In The Last of Us Episode 7, “Left Behind,” viewers are taken back to the fateful moment when Ellie (Bella Ramsey) ultimately learn she’s immune to being infected by the cordyceps outbreak. Through the flashback, we’re also introduced to Riley (Storm Reid), a pivotal character in Ellie’s journey whose fate isn’t explicitly spelled out at the end of the emotional episode.
After traversing an abandoned mall for some post-apocalyptic teenage fun, Ellie and Riley are attacked by a Clicker, and the two are both bitten despite ultimately killing their attacker. In The Last of Us, this situation is an immediate death sentence. The girls will be turned into infected within hours, and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Of course, we know that Ellie will survive the encounter, but the episode never shows what happens to Riley as it jumps back to the present where Ellie tends to a severely wounded Joel (Pedro Pascal).
The creative decision to not show what happens to Riley closely mirrors that of the game. Her death isn’t shown, but obviously, she becomes infected. Like the game, the show never outright says that Ellie kills Riley, but it is implied that Ellie has had to kill before. The assumption is that kill was Riley, who more than likely turned and attempted to attack the non-infected Ellie similar to Sam in Episode 5. Ellie also had access to both a gun and a knife while alone with Riley.
However, again, those final moments are never explicitly revealed in either the game or the HBO series, which leaves the horror — of Ellie discovering she’s immune but Riley is not — to the imagination.
The Last of Us airs new episodes Sundays on HBO.
(Via ScreenRant)