The Last of Us Episode 7 gave viewers an uncharacteristically fun episode — well, fun by the HBO show’s standards, anyway. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Riley’s (Storm Reid) trip to an abandoned mall allowed viewers to see different sides of Ellie — someone who’s goofy and playful and has their first crush. In true The Last of Us fashion, though, that joy was fleeting, giving way to a deep loss that’s shaped the Ellie viewers — and Joel (Pedro Pascal) — have come to know over the last six episodes.
In the series’ pilot episode, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the head of the Fireflies, mentions Riley to Ellie. Marlene, whose intentions are unclear at that point, has locked Ellie in a room to make sure the teen’s bite doesn’t worsen. Eventually, the rebel leader tries to convince Ellie that her sweeping distrust of the Fireflies is wrong; after all, Riley was among their ranks. In Episode 2, the topic of Ellie’s bite in the abandoned mall comes up in a conversation with Tess (Anna Torv), but the teen quickly — and unconvincingly — claims to have been in the mall alone.
Show-only viewers don’t learn much more about Riley until Episode 7, which is based on The Last of Us: Part 1’s downloadable expansion, The Last of Us: Left Behind. While the series faithfully adapts the Left Behind DLC, it also pulls from another source: the 2013 graphic novel, The Last of Us: American Dreams. So, what is The Last of Us: American Dreams — and how does Riley become a Firefly?
When Does The Last Of Us: American Dreams Take Place?
Published by Dark Horse comics between April and July 2013, The Last of Us: American Dreams is a four-issue comic book series that coincided with the first game’s release in June 2013. Creative director and writer Neil Druckmann of Naughty Dog penned the series, while illustrator Faith Erin Hicks (Avatar: The Last Airbender—Imbalance trilogy) and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg (Spider-Woman) created the art.
A prequel to the first game in the series, American Dreams follows Ellie in the lead-up to The Last of Us: Left Behind. Originally, the game’s developers had intended to include Ellie’s backstory as a playable sequence in the game, but it was scrapped — until the opportunity to create a comic came along. A student at the FEDRA-run military boarding school, Ellie has no concept of what life was like before the mutated strain of Cordyceps fungus caused a world-altering pandemic. This makes Ellie a great point-of-view character when it comes to world-building and introducing the reader to The Last of Us’ post-apocalyptic vision of the United States.
What Is The Last Of Us: American Dreams About?
Most importantly, The Last of Us: American Dreams chronicles Ellie’s eventual friendship with fellow student, Riley Abel. The two meet under less-than-ideal circumstances: a group of boys is trying to rob Ellie until Riley intervenes. After the boys run off, Ellie snaps at Riley for assuming she needed help. Later, Ellie realizes that Riley stole her Walkman — a precious belonging in their post-apocalyptic world — and confronts her about it.
That night, discovers Riley sneaking out of the building. Although Riley is reluctant to have Ellie join, she relents, and they head toward the abandoned mall, where Riley’s friend, a soldier named Winston, is stationed. While Winston teaches Ellie the basics of horse riding, Riley steals his radio to keep tabs on the Fireflies. She learns that the rebel group attacked an area nearby, and tries to head them off. Her aim? Find a way to join them and aid in their plan to dismantle the fascist FEDRA rule.
After narrowly avoiding some Infected, Ellie and Riley are captured by Fireflies. Their leader, Marlene, recognizes Ellie — she knew Ellie’s mom and had promised to keep Ellie out of harm’s way — and refuses to let Riley join their ranks. Back in the confines of the Quarantine Zone (QZ) proper, Ellie says they should run away. Still upset over her encounter with Marlene, Riley tells Ellie it’s pointless to run away from the QZ as they’ll wind up dying on the outside.
How Did Riley Become A Firefly?
After the main events of American Dreams, Riley doubles back, leaving Ellie at the school. Riley ends up finding a FIrefly member and tracking them to one of the group’s hideouts, where Marlene is waiting for her. Evidently, being turned away but trying again was all part of Marlene’s tactic to see if Riley was cut out for the Fireflies. In the comics and games canon, Riley has to kill an Infected as part of an initiation before she can receive a Firefly pendant.
In the HBO series, Ellie asks Riley if there’s any kind of weird initiation, and Riley says there isn’t. While she could be obscuring the truth to spare Ellie the gruesome details, it’s unclear if the events in the show’s canon that led to Riley becoming a Firefly unfolded in the same way. In the world of the game, Riley is gone for six weeks before returning to bring Ellie on their Left Behind adventure; in the show, the gap of time is more like three weeks.
Should You Read The Last Of Us: American Dreams?
So, is it worth reading The Last of Us: American Dreams? While it isn’t essential to read the four-part comic series, it does fill in some of Ellie and Riley’s backstory and helps to build out the world, particularly with regard to FEDRA, the Fireflies, and life in the Boston QZ. For fans of the series, there are some great small details that carry through into the games and show, making it a compelling read for a Naughty Dog fan or The Last of Us completionist.
The Last of Us airs on HBO, and streams on HBO Max, every Sunday at 9 PM EST through March 12, 2023.