When does The Last of Us Episode 7 take place?

When does The Last of Us Episode 7 take place? The new episode is mostly one big flashback with Ellie and Riley – but when exactly is it set?

In our review of Episode 7, we said the game’s “most poignant backstory gets the treatment it deserves; beautifully adapted, engagingly performed by Ramsey and Reid, and a reminder that love left behind is never love lost.”

After we saw Joel bleeding out onto the snow, Ellie has since dragged him to an abandoned house. She needs supplies to help him, so she ventures out on her own – at which point we flash back to her past.

Episode 7 is a direct adaptation of the original game’s Left Behind DLC, chronicling the events of her final day with her best friend Riley – but when does it take place?

Spoilers for The Last of Us to follow…

When is The Last of Us Episode 7 set?

The Last of Us Episode 7 is set three weeks before Ellie met Joel for the first time.

The episode occasionally switches back to the present day: it opens with Ellie trying to figure out how to help Joel, and it ends with her resting her hand on his chest after managing to sew up his wound. However, any scenes with Ellie in FEDRA school and the mall are set in the past.

When we’re first introduced to Ellie, we find out her bite mark is three weeks old, but she somehow hasn’t turned.

Episode 7 chronicles the events leading to her being bitten, when her best friend Riley took her to see the “four wonders of the mall” before heading to Atlanta to join the Fireflies.

Of course, she never made it. Despite fighting the infected off, both of them are bitten. Ellie may be immune, but she didn’t know that at the time, so they both decide to “lose their minds together” and carry on until they can’t.

The Last of Us Episode 8 will be available to stream on March 5 in the US and March 6 in the UK. Check out the rest of our coverage here and the trailer for the weeks ahead here.