Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode 6 and the original game.The Last of Us episode 6 sets up a major future Joel scene through the old couple he and Ellie encounter in Wyoming. After traveling through the cold, harsh wilderness of Wyoming, Joel and Ellie come across a log cabin in which two older residents live. The couple state that they largely stay out of the way of the big cities and anyone across the river, mostly keeping to themselves before warning Joel and Ellie from going west.
Joel and Ellie are lost and need the couple’s help in finding Tommy. Despite their prior warning from going west, Joel asks the old man who was not present in the house at first as he was out hunting to point to where they are on the map. This scene links to the original The Last of Us game and foreshadows an important yet brutal Joel scene that will likely be coming in The Last of Us before the end of season 1.
Joel’s Map Tactic With The Old Couple Sets Up Him Interrogating David’s Men
After asking the man to point to where they are on Joel’s map, he tells him not to lie as he already asked the man’s wife. The man then asks his wife if she was truthful to which she says she was, before pointing to the correct location. This tactic used by Joel to gauge whether the couple was telling the truth is not part of the original game, yet a similar scene is, which will likely be shown in The Last of Us episode 7 or 8.
The scene this mirrors in the original The Last of Us game is Joel’s interrogation of David’s men. David’s men are a group Bella Ramsey’s Ellie and Pedro Pascal’s Joel will come into contact with, leading to Ellie eventually being captured by David. In the original game, Joel uses this same map tactic on two of David’s henchmen to find and rescue Ellie. He tortures the location out of one of the men before asking his friend to point to where their base is, in a much more violent version of the tactic shown in The Last of Us episode 6.
The Last Of Us Episode 6’s Ending Gang Are David’s Men
This scene with the old couple is not the only way The Last of Us episode 6 foreshadows the future clash between Joel, Ellie, and David. The gang at the end of The Last of Us episode 6 who attack Joel and Ellie at the university belongs to David’s group – played by original The Last of Us actor Troy Baker in HBO’s show – which is what causes David to kidnap Ellie eventually. At the end of the episode, Joel and Ellie attempt to sneak away on their horse before a man rushes Joel from behind.
After a brief fight in which Joel kills the man, Ellie points out that Joel was stabbed by the shards of the man’s broken baseball bat. Joel then collapses from blood loss in The Last of Us episode 6’s cliffhanger ending. This sets up the future conflict, Ellie’s kidnapping at the hands of David, and showcases the villainous ways of David’s group to further foreshadow Joel’s eventual torture of them in a heightened version of the map tactic from The Last of Us episode 6’s opening scene.
Who Is David In The Last Of Us & Why Is He Important?
The Last of Us episode 6’s set up of David begs the question of why he is so important. In The Last of Us game, and likely HBO’s adaptation, David and his group are instrumental in finally causing Joel to see Ellie as his surrogate daughter. After Ellie is taken by David, she attempts an escape from the inside while Joel tries to invade their base and rescue her. As Joel reaches Ellie, he finds David already dead after Ellie killed him with his own machete.
This scene results in the most heartwarming scene in the whole story between Joel and Ellie, in which Ellie breaks down in tears over the trauma of her time with David. Joel embraces her and addresses her with the same endearment he used to with Sarah, fully embracing his role as Ellie’s protector and father. This scene is the most important in the game at establishing Joel and Ellie’s relationship – which all stems from David solidifying his importance – and will undoubtedly be featured in HBO’s TV video game adaptation, explaining the set-up in The Last of Us episode 6.
New episodes of The Last of Us release every Sunday on HBO.