The Last of Us features giraffes as the quiet before the storm of Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) rampage against the Fireflies in the season 1 finale of the HBO show. Because they can be peaceful.
Fitting a giraffe into the first season of The Last of Us may have seemed like a tall order, at least to those unfamiliar with the game. Before that, the only place you could imagine seeing such an animal is as a plushie, probably cast aside and abandoned to the elements (as we actually did see, in an episode 2 Easter egg). But that was all setting the stage for the big — or, at least, a big — scene in the season 1 finale, where Ellie gets to pet a giraffe.
Like so much of the show, it’s a moment pulled almost directly from the game. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is still recovering from battling her way out of a fundamentalist cannibal cult in episode 8. Joel (Pedro Pascal) can see she’s distant and not super excited — at least, until they’re exploring Salt Lake City. Here the scene plays out almost identically to the game, complete with Ellie passing Joel the ladder only to let it fall when she first spots the animal. The two look on in wonder as a giraffe grazes on the plants overtaking the abandoned structure they’re in.
