Episode Recap
Episode 8 of The Last Of Us begins as we are introduced to a religious cult that meets in a frozen, abandoned city. In front of them, David tells the tearful girl that the ground is too hard to bury her late father, and that they must wait until Spring before doing so.
After the sermon, David talks to James, who doubts what they’re doing outside and worries about their limited resources. The last six months have been tough for everyone, but so far the couple is on the same page with what they’re doing.
Meanwhile, Ellie decides to go hunting with a rifle. He finds a deer and shoots it, but it escapes. The blood splatter leads to his corpse…and David and Jacob. Ellie finds the pair and holds them at gunpoint. He asks for medicine for Joel in exchange for half the deer.
David and Ellie are left alone while James heads off to get medicine. He points his gun at her as they make their way to the shelter. David slowly wears down Ellie’s defenses, revealing that she was never religious and that she was a teacher. Additionally, the little girl who cried earlier in the episode was a direct result of the four-person hunting party heading to a nearby town.
Only three returned, but one who happened to not be the father of that little girl. He was killed by a madman traveling with a little girl. Crazy man… it happens to be Joel.
Ellie’s shock gives way to instincts for a moment as James pulls back and overwhelms her. David orders James to pass on the medicine and offers his protection. Ellie refuses and she runs back to see Joel as quickly as possible.
David decides to bring Joel and Ellie to justice, and he informs the group of what they plan to do that evening. He doesn’t want Ellie killed.
When David, James, and a handful of other guards showed up to find the pair in their frozen city, Ellie caught herself in over her head. Ellie drives them away, protecting Joel in the garage. He doesn’t get far because Ellie falls off her horse and falls to the ground.
While the other men decide to go door to door, David beats up Ellie and leaves. When one of the men goes down to the basement, Joel is no longer asleep and corrupts the boy, strangling him. Now back to full health, Joel tortures the men to find the town where Ellie lives.
Ellie wakes up to find herself back in society, but trapped in a cage. As he tries to get out, he finds a severed ear and blood splattered on the floor. Here he realizes that David and the others are cannibals.
Ellie lulls him into a false sense of security and bites David too, breaking his finger. He breaks his nose for his trouble, but Ellie is eventually caught and taken out. He notes that he’s infected as soon as he lays down on the table, and the slight pause is enough for him to break free.
Elli takes the kitchen knife and hides under the bar when a fire breaks out in the kitchen. He bides his time and manages to stab David with his knife. But David throws her down, but Ellie grabs the knife and keeps stabbing her. When Joel arrives, she stumbles outside and walks away with him, offering a few words of encouragement.
Episode Review
For the most part, this episode is pretty faithful to the game, although the emotional beats aren’t as strong as they were there. For example, the combination of Joel and Ellie is very effective in the game, because it comes into the kitchen, and Joel came when Ellie plunged the knife into David, and pulled him aside because he was angry and couldn’t control his anger. At this time, Ellie’s defenses decrease.
A subtle change in the series is that Ellie shows more strength and less sensitivity than she can handle, and so it doesn’t work the same way. The difference is subtle, but it’s an example of how this scene is more dissonant by comparison.
Which is a real shame that half of this season has been completely devoid of infected. We got a cameo appearance from the Clickers, half a scene with the Bloater, and probably 3 different scenes involving the infected (excluding the first episode). It really takes the stress and hustle out of roaming the world, as it’s more like The Stand, where 98% of the world is destroyed and the only reason to fear is other people.
Despite these gripes though, the episode is still good, and it’s a nice touch to understand more about how the cult operates and all the people who live within. Next week’s finale should be a dramatic affair as this first season draws to a close.