[Warning: this story contains spoilers for The Last of Us Episode 1, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness."] Sunday’s series premiere of The Last of Us spent much of its 85-minute runtime revealing the tragic history of Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal). The episode tracks Joel, his ill-fated daughter Sarah (Nico Parker), and his veteran brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) as they attempt to escape their Texas suburb in the throes of the CBI outbreak of 2003: the beginning of the end of modern civilization. Midway through the episode, the timeline jumps ahead 20 years to post-apocalyptic Boston 2023, introducing Fireflies resistance leader Marlene (Merle Dandridge) and 14-year-old orphan “Veronica” / Ellie (Bella Ramsey).Ellie is a prisoner of Marlene’s Firefly faction, having escaped from FEDRA military school. Inside the oppressive Boston QZ, where the Fireflies fight for freedom against the authoritarian FEDRA (Federal Emergency Disaster Response Agency), Marlene reveals the school was where she thought Ellie would be safest. Marlene knows this because she put her there 14 years earlier.
