It's not one of the best episodes in the season, but my god was this finale incredible. I don't think it possible could've been anymore emotional. It all starts with the stuff prior to the Fireflies. So many beautiful moments between Joel and Ellie. Discussion of their future, Sarah, and most importantly, Joel's suicide attempt. I completely forgot about that. And when he was talking about healing, and looked at Ellie, and said, "It wasn't time that did it,"... I teared up a little. That's the most perfect line imaginable. And then he makes fun of her jokes. Love it. Everything at the hospital stays emotional, but just amps up the excitement. The revelation that Ellie would die from the surgery shook me on first watch, and it still did now. That's the most brilliant decision imaginable for Joel's character. And of course, he choose Ellie. His murder spree throughout the hospital was awful. You blame, yet you don't, yet you do. He murders good people, and condemns others to a life of fear, because he loved one girl. But he loved her so much. It's not moral, but so easy to understand. Anyway, the whole thing was so exhilarating. So well shot and edited too. And the final scene with Marlene was the worst part of the episode. Killing her, one of the brightest hopes for humanity, was awful. And you might question why she didn't kill him first. It's because she needed him. She couldn't make it with Ellie on her own. So she gambled, and lost. My biggest complaint about the episode is that Joel's story is really fucking awful. I don't know, I would've said that the Fireflies got what they needed, and sent Joel and Ellie on their way, because they needed to go somewhere else to process it. Something like that. Then when you never hear from them again, it's easy to think they were killed by raiders. I would've accepted it. Anyway, there's this nice moments between Joel and Ellie after all that. Their conversation about Sarah especially, that was beautiful. Okay, now I need to talk about how every single episode led to the pivotal moment in this episode. Joel's choice to save Ellie. Honestly though, you can't really call it a choice, because he made it without hesitation. But yeah, everything that came before influenced Joel and his decision on what to do in that moment. There were basically two groups of thought. Those who think you should give up stuff for the greater good, and those who didn't. Tommy, Tess, Marlene, and Ellie were all in group one (mostly, I'll get to that later). Tommy gave up his family to escort Ellie to the Fireflies, Tess gave up her last moments to save Ellie, Marlene broke her promise to Anna to save humanity (Ellie's backstory in this episode was fine by the way), and Ellie gave up a chance at safety to risk her life for the Fireflies. Joel denied her that choice. Those were the people who'd think that Joel should've let Ellie die. Everyone else and every experience Joel has had told him he shouldn't though. Losing Sarah in E1; he wasn't going to let that happen again. Reading that note from Frank about protecting the ones you love; he followed his advice. Henry giving up a chance at revolution to save his brother; Joel did that times one hundred. And he saw Henry die when he lost Sam; he knew he'd meet the same fate if he lost Ellie. His promise to protect Ellie, and her protecting him in E7; he had to repay the debt. And David in E8 who did everything he could, no matter how wrong or evil, to protect his people; Joel did exactly what he did to protect his people. Everything I just explained is why this show is so brilliant. Its analysis of saving the ones you love vs. sacrificing them for the greater good is unparalleled in how thorough and complex it was.