The Last of Us Episode 7 Ending Explained: What Happened to Riley? Did Ellie Really Kill Riley?
The end of the sixth episode of The Last of Us left us wondering if Joel was dead or alive. We thought that they would not be able to eliminate the character of Pedro Pascal from the HBO series, but if we take a look at all the differences between the series and the video game The Last of Us, the truth is that the shadow of a doubt I was there. Ultimately, Joel survived. At least for now, because the stab wound seems very deep, and Ellie is going to have to work hard to try to keep her from going any further. But why does she risk her life to help Joel? Why does he carry a kind of “survivor’s guilt” throughout the series? We might think that it is because of the deaths of Tess, Frank, Bill, Henry, and Sam, characters who have been marked in his memory in a very short time. But it’s not just that. Episode 7 delves into her past, weeks before she met Joel in Boston, and reveals her emotional story with Riley, her best friend… and her first love.
The Last of Us Episode 7 Review: The Story Plot
Picking up the narrative from the cliffhanger of the last episode, the series returns to a terrified Ellie (Bella Ramsey), dealing with a dying Joel (Pedro Pascal) and a gang of individuals ready to track them down. Between attempts at treatment and improvised solutions, the focus on the young protagonist is evident: while that terror makes its way back to re-emerge, Mazin and his associates allow the viewer to retrace the events that indelibly marked the fate of Ellie and her best friend, Riley (Storm Reid). Faced with the prospects of a promise to keep and a night that would change the life of the young protagonist, the show fearlessly lingers on Ellie’s past, showing details of her personality and a past context that made her what she is today. Thus, tracing the speech made to Joel in the last episode, the trauma finds the right representation and allows the viewer to understand how much the girl has expressed so far about her greatest fears.
Meanwhile, Ellie busy helping Joel is forced to adopt drastic solutions to survive and not be found by the men who are hunting them. In the alternation between two very different situations, Ellie’s sensations are almost similar and allow us to notice particular common elements in the sense of the affections and the importance given to them by the girl. Not only that: with a well-groomed and airy story, Riley’s character gets enough space to detach himself from mere extras and acts as the engine for most of the backstories. The seventh episode of The Last of Us, therefore, finds space beyond the sphere of naked and raw action, sipping the spectacular where necessary to allow the characters to shine free from any distraction. Monologues and dialogues are the main elements of an episode that intends to act on the psyche of the observer without the need for very particular tricks, telling their own story while letting the events bring out the emotions of those directly involved in a visually suggestive context.
It is from here that Left Behind takes us into the past, to a few weeks before Ellie and Marlene meet. Ellie is a young cadet at the ZQ military academy in Boston, where she grew up without parents: for a few weeks things have not seemed to go the right way, Riley (Storm Reid), her best friend and companion room ran away, leaving her completely alone. One night, however, Riley suddenly reappears, telling Ellie that she had joined her Lights, and asking her to follow her for a few hours of adventure. Riley takes Ellie to an abandoned mall, where the two, once the lights are turned on, have fun exploring and doing all those things that, as children of a post-apocalyptic world, have always been closed to them: taking pictures together, playing video games and dancing in Halloween masks. The laughter of the two friends, however, ends up awakening an infected hidden not far away…
Ellie and Riley a Tragic Love Story
Just a few months ago, Ellie was studying and training at the Boston military school to become a FEDRA officer. There she met Riley, her best friend, but she escaped from the academy to join the Fireflies. However, Riley returned several weeks later to say goodbye to Ellie on a night that seemed magical, with both teenagers having a great time at the mall. There Ellie discovered with amazement the “wonders of the mall” such as the escalators, the photo booth, and the arcade machines like ‘Mortal Kombat II’.
While spending time at the mall, Ellie and Riley talk about Phaedra and the Fireflies. For Ellie, staying with Phaedra means having a stable future, and in the universe of The Last of Us, it’s easy to understand why people want to cling to any kind of comfort, regardless of the moral price they must pay. Meanwhile, Riley changed allies after being chosen by the Fireflies, who made her feel like family for the first time since her parents died. Riley‘s view of the Fireflies is naive, as she believes that there are no casualties caused by the revolutionaries’ actions. According to her, the Fireflies fight for freedom, while Phaedra worries about control. It’s always been said that on first dates you shouldn’t talk about religion or politics, but even so, things seem to flow, and Ellie gets emboldened and plants a kiss on Riley‘s nose. A kiss that is reciprocated. Ellie and Riley are on a cloud. But in The Last of Us there are no happy endings. A clicker appears and bites them both, dooming their love affair.
Ellie and Riley‘s Sad Ending?
Ellie and Riley are bitten by a clicker and realize that their romance, which has just begun, is counting down. Ellie still doesn’t know she’s immune, and rage seizes her. But the truth is that Ellie is immune… And Riley is not. First (and so far only) love has died a horrible death, with Cordyceps fungus slowly replacing the tissues of her body. And what’s worse, once the two girls are bitten, they decide to disappear into oblivion together enjoying every last second they have. So, after agreeing to stay by Riley‘s side until they both died, Ellie survives against all odds and witnesses the tragic end of her love Ellie.
A few episodes ago, we learned that Ellie‘s biggest fear is being the last person alive on the planet. That fear seems to have stemmed primarily from Riley‘s death, but it also shapes her relationship with Joel. And as soon as Ellie decides to stay with Joel, instead of fleeing to safety, she takes a big step to confront her fear and trust her love and care again. At least Riley‘s sacrifice served to make Ellie realize her immune status, and from a love story, the last hope for humanity was born. Let’s stay with that.
