The Last of Us continues with a side turn into a dangerous city! Re:cap - “Infected”: In the course of Joel and Ellie’s travels, we shifted to the story of Bill and Frank, a bit of hope in the apocalypse. They have built a suburban, survivalist paradise apart from the Infected. Frank brings in Tess and Joel who warns Bill that his defenses against raiders will not be enough. A jump to “Three Years Later”, Frank is jogging ahead while Bill struggles to catch up. Frank covers Bill’s eyes and then reveals a small patch of strawberries which he traded seeds for one of Bill’s guns. They bite into strawberries, Bill giggles in joy, he admits that he was never afraid until Frank arrived, and they kiss. Night, rain pours down as raiders cross into Bill’s traps, modified flame throwers burst, which wakens Frank. An explosion gets him out of bed, he checks the window and hears screams, Frank takes out a gun calling for Bill. He is standing in the street firing at raiders that are being electrocuted by the fence and set on fire. It is dark, but Bill is shot in the inside!
Frank pulls him into the house, Bill tells him that he made a list for Frank, and repeats, “Call Joel”, as Frank tries to tend to him on a table. Bill gets quiet and we fade to black. Later, we hear Frank quietly calling for Bill, he is in a wheelchair in the front of the house. This is surprising since we saw Bill was wounded, but it is “Ten Years Later”, we see Frank’s paintings of himself and Bill. He attempts to paint, but is weak, Bill walks from the greenhouse. Bill winks at him and then begins to water a plant, it is interesting to see Bill turn from survivalist to just average guy. Frank is working on a surreal painting of Bill’s face. At a meal, Frank struggles to eat his soup, Bill reminds him to take his pills. Bill helps take out the pills from a packet. Bill carries Frank to bed, just a gentle gesture, and he finds Frank in a chair who took the night to move there. Frank admits that it is his last day. In his wheelchair, Bill grasps for some kind of doctor, but Frank tells him there was no cure. Frank says that he had more good days with Bill and wants one good day.
Frank explains how he wants his one good day to go. Bill, crying, says he can’t go through it. Frank tells him to love him like he wants. Leaves rustle as Bill wheels Frank to the boutique. At the piano, dressed up, Bill gives Frank his ring, and Frank does the same. Bill has made the rabbit dinner from their first meeting, he pours their last cups of wine together, and mixes the bag of pills. Frank drinks and realizes that Bill has put the pills in the bottle. Bill says he is satisfied. Frank says he should be furious, but says it is romantic. They chuckle and then Bill wheels Frank to bed. Honestly, viewers were very emotional at these scenes, but I was in the moments of their characters, living and dying on their own terms. We pick up with Joel and Ellie at the fence while Joel inputs the code to open the gate. It is deserted, they enter the house, Ellie finds a note from Bill addressed to “Whomewever, but Mostly Joel.” She reads “August 29, 2023”, not to enter the room, so they left open the window.
The letter notes that it is probably Joel since others would die from his traps and adds, “Hehehehehehehehe”, I love Bill’s dry sense of humor. Ellie looks up to see Joel’s reaction and then continues that Bill never liked Joel, but respects him. Bill admits he hated the world until there was one person worth saving. “That’s why men like you and me are here”, powerful words, he leaves his weapons and equipment, Ellie pauses here. We see the letter reads, “to keep Tess safe.” Joel takes the letter and crumples it in the yard. He checks on a truck in the garage and then asks to see Ellie’s arm before telling Ellie about his brother which he can know about the Fireflies base. He gives her rules which she agrees to follow and goes to Bill’s workroom. Joel doesn’t want her to take any of Bill’s guns. Ellie finds a gun in Bill’s desk and puts it in her backpack. They get into the truck, Ellie is impressed, Ellie finds a cassette and it plays Linda Rondstadt’s “Long Long Time” as they drive away. We pull back from the curtains of Bill and Frank’s room as we see the truck leave.
This ep, Ellie is facing a mirror, Taxi Driver-style, and then goes “pew pew.” It’s play for her, not the seriousness needed to use the gun effectively which is what Joel feared for Ellie. She unloads the clip and then the gun to eject the bullet, contemplates it, and then pulls the trigger in her pretend game. This is a restroom, Ellie hears a noise, and then returns the gun to her pack. This is a remote gas station, she walks over to Joel siphoning gasoline from one of the moss-covered cars. He doesn’t want Ellie to wander so she takes out a joke book. They drive away in the truck, lines of rusting, abandoned vehicles are all turned to the side of the road. Ellie takes out a Hank Williams cassette for Joel to play. It’s “Alone and Forsaken.” Next, she takes out an adult magazine, again jokes around, and tosses it out of the truck. A number of cattle graze at the side, nature returning to normal, and they pass an abandoned roller coaster. They cross a bridge, boats capsized, then abandoned military vehicles, Ellie looks at them quietly.
