Hey everyone welcome back to my review of another episode of The Last of Us.
The show which I’m liking, based on a video game I’ve never played on a system
that that I didn’t continue after the second generation. As per usual this
review will not feature any Easter eggs, because frankly I wouldn’t know what
one would be. If this intro sounds familiar, it’s because I like it and I’ll be
using it for reviews going forward. Hey before we get started, I just want to
point out that I acknowledge that I have been misspelling Ellie’s name this
whole time. I have no reason for doing so, but I just wanted to say I recognize
it and will hopefully not make that mistake again.
This episode starts off shortly after the events of the end of the last
episode. Joel and Ellie are by a creek resting about 10 miles outside of Boston
and it seems to be pretty peaceful and a good place to reflect for all parties.
Funny that I mention reflection as Ellie remarks to Joel she has been
reflecting on Tess, which is apparently become a bad word because Joel snaps at
her. Ellie’s not sorry that Tess got pulverized while making out with the
distant cousin of Swamp Thing. No, she reminds Joel that she never asked to be brought
along and that all this was for a battery for his agenda. Ellie is pretty much
a third wheel, but a useful one as she possibly has the cure running through
her veins.
They take off and approach a mini mart where Joel states he has stored some
supplies, so Ellie decides to go exploring. She finds the Holy Grail of treasures
in the form of a Mortal Kombat 2 arcade cabinet and also she finds some
sanitary napkins, but hey at least they know they can always come back and play
Mortal Kombat 2. Ellie finds a hole and jumps down, because reasons, and comes
across a trapped infected sitting there moaning and groaning. Ellie’s curious
so since she couldn’t play Mortal Kombat 2 she decides to play Surgeon
Simulator and cut the forehead to see what’s inside. Unhappy with her progress
she decided to reset her game by stabbing the infected through the head and
killing it.
The next part of the episode is really important, because it recaps all the
things that were happening that the audience was supposed to figure out
themselves. Ellie asks Joel how this all started and he goes through a theory
that has been passed around. Mutated mushrooms infected crops which got
harvested and used in food for a popular company. It was delivered to stores
one day and within a few days everyone who ate the infected food had turned. In
the matter of one 3 day weekend the world went to shit and even though there
were quarantined zones for people who were not infected to live in, a full capacity
location meant a death sentence for those who were looking for a place to call
home. This gets brought up because she find a mass grave that Joel knows about
and we follow a piece of cloth to a flashback where we see a baby wrapped in
it. The baby and mother are being driven away along with other members of the
community and we meet Bill who is hiding in his hidden basement monitoring all
of it on is closed circuit camera system. A quick pan around his basement gives
us all the information we need to know about Bill. He’s a doomsday prepper who
refers to himself as a survivalist with a massive stockade of guns and ammo. He
waits for all the military to leave the community and does what everyone always
says they would do, start raiding, stocking up and building traps. He goes full
GTA with his looting and pillaging and sets up cameras so he can have is own
Candid Camera show while he eats his meals. I assume the Televisions stations
have stopped broadcasting programming, which would really suck, especially if
you were invested in a show and the last episode you saw was a cliffhanger.
Bill is living comfortably when he gets alarmed that someone or something is
trapped in one of the holes he had dug. That someone is Frank, who left a
quarantine zone that is since gone. He convinces Bill to feed him and after a
shower, a meal and some tickling of the ivories he and Bill share a passionate
kiss. This blossoms into a full on relationship and Frank even makes contact
with a nice woman on the radio and invites her and her partner over. That nice
woman is Tess, and her partner is Joel. This establishes that they do know each
other and when Tess asked him to go find Bill and Frank to take Ellie to the
fireflies, this is who she meant. There are some events that happen and Bills
traps show useful against raiders who try to attack the community where he and
Frank call home. Bill gets shot and the next scene we see if them older with
Frank in a wheelchair. He is suffering from a disease where his body parts seem
to atrophy, so he is can’t walk. Frank see’s what kind of burden his situation
is putting on Bill and decides to end it and asks Bill for one good last day.
This is truly heartbreaking as not only does it show that love can flourish in
any situation, it shows that these two people met by happenstance and made it
work. They complimented each other enough that Bill let Frank stay and accepted
him for who he is and his personal thoughts on life pre-outbreak. At one point,
Frank states that Bill thought 9/11 was an inside job and that Nazi’s runs the
government. Their last evening culminates with the revelation that Bill is also
going to be ending his life, along with Frank. Frank finds it slightly
upsetting, but romantic. Bill crushes up a bag full of pills and puts it in
their wine and they both drink and retire to bed.
Cut to Ellie and Joel finding their way to Bill and Franks house and finding
a note that Bill had left Joel. Ellie decided to take advantage of the available
hot water and freshen up while Joel locates the battery they need. Ellie finds
a gun that she takes and Joel finds the truck that starts with the key that
Bill had left in his letter to them. He also remarks that he didn’t believe in
a whole lot, but after he met Frank things changed and he tasked himself to
protect Frank. This rings with Joel as he has found himself tasked to protect
Ellie at all costs. The episode end with Joel and Ellie driving away and a shot
from the open window where Bill and Frank lay dead, but you never see the
bodies. It is just peaceful and serene.
I’ve seen a lot of people mark this episode as perfect and for good reason.
I don’t know if I’d personally mark it as perfect, but it sure did give light
to a story that I’ve been told doesn’t get touched on too much in the game. The
events play out much differently in the show and not only did it touch on love,
but companionship. Even if Bill and Frank weren’t lovers, they still need
someone there. A community is not a single person and no matter what you say
the longing to talk to someone will being to get to you. You need that human
interaction and a reason to laugh, cry or get upset when a person does
something wrong. This mirrors Joel and Ellie, as they each act tough but they
need a companion.