The Last of Us
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She looks like a kid while she does it, too.
By the episodes end, that gun-toting fantasy will have given way to the reality of actual bloodshed.
This, however, is different.
While they stop, Joel reminisces about how in the pre-Infected times, people could go anywhere.
When Ellie asks where he went, Joel replies, Pretty much nowhere.
Pretty much nowhere also aptly describes their surroundings.
They have the whole of the Midwests highway system to themselves and plenty of time on their hands.
But its easy to see hes softening toward his passenger.
Hes also loosening up in other ways, at least up to a point.
Once a dad, always a dad.
(He neednt have bothered.
Ellie tosses it out the window after getting a glimpse of what the fuss is all about.)
(Thats two episodes in a row with Arbys references.
Does that make it the official fast food of the Cordyceps apocalypse?)
Their trip, even being in a car, is a journey previously beyond Ellies imagination.
But that doesnt mean it cant be dull.
But just because theres no one in sight doesnt mean theres no one around.
Theyre not that smart they are, after all, walking fungi and its too remote for them anyway.
But it sounds more like an attempt at reassurance than a statement of fact.
The Cordyceps merely let it loose.
Joel is not innocent of it himself.
Initially, Joel joined along with him, meeting Tess on the Texas-to-Massachusetts trek.
That whole crew, we, uh … For what it was, it worked, Joel says.
Theres a lot hes not saying.
He is, however, blunt in describing his motivations for staying with Ellie.
If Ellies hurt by being described as cargo, she doesnt show it.
Joel decides to head through town, a place filled with piles of bones.
But thats not the only ominous detail.
Like Boston, it has a Quarantine Zone.
Unlike Boston, FEDRA is nowhere to be seen.
Shes safe from harm while Joel takes out the attackers.
What follows is one of the most disturbing scenes in the show to date.
Were not fighting anymore, he tells her, then asks if they can take him to his mom.
Hes older than Ellie but, at this moment at least, no less a kid.
When Joel kills him after sending Ellie away, Brian ends his life calling out for his mother.
So who is Brian fighting for, and whats going on in Kansas City?
Kathleens leadership focuses on a single policy: Kill all the collaborators.
Specifically someone named Henry, whom Kathleen views as an especially egregious traitor to the cause.
However, she and her team have a couple of distractions to their pursuit.
First, they must find the newcomers who killed Brian, who might be mercenaries.
(The Kansas City habit of shooting first and asking questions later has its downsides.)
Then theres the rumbling and cracked floors triggered by the Infected who appear to be literally undermining the city.
This seems like it might be a mistake.
Joel regrets that Ellie was forced into a position where she had to shoot someone to defend him.
Asked if hes ever killed innocent people, Joel has no answer.
Ellie, in turn, admits shes hurt others but provides no further details, either then or later.
Then its time to climb.
(you could trace his changing attitude toward his cargo via his response to her horrible jokes.)
And all seems well until Ellie awakens to an unnerving image.
The episode ends as it began, with a kid hovering over Ellie with a gun.
Did you notice that this weeks episode contains no Infected?
(Well, none we see but a few we hear.)
They were sidelined for long stretches of Long, Long Time, too.
Theres precedent for this, which can also be said ofThe Walking Dead, but its still notable.
Hank Williams never recorded a finished studio version of Alone and Forsaken.
It is one of the most despairing songs in Williamss catalogue, which says something.
Here it serves as a semi-ironic counterpoint.
Together, Joel and Ellie are neither alone nor forsaken.
But how long can they keep that going?
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