Finish your patrol early and head again to residence base if you have not seen “The Value,” the sixth and penultimate episode of “The Final of Us” season 2. Spoilers forward.
There’s just one episode left within the (excellent!) sophomore season of “The Final of Us,” and we lastly know exactly what occurred to Eugene, the beforehand unseen late husband of Catherine O’Hara’s Gail. Based on a characteristic concerning the episode in Leisure Weekly, Joe Pantoliano, who performed Eugene, had an surprising reunion whereas he filmed this episode as a result of he’d labored with certainly one of his scene companions, Pedro Pascal, years prior.
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Apparently, each Pantoliano and Pascal participated in a play studying “about 25 years in the past,” however as a result of Pascal was so younger on the time, Pantoliano did not acknowledge him at first. Pascal’s strategy cleared some issues up, although. “I did not even keep in mind him,” Pantoliano mentioned. “I used to be launched on the set [of ‘The Last of Us’], they usually mentioned that is Bella [Ramsey, who plays series lead Ellie] and Pedro. Pedro began hugging and kissing me, and I am like, ‘Oh my God. I do not know who this man is.’ Then he mentioned two phrases that opened up the floodgates to the reminiscence.”
What these two phrases have been, Pantoliano did not share, nor did he say what play the 2 learn from once they met over twenty years in the past. So what occurred between the 2 actors and their characters on “The Final of Us?”
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What occurs between Joel and Eugene in The Final of Us season 2 episode 6?
It is outstanding to see Pedro Pascal’s Joel again in motion in “The Value,” contemplating that Joel dies in notably brutal vogue by the hands of Abby Anderson (Kaitlyn Dever) within the season’s second episode, but it surely additionally is sensible, contemplating that a lot of episode 6 is informed in flashbacks. As we study, earlier than a chasm opened up in Joel and Ellie’s father-daughter relationship, he agrees to take Ellie out on patrol exterior of the protected partitions of Jackson, Wyoming, considering it’s going to be a easy mission. Sadly, issues get very, very difficult once they encounter Eugene, who was simply bitten by an contaminated cordyceps zombie throughout a random assault.
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Eugene, realizing he has some time earlier than he turns into an contaminated zombie himself, begs each Ellie and Joel to quickly spare him, carry him to the gates of the Jackson settlement, and let him say goodbye to his beloved Gail. Ellie desires to honor this request instantly, however Joel appears torn; in the end, he tells Ellie to backtrack and get their horses in order that they will all return to Jackson collectively. Whereas she’s gone, Joel shoots and kills Eugene, unwilling to let anybody who’s contaminated close to his family members in Jackson … and breaking a promise to Ellie within the course of. After they return to Jackson with Eugene’s physique, Joel lies to Gail and says that Eugene died by suicide due to his chunk, however Ellie, realizing full nicely that Eugene begged for his life, tells Gail the reality and deepens the divide between her and Joel. Contemplating “The Value” culminates in a long-awaited scene during which Joel admits that he probably prevented a treatment for the cordyceps virus by saving Ellie’s life within the season 1 finale, that is one more time Ellie feels betrayed by Joel.
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Joe Pantoliano discovered unbelievable depth in his temporary efficiency as Eugene on The Final of Us
So what was it like for Joe Pantoliano, an actor generally jokingly known as “Joey Pants,” to pop out and in of the world of “The Final of Us?” Based on Pantoliano himself, it was actually tough to painting a dying man whose solely want is to see his spouse one final time, and is cruelly denied that chance. “The reality is, it was essentially the most difficult work I’ve had in a very long time as an actor,” Pantoliano informed Leisure Weekly. “I used to have a instructor that may say, underneath any circumstances {that a} human is put into, something is feasible. So the desperation of the immediacy — the restricted time that my character has and the urgency during which I would like to inform my spouse how I really feel — realizing that I’ll the gallows, it was actually fascinating.”
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It is gut-wrenching to look at Eugene crumble in entrance of Joel … particularly when you think about that he is not even asking for that a lot. “I would like her final phrases — for me!” Eugene says to Joel whereas he begs for the little life he has left as Joel shepherds him in the direction of an expansive mountain view — a secluded spot the place Joel will shoot him solely moments later. “I am dying. I am terrified. I do not want a view. I would like Gail. To see her face. Please. Please let that be the very last thing I see,” he says. Due to how genuinely horrifying this scene is, co-showrunner Neil Druckmann, who created the unique Naughty Canine sport and helms the HBO adaptation with Craig Mazin, mentioned that the present steered away from a number of the darkish humor Eugene shows in “The Final of Us Half II.”
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“On the times once we have been taking pictures, that humor simply felt incorrect,” the showrunner mused, specializing in Pantoliano’s intuition to easily plead. “Joey made this actually lovely selection none of us anticipated. As he is getting nearer and nearer to his demise, he begins regressing and turning into like a baby. He is simply crying for assist, and he wants Gail to guard him. I simply love the place he took it. It was very stunning. And now, I am unable to think about it being another means.”
“The Final of Us,” together with this heartbreaking sequence, is streaming on Max now, and the season 2 finale airs on Could 25, 2025 at 9 P.M. EST on HBO and the soon-to-be rechristened HBO Max.
