During the Jackson town meeting, a man named Carlisle (Hiro Kanagawa) stands up and speaks– not by coincidence, in between Rachel and Seth, who exist on different sides of the “should we avenge Joel” spectrum. He is quick to acknowledge that it is normal to want to rain down vengeance (Ellie, in particular) against those who murdered Joel in cold blood. However, he also emphasized the importance of demonstrating a capacity for mercy and that one needs to forgive and be forgiven. Ellie grimaces as Carlisle makes his point, but it brings up an interesting argument as we head into the following five episodes of The Last of Us’ second season. Could a person in this world be able to sit with themselves knowing the perpetrator who took someone close to them is still out there with no consequences? To that point, where does the line between justice and revenge truly exist?
In Season One, we’ve seen an instance where the two themes become warped due to a personal vendetta, and yet, lead to the downfall of a community. Kathleen Coghlan, leader of a resistance pocket in Kansas City, was hellbent on tracking down her brother’s killer and bringing him to justice (or killing him herself). In part, Kathleen’s treatment of the remaining survivors and FEDRA collaborators through torture and executions was a byproduct of how the government entity ruled over the safe zones. She has a monologue towards the end of “Endure and Survive” in which she expresses her late brother’s wishes to forgive. “What did he get for that? Where is the justice in that? What is the point of that?” In the blind spot of her rage, the infected collect underground and eventually overtake the compound. Kathleen never gets the retribution she was seeking, and there’s a whole lot of death at the foot of her leadership.
The Last of Us / Photo Credit: Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO
This is not to say Kathleen or Ellie are wrong in feeling angry about having loved ones ripped from them. But “The Last of Us” is making us question how far a person should be willing to go to avenge someone for their gain. It took Abby five long years to pay Joel back for killing her father. Now, Ellie is in the reverse position Abby is in. Who’s to say if Ellie happens to catch and kill Abby, the WLF won’t retaliate with their army and try to take over Jackson? As Rachel explained, the townspeople are still in mourning over what the horde of infected did and are continuing to rebuild the city.
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Experiencing grief is a lonely experience because people on the outside of that loss won’t necessarily understand what you’re going through. They can sense it, maybe even liken it to an experience they’ve once felt. However, every sting and heartbreak is unique in its own right. “The Path” shows the process from both Ellie’s perspective and Jackson’s at large. She gets the moment when she goes through his closet and hugs Joel’s jacket. In the subtext of the episode, it is implied that many families reside within Jackson. Notably, the camera pulls back in the morgue to show the bodies while Tommy has one last moment with Joel. There have to be countless others who are tearing up, looking at the left-behind trinkets of those who perished at the hands of the infected. It’s not as if they can venture out and kill everyone to feel a sense of reprieve. (We have to assume endless amounts of them exist!) In a world without government mechanisms, vengeance feels like a singular journey. In the apocalypse, an eye for an eye doesn’t just make both people blind. Instead, the actions of one person do not shield others from landing in the crossfire.
Maybe forgiveness is just as powerful as Carlisle and Gail try to exhibit with Joel being his therapist after he killed her husband. However, that has to be looked upon as the outlier. Ultimately, that may not be realistic within a society that prioritizes survival. Ellie’s own personal anger is as real as Kathleen’s was because the circumstances they have lived in have taken from them in so many ways. As the show is beginning to show us, once you go down the path, there is no off-ramp for you or others.
