The Last Of Us Fans Reacted To That Surprise Moment From Pedro Pascal's Joel With All The Emotions, And I'm Right There With Them

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched The Last of Us’ latest Season 2 episode, “Feel Her Love,” on HBO or with a Max subscription.

After an episode that truly cemented Ellie and Dina’s live-action relationship, The Last of Us realigned the duo’s focus on their dark and troublesome goal with a danger-filled hunt for Tati Gabrielle’s Nora. Plenty of brutal violence was on display, largely involving the warring WLF soldiers and cult-like Seraphites, before the episode culminated in Ellie going feral on Nora in that spore-filled basement. Nora ordered up her hyper-painful doom by having audacity to call Joel a “little bitch.”

Just when it seemed like Ellie crushing Nora’s legs with a pipe would serve as an extremely ironic ending to an episode called “Feel Her Love,” The Last of Us’ creative team chose to follow Bella Ramsey’s guttural screams with a dime-turn into sunshine-y warmth, as Pablo Pascal’s Joel appeared for a few fleeting seconds where it was easy to forget problems both fictional and personal. And then reality came crashing back down as the credits rolled.

Who knew that the two words “Hey, Kiddo” could be so utterly soul-crushing and uplifting all at the same time? Well, it looks like millions of people are more aware of that fact now than they were before Sunday night, and while not everyone went online to voice their retriggered traumas, the HBO show's Instagram posts about Joel's last-second appearance were met with tons of relatably dramatic reactions.

Check out a selection of enjoyably heightened highlights, with game studio Naughty Dog's brevity topping the list:

• 🥹 - @naughty_dog_inc
• That was cathartic. That was like coming home from the roughest day of my life and feeling safe again. - @morgxnstxrn
• This felt like waking up from your worst nightmare as a scared little kid, and your parent comes in and comforts you and you feel safe. 😢🥹 - @krose94
• Happy Mother’s Day Joel Miller - @paris.pryber03
• It was 4am for me when Joel appeared and I screamed, my cat got scared but I don't care, I'm happy. - @pascal.pedrito
• I'll take all the Joel crumbs we can get - @the_sunset_driver2343
• i was giggling watching the scene w nora and then this flashback appeared and my smile disappeared so quickly 💔💔 - @cinekravitz
• crying. screaming. throwing up 😭 - @bulletpr00fbully
• OMG I FVCKING SOBBED WHEN I SAW JOEL 😭😭😭😭 I didn’t expect him till next episode with the flashback! TLOU MY HEART!!!!! ❤️ - @karencityy
• I can imagine she could be dreaming about him 😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺🥺 - @vin.no

As it tends to go whenever a fandom latches onto something, the reactions to Joel's surprise appearance bounced from heartfelt to melodramatic to hopeful to...you know it was coming...horny and thirsty for Pedro Pascal in any capacity. Even this trifecta of similarly worded reactions follows the trend.

• The way I burst into tears - @aftercoffeewithjess
• the way i immediately sobbed at domestic joel :( - @athvmy
• The way I screamed “DADDYYYYYY” - @_jessegallagher

I technically also choose to be hopeful about what that scene meant, even as I understand it just means Ellie is finding a sense of peace and connection to Joel by violently lashing out at Abby's group, which doesn't bode well for her safety or her mental health.

Thankfully, perhaps, The Last of Us' next episode isn't focusing on the future so much as the past, as it looks like this will be where several of the video game sequel's unforgettable flashback sequences take place. So you just know that seeing the variety of new scenes between Pascal and Ramsey sent fans into orbit with dread-soaked anticipation.

• Let's get the tissues ready for next week 🥺🥺 - @im_mssiel
• Oh my days. The way the words "Hey, kiddo" has ruined me 💔😭 I don't even know how i will cope next week. HELP!! 😭 - @mrsg2004
• That ending killed me, next episode will be so hard to watch❤️❤️🥺🥺 -@ryan_hawks12
• NO BECAUSE I FEAR I WILL NOT MAKE IT NEXT WEEK - @thepadalorian
• You're going to pay for my therapy in the next episode 😭 [translated] - @cyndelkatrynne
• I was like “no please no”, then the episode ended and I was relieved, because I don’t want to cry two Sundays in a row, I’ll just cry next Sunday. - @poxa.math
• I hope more of the flashbacks are good ones with Ellie and not so much when they fight😭🫶 - @blink_4_pinkk
• now we just need the museum scene and life will be good again - @katelyn_lasater_

Gamers know what's up with that reference to the museum, and it is indeed the sequence I'm also looking forward to the most. But no reason to dwell on those hopes right now. Not when this commenter dared write a comment so cruel and foul!!!

• Just remember: Joel got what he deserved - @daniel_bo83

I guess we all know that comment was actually written by ABBY HERSELF. Okay not really, but that's the only context in which that would make sense to me as I choose to amorally pick hard sides here.

Join me for what will presumably be a viewing experience full of tears and snot when The Last of Us' penultimate Season 2 episode hits HBO on Sunday, May 18, at 9:00 p.m.