‘The Last of Us’ Episode 5 Review: ‘Endure and Survive’ Is All About Violent Consequences
Last week’s second The Last of Us episode — pushed forward to avoid the Super Bowl craze — is probably the closest the series has been so far to the game, though the human drama on display is much deeper.
Casual viewers have probably figured out by now The Last of Us means business when it comes to making the audience feel sadness and anger, and after episode 4‘s more relaxed (it really wasn’t) pace, Endure and Survive doubles down on the series and the original game’s biggest strengths. It’s a complex hour of television that pretty much has it all and culminates with a gut punch that might shake even the biggest fans of Naughty Dog’s game.
Spoilers ahead…
First of all, I must say this may be Craig Mazin’s tightest script so far in the series. While episode 3 remains king with an off-beat exploration of unconditional love in the face of despair, Endure and Survive paints an almost perfect picture of the world and overall feel of the game created by Neill Druckmann and his Naughty Dog team; it lets each character breathe, feels sincere every step of the way, and creates tense action (and horror) sequences out of thin air.
Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen and Jeffrey Pierce’s (who played Tommy Miller in the game) Perry already occupied much of episode 4’s runtime, and here they were given more time to flesh out their personalities and explain to the viewers why they’re turning (what remains of) Kansas City upside down to find this seemingly problematic Henry guy.
Kathleen’s backstory — dropped all at once during a single scene — felt a bit heavy-handed in my opinion. We could already guess she had lost someone dear to her heart because of Henry’s actions, probably a partner or sibling. It turned out to be the latter, and that was more than enough to push forward with a “villain” who wasn’t going to be around for too long. But the script gives her an entire soapy monologue about a room where she felt safe when they were children; it goes on for a bit too long and doesn’t help her case at all. If she was the main antagonist of the season, this could all pay off with a strong character arc, but it’s information that doesn’t make her less of a straight-up evil, vengeful woman. Even the always battle-ready Perry doesn’t fully agree with her personal vendetta despite her brother being the former leader of their resistance movement.
Moving on to Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), the true stars of this episode, Mazin and Druckmann once again opted to start narrating in the recent past and later connect with the current events. As we were told in the previous episode, Henry has been quietly moving around for a while, and the only reason why he hasn’t left Kansas City yet is because the streets are infested with patrols and checkpoints. And of course, rations and supplies are running low.
We learn later on that Henry is a very conflicted individual because of all the snitching he’s done in the past to get meds from FEDRA to treat his little brother’s leukemia. Several deaths have been sitting heavy on his conscience, and the only reason he’s pushing onwards is to offer Sam — who’s also deaf (like Woodard in real life) — a future away from Kansas’ violence. The character work here and the relationship these brothers share is instantly relatable despite all the post-apocalyptic stuff happening in the background, so the script manages to hit the ground running with the characters despite their limited screentime. It’s not long before we reach the cliffhanger of episode 4, when Henry and Sam abruptly woke up Joel and Ellie at gunpoint.
After a surprisingly diplomatic confrontation (we know for a fact Joel isn’t the trustful type), the four characters realize they share a common goal and have better chances of escaping KC together than separate. Henry’s plan has been locked for a while, but he needed either some firepower or help from an experienced person — underground tunnels offer a straight route past the Resistance’s perimeter, but chances are they could find infected down there despite FEDRA’s seemingly successful “cleaning” of the city’s lower-levels.
What follows is a surprise for both fans of the game and blind viewers, as the trip through the tunnels goes without a hitch — not even a couple of strays show up. Furthermore, a pretty cozy abandoned refuge offers a respite to the troubled group. Sam’s favorite hobbies appear to be reading comics (any that he can find) and drawing, which immediately draws Ellie’s attention — just for once, she acts like a normal child, and we remember how young she really is. The brief relationship between her and Sam is truly heartwarming and much more memorable here than it was in the game.
This episode saved up all the action and horror for last. As the four survivors approach a neighborhood that might seem familiar to those who have played the game, a sniper at the end of a cul-de-sac starts taking shots at them. Veteran players know the world of The Last of Us is filled with bandits, thieves, and deranged killers, so this solo guy appears to be one of those at first. But KC won’t let Henry and Sam go that easily — the man (who Joel outmaneuvers and kills off) was a Resistance guard that was posted beyond their aforementioned perimeter.
It’s not long before Kathleen, Perry, and their small army show up in the neighborhood guns blazing at Henry and those with him. To make matters worse, Joel is pinned inside the house, so he can only help Ellie and the brothers by sniping down the new soldiers in town. And toping it all off, the ground starts shaking beneath their feet following the explosion of a vehicle, awakening all the infected that had apparently disappeared…
The ensuing madness may be the biggest action scene the show has had since that long shot in the first episode inside the car. It perfectly represents some of the games’ biggest moments, with both angry people and terrifying monstrosities looking to murder our protagonists while tearing each other apart. The series’ production value also shines here, with the World War Z-like mass of “zombies” and the huge bloater (as nightmare fuel here as they are in the games) showing some extra CGI polish on top of amazing make-up and costume work.
At this point, the only hope for Henry, Sam, and Ellie is to crawl under a truck and let the Resistance reap the violence they sowed. It’s all a giant mess that reaches its highest point when Perry is offed in gruesome fashion by the bloater with a finishing move taken straight from the original game. Shortly afterwards, Kathleen almost catches the group as they’re escaping, still hellbent on shooting Henry dead even when everything is crumbling around her. I fully expected the bloater to end her as well, but it was much funnier in a messed-up way to have an infected child do the job, biting and mauling her to death in a really ineffective way.
After such a narrow escape, the group finds shelter in the outskirts of the city and quickly hits the sack. Well, Ellie and Sam stay up for a bit longer looking at their newly-found comic book and having a really touching moment together. For a brief minute, and even as someone who’s beaten both The Last of Us games, the expert screenwriting and top tier acting fooled me into thinking these two kids could have a somewhat normal life after all. But here comes the massive emotional blow, with Sam revealing he was bitten at some point during the kerfuffle. Ellie knows he’s done for, but still tries to ease his mind by putting some of her “magic blood” on his bite mark.
The next morning, hell suddenly breaks loose as Sam attacks a still sleepy Ellie (she took a big gamble there) before Henry shoots him in the head… right after telling Joel not to do that. Much like Ellie, he knew deep down there was nothing they could do to save him, and that’s why he took the shot before Ellie was hurt, but his first instinct was to protect his little brother. Upon realizing Sam isn’t there anymore and that he failed to protect him, there’s only all the bad he’s done inside his head, so he commits suicide before Joel can deescalate the situation. In the end, all that violence he didn’t directly inflict on his neighbors — but which he allowed to happen — caught up to him.
The episode ends with Ellie losing yet another piece of her innocence and Joel receiving a stark reminder of what might happen if he lets himself get too attached to his new daughter figure. He’s been there before, and we know he still hasn’t escaped Sarah’s shadow, so the death of another kid isn’t something he can shake off easily.
Episode 6 will take us back to civilization for a small breather and reintroduce Tommy to the story, but it won’t be long before Joel and Ellie find themselves in trouble again. With only four episodes to go now, HBO’s The Last of Us already feels like the definitive version of the story its adapting, with streamlining done in all the right places and more layered character work — only possible in a TV series — replacing all the action filler that only makes sense in a video game.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