The Last of Us Episode 7 Ending Explained: What Happened to Riley?
Viewers already know that Ellie manages to survive the bite and turns out to be immune to the infection, which is why the Fireflies want to get her out of Boston and eventually entrust her to Joel. Recall that, in episode 2 of the fiction, Ellie told Tess (Anna Torv) that she was bitten by an infected person, and she discovered her immunity when she was exploring a shopping center, referring to this plot. However, the fiction chooses not to show what happens to Riley at the end of episode 7. Since Ellie is the only immune character in The Last of Us, we assume that Riley ended up getting infected. Although, as Screen Rant collects, neither the game nor the series confirms it, we can assume that the young woman was killed by Ellie or the Fireflies after losing control over herself.
If Ellie was responsible for her death, this would connect with her comment about hurting people in episode 4 and explain why she didn’t want to elaborate on it when Joel asked her about it. It is not the first time that The Last of Us avoids showing the tragic end of a character explicitly and manages to send a more powerful message. Episode 3, which delved into the love story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), chose not to show his suicide and send the couple off with the window open. What happened with Riley also allows us to learn more about Ellie‘s past and helps us understand her elusive behavior and her fear of abandonment. That fear of loneliness is linked to all the times that the people she loved have left her.
In Riley‘s case, it’s her best friend, her only family as an orphaned child, and her first love, and she passes away just as she discovers her immunity and the possibility of saving others. Riley was the first in a long line of people Ellie has lost in the series, from Tess to Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), and she bears the guilt of surviving an infection that has left her alone more than once. at once. Not surprisingly, at the end of episode 7, she desperately tries to save Joel, closing his wound with a needle and thread that she finds in the house where they shelter. In short, episode 7 of The Last of Us has allowed us to learn more about Ellie and her past and has helped us understand the traumas that the young woman is carrying. If in past episodes the series focused on Joel and his fears after the loss of Sarah (Nico Parker), What We Left Behind has finally taken us into the past of our other protagonist.
Did Ellie Really Kill Riley?
The episode itself features the events of one of the game’s DLC’s. And while it doesn’t show the circumstances under which Riley was bitten, it does show that Ellie is immune. However, Riley is bitten, and it doesn’t take long for the girl to start transforming. This makes the public completely unaware of the entire transformation process of Ellie‘s best friend, who now discovers that nothing happened to her body. However, her immunity does not give her complete pleasure, as she needs to act quickly regarding the evolution of the virus in the organism and the body of her love interest.
Therefore, it is speculated that Ellie actually kills Riley after her friend and date become infected with the cordyceps virus. On the other hand, there is a theory that Ellie didn’t kill Riley, since the girl claims to Joel that she never killed anyone. Thus, it is believed that Riley succumbed to the infection and did not resist, as Joel himself revealed that this would be possible. Finally, the seventh in The Last of Us series is now available for streaming in the HBO Max catalog.
Did Riley Really Die on the Show?
The seventh episode is dedicated entirely to the story of friendship and passion between Ellie and Riley, who decide to live all that’s left when they go to the empty mall. However, the two did not expect that the place would mark the end of that friendship and completely change Ellie‘s life. There, Ellie ends up discovering her love interest in her friend, knowing that she has become her first love. In an attack, the two are bitten, but Ellie still didn’t know about her immunity. Riley and Ellie vow to succumb to the infection together, as there is no other alternative.
A lot is implied, even about Riley‘s death. It is speculated that Ellie killed her friend and her love even before she succumbed to death. On the other hand, however, Joel had already said that many infected people did not survive the lethality of the virus and ended up dying during the transformation process. So yes, Riley dies and dies in the series and the game. However, her cause of death is still implied, and the producers can create the scene with, for example, a flashback of Ellie tearfully killing her friend.
Does Ellie Abandon Joel in The Last of Us After All?
Not at first. Those who watched the episode to the end know that Ellie does not abandon Joel in the series. At first, we are teleported to Ellie‘s past with Riley, her best friend who ended up being infected and, consequently, dead. There, we ended up discovering a little more about the character’s past and things that explain her motivations in the present. We also learned about her immunity to being bitten and not receiving the infection in her body and organism. All of Riley‘s past and loss make up and explain her determination to save the world, but, at the moment, to save her partner. And so we know that Ellie left only to get help, medicine, and supplies for Joel. Just like in the game, Ellie takes care of Joel hard in the series to heal him and follow his ways. The truth is that unlike in the beginning, the two see each other as family and would be incapable of abandoning each other.
What Is the Name Of The Song That Played In The 7th Episode?
At first, the episode is dedicated to Ellie‘s past with Riley, a clear adaptation – almost completely faithful – to the Left Behind DLC from the original game. Thus, the streaming platform attraction also used the same soundtrack as the game to bring a more dramatic change to the series. Ellie and Riley are in a mall hallway, the place chosen by both to live unpretentiously in everything they should live. Soon after discovering a passion between the two, the girls will need to face the fury of the infected, who end up biting them.
The broker scene where Riley is bitten is exactly like the game. As background, the producers chose the song ‘ Left Behind’ by Gustavo Santolalla – the same song in the DLC credits. In addition, it is worth remembering that Santolalla has also appeared in the series with another song of his, in the 2nd episode ‘Allowed To Be Happy’. On the other hand, some other songs could be heard throughout the episode of the series. Thus, the songs Take On Me, by a-ha; I Got You, Babe, by Etta James, and Just Like Heaven, by The Cure were other highlights.
