The Path (The Last of Us)

"**The Path**"
"The Path"
The Last of Us episode
	Ellie (Bella Ramsey) visits Joel's grave. The scene was written to provide viewers a chance to grieve, and its cinematography and Ramsey's performance were praised.
Episode no.	Season 2; Episode 3
Directed by	Peter Hoar
Written by	Craig Mazin
Featured music	"The Path"; by Gustavo Santaolalla and Tom Morello;
Cinematography by	Ksenia Sereda
Editing by	Simon Smith
Original air date	April 27, 2025
Running time	56 minutes
Guest appearances
	Rutina Wesley as Maria; Robert John Burke as Seth; Danny Ramirez as Manny; Michael Abbott Jr. as Jacob; Catherine O'Hara as Gail;

"The Path" is the third episode of the second season of the American post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us. Written by series co-creator Craig Mazin and directed by Peter Hoar, it aired on HBO on April 27, 2025. The episode follows Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Dina (Isabela Merced), and Jesse (Young Mazino) three months after the infected attack on their town of Jackson, Wyoming, as Ellie advocates for tracking down Joel's killers in Seattle.

The episode was filmed around April 2024. The writers wanted it to follow Jackson and pay respects to Joel, allowing the audience to grieve. The episode introduces the Seraphites, a religious group in Seattle whose designs were based on the game's version; their facial scars required prosthetics, which underwent several designs. Critics praised the episode's direction, cinematography, writing, and Ramsey and Merced's chemistry, though some found the dialogue and themes heavy-handed. The episode had 768,000 viewers on linear television.