‘The Last of Us’ S1 E8
Ellie meets some new neighbors…
As Joel (Pedro Pascal) fights for his life, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) searches for the means to save him.
This is arguably the most harrowing episode of The Last of Us so far. There is so much tension from start to finish as this fourteen-year-old encounters increasingly dangerous situations. This episode tests her skills, her determination, and her will to survive.
What impresses me most about this episode is how it connects so many other moments from previous episodes. In conversations with David (Scott Shepherd), he shares that his life looks very different now than it did before. In fact, he has become a leader in this community, which he likely wasn’t before. For him, the apocalypse ended up being a good thing.
We’ve seen this in the previous episodes: Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) found each other and built a life together after this fungus first stopped the world. Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) stepped up and became a leader rather than a timid follower. Tommy (Gabriel Luna) reinvented himself in Jackson and created a life there. Even Joel’s life looks completely different as he seeks to right some of the wrongs from his earlier life.
The fungal outbreak completely upended the world, and yet some people took that opportunity to…
