Man, oh man, this was the episode of The Last of Us I was waiting the most for… and it fucking delivered.
Remember, there will be some spoilers in this review, so please read with caution.
This was by far the darkest episode of the season, but I loved every second of it. For my nerdy moment, this is one of the biggest scenes of the whole game and it was done perfectly.
We see Ellie get kidnapped by a new group of people who we later find out are actually a bunch of cannibals. The man who played David, Scott Shepard, killed it in this role. He acted his ass off to go from the nice pastor/leader figure to one of the darkest characters you will see.
The added scene of them having dinner when he slaps that little girl is particularly jarring. It draws the crowd in and alludes to how far he is willing to go to save the people he cares about.
Similar to David, Joel will clearly do whatever it takes to protect Ellie. Joel going from the brink of death to fighting through the pain to make sure Ellie is safe highlights the relationship and care he has for Ellie. We have been seeing it all season.
All of the scenes from when Ellie is kidnapped to the moment she meets up with Joel are almost beat-for-beat with the game. I loved seeing badass Joel come back and go all Taken on everyone to find Ellie.
More importantly, this was a huge episode for Ellie’s character. We already know how much she cares for Joel, but we see this in a whole new light when she is willing to sacrifice her life to make sure he is safe.
But, for a kid who has already seen her best friend become infected AND her father-figure almost die, nearly being eaten and having to brutally kill two people clearly takes an even bigger toll on her mental health.
The only bad part of this episode to me is that we only have one more left. I loved how this one touches on the moral question of how far are you willing to go to save the people you love. We see both sides of the coin here, and I think people are realizing how the human factor of this show is why it is so significant.
That being said, everyone needs to buckle up for the finale on Sunday.
Rating: 93/100 – Inferno
