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In Episode 7, and for the first time this season, The Last of Us diverges from its primary source material—the 2013 video game of the same name, which follows Joel and Ellie, the two main playable characters. For Episode 7, however, co-showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann (who wrote the original game) decided to draw from other Last of Us properties, telling a stand-alone story centered on Ellie and Riley, a girl Ellie befriends in the years before she meets Joel.

Episode 7 draws from two primary sources: The Last of Us: American Dreams, a four-issue comic series written by Druckmann and Faith Erin Hicks, and The Last of Us: Left Behind, a DLC add-on to the game, based on the comic series.

The Last of Us: Left Behind provides the narrative roadmap for Episode 7. In the DLC, we play as Ellie shortly after Joel’s injury at the hospital/lab. Ellie must forage for medicine and supplies in a mall, where Joel lies dying. It’s the same narrative beat as Episode 7, where Ellie, having taken Joel to a suburban home, stays by his side. In the game, Ellie’s movements through the mall trigger playable flashback sequences: Ellie and Riley explore a different mall, having broken curfew and escaped their military school. The events are the same as the game, excluding present day gameplay where Ellie forages.

It's an unconventional gameplay level, making use of a quiet frame narrative and telling as much a coming-of-age tale as a post-apocalyptic run-and-stab adventure.

The story does, however, end in blood. In both the game and Episode 7, the two girls come under attack. Both are bitten. But only one survives.

Who Is Riley?

Although Riley is mentioned in 2013’s The Last of Us—Ellie tells Joel about losing someone close when the two reach Jackson—players learn nothing more about her.

Brand: Dark Horse Books The Last of Us: American Dreams

Brand: Dark Horse Books The Last of Us: American Dreams

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Riley is mostly the creation of Faith Erin Hicks, a Canadian illustrator who designed the character for the comic series. Like Ellie, she first lives at a military boarding school in Boston. In the comic American Dreams, Riley and Ellie sneak out of the school, getting mixed up with an active Firefly mission and provoking Marlene’s fury.

Left Behind picks up events later. Having left the military school, Riley is now a Firefly, She returns one night to visit Ellie. This meeting occurs three weeks before Ellie meets Joel.

In an interview with Wired, Druckmann explained his and Hicks’ decision to have both characters forge a romantic connection during this night:

“When you come up with a character you think about who they are, backstory. With Ellie, it's just been a lingering thought, and I've had conversations with [Ellie voice actor] Ashley Johnson about the character. But everything was non-committal. We didn't have to commit to anything because there aren't any romantic storylines in The Last of Us. When I did interviews with Faith for the comic book, and we both made the mistake when we were describing Ellie and Riley for the first time – we said Ellie was attracted to Riley. We meant, I think, that she was just really drawn to her, that she really looked up to her. But then I thought in the back of my mind, what if there's something more than that? It became this interesting dimension of their relationship that we could explore.”

Of course, the romance is a short one.

What Happens to Riley?

As in Episode 7, we don’t actually see Riley’s fate. We are, however, made to understand the subsequent events: Marlene takes in Ellie and later works to render her to the Fireflies.

Riley’s death does explain Ellie’s earlier character traits—her rage in Firefly captivity, her compensating humor, her veiled helplessness. It also explains her motive for seeking a cure: She feels responsible for Riley’s death (as with Sam’s).

In the same Wired interview, Druckmann explained why he chose to leave Riley’s ending up to the imagination.

“There's a book by David Mamet [where] he talks about how you try to enter a scene as late as possible so that the viewer is engaged and trying to fill in the backstory. And you leave as early as possible, so if there are things you don't have to show, you don't show them. This story, this arc, was about how Ellie leaves her childhood behind and becomes an adult. There is another story to tell there about what happens afterward, but in terms of this arc that was all we needed to tell and no more. You can fill it in yourself, or maybe one day I'll team up with Faith and tell the rest of the story.”

Maybe Druckmann and Mazin will complete the story in The Last of Us Season 2.