‘Genuinely distraught’: The Last of Us viewers react to one of the most dreaded moments in TV history

‘The Last of Us’ brutally killed off a major character in the second episode of season two

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season two episode two.

The second episode of The Last of Us season two, titled “Eye for an Eye,” witnessed a moment fans of the video game have been dreading.

The latest season is based on The Last of Us Part II, the acclaimed sequel to the original PlayStation game.

Viewers were introduced to Kaitlyn Dever’s character Abby in episode one and her desire to kill Joel (Pedro Pascal) “slowly.”

Joel was responsible for the death of her father, the Firefly surgeon who was about to operate on Ellie (Bella Ramsey) to create a cure for the Cordyceps infection.

Fans of the video games knew that Joel met a gruesome end, with Abby brutally bashing his head in with a golf club as Ellie watched.

Pedro Pascal’s Joel saves Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby in ‘The Last of Us’ season two (Liane Hentscher/HBO)

On Sunday, that moment in the series adaptation finally arrived — though it differed slightly from the video game version.

On X, fans of the show expressed their devastation at the moment Pascal’s fan-favorite character met his grisly fate.

“This is actually 10x worse than i thought it would be,” one person wrote.

The Last of Us reaction on X (X)

“JUST STOP ABBY LET JOEL LIVE,” begged another.

The Last of Us reaction on X (X)

“Even knowing this would happen still got me like,” added a third alongside a GIF of a child screaming.

The Last of Us reaction on X (X)

“Me trying to save Joel,” wrote a fourth alongside a video of a man lunging at his TV.

The Last of Us reaction on X (X)

“Genuinely was distraught, entire body was shaking, throughout this entire episode,” wrote a fifth.

Joel’s death now sets up the major storyline for season two: Ellie’s quest for revenge.

Dever’s character is presented slightly more sympathetically in the series than in the game, with Abby given new dialogue justifying her actions and discussing her moral code.

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Joel’s eventual execution is also slightly altered from the game, with Abby sticking the point of a broken golf club directly into Joel's head, rather than beating him to death.

Season two of The Last of Us also stars Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Rutina Wesley as Maria, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara guest stars.

In a four-star review of the season, The Independent’s Nick Hilton wrote: “Is The Last of Us a great TV show or just a great adaptation of a video game? In truth, it sits somewhere between these positions. Its origins are an unspoken constraint but showrunner Craig Mazin (and Neil Druckmann, the architect of the game, who co-creates this adaptation) have done a fine job translating for the screen.

“The world has ended over and over, on screens big and small, but it has rarely been as plausible – or compelling – as the barbaric wasteland in the second season of The Last of Us.”

New episodes air Sundays at 9pm ET on Max in the U.S. and Sky Atlantic and NOW every Monday at 2am BST in the U.K.