Saturday, February 11, 2023

The Last of Us, “Endure and Survive”, Review!

Last episode set up the situation that is fulfilled in this ep of The Last of Us with new characters, like Bill and Frank! They give us perspective on our leads, a sense of normalcy, and a dramatic conclusion! Re:cap - “Please Hold to My Hand”, Joel and Ellie are trapped in Kansas City caught between revolutionaries led by Kathleen and other forces! Joel had killed some of her men and she is seeing others to hunt him down. Joel and Ellie are hiding in an abandoned bar. He apologizes to her for having to shoot Bryan who was attacking Joel. Ellie wipes away tears and says it wasn’t her first time!, at FEDRA school?, escaping it? Joel properly show Ellie how to use the gun she took from Bill’s house. They head towards a tall building that they saw from the bar. Perry shows Kathleen an attic where she sees children’s drawngs of superheroes and empty cans. She is looking for Henry and Sam. Perry shows her to a storage room, where the floor is almost broken, Infected? At night, Ellie breaks into the building with Joel. They climb up  stairs to the thirty-third floor and Joel breaks into a room and scatters glass as warning for intruders. 


Ellie brings up Joel’s weak hearing on his right side. She tells a diarrhea joke and Joel laughs. The first time that they share something in common. Later, Ellie shouts to wake Joel with her hands up. A kid has a gun pointed at Joel! “Endure and Survive” begins with a flare shot into the night with chants of “Freedom!” They have overthrown FEDRA and killing the remaining soldiers. A truck has a man announcing to collaborators to turn themselves in as a body filled with spikes is dragged in the street. A man, Henry (Lamar Johnson) is signing to his brother, Sam (Keivonn Woodard) that they have three more blocks. He was the young boy we saw holding the gun to Joel at the end of last episode. Kathleen sets a chair down to talk with a group of collaborators as Perry stands next to her. She says she was afraid of them, asks them if they felt better betraying people, and asks about Henry. One collaborator says that Edelstein had a place for Henry and Sam in the open city. 



She goes to a room of her revolutionaries and says Henry is in the city. Kathleen orders them to go door to door to find him, but Perry says they should not spread out troops with the surrounded city. Kathleen tells Perry to kill the collaborators and burn the bodies, he takes several of his soldiers to fulfill the order. Henry has opened the door to the building and signs to Sam that they walking up the stairs. He has his gun out and then faces Edelstein. The doctor was interrogated and killed by Kathleen last ep. Henry asks him if they are safe and Edelstein replies that he found the hiding place from a FEDRA officer, one of his patients, who is probably dead. He must be the officer who said Edelstein was in the city and killed as a collaborator. Edelstein says water and toilets are in the apartments below them. Henry says they can try to sneak out of the city through tunnels in 11 days. Edelstein points out that Sam’s fear is from his father. Henry looks at what Sam drew on an etch-a-sketch, a superhero with a mask, he signs “Super Sam”?, and that Edelstein said they were safe. 


He gives a bag of crayons to Sam. This is such a kind relationship, I have no idea why Kathleen sees him as a threat, he controlled Kansas City FEDRA? We get “10 Days Later” as we see crayon drawings of Super Sam destroying enemies with his powers. Henry pulls the cardboard from the windows to see the soldiers movement in the streets below them. Sam signs that he is hungry and wondering about Edelstein. Later, Henry wakens his brother and signs that Edelstein is not returning. It is apparent that this was the attic that Kathleen was searching. He signs that he has been watching their patterns and they can walk to find food. Henry has Sam close his eyes to paint orange on his face like the mask. He takes out his knife to show Sam his reflection, he smiles. They are about to leave when Henry is startled by shooting. He peeks out to see Joel shooting from the store. This is awesome to see a reverse perspective. 


At night, they walk up the stairs, Henry freezes when his boot crunches on some glass, he signs to Sam, “Noisy.” He gives Sam a gun. We pick up with Ellie trying to wake up Joel! This shift is so masterfully done. Henry has his gun to Ellie’s head and he tries to say they can help them. He stresses that they haven’t hurt them so they can lower their guns. Joel says that everything is good, but Henry doesn’t like his grim tone, Ellie adds that it just his usual voice. Henry says he is going to trust them and signs so to Sam. His brother starts to back away from Joel. Henry realizes that besides themselves they are wanted people. Later, they share some of Bill’s rations, Joel gives them a small bag, Ellie introduces herself. Then, she slaps Joel to do the same, he does so, but just wants to move on. Henry puts together that they are in the building to find a way out of the city and offers to show them one.  There is no FEDRA and Joel says the city’s FEDRA had a reputation which Henry confirms they have done so for twenty years. He brings up that causing so much pain that people will turn and do the same. I like this perspective on revolutionaries. 



Henry admits he is worse than FEDRA, he is a collaborator, Joel pulls back. He makes the deal to lead Joel and Ellie out and Joel whom he saw kill, will help them survive. They turn to see Ellie laugh with Sam at a conference table. It is suddenly normal and the way things should be. Joel agrees to the deal. Henry draws a map of the highways that surround the area watched over by Kathleen’s soldiers. He signs to Sam about how they can get across and he starts writing on his etch-a-sketch, “Tunnels.” Henry explains there are maintenance tunnels that they can take from a bank building and end up on the other side. Then, they have to get over a bridge to safety. Henry poses a question to them about the city and Ellie answers, “No Infected.” He continues saying that FEDRA forced them underground fifteen years ago, so now they are breaking out with the mound seen by Kathleen. They have to trade one hopeless danger for another, but Henry says Kathleen and her people fear the tunnels. He says that they are clean from a FEDRA officer three years ago. Henry is impressed that they encountered two Clickers. I love this great escape, but it will be nasty all the way!  


They walk through the bank doors and Henry leads everyone to stairs down. Joel scans the tunnel and Henry remarks that it is clean. His confidence is checked by Joel who is still suspicious. They reach a dead end that is filled with a castle, a rainbow, and flowers drawn by kids. Sam is excited to go to a door, but Joel holds him back. It is a recreation room for kids, Joel says he heard they were built after Outbreak Day, at a table Sam finds a comic book that excites Ellie. These moments even if things go bad just make this show perfect. They share which issues they have and Ellie faces Sam so he can see her says the comic book’s slogan as Sam signs, “To the edge of the universe and back. Endure and survive.” Ellie repeats the last part in sign language and they give each other high fives. Can I please have the replica of the comic book? Ellie wants to stay there and Henry convinces Joel that they will be in shadow when they reach safety. As Ellie and Sam play, Joel says he was quick to judge him if he acted for his brother, Henry admits the reason behind his betrayal, and he feels there is no justification for his action. They find an escape, but what is set up in the two episodes is brought together, we get a truly dramatic and unexpected end in this ep of The Last of Us


Five Point Five Fungi out of Five! 


#TheLastOfUs, #PedroPascal, #BellaRamsey, #LamarJohnson, #KeivonnWoodard, #JohnGetz, #MelanieLynskey, #JeffreyPierce  

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