The Last of Us – Episode 5 review
The Last of US, episode five aired early on Friday because of the Super Bowl, which was a really nice gift. And it’s especially nice because despite how much I’ve loved this show so far, this is easily my favorite episode.
Jeremy Webb helmed this episode just like The Last US, making him the first director so far this season to direct more than one episode.
At the start of this episode, we’re with Sam and Henry a few days prior to where we first see them at the end of episode four. And we get to see their perspective of some of the events that we saw in episode four. But at the same time, we’re learning about their dynamic. We understand how they work together.
We see a little bit of how Sam and Henry survived in that attic space. They were running out of food. And the person who was helping them is the same person who was killed in episode four. And he doesn’t come back. And we know why. And when Henry observes Joel fighting off those hunters, he sees someone who could potentially lead them out of the city safely, and that’s when he decides to confront him.
And now we’re back to where we were at the end of episode four. We understand how Sam and Henry got to this place. We know a little bit more about them. And Joel is, of course, initially very hesitant, and Ellie finds it hilarious. And by this point, she’s already telling jokes. She’s like, he’s going to get over it.
It’s fine. This is how he always is. He’s going to be really, really blunt about stuff, and he’s going to be quiet, and he’s going to be mean, but eventually he’ll get over it. Continuing that adorable dynamic that’s developing between the two of them, that’s so fun. These actors chemistry is off the charts.
But once Henry is able to finally explain to Joel that there is a way out of this city through these underground tunnels, and he’s pretty sure there are no infected there, and Henry is like, look, I’ve never been violent towards anyone. I can’t do this. You can. I saw you in action, and I know how this city works.
And so as a team, they’re able to go underground to try to escape Kathleen and all the people that she’s commanding. Here we get one of the series best scenes so far, a really sobering conversation between Joel and Henry, where Henry admits that he actually has done something very wrong in the past.
And he explains that to save his brother Sam, he gave up Kathleen’s brother, which got him killed. And he doesn’t feel like he’s a good man because of that. And he looks right at Joel, and he’s able to tell that even though Ellie isn’t his child, that Joel was a father at one point, just by his demeanor and the way he acts around Ellie, that he’s protective in a sort of silent way.
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It’s very obvious that he’s been a parent before. This is one of the best written and acted scenes in the show thus far. Pedro Pascal especially, hardly saying anything and being amazing, as was Lamar Johnson as Henry. What’s also so good in this episode is the relationship between Ellie and Sam getting
to see her interacting with another young person and acting like a kid and reading a comic book that they find in sort of like an underground school or daycare. But this episode just keeps getting better and better because once they get out of the tunnels, they are attacked by a sniper, some guy in a house.
No one knows who he is, but he has really shit aim. So Joel decides to go around the block all the way up to that house to find this guy. He tries to convince the dude, please do not do this. But of course he does. And Joel kills him. And we soon realize that this guy was actually a lookout for Kathleen and Oliver, people who are on their way.
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And a true set piece begins with these giant trucks mowing down cars, people shooting at Joel and Ellie and Sam and Henry, and Joel now with a sniper rifle up in the house, trying to protect Ellie. And just when you think Kathleen is finally going to get what she wants by confronting Henry, a hoard of infected pile out of underground, followed
by a Bloater. Episode one had an incredible sequence where the infection started to spread in the past, in 2003, and you saw all that go down with a plane crash. And this is the second truly great action set piece in this show.
This scene is phenomenal. It is so tense, with Joel picking off the infected left and right around Ellie with pitch perfect aim. It’s an incredible fucking scene. It was just awesome. But Joel, Ellie, Sam and Henry are able to escape while Kathleen is overrun by the infected. And in the following scene, we see everybody resting inside a motel. Joel and Henry agree, you know what? Let’s just do this together. Let’s go to Wyoming together. We can do this. Ellie and Sam are having fun. They’re talking about comics.
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And it really does feel like a moment of happiness for real. And I should have known better because Craig Mason is a great writer and The Last of US is great source material because Sam reveals that he was bitten and Ellie thinks, maybe if I give him some of my blood, he’ll be okay. It’s not that kind of show,
and it’s all the better for it, because what I thought was the best scene so far in The Last of US is followed by the most emotional gut punch that I’ve gotten in a while from any kind of media. Because the next morning, Sam wakes up infected and he attacks Ellie, and Henry is forced to kill his own brother and because he’s not able to deal with what just happened, he turns that gun on himself. I love this episode.
This is so intense and dark and character-driven and it’s everything that I want in a show like this. They have done things differently from the Game in so many good ways and they tribute things from The Game in all the right ways. And this is easily the best episode so far. The episode ends with them burying Sam and Henry. Ellie leaves a note that just says I’m sorry on Sam’s grave. Perfect. I mean, like a round of applause. This is great television. I really don’t have anything else to say but just absolute, utter praise for this episode.
