In HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6, titled “The Price,” the series steps away from familiar plotlines and game-to-screen recreations to explore something deeply emotional and painfully new—the dark truth behind Eugene’s death. This isn’t just a detour from the original Naughty Dog video game; it’s a powerful reimagining of a minor character that shakes the core of Joel and Ellie’s relationship.
In the game The Last of Us Part II, Eugene is barely more than a memory. He’s known as a retired patrolman in Jackson who passed away peacefully at age 73. But in the show, he becomes a man who dies not quietly—but violently and tragically at the hands of Joel, who was once his friend. Actor Joe Pantoliano steps into the role and gives Eugene a presence that changes everything.
The episode opens with a collection of flashbacks showing moments between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) over the years since the end of Season 1. These memories, including joyful birthday trips to a dinosaur museum and a space exhibit, gradually shift into heavier territory. Ellie becomes distant, suspicious, and resentful. The weight of Joel’s lie about what happened at the hospital in Salt Lake City begins to surface.
That tension reaches its peak when Joel and Ellie find Eugene (Joe Pantoliano) in the woods during a patrol. His partner is already dead, and Eugene has been bitten. He knows what’s coming. Instead of begging for a cure or denying the bite, Eugene asks for one thing: to be taken to Jackson so he can say goodbye to his wife, Gail, played by Catherine O’Hara. It’s a human, heartfelt request.
Ellie, always fighting for the people around her, convinces Joel to grant Eugene’s wish. Joel agrees—but only in words. While Ellie goes to fetch their horses, Joel quietly executes Eugene, giving him a false promise and then taking his life. Later, he lies to Gail, telling her Eugene was brave and ended his own life before turning. It’s a moment that reveals not just Joel’s survival instincts, but the crushing moral cost of the world they live in.
But Ellie isn’t buying the lie. She tells Gail the truth, exposing Joel’s decision. This moment changes everything. Joel’s action doesn’t just end Eugene’s life—it effectively ends the trust between him and Ellie.
Neil Druckmann, the show’s co-creator and director of the episode, explained the importance of this scene in shaping the story’s emotional arc. “The Eugene sequence is the breaking point,” he said in an interview. “Even though Joel’s trying to give Ellie everything—helping her move, visiting her, giving her the museum surprise—it’s not enough. She’s carrying the weight of that lie. When Joel lies again about Eugene, it confirms everything she feared.”
The episode uses Eugene’s death to mark the beginning of a full-blown rift between the two central characters. Druckmann said that while Joel’s violent actions are nothing new, they take on a new meaning here. “It’s about generational trauma, the cycle of violence, and how hard it is to break it,” he said. “We needed that moment with Eugene to short-circuit Ellie’s emotional journey. She was trying to forgive Joel. After Eugene, she just can’t.”
Episode 6 also includes a follow-up flashback to a New Year’s Eve party where Joel defends Ellie from verbal abuse, only to later find himself alone again. In this version of events, Ellie doesn’t go straight to bed. She confronts Joel about the hospital and the fireflies. For the first time, Joel tells her the truth. “I lied,” he says. Ellie replies, “I don’t know if I can forgive you, but I’d like to try.”
That exchange, so quiet and raw, underscores the deep emotional wounds the characters carry. The Eugene sequence makes it impossible for Ellie to keep pretending. By the time we see her enter the theater in Seattle in the final scene of the episode, the audience finally understands how broken their bond has become.
This episode proves how powerful a “minor” character can be in the hands of great writing and performance. Eugene was barely a footnote in the game. In the show, he becomes a tragic mirror—showing how even the most human of requests can be crushed by fear, control, and survival.
The death of Eugene isn’t just about loss—it’s about the cost of lies, and how one person’s final moments can change everything. With one bullet, Joel didn’t just end Eugene’s life. He shattered the one thing Ellie was trying to hold on to: trust.
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