You can say a lot about “The Last of Us,” but the show never lets its foot off the gas. Season 2, Episode 7, titled “Convergence,” throws us right into the deep end. And let’s just say — the water’s rough, unforgiving, and full of moral ambiguity.
Returning to the Ruins: Into the Fire Once More
As the episode opens, we’re back at the battered Seattle theater. Ellie, looking more haunted than ever, returns after her harrowing search for Nora. Jesse is there, working hard to help Dina recover, but things have changed. Dina now knows she’s pregnant, and this revelation rocks the group to its core. Ellie, weighed down by the burden of what she’s learned about Joel’s actions, can’t keep it in anymore. She confesses to Dina the bloody truth: Joel’s slaughter at the Salt Lake City hospital wasn’t random violence. He killed the Fireflies to save Ellie, robbing humanity of its supposed cure. Dina, already struggling, tries to make sense of it all. For Ellie, the confession isn’t cleansing — it just makes the mission even muddier.
Seattle Day Three: Tensions Boil Over
The next day, the Seattle rain hasn’t eased up. Jesse and Ellie make a plan: they have to find Tommy. Every step they take feels loaded, though, as the tension between them bubbles up. Jesse’s worried about everyone — maybe Ellie most of all — and he doesn’t hide that fact. They argue over motives and priorities. Jesse knows Dina’s pregnant, and he can’t see why Ellie wants to go after Abby instead of caring for Dina.
And that’s the thing with Ellie, isn’t it? Grief and revenge blind her. She won’t admit it, but her need for retribution threatens to tear everything apart. Jesse’s right to worry, but Ellie’s mind is fixed. She heard from Nora that Abby’s hiding at the aquarium. Ellie decides to go alone despite Jesse’s protests, and it’s not a clean separation. Their fight is raw, personal, and honest. Jesse calls her selfish, while Ellie just wants to quiet the ghosts in her mind.
Chaos Among Wolves: WLF and Seraphites Square Off
While all this unfolds, another battle simmers elsewhere. Isaac, the no-nonsense leader of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), prepares for all-out war with the Seraphites. Abby, meanwhile, has vanished with her crew. Isaac never wanted her gone. In fact, he hoped she’d lead after he stepped down. Instead, the city edges toward chaos, and Isaac steels himself for a confrontation that could tip the balance for everyone.
Elise, Isaac’s right hand, seems anxious about Abby and the growing unrest among their group. And who wouldn’t be? Abby’s strong presence — and her absence now — leaves a vacuum. As Isaac rallies his fighters, what’s left unsaid is just as important as what’s declared. If you’ve watched all season, you know that alliances here never last.
Ellie’s Solo Journey: Trouble at the Aquarium
Ellie’s trek to the aquarium is anything but smooth. In a stroke of twisted fate, a raging wave flips her boat. Suddenly, she’s not in friendly territory. Ellie washes up on the Seraphites’ island, bruised and alone. These religious zealots don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat. Instead, they capture her. The sequence feels claustrophobic — you can almost taste the salt and fear. As luck would have it, gunfire erupts outside. The WLF attacks. In the chaos, Ellie slips her bonds and flees. Her single-minded focus — tracking Abby — leads her straight to the aquarium’s echoing halls.
The confrontation that follows is one of the season’s biggest gut-punches. Ellie stumbles into a scene that’s eerily quiet. Owen and Mel, Abby’s closest friends, are there, and Ellie’s desperation shows. She demands to know Abby’s location. But negotiations crash and burn, and violence erupts. Ellie kills both Owen and Mel. Only after, shockingly, does she realize what she’s done. Mel, it turns out, was pregnant. There’s heartbreak in Ellie’s eyes — you feel it straight through the screen. This isn’t the retribution she wanted, but it’s the only one she’s going to get.
Rescue That Feels Like Defeat
Ellie can’t deal with the fallout. She’s exhausted, traumatized, and alone amid the carnage. That’s when Tommy and Jesse show up to haul her away. Did they save her, or did they just drag her deeper into a moral abyss? Back at the theater, the group is ragged and torn. They know they’ve crossed every line.
The new plan is simple — leave Seattle and Abby behind. But peace, in this world, is an illusion.
Blood on the Boards: Abby Strikes Back
It couldn’t end quietly. The episode’s last act erupts when Abby storms the theater, holding Tommy at gunpoint. Chaos follows. In one heart-stopping moment, Jesse is shot and killed. The shock is real, and the show doesn’t pull its punches. Abby, fueled by rage and loss, faces Ellie. The tables have turned. This isn’t just revenge — it’s a reckoning. Pain, loss, and guilt hang heavy in the air. The episode doesn’t tie things together with a nice, neat bow. Instead, it leaves them frayed and raw, ready for the next unraveling.
Production Notes: How They Made It Happen
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann teamed up with Halley Gross to write this powder keg of an episode, while Nina Lopez-Corrado took the director’s chair. Filming started in July 2024, wrapping principal photography ahead of schedule by late August. The cast and crew shot at the real Vancouver Aquarium to add authenticity — you can almost smell the saltwater in those scenes.
If you’re into technical details, Catherine Goldschmidt handled cinematography, making clever use of light and shadow, especially inside the theater. The set design feels grittier than ever — costumes are bloodied, wounds seldom look clean, and every close-up captures grief with brutal honesty.
What Fans and Critics Are Saying
No surprise here: “Convergence” has the fandom abuzz. Some call it the boldest finale yet, others call it a stumble at the finish line. Saloni Gajjar from The A.V. Club found it the season’s “shakiest,” while Alan Sepinwall at Rolling Stone called the ending “abrupt and somewhat confusing.” There are plenty who love the emotional turmoil and risk-taking, but just as many feel the cliffhanger came out of nowhere.
Simon Cardy at IGN thought the pacing threw off the momentum: abrupt cuts, rushed fights, and a sense that the credits rolled before the story ever really finished. On the other hand, Daniel Chin of The Ringer found “Convergence” exciting — but frustrating — because it held back so much that fans were waiting for. The lack of closure has become a talking point on Twitter, Reddit, and Discord servers everywhere.
What Makes “Convergence” Stick?
Here’s the thing — this episode is all about collision. It’s about stories crashing into each other, characters at their breaking points, and destinies spiraling out of control. Ellie’s obsession with revenge seems noble, until it leaves her more isolated than ever. Jesse’s loyalty gets him killed. Abby’s grief turns to violence. No side comes out clean. No one gets justice.
If you’re searching for heroes and villains, you’re in the wrong story. The lines blurred long ago. Everyone bleeds here — sometimes for principles, but just as often for nothing at all.
The cinematography plays with shadows and fractured glass, reflecting the broken state of literally everything. Music remains sparse, sometimes just a single guitar pluck, letting silence do the heavy lifting. The writers didn’t care about happy endings. They wanted you to squirm — and, by every measure, they succeeded.
After the Dust Settles
Now that the credits have rolled, there’s no shortage of questions. Fans are already theorizing about Season 3. Will Ellie spiral further, or finally find redemption? Can Abby ever heal, or does this cycle of violence swallow everyone whole?
The episode’s final moments give us no mercy, no real closure — only the sense that things are about to get messier. For a show that thrives on moral ambiguity and emotional wreckage, “Convergence” might just be the most honest episode yet.
If you stumbled away from your screen feeling battered and breathless, you’re not alone. This is storytelling that bites down and doesn’t let go. Hang tight until next season, survivors — this ride is far from over.
