The Last of Us Season 2, episode 5 teases that all-important Pearl Jam song
Did you hear that? It's the sound of a song we've been waiting for in The Last of Us, fluttering out the window.
In Season 2, episode 5, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) takes to the stage of Seattle's crumbling Pinnacle Theater, where instruments remain set for a performance never given. In a similarly moving moment to Ellie's rendition of "Take On Me" in the previous episode, she hesitantly picks up an acoustic guitar — an ever-painful reminder of her music-teaching, late father Joel (Pedro Pascal) — and takes a seat.
Then, Ellie sings one unmistakable line: "If I ever were to lose you." It's the first line of Pearl Jam's 2013 song "Future Days" and an incredibly important element of The Last of Us games.
Reader, I screamed.
But suddenly, Ellie reconsiders playing the song and stops completely, overcome with suppressed emotion. It's way too much, too soon. But surely that can't be it?
Why is Pearl Jam's "Future Days" important to The Last of Us?
Music remains a crucial, human element of The Last of Us. The song Ellie begins to play in Season 2, episode 5 is deeply meaningful to her and Joel, and subsequently, to fans. But we don't know this from the show; we know it from Naughty Dog's game The Last of Us Part II.
In the sequel to The Last of Us, there's a scene right at the beginning of the game in which Joel plays Pearl Jam's "Future Days" for Ellie on a butterfly-necked guitar he found for her during a patrol, not long after they've returned to Jackson from Salt Lake City. Joel is a man of few words, never really expressing love aloud, and Ellie and Joel are in a tense state in their relationship, with Joel having done what he did.
The song is a moment in which he tries to show his found daughter, Ellie, how he feels about her. And despite their tension and her complicated feelings about his actions, Ellie's face is pure love and appreciation in this moment — and importantly, this is the first time she would have ever heard this song.
The lyrics speak directly to Ellie and Joel's relationship — "If I ever were to lose you / I'd surely lose myself / Everything I have found dear / I've not found by myself" — and considering the tragic fate awaiting Joel, they're devastating in their doomed hope for "future days" together.
"I believe 'cause I can see / Our future days / Days of you and me."
Surely, The Last of Us HBO series will let the entire Pearl Jam song have its moment. Lead singer Eddie Vedder even played the song live at The Game Awards 2020 with the game's release, knowing its impact and connection with Part II. Ellie playing one line cannot be the whole thing.
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