Joel turns off the road, across a field, and drives into a forest. Later, he cooks a meal that Ellie hungrily eats, Joel tells her that it is 20 year old Chef Boyardee ravioli. Ellie remarks, “That guy was good”, very funny. He plans on sleeping and then driving day and night to get to Wyoming in the next morning. She wants to start a fire, Ellie realizes that the smoke won’t bring Infected, but dangerous people. They start to ready for sleep, Ellie notes that the sleeping bag smells good, Joel notes that it is Frank’s. Such a fun nod to last episode. She is restless until Joel reassures her that they won’t be found. Ellie sleeps and Joel later stands watch. In the morning, Ellie is wakened by Joel putting supplies back in the truck, and she is offended by the smell of brewing coffee. On the road, Ellie is checking the map looking for Cody, Joel notes that Tommy could be at a settlement. Great to see a map since there is obviously no GPS trackers. She is persistent about hearing what happened with Tommy. Joel says that Tommy wanted to be a hero, went to Operation Desert Storm, after the outbreak, Tommy had Joel go with him to Boston.
They had met Tess, Marlene brought Tommy into the Fireflies, so this brings us up to speed with Joel going to find his younger brother. Ellie brings up why he continues without hope. Joel tells her that it is family. He considers Ellie cargo, insulting, but he made the promise to Tess. Ellie falls asleep and then finds that they have reached a freeway filled with empty cars. The bridge underpass is blocked by truck trailer and Joel decides to detour around it. He tells Ellie that they are at Kansas City and he drives to pick up the road. They reach the city streets, covered by leaves, and pass a charred pile of Infected. Ellie tells him to stop since she sees a QZ, but there is no FEDRA! A man calls out for help, Joel drives around him, someone drops a box from a balcony smashing the windshield! Joel drives the truck through a modified spike strip, a rifleman shoots at them, and then Joel crashes through a store! They slip out of the truck as the others open fire on them. Joel has Ellie crawl and slip into a hole in a wall while he covers her with a rifle. Joel shoots one of them and then takes cover. One of the gunmen enters the store, Ellie is hiding, and then he is shot by Joel.
Another burst through the rear door and a man (Juan Magana) has the rifle pinned to Joel’s neck. Ellie takes out her switch knife and then looks for her gun. She walks up and then shoots the man! Joel gasps for air, the man pleads for his life, and says he is Bryan. Joel takes the gun, Bryan tosses over a knife, and has Ellie go back into the wall. Joel takes care of Bryan and then has Ellie move a blocked door. They slip out of the store and hear more vehicles arrive. One of the men calls for Bryan and sees the bodies. Joel finds the door across from the store is open and they slip into that building. At a FEDRA facility, an elderly man, Edelstein (John Getz) is interrogated by Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), in a light blue jacket read off names. Getz starred in Doom Patrol as Paul Trainor. Lynskey plays Shauna in Yellowjackets. Kathleen is looking for Henry. She brings up that this may be the room where her brother was beaten to death. Looks like insurgents overthrew FEDRA. Edelstein had turned in people to FEDRA. The doctor says they had a gun to his head so Kathleen takes out her gun. Edelstein says he delivered her. A truck horn takes Kathleen’s attention and she goes through a crowd to see the bodies including Bryan. This faction has piecemeal armor from the FEDRA soldiers.
A bearded man familiar with the military, Perry (Jeffrey Pierce), says it was outsiders, possibly mercs. Pierce voiced Tommy in the Last of Us games. She asks if they would live with a doctor’s help, but another man says no. Kathleen walks to the cell and shoots the doctor. She is the ruthless leader of this revolution. Then, she returns and says the killer should be found. This is insurgents who hunt down opponents with outlaw tactics worse than FEDRA. They are caught in a war between two rivals. At the boarded up Hi Lo bar, Joel and Ellie are hiding, they hope to move to a tall building when it is safe. Joel says that Ellie shouldn’t have to have shot Bryan and apologizes. Ellie admits this wasn’t the first time. Joel goes over to show Ellie how to use the gun, she learned in FEDRA school, and hands her the gun to put in her pack. This is a danger for Ellie, not to turn into a child soldier, to keep herself intact until safe. It is difficult to have any kind of sympathy with the revolutionaries if they are in the shoot first mode. Joel had always worried about people, not FEDRA or mercs, just that people could be dangerous. There are other dangers than just different factions! This ep is an expansion from the video game. Another intense story exploring the grey area of this post-apocalypse world, but the bar was set so high by the last episode, this one is just slightly beneath it!
Four Fungi out of Five!
#TheLastOfUs, #PleaseHoldToMyHand, #PedroPascal, #BellaRamsey, #MelanieLynskey, #JeffreyPierce, #JuanMagana, #JohnGetz
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