What’s the song in The Last of Us, episode 1? Warning spoiler ahead. The Last of Us episode 1 had an awful lot of ground to cover. It had to explain how the world ended, introduce our main characters, and end on a cliffhanger that’ll get audiences back next week.
That’s an impressive amount to jam into a relatively short 80 minutes, but The Last of Us episode 1 pulled it off magnificently (read our full The Last of Us TV series review here for more of our thoughts). We’re very intrigued by that cliffhanger, though. Who was radioing Joel (Pedro Pascal)? What’s the significance of the song? And what was the song in The Last of Us episode 1?
Well, answering one of those questions is relatively easy. Still, the actual significance of the song goes beyond the explanation in the episode and actually teases some future dynamics between our favourite The Last of Us characters.
What is the song in The Last Of Us, episode one?
The song that plays at the end of The Last Of Us episode one is Depeche Mode’s a987 hit Never Let Me Down Again. The song wasn’t picked as a random tribute to Depeche Mode’s lead singer Dave Gahan, though; it’s actually a serious warning for Joel.
Why is the song in The Last of Us, episode 1, so important?
As we learned in the episode, Joel has been using the radio to covertly communicate with two individuals known as B/F, who we’re presuming are Bill and Frank, two significant characters from the videogame.
We know, thanks to Ellie (Bella Ramsey) discovering Joel’s codebook, that the era of music that’s played gives a different message. If it’s from the ’60s, then there’s “nothing in” ’70s means “new stock”, while the ’80s is left blank, but Ellie works out that it means “trouble”.
As Never Let me Down is an ’80s hit, we can therefore surmise that B and F are in trouble and need help. There’s more to this song, though, than it simply being a warning. Warning we’re gonna get a bit spoilery from here.
The lyrics to Never Let Me Down Again could be interpreted as being about Joel and Ellie’s adventure across the wasteland. “I’m taking a ride with my best friend”, hints at their growing bond.
“He knows where he’s taking me, taking me where I want to be” meanwhile obviously applies to Joel’s experience as a survivor as well as Ellie’s willingness to help The Fireflies find a cure.
But it’s the lyric “I hope he never lets me down again”, which is probably the most prophetic. This could be interpreted as a reference to Joel’s ultimate choice at the end of the videogame (which we’re not going to explain here because if you don’t know, you don’t want to know).
Now it’s possible we’re being a bit first-year English lit student about this, but it’s a cool little detail. Anyway, if you want to know more about the not-so-wonderful world of The Last of Us, check out our guides to the infected, The Fireflies, cordyceps, ?</h2>, and FEDRA.
We’ve also got an article breaking down The Last of Us cast, so you can learn who’s playing your favourite character.