Catherine O’Hara’s Gail on The Last of Us might be a “complete f***ing disaster” personally, but after forty years on the job its obvious Jackson, Wyoming’s only psychotherapist has her shit together professionally. She’s intuitive, clear, direct, and “sees things” others don’t. Gail just knows things about people. So when she speaks, it carries more than authority. Her words carry a sense of definitiveness, which is why her short conversation with Tommy during a kid’s baseball game was among The Last of Us‘ scariest scenes ever. What she said is just as foreboding for the show as it is for all of us.
With Joel gone Tommy feels responsible for Ellie. That’s not exactly an easy job under the best of circumstances. It’s now harder than ever. In The Last of Us season two’s third episode, “The Path,” Tommy went to Gail for help following the commune’s rejection of Ellie’s proposal. “I’m nervous she’s gonna do something stupid,” he said.
Gail, once again, showed how smart she is by correctly identifying Ellie as a liar. They both know Ellie wasn’t being honest during her speech at the town meeting. But Ellie wasn’t just lying. “There was maybe one person she told the truth to, and he’s….” Gail said. We know Gail is right. Gail is always right. That made what she said next truly terrifying, turning the idyllic baseball scene into one of The Last of Us‘ scariest.
“I just don’t want her to go down the same paths that Joel did. Coming up with justifications and such,” Tommy said. “All he was really doing was lashing out.” Ellie, whether we agree with it or not, has a real reason for going after Abby. She and her friends brutally murdered Joel. Ellie wants vengeance. She and Dina didn’t waste any time heading to Seattle to find it.
Like Dina, we knew what Ellie was going to do the second the council rejected her proposal. You don’t need four decades as a psychotherapist to understand who she is and what she’s all about. But the nightmare idea expressed at that baseball by Gail is that Ellie didn’t have a choice to make. It was made for her the day she was born. Gail’s reason why is horrifying for reasons that go beyond The Last of Us.
So you think she might have learned that behavior from him? Turns out nurture can only do this much. The rest is nature. If she’s on a path it’s not one that Joel put her on. No. No, I think they were walking side by side from the very start. Tommy I get it. You inherited her and you want to keep her out of trouble. Take it from a psychotherapist of 40 years: some people….some people just can’t be saved.
“Some people just can’t be saved.” What a terrible truth we don’t want to be correct, but fear/know is. Just as chilling, though, is why. Gail says some can’t be saved because of who they are. Because of who they always have been and always will be. She said some of us are born to walk a path of destruction.
We want to think we’re in control of our own lives, that the choices we make are ours and ours alone. We also want to think that we can save those we love. With enough care and compassion, surely we can help those we care about walk a better path. Right? Maybe not. Maybe the destiny for some is self-destruction. And if we’re lucky enough not to be one of them, we’ll still be helpless while we watch them go down a path they’ll never return from.
Raiders and a fungus monster are easier to deal with in comparison. At least we have a shot against them. There’s nothing we can do about fate, ours or anyone else’s.
With Ellie on a vengeful path to Seattle, Gail’s words feel less like a diagnosis and more like a sad, haunting promise on The Last of Us. That’s enough to make that baseball game among The Last of Us‘ scariest scenes. But what truly makes the words of Jackson’s smartest person so terrifying is what they mean for all of us.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He fears he’s on a path of too many cheeseburgers. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
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