‘The Last of Us’ Episode 7 ‘Left Behind’ Review: Neil Druckmann Goes Hitchcockian
Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Storm Reid (Riley) in HBO’s The Last of Us.
The Last of Us returned this week with another episode full of emotional moments that, while removed in time and space from the main storyline of the show, helped us understand the characters and the world even more.
Neil Druckmann sat at the keyboard for the second time this season (the first was episode 1), with Liza Johnson coming in to direct. We open moments after the ending of episode 6 and find Ellie trying to save Joel from his wounds, but the task isn’t easy. Should she leave him behind and go look for his brother, or turn the place upside down until she can find something to use on him? At that crossroads, Ellie finds inspiration for her answer in her most painful memory, which we relive throughout the majority of the episode.
During the first 20 minutes, it was quite noticeable that Craig Mazin wasn’t writing on this one, and not only because the credits listed a different solo writer. Some of the lines were a bit odd, especially for the level of writing we’ve been getting, and the pacing of the first two acts of the episode was a bit uneven. We are introduced to Storm Reid’s Riley, Ellie’s best friend at the FEDRA academy in the Boston QZ, who had left her behind. She comes back and takes Ellie out for a night she will never forget.
Reid feels a bit out of place during her first 20 minutes on screen, but eventually her chemistry with Bella Ramsey kicked in just in time to deliver the most emotional moments of the episode. Left Behind was the ultimate example of why Neil Druckmann is at his finest when he is invested in the more emotional side of the characters’ arcs. During the second half of the episode, writer and director were able to successfully bring to life a Hitchcockian feel to the story that made it all the more compelling and kept the viewers on the edge of their seat. For that alone, the episode is worth the watch.
Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us episode 7, Left Behind
Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Storm Reid (Riley) in HBO’s The Last of Us.
The key to the success of this episode was the fact that Druckmann and Johnson never attempted to hide the fact that we were witnessing two people fall in love at the edge of their own apocalypse. It was clear from the moment Riley and Ellie stepped into that mall that they would not be leaving unmarked, so every cut in the edit felt like a knife moving slowly but firmly through our skin, waiting to strike the fatal wound. The sound design is also stellar, making you think twice about everything that you are hearing — is an infected coming down the hallway? Halfway through the sequence, we get the confirmation that there is still an infected person somewhere in the mall, who wakes up due to the noise.
As Hitchcock used to say: if you make a bomb explode inside of a bus, you will get a surprise reaction from the audience for a few seconds. But if you show the bomb in advance, you will have five minutes of pure tension. This is exactly what they did here — we knew someone was showing up at some point, because that’s what the show has been teaching us. They simply decided to acknowledge it and use it to their advantage to keep us on the edge of our seats. The fight with the infected was also done very well because, much like Ellie, it’s not clear at first that he bit either one of them, so we’re sitting there for a moment, thinking if there are more of them coming, or if they actually fooled us and this isn’t how Ellie got bit. But no. It ain’t that show. And we now have to watch these two lovers wait for their death to come while they are together.
Bella Ramsey (Ellie) in HBO’s The Last of Us.
Many questions are left unanswered when we finally cut back to present time, but it’s best to leave it that way. We don’t need to know what happened exactly, because, much like with Bill and Frank, we simply want to keep the good memories and leave the ugly stuff out. Ellie uses her experience with Riley to decide that she must fight for Joel, and when she finally makes up her mind, she is able to find what she needs. It may feel convenient plot-wise, but it is essentially a metaphor for what is going on inside her head.
The final moments also elevate the episode to the high standards set by The Last of Us so far, and it’s just because of one small detail, which feels like Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin taking a cue from what George Lucas once told Dave Filoni about making Star Wars — “Remember to make these stories hopeful.” And this is, essentially, what The Last of Us has tried to do with every single episode; no matter how depressing they felt, the endings always tried to leave the door slightly open for a better tomorrow.
We only have two more episodes to go, and they look like they’re going to be pretty packed with story and emotion. Check back with us next week for our review of episode 8!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
