I Have A Theory About What Joel Really Did To Eugene, Gail’s Husband, In The Last Of Us Season 2
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 1.
The Last of Us season 2 implies that Joel killed Gail’s husband Eugene after he got infected, but I have a different theory. There’s a lot about The Last of Us’ season 2 premiere that’s faithful to the game. Ellie and Dina’s trip to the supermarket is taken straight from the game, with a few little tweaks, and the New Year’s Eve dance is practically a shot-for-shot recreation of that cutscene (although it appears much later as a flashback in the game). But The Last of Us season 2, episode 1 also makes some changes to its source material.
One of the biggest changes that the show makes is introducing a brand-new character: Gail, played by Catherine O’Hara. Gail is shown to be Jackson’s resident psychotherapist, and Joel has been seeing her to work through his rift with Ellie. During their session in the season premiere, Gail reveals that she resents Joel — even hates him — for killing her husband, Eugene. She doesn’t reveal exactly what happened between Joel and Eugene (and may not even know the truth), but I have a theory based on what we know about Eugene from the game and what we’ve seen in the trailer.
Who Gail’s Husband Eugene Is In The Last Of Us Part II
Eugene Is An Ex-Firefly With A Fondness For Weed
Eugene never actually appears on-screen in The Last of Us Part II, but he gets mentioned a lot near the beginning of the game. Eugene is a former Firefly who served with Tommy. After becoming disillusioned with the cause, Tommy and Eugene left the Fireflies and ended up settling in Jackson. While they’re out on patrol in the opening chapters of the game, Ellie and Dina mention that Eugene recently passed away from a stroke. They say that he was really funny, but also really lonely, and he taught Dina how to rewire electronics.
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After getting caught in a blizzard, Ellie and Dina hide out at a nearby library, where they find that Eugene had set up a hideout. They find a letter from Eugene’s family — who, in the game, he abandoned — begging him not to join the Fireflies. They also find a giant cannabis farm in the basement, following up on Dina’s claim that Eugene was a big-time stoner. In the TV show, Joel pays Gail for therapy sessions with stem-and-seed-filled bags of weed and Gail brags that Eugene could grow much better weed.
Joel Killing Eugene After He Became Infected May Not Be What Really Happened
The Circumstances Around Eugene’s Death Seem Suspicious
Image via Max
“Future Days” never confirms exactly why Joel killed Eugene, but when Gail brings it up, she admits that he had to do it. This implies that Eugene got infected and Joel put him down. Gail seems to understand that killing Eugene was the right thing to do, but she disagrees with the way Joel chose to do it. Joe Pantoliano has been cast to play Eugene in The Last of Us season 2, so it’s likely that the character and his history with Joel will be expanded on through flashbacks in future episodes.
The Last of Us airs new episodes on HBO and Max every Sunday.
In the trailer for The Last of Us season 2, Joel is shown aiming a rifle at the back of Pantoliano’s head, and he doesn’t look infected — he just looks scared. So, I don’t think Eugene was infected at all. I think Joel killed him for a completely different reason.
I Think Joel Murdered Eugene After He Found Out What Happened To The Fireflies
Did Joel Kill Eugene To Keep His Secret Hidden?
I don’t think Joel killed Eugene because he got infected; I think he killed him because he found out his secret. Eugene is an ex-Firefly, so I’m thinking that, at some point in the TV show’s five-year time jump, he found out about what Joel did to the Fireflies. In the game, when Ellie finds out Eugene was a Firefly, she wonders if he knew about the massacre. In the TV show, I bet Eugene found out, confronted Joel about it, and Joel killed him to keep his secret, then told everyone Eugene got infected to cover up the murder.
In the game, when Ellie finds out Eugene was a Firefly, she wonders if he knew about the massacre. In the TV show, I bet Eugene found out, confronted Joel about it, and Joel killed him to keep his secret, then told everyone Eugene got infected to cover up the murder.
Perhaps Gail resents the way Joel chose to kill Eugene because he had to kill him really gruesomely. If he took out Eugene with a clean shot, then everyone would be able to see that he didn’t have any bitemarks and call foul play. But if he left a few gaping gunshot wounds in Eugene’s body, he could tell them that the bitemark was buried somewhere in the viscera. Whatever happened, this has set up an intriguing mystery for The Last of Us season 2 to build on over the next few weeks.
8/10
- Release Date
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January 15, 2023
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Craig Mazin
- Directors
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Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
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Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
