The Last of Us, Episode 5 Review – Endure and Survive
The experience of watching The Last Of Us thus far has been a bit frustrating. Some episodes have challenged my expectations in wonderful ways, while others have fallen below the designation of prestige television that has been attached to the HBO Max series. The 5th episode continues the trend of pulling me back from the brink of boredom, by delivering an exciting, complicated story with unexpected twists.
My criticisms of the 4th episode were many, but reflecting back after submitting my review, I realized one more element missing from that production. The infected were completely absent from the story. While I have previously admitted to not being put on edge in any way by the fast zombie nature of the fungal antagonists, their absence was certainly felt when the only danger being presented were a few people with guns asking, “Where’s Henry?” Luckily, that’s a question which is answered in great detail during episode 5.
When last we left Ellie and Joel, they had been awoken and held at gunpoint by two young men, who didn’t utter a word and instead demanded silence. Picking up where we left off, the intruders ultimately reveal that their intentions did not involve harming our protagonists, as an uneasy truce is declared. When Henry (Lamar Johnson) introduces himself as the most wanted man in Kansas City, we realize that he is the same Henry who has inspired the violence being organized by the determined female leader of the reigning rebel faction.
For some reason, I had assumed that Henry was merely a paranoid fantasy of Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), just some outside force she was blaming for the problems within her group. So learning the Henry was actually a clever young man with a deaf younger brother in tow, was a real surprise. Johnson’s portrayal of Henry as a loving sibling with a cocky streak is an interesting flavor to add to the mix as he convinces Joel to let him lead the group out of town through a series of underground tunnels to freedom. Of course Joel questions him at every turn, but with no other resources to turn to for survival, he relents.
Once again, Bella Ramsey has the most compelling story, as she forges a strong bond with the younger brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard) through their mutual love of comic books. As a longtime comic reader and collector, I can certainly relate to their enthusiasm. When Sam is given encouragement by Henry in flashback to decorate their safe house with superhero drawings and ultimately gains added courage from a painted on mask, it shows the understanding that Henry has of his brother’s psyche, a tactic that certainly would have worked on me at that age.
Since Sam communicates mostly through sign language to his older brother and a plastic writing pad toy with Ellie, it’s amazing how well the young Woodard manages to convey the emotion of each scene with facial expressions and body language. Despite his disability, Sam is far from helpless, living by the comic book motto of “Endure and Survive”, which also happens to be the title of this episode of The Last of Us.
While these new relationships are growing in secret, Kathleen is continuing to gather up people who turned on their neighbors in order to get special treatment from FEDRA, threatening violence if they do not reveal the location of Henry. With the revelation that Henry’s crime was turning the previous rebel leader over to FEDRA, a man who also happened to be Kathleen’s brother, I rolled my eyes a bit at the seemingly cliché revenge story. But it turns out that the writers gave Kathleen a much more layered characterization.
During a heart to heart with her armed second in command, Perry (Jeffery Pierce), a key piece of Kathleen’s motivation is revealed. Prior to his execution, her brother actually asked Kathleen to forgive Henry for making a difficult choice that allowed him to get medicine for Sam, even though tat betrayal was leading to his own death. The grieving Kathleen admits that it is her own character flaw which prevents her from letting bygones be bygones. Using all of her manpower to hunt down Henry is a selfish act that is not in any way motivated by the welfare of the people she is leading. It cements Kathleen’s role as a villain, just a couple degrees away from sympathetic and as a result, a more interesting antagonist.
Of course the parallel of the Henry and Kathleen stories cannot be overlooked, as both are motivated by the love for a sibling. In some behind the scenes material for the series, the show runners admit that a central theme of the show is people making difficult decisions in difficult times. The juxtaposition of Kathleen feeling no remorse over the people she’s hurt in the pursuit of justice and Henry telling Joel that he struggles with feeling like a bad guy for taking advantage of a situation to preserve the life of his own brother, serves to create some food for thought that will surely spark discussion between viewers.
Despite the emotional drama that takes up most of this episode of The Last of Us, the climax is full of well staged and thrilling action. When Henry surrenders himself after being cornered by Kathleen and her rebel forces, it feels like Tess’ rote self-sacrifice scene all over again. So imagine my delight when a horde of infected break through the asphalt of the street and go on a rampage. The deus ex machina mayhem of the infected feasting on rebel soldiers is not in and of itself that entertaining, but the unique set piece that allows Ellie to rescue Henry and Sam from certain doom during amidst the chaos is fantastic.
Showing that their time together has created a shorthand of sorts, Ellie communicates with Joel using only a look as he picks off infected attackers with a rifle, clearing a path for Ellie to rescue the brothers as they hide under a car. The tension of this action sequence is masterfully crafted, especially when you consider the amount of live extras, fire and CGI monsters that take up the frame. The fact that our eye is still drawn to Ellie making her way through the frenzy deserves to be applauded.
Further tension is created as Kathleen prevents the group from fleeing the scene with her firearm aimed squarely at Henry, all the while monologuing about why he deserves execution at her hands. I kept expecting Joel to make a choice to kill Kathleen, perhaps creating a new set of enemies, but the ultimate resolution that allows for the escape of Joel and company is both abrupt and satisfying in a much different way.
I’ll admit to being happy that Henry and Sam will continue on for at least one more episode, as Joel offers to let them join the trek the Wyoming. These on-screen brothers feel like a strong addition to the cast that will create the need for more hard choices to be made in future episodes. Speaking of which, the cliffhanger that leaves us wondering just how effective Ellie’s “medicine blood” will be in stopping the spread of infection, an experiment conducted in secret, definitely builds anticipation for the stories to come as The Last Of Us continues to roll out more new twists.
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