Endure and Survive: The Last of Us Review
*This article contains topics of death and suicide that could be triggering. Read at your own discretion*
Episode five of HBO’s new series, “The Last of Us,” tells the story of two brothers: Henry and Sam. “Endure and Survive” shows how Henry found himself running from Kathleen and her rebels. Long story short, Kathleen wants to kill Henry because he ratted on her brother (Michael) to FEDRA (the new government that isn’t great) to get medicine for Sam (who had leukemia and went deaf anyway).
In turn, Michael got killed, Kathleen and her friends overthrew FEDRA in Kansas City and now run the QZ, and she is determined to find and kill Henry and Sam (leave him out of it, he didn’t do anything).
Ellie and Joel run into Henry and Sam and the two pairs team up to get out of the city and away from Kathleen.
For those who have not played the game, Kathleen is a new and interesting character. Her motives are there – get revenge on the man who got her brother killed – but she knows that what she’s doing is wrong.
She just doesn’t care. She knows it’s not justified, but she can’t let Henry and Sam live. Helping the audience understand Kathleen and her morals makes her ending that much more enjoyable. Her fate was well-deserved, unlike Henry and Sam's.
This episode is yet another tearjerker. In the end, the team escapes and is in a motel when Sam reveals to Ellie that he was bitten.
She thinks she can save him by giving him some of her blood, but it doesn’t work. Ellie is attacked by a now infected Sam. Henry kills his brother and then himself.
It’s interesting that in the more recent episodes, the characters that Joel and Ellie meet on their adventure reflect their own relationship.
In Episode 3, “Long, Long Time,” Bill and Frank become inseparable, even in death. As for Joel and Ellie, they are becoming closer and closer (in a father-daughter way), similar to Bill and Frank’s relationship development – one skeptical about the other, but then willing to do anything to protect them.
Henry’s dedication to Sam will be reflected by Joel’s dedication to Ellie later in the series.
Kathleen’s speech towards the end of the episode has some beautiful foreshadowing for Joel and Ellie’s fate: “You think the whole world revolves around [Sam]? That he’s worth... everything?” There is plenty of clever foreshadowing throughout the series.
“The Last of Us” has been received by audiences extremely well and fans cannot wait to see what comes next.
Rachel Hord is a third-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, email rkh5399@psu.edu.
