How I think each episode in season 2 will be structured

Episode 1* 

-Cold open: Abby grieves at her father’s grave, where she vows to get revenge on the man responsible. Though her general motivation is revealed, the remaining details surrounding the incident are withheld. 

-The episode itself opens with Joel telling Tommy about what happened at Saint Mary’s and returning to Jackson with Ellie’s new guitar, which he plays for her. The rest of the first half of the episode is a chronological retelling of Ellie’s flashbacks, with Joel’s therapy session with Gail acting as the ‘framing device’ for all the flashbacks. The session ends with Joel refusing to tell Gail what happened at the hospital and doubling down on his belief that he “saved” Ellie from the Fireflies. He storms out and later that night is the Winter Dance, which is exactly like the game. We’d see Joel go home after and play Ellie’s guitar on his porch, but the scene would end before we see his and Ellie’s conversation.

-I’d imagine we’ll likely get some expansions on Abby and her crew, specifically their journey to Jackson. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some of Abby’s flashbacks worked into this episode as well. The episode could end on a cliffhanger of the group arriving at the Baldwin mansion.

Episode 2

-Cold open: Abby’s recurring hallway nightmare, as seen in the trailer, wakes her up early in the morning. This is where Owen and her would hike through the mountains to overlook Jackson, and Abby would decide to go alone to intercept a patrol group to interrogate.

-The rest of the episode from this point forward would be roughly the same as the Jackson chapter from the game in terms of general story, but with some changes to where characters are placed. Dina and Joel are on patrol together (and therefore, Dina is at the mansion when Joel dies), Jesse and Ellie are on patrol together, and Tommy stays back at Jackson to help fight the massive horde attacking the city. Tommy and the rest of the Jackson guard are forced to use explosives to deter the horde as they breach the city walls, resulting in devastating consequences for Jackson and its residents. Maria would go to retrieve the patrol groups and Ellie finds Joel in the basement of the mansion just like the game. 

Episode 3

-This episode is entirely in Jackson and likely focused on the aftermath of Joel’s death and the horde attack: how the Jackson community reacts, and how each of the main cast are dealing with the traumatic events of that day. The episode would start mere moments after Joel’s death, with Ellie and the rest returning to Jackson and being rushed to a hospital for her wounds. Ellie will likely undergo therapy with Gail, but she is resistant to her methods of grieving and coping. Instead she is fixated on revenge and delivering justice to Joel’s killers, relentlessly training with Jesse who also feels responsible. We also learn that Dina feels as strongly as Ellie, as she was there with Joel when he was murdered and feels a responsibility to both Joel and Ellie to bring justice to Abby. Tommy is also racked with guilt, as he felt he should’ve been there with his brother in his final moments. A funeral scene is also very likely.

-Tommy eventually speaks with Ellie, and tells her that he can try to convince Maria to spare a group of men to go with them to Seattle, but ultimately ends up leaving in the middle of the night. (This sequence could be a reversal of roles from the Santa Barbara sequence: Ellie triggers Tommy’s guilt causing him to leave his family to pursue revenge). Ellie then retrieves Joel’s revolver and is given the go-ahead by Maria to leave for Seattle on the condition she brings Tommy back. 

Episode 4

-This would likely be the "feature-length" episode that’s been hinted at. This episode would detail Ellie and Dina’s first day in Seattle, showing them maneuvering through an abandoned Capitol Hill and discovering a music store, where Ellie plays guitar for Dina (this is where I believe their weed den scene will be moved to). They eventually discover the Seravena hotel, where they find Tommy has already massacred the WLF forces posted there including Nick, a member of Abby’s crew. As they leave, they are ambushed by the WLF and Ellie is knocked out in the chaos. 

-At this point, the episode would shift to Isaac’s backstory. Akin to “Long, Long Time”, this episode would show a condensed history of Isaac’s journey from a disillusioned FEDRA officer to the head of the WLF. This will also likely detail how the Seraphite/WLF war came about, and show Isaac’s brutality as a leader. Though probably not as long as the Bill and Frank flashback, it will likely take up a good third or so of the episode.

