What happened in The Last of Us episode 8?

Ellie encounters the terrifying David as Joel fights for his life.

By Louise Griffin

Published: Monday, 06 March 2023 at 12:00 am

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of us episode 8.

Finally, after a week of not knowing the fate of Joel (Pedro Pascal) in The Last of Us, it was revealed in episode 8.

The latest instalment of the HBO series ramped up the tension even more, as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) was forced to go it alone as Joel lay fighting for his life.

Things only turned from bad to worse for her, though, as she faced the terrifying David (Scott Shepherd) and his right-hand man, James (played by original Joel voice actor Troy Baker).

As we approach the ending to the first season of the show, Joel and Ellie are finally nearing their destination, hoping that they can provide a cure for the worldwide infection caused two decades ago.

But, as their bond grows stronger, things are more uncertain than ever for the pair.

What happened in The Last of Us episode 8?

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Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us.
HBO

Episode 8 immediately introduces us to David, seemingly the leader of a religious group, as he undertakes a Bible reading. He comforts a young girl crying after the death of her father, assuring her through the passage that “there will be no more death”.

She asks when they can bury her father, with David telling her that the ground is too cold, and that they will bury him in the spring.

Supplies are clearly running low, with David asking James how much “venison” they have left and James advising that a deer had been spotted nearby.

Meanwhile, Ellie attempts to heal Joel, who is still fighting for his life after being stabbed. They’re also low on food, so she decides to go out and hunt. After a couple of failed attempts, she succeeds in shooting a deer — but she’s not alone. David and James also have their eye on the deer, with Ellie ordering them to drop their rifles.

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Scott Shepherd as David in The Last of Us.
HBO

David attempts to negotiate with Ellie, offering supplies in return for some of the deer. Ellie tells James to go back for some medicine while keeping her gun trained on David. While they’re waiting, David tells Ellie that he became a preacher after the infection began and that he believes everything happens for a reason.

Asked to prove his point, David reveals to Ellie that it was his men that attacked the pair of them at the university — and the girl’s father was a man Joel killed. James quietly returns, pointing his gun at Ellie before David tells him to lower it. James reluctantly gives the medicine to Ellie and David offers her a spot in his group before she runs away.

However, it’s clear the pair have unfinished business with Joel and Ellie. Ellie returns back to give the penicillin to Joel.

David and James arrive back for a very questionable looking dinner with the deer in tow, telling the group that they’ve found Ellie and that they’ll go after her and Joel at sunrise to “bring that man to justice”. The girl suggests they should kill them both and David slaps her.

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Troy Baker as James in The Last of Us.
HBO

As Ellie steps outside, she hears the men coming for them. In a panic, she tries to wake Joel up to no avail. She places a knife in his hand and tells him that if anyone makes it into the same room as him, he needs to kill them, before heading out on horseback to provide a distraction.

They manage to capture Ellie and plan to kill her — until David takes her back and orders the rest of them to carry on looking for Joel. One of the men finds Joel but he’s able to spring into action and strangle him. Ellie, meanwhile, has been imprisoned and is questioned about where Joel is.

Joel is able to tie two of the men up and questions them about Ellie’s whereabouts. He gets one of them to point it out on a map before killing them both.

David brings a meal for Ellie but, terrified, Ellie has realised exactly what’s going on as she spots a disembodied human ear on the ground. David assures her that the meal he’s offered is just venison but admits that the group are cannibals, saying only a few of them know and that it was a last resort.

He attempts to convince Ellie that she belongs with them, before she manages to take his hand and break his finger. She goes for his keys but he manages to move out of the way before she can get to them. Joel, meanwhile, struggles through the snow and follows blood stains to the commune.

David and James prepare to kill Ellie, but in a desperate bid to save her life, she tells them she’s infected and, after biting David, that he is too. While the pair consider if her bite is real, she grabs the machete from David and plunges it into James’s throat before making a run for it.

She encounters various locked doors before grabbing a flaming piece of wood from the fire and hiding from David. She lobs the piece of wood at him. While it misses, the building catches on fire.

The pair grapple with each other before Ellie manages to grab a knife and slashes at David again and again before fleeing the building in shock and stumbling into Joel. She realises she’s safe as he wraps his coat around her and leads her away.