The Last of Us just aired its fifth episode and if you aren’t already watching it, all I have to say is, what are you waiting for? A sign from the heavens? Honestly now is the perfect time to join in and follow the adventures (I don’t know if we should call them adventures exactly) of Joel and Ellie (Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) as they are making their way to Wyoming. A lot has happened since we last talked at the end of the first episode and I’m here to catch you up on everything that’s been going on.
Episode Two – “Infected”
The second episode found our main players, Tess (Anna Torv) included, outside the city and ready to make their way to the camp of the Fireflies that is west of Boston. It took some fighting and some real world video game teamwork to make it to the camp, but make it they did only to discover that everyone was dead. They had been overrun. When the infected are alerted to their location, Tess makes the ultimate sacrifice, telling Joel, “save who you can save.” It was just another moment of loss for Joel that really cemented his job going forward. To protect Ellie, no matter what the cost might be. She is the key after all.
This episode was important for a number of reasons, for one it made the goal of getting her to someone who might be able to figure out a cure even more clear. Joel wasn’t in that camp at first and Tess’s sacrifice, whether he believes or not, forced him forward with a clear mission. The second thing this episode did was reinforce to us all that no one is safe. I was just starting to warm up to Tess when she was taken from us. That kiss with the infected though was something that gave me nightmares.
Episode Three – “Long, Long Time”
What can I say about episode three that hasn’t already been said? It was for a lot of people (myself included) one of the best and most beautiful episodes of television in a very long time. Bill and Frank’s (Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) love story had me in tears. It really showed that even with the world at an end, true love is still a powerful thing. This episode didn’t do a lot to move the story forward but it was a nice break after the relentless first two. What it did do was fill in a lot of gaps, move us to our cores, and give Joel and Ellie the truck they so desperately needed. Most of this episode was devoted to Bill and Frank; how they met, fell in love, and lived together for nearly twenty years before Frank fell ill with cancer.
Taking a sidestep to spend an hour with those two was perfectly okay by me and honestly, I could watch an entire movie based on their relationship alone. My two cents on the performances in this episode is that both Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett should be nominated for as many awards as possible. I could really spend the rest of this article singing the praises of this episode but I have two more to talk about. Basically, when you get to this episode, make sure you have tissues, you will be touched.
Episode Four – “Please Hold My Hand”
Episode four started a little slow, lulling us into a false sense of security. Joel and Ellie were back on the road, making their way to Wyoming by way of Kansas City. Ellie found a book of puns and was doing her best to drive Joel insane with them. They never say this but as a father, I know that he secretly loved it. When they get to the city there is an ambush by a group of Kathleen’s (played by Melanie Lynskey) men. They don’t like new people in their city. After a gunfight breaks out, Joel and Ellie go into hiding near the top of an old apartment building. They’re being hunted by the group of rebels who have freed the city from Fedra.
This episode did a lot to build the relationship between Joel and Ellie. Ellie is forced at one point to use her gun and shoot a man choking the life out of Joel. He feels bad that she had to do that and it opens better communication between the two. Joel now trusts her with a gun and shows her proper handling technique, they even have a bit of a heart-to-heart. At the end of the episode, we see the first real glimpse of joy from Joel since the first episode when Ellie finally tells the pun that breaks the camels back and they go to sleep laughing.
Episode Five – “Endure and Survive”
I was glad we didn’t have to wait a full week for this episode, episode four’s ending gave us this season’s first true cliffhanger. Joel and Ellie are woken up with guns pointing at them. Episode five began ten days prior to that fateful night and we get to learn what brought those two young men, Henry and Sam (Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Woodard), into Joel and Ellie’s lives. Sam is Henry’s younger brother who he is taking care of, and Henry is wanted for the murder of Kathleen’s brother. Henry saw what Joel and Ellie did and thought they were their best chance of getting out of the city alive.
Taking underground maintenance tunnels the group escapes only to be temporarily held down by a sniper. Joel fixes that problem just as Kathleen and her people show up, unleashing by accident hundreds of infected that had been trapped underground. It’s a bloody good time. Just when we think it can’t get any bigger we see our first example of a Bloater, basically, an infected that has been that way so long they just continued to grow. It was terrifying. Joel and Ellie, Henry and Sam get away only to break our hearts once again in the episode’s final minutes. It’s another tough one.
Conclusion:
I’m all in. I said that after the first episode and nothing has changed in the four episodes since then. This show is one of the most beautifully shot things I’ve seen on television or even at the movies. The lighting, the sound design, everything about it screams perfection. The writing is never boring and always has something to say. The acting, I can’t remember the last time I watched a show where every single actor held their own and made it special, this is one of those times. There’s no reason not to start watching this show immediately, take two episodes and call me in the morning.
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