It's hard marking life's milestones without the people you used to share them with. For one woman named Gail—introduced in season 2 of The Last of Us—she's celebrating her first birthday without her husband, Eugene, in just over four decades. The loss weighs heavily on Gail, especially when one of her patients is none other than the man who killed him.
In the season 2 premiere of The Last of Us, which aired Sunday night on HBO, audiences returned to snow-frosted Jackson, Wyoming: a safe community of survivors that protagonists Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) now call home. With the new season comes new faces. Among them is Gail, played by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Catherine O'Hara. The world of The Last of Us is a far cry from Beetlejuice and Schitt's Creek, but O'Hara's Gail fits right in.
During Gail's appointment psychotherapy session with Joel in the episode, she mentions her late husband Eugene, harshly throwing his name in Joel's face in an attempt to get him to confess his big secret about Ellie. But who is Eugene? And why did Gail bring him up during their session? A little dive into the original video games that inspired the show will provide key insight.
Warning: Light, potential spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 ahead.
What Happened in The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere?
Five years after Joel saved Ellie from the Fireflies (who were set to surgically kill Ellie to reverse-engineer a cure for the cordyceps infection), Joel and Ellie are estranged. While Joel insists that he saved Ellie from a raider attack, Ellie harbors suspicions to the contrary and has thus chosen to keep her distance from him.
Joel, who sees his own late daughter Sarah in Ellie, feels awful that Ellie is actively ignoring him and has begun meeting with Gail, Jackson's resident psychotherapist. During their latest session, Joel resists revealing exactly what he did to save Ellie. (Imagine telling everyone you not only refused to save the world but in fact killed the only people who could! I'd keep that secret too.) In an effort to crack Joel open like an egg, Gail spills some of her own secrets. "You can't heal something unless you're brave enough to say it out loud," Gail says out loud but almost talking to herself. "I'm scared, though. I'm scared to say it. Which is why I have to."
As Gail reveals (to help us, the audience, catch up): "You shot and killed my husband. You killed Eugene."
Gail doesn't just resent Joel for killing her husband; she hates him 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 fucking angry."
Who Is Eugene, and How Did Joel Kill Him?
Here's all we know about Eugene: He was a man who spent 40 years married to Gail—and he apparently could grow some pretty mean weed. He is also recently deceased, given that Gail is celebrating her first birthday without him on the day Joel sees her.
We also know that Joel killed Eugene, for apparently justified reasons. ("I know you had no choice.") We don't yet know the specifics, however. We can only guess that perhaps Eugene was infected and Joel killed him out of mercy, or something along those lines.
Later this season, Eugene is set to be played by actor Joe Pantoliano (of the Matrix and Bad Boys franchises), which means we'll see him in flashbacks and more than likely see for ourselves exactly what led to Joel having to kill him.
Who Was Eugene in the Video Games?
Surprisingly, Eugene has a smaller footprint in the Last of Us video games than he'll have in the HBO series. But there are some major differences between the two versions of the character. Just like in the show, Eugene is already dead by the start of The Last of Us Part II. He appears only in a few photographs, all of which can be found optionally in an abandoned library that Eugene regularly visited.
In the games, Eugene was born roughly around 1964. He was married with a daughter when the outbreak began but abandoned his family to join the Fireflies. That's how Eugene met Tommy (who is played by Gabriel Luna in the show) and together served as Fireflies that engaged in acts of terrorism and torturing a military general. (Allegedly.) Eventually, Eugene settles in Jackson, where he develops a close mentor relationship with Dina, training her in survival skills like electronics repair. This is loosely echoed in the TV show, where Joel is acting as the "new" Eugene to Dina, including showing her how to fix breakers.
He died of a stroke at age 73, making him one of the rare natural-cause deaths in the violent world of The Last of Us. Dina remembers him for having quite a sense of humor, as well as being surprisingly sharp-witted for his age. Little else is known about him.
With Joe Pantoliano set to play Eugene in the TV show, Eugene might still have that sense of humor Dina fondly remembers. Or maybe he'll be a huge jerk. I mean, does Captain Howard seem like a sweet, funny revolutionary to you?
