The Last of Us: Who is Eugene and why did Joel kill him?
Eugene, who Joel killed, is set to be seen in flashbacks played by â??The Matrixâ?? and â??Sopranosâ?? star Joe Pantoliano
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The first episode of The Last of Us season two introduced a new character in the form of Catherine OâHaraâs Gail, who acts as a therapist for Joel (Pedro Pascal).
Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season two
Although he has yet to be seen on screen, another new character mentioned in the series is Gailâs husband, Eugene.
During a scene between Joel and Gail, the therapist mentions her late husband after Joel pays her with a bag of cannabis.
She complains that the bag is mostly âshake and stems,â and when Joel points out that itâs winter, she says: âThat never stopped Eugene. January, February. That man would grow buds the size of pine cones.â
She goes on to explain that itâs her âfirst birthday without my husband in 41 yearsâ, and later reveals that Joel was responsible for his death.
âYou shot and killed my husband,â she says. âYou killed Eugene. And I resent you for it. No. Maybe a little more than that. I hate you for it. I hate you for it. And yes, I know you had no choice. I know that. I know I should forgive you. Well, I've tried, and I can't. Because of how you did it. And looking at your face, sitting in our home, makes me so f***ing angry.â
Catherine OâHara plays therapist Gail in âThe Last of Usâ season two (Liane Hentscher/HBO)
While itâs unclear exactly why Joel killed Eugene, it seems reasonable to assume that he was likely infected due to Gail saying, âI know you had no choice.â Plus the fact that Joel hasnât been expelled from the community for committing murder.
Eugene was a minor character in the video game, but in a recent interview with Variety, the showâs co-creator and executive producer Craig Mazin explained that he will feature more heavily in the series, shown in flashback and played by The Matrix and The Sopranos star Joe Pantoliano.
âWithout getting too much into the spoiler territory, Iâm particularly fond of picking out these little things from the game that stuck in my brain that maybe werenât fully fleshed out,â said Mazin.
âWe talked a little bit about how Eugene could connect back to a brand new character, but more importantly, the way that their story directly impacts Joel and Ellieâs story. Thatâs the part that got exciting to us. We really try, when we do things like this, to not simply go, âOh, hereâs an Easter egg to the fans.â No, letâs integrate this and use it to our advantage.â
The new series has been praised by critics. In a four-star review, The Independentâs Nick Hilton wrote: âIs The Last of Us a great TV show or just a great adaptation of a video game? In truth, it sits somewhere between these positions.
âIts origins are an unspoken constraint but showrunner Craig Mazin (and Neil Druckmann, the architect of the game, who co-creates this adaptation) have done a fine job translating for the screen. The world has ended over and over, on screens big and small, but it has rarely been as plausible â or compelling â as the barbaric wasteland in the second season of Last of Us.â