Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Episode 3 of The Last of Us.It goes without saying that Episode 3 of The Last of Us on HBO, “Long, Long Time,” is the most emotional installment of the series to date. Now without Tess (Anna Torv), Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsay) travel to Lincoln, Massachusetts to meet up with his smuggling partners; as they travel, audiences are treated to the moving story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) in a series of flashbacks. While the focus of this episode is on Bill and Frank finding connection in the midst of a deadly outbreak, it also serves to bring to light new details about the nature of Joel’s relationship with Tess.
Of the two episodes we spent with Joel and Tess, it was clear that the two had a well-balanced partnership. As far as their smuggling business was concerned, she was the brains, and he was the brawn. Tess thrived in creating connections in order to get supplies in and out of the Boston QZ. Meanwhile, Joel is a formidable fighter and could bring anyone who double-crossed them to their knees. More than being smuggling partners, they were also romantic partners. In Episode 1’s “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” the audience is given brief moments of intimacy between Tess and Joel. When Tess returns to the apartment they share, she is Joel’s big spoon as they fall asleep. After they’re awake, Joel tends to Tess’ wounds after she was beaten up and held captive by Robert (Brendan Fletcher); he does this later in Episode 2 after Tess twists her ankle. Above all, in a world where trust was a rare commodity, they trusted each other fully.
After becoming infected in Episode 2, Tess convinces Joel to take Ellie to Bill and Frank’s house so that the couple could take Ellie off of his hands. With their backs against the wall as clickers make their way to attack the museum, Joel takes Ellie away and leaves Tess to blow up the museum. She bravely sacrifices herself so that Joel and Ellie have the chance to set things right again. To honor her memory, Joel stacks rocks on the edge of a river at the beginning of Episode 3 as a quiet farewell to his partner and friend, something the pair were robbed of.
What We Learn About Joel and Tess in the Episode 3 Flashback
Though we were only given two episodes of Joel and Tess in the present day, one of the flashbacks in Episode 3’s “Long, Long Time” gives audiences more time with this couple. In the middle of the flashbacks revealing Bill’s story, one flashback takes audiences to 2010 when Bill and Frank meet Joel and Tess in person for the first time. Frank had been communicating with Tess and invited them to visit him and Bill in Lincoln. It’s through this meeting that the four of them set up their own smuggling operation that lasts for 13 years until Bill and Frank’s death in 2023.
The flashback of Joel and Tess sharing a meal with Bill and Frank is an unexpected surprise for the audience. Not only did it establish how Bill and Frank became acquainted with Tess and Joel, but it also reveals new details about Joel and Tess’ relationship. For instance, Bill and Frank met Joel and Tess in 2010; this means Joel and Tess had been in a partnership for at least over a decade before Tess died in 2023. They had spent that time with each other, knowing details of their lives from before the Cordyceps outbreak. To put it into devastating context, Joel had been with Tess longer than he had been with his daughter, Sarah (Nico Parker).
Another intricate detail arises in the midst of this flashback. At one point during their first meeting, Frank and Tess leave Bill and Joel alone. Bill and Joel are very similar in their demeanor and skill sets. Bill is extremely skeptical of letting Joel and Tess into his life. It’s something that Joel understands, which is why when he does express having those same reservations, he refers to Tess as "mine" — not partner, not girlfriend, mine. This endearment means that Joel thought of Tess much more than she ever knew. Remember: as she pleaded with Joel to take Ellie to Bill and Frank’s, Tess said that she never asked him to feel the way she felt about him. This revelation to the audience acts like a delayed gut punch because Tess never got to know how deeply Joel felt for her, and he never got to tell her.
Rule 1: Don’t Bring Up Tess, Ever
Where Joel never got to convey his feelings to Tess, Bill made sure he didn’t leave anything left unsaid. He spends his last good day marrying the love of his life, sharing a meal together, and choosing to leave the world behind with his husband. He leaves his final words in a letter addressed to Joel. In it, Bill tells him that guys like them have one job — protecting the one person worth saving. For Bill, it was Frank, and in Bill’s letter to Joel, Bill makes the point that Joel’s person is Tess. It’s for that very reason Bill leaves Joel all of his weapons and equipment so that Joel can keep Tess safe. Reading this part overwhelms Joel to the point of walking out of Bill’s house to take a deep breath alone; it’s a painful reminder of the way he feels that he failed the person he trusted in this post-apocalyptic world.
With Tess, Bill, and Frank gone, it’s solely up to Joel to bring Ellie with him as he attempts to track down his brother and former Firefly, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Now that it’s just the two of them, Ellie attempts to apologize for what happened to Tess. Without Tess, Joel is unwilling to let someone else into his pain, especially not one whose existence is partially responsible for Tess’ death. Instead, he creates a series of ground rules for Ellie to follow if they’re going to travel together; the first one being to never bring up Tess. Joel’s sensitivity to the mere mention of her name makes him want to shut down the grief he feels at losing her.
Bill and Frank’s story takes the spotlight in Episode 3 to highlight how meaningful connection can be found in the darkest of circumstances. Bill let Frank into his life, and doing so, shedding loneliness for love and companionship to see him. Though Tess, Bill, and Frank are gone, they serve as a reminder of how important connections are. It may leave your heart vulnerable to heartbreak and grief, but it can bring strength and healing to what was once lost. While there still remains a desire to see more of Tess and Joel’s relationship through flashbacks, the torch has been passed from Tess to Ellie as Joel’s one person worth saving, his new mine. He just doesn’t realize it yet.