THE ARTIST | Pedro Pascal
THE SHOW | HBO The last of us
THE EPISODE | “Kin” (February 19, 2023)
THE PERFORMANCE | The last of us Executive producer Craig Mazin often talks about how people often lie to themselves not because they’re evil or manipulative, but because they can’t stand to face basic truths. As a result, this week’s episode of the HBO drama revealed that Pascal’s Joel was unable to fool himself any longer into thinking he could protect Ellie on her journey to the Fireflies’ lab. That realization shattered him – and set Pascal up for his most emotional performance of the season so far.
We’re talking, of course, about that scene in the studio. Earlier in the episode, Pascal played Joel as happy to find Tommy safe, territorial when he learned his brother was married, and very naughty when Tommy announced he was going to be a dad. Underlying it all was a fear that Pascal conveyed in Joel’s private moments of panic, his whole body tensing as he held him tight.
Those tumultuous emotions spilled out — haphazardly, beautifully — as Pascal tore Joel to pieces while begging Tommy to take Ellie on the rest of her journey. As he hesitantly skimmed through Joel’s litany of chess, Pascal made his voice breathy and small, full of barely held back tears. It felt like everything Joel had feared for months was coming back to the fore, and Pascal played the monologue as if his usually reluctant character couldn’t stop talking once he started.
The moment Joel confessed to having “failed in my sleep”, Pascal let himself be devoured by Joel’s growing despair. The character’s usual gruff facade faded as his breathing quickened to sobs he struggled to control. As Joel begged his brother to take Ellie to the end of her journey, we marveled at the pain-scarred despair on Pascal’s face. And we take back what we said about the scene being his best of the season: it was one of his best works – of all time.