-Back to the present, the rest of the episode is just (a greatly condensed) Seattle Day 1—Ellie and Dina escape the elementary school after killing Jordan and head to the TV station to find Leah. Upon their arrival, they find the entire outpost (including Leah) has been slaughtered by the Scars and the two escape into the subway system after reinforcements arrive. Either Dina and Ellie or the WLF accidentally step on a patch of cordyceps and awaken a hive of infected (hopefully including a shambler!). As Dina and Ellie escape, Ellie gets bitten again and when they find shelter in the theater, Ellie explains her immunity to Dina, who then reveals that she’s pregnant.

Episode 5

-This episode will either be the shortest of the season, or have the most changes from the source material. Ellie and Dina (using a walkie-talkie stolen from the Wolves) overhear chatter of a trespasser being spotted in the Hillcrest neighborhood and head to find him, believing that it is Tommy. On their journey, they stumble across the remnants of a battle between Scars and Wolves in Chinatown—a pile of dead Scars underneath a defaced mural. Dina’s pregnancy-related sickness also worsens as the episode progresses. 

-Though unlikely, this episode would be a good place for the perspective to switch to Tommy, showing us a glimpse of his rampage through Seattle and also a chance to learn of the character’s emotional state. Dina and Ellie arrive at Hillcrest and find that the trespasser was actually Jesse, who had followed the two to Seattle. They barely escape WLF forces in the neighborhood in a stolen vehicle and return to the theater.

Episode 6

-The remainder of the events of Seattle Day 2 (though I imagine they might make this Seattle Day 3, as Hillcrest seemingly happens at night) minus the stalkers in the office building. Ellie unknowingly travels deep through Scar territory to make her way to the hospital where Nora is reportedly stationed at. On her way, she witnesses the Scars’ ritualistic hanging of WLF soldiers and narrowly escapes them when she is found. She arrives at the hospital and finds Nora, who she gives pursuit to until they’re forced into the (hopefully) spore-infested lower levels of the hospital. Ellie tortures Nora for Abby’s location and returns to the theater.

-To add runtime to the episode and develop the characters more, it is a safe bet to assume that this episode will also likely focus a bit on Dina and Jesse as they’re at the theater together. Maybe Tommy as well, as between Day 1 and Day 3, it's completely unknown what he was up to in the game.

Episode 7

-The finale will likely just be all the events of the Seattle Day 3 chapter. With Dina’s condition worsening, Jesse and Ellie decide that the best course of action is to find Tommy and promptly return to Jackson. They start to head for the aquarium, but quickly learn from Dina via walkie-talkie that Tommy was reported at a Marina engaging with WLF forces. Jesse goes to the marina to find Tommy, and Ellie braves through a massive storm to get to the aquarium to find Abby. Upon her arrival, she finds that Abby is gone and Mel and Owen are the only two there. She botches her interrogation of them, leading to Owen and Mel’s murder. When Ellie realizes that Mel was pregnant, she has a panic attack that is only broken by Jesse and Tommy finding her and bringing her back to the theater. At the theater, Abby ambushes the group, holding Ellie at gunpoint after killing Jesse and incapacitating Tommy. Here, the episode would cut to Abby’s fully expanded backstory, and the season ends where Ellie’s journey began—with Abby delivering the killing blow to Joel. Every part of Abby's backstory would be explored without the context of Joel having killed her father, and this is where we would finally get that revelation.

\Episode 1's plot is entirely guess-work. With the shot of Abby overlooking Jackson being episode two and the first official stills to announce the production’s start being likely from episode one, I assume that Joel’s death is in 2x02 and 2x01 includes the winter dance, which alone isn’t enough to make for a particularly gripping pilot. This episode will either be all the flashbacks (including Abby’s) or be something else related to world-building in Jackson.*

Let me know what you guys think of this! Any other theories?