Apr 30, 2025 08:28 AM IST
Ellie’s offering of coffee beans at Joel’s grave symbolizes a love that transcended their conflicts – Remembering Joel for a taste of the old world.
In episode 3 of The Last Of Us season 2, Ellie leaves coffee beans on Joel’s grave. While it may be a very heartfelt sequence, there’s a valid reason behind her doing it. Joel’s shocking death in the second episode left not only the fans devastated, but also Ellie. In the five-year time gap between seasons 1 and 2, her relationship with Joel grows more complicated, as we see in episode 1, but her profound sense of love for Joel is demonstrated by this one gesture in episode 3.
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Episode 3 shows Ellie setting out for revenge against the Washington Liberal Front (WLF) which includes Abby and her group. As Dina was present during Joel’s murder, she knows the assailants were from the WLF and the council held a vote to discuss the matter of spending a sixteen-person crew to seek revenge. When they were outvoted, Ellie and Dina ventured out on their own but made a quick stop at a graveyard built just outside Jackson, Wyoming.
What’s with the coffee beans?
When Ellie and Dina go up to Joel’s grave, Ellie leaves behind some coffee beans on the grave. This symbolizes that although she had complicated feelings for Joel in her life, she still wants to remember him for something positive – here, his love for coffee. The topic of coffee was something both of them joked about, as she found coffee to be too bitter and questioned Joel why he loved it so much. Her way of saying goodbye to Joel was both loving, meaningful, and bittersweet.
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Since The Last Of Us takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, the older characters like Joel are still bound to the elements of their previous normal lives. Like many other things, Joel’s love for coffee became a growing commodity in the world after the Cordyceps outbreak, making it more meaningful for Ellie to give some coffee beans to honour him at his grave.
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