
