The Firefly hospital approach — Joel and Ellie in the final stretch, the destination that has organized the entire journey finally visible. The hardest part is what comes after the killing, the accounting that the survivor has to carry for the rest of their life. Joel has been doing this accounting for twenty years without arriving at a settled result. The bus depot session is the last moment before the game asks him to add the most significant entry to the ledger.

Living with the reasons is the game's subject. Not the morality of the act but the ongoing relationship with having committed it, the way it reshapes everything that comes after.