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THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin’ On A Prayer

THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin’ On A Prayer

THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin' On A Prayer

Well, we’ve come full circle and arrived at the end of The Last Of Us season one, and what a hard and beautiful journey it was. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey continued to put our hearts through ups and downs, alternating between joy and heartbreak in what was the best season of television I’ve personally watched in a long time. I mentioned in the last article that a lot had happened since we last spoke, and the same is true this time. So much has gone down in Joel and Ellie’s world since episode 5 and I’m going to catch you up.

Episode Six “Kin”

This episode did a lot of things right out of the gate. The first thing it did was take us three months into the future immediately following the events of episode five. It’s snowing in middle America and the show introduces us to two characters that I want to have a spinoff. It won’t happen but I could watch thirty seasons of Marlon and Florence, played by Graham Greene and Elaine Miles. Two absolutely beautiful humans completely unaffected by the end of the world. They were fantastic.

THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin' On A Prayer
source: HBOMax

From there Joel and Ellie move on, continuing their journey when they are happened upon by what appears to be raiders. They aren’t and in a touching scene, Joel is reunited with his brother Tommy. It’s the first time we’ve really hung out with Gabriel Luna since the first episode. We are also introduced to Rutina Wesley‘s character, Maria, in a town that seems to have it figured out. Watching Tommy come to terms with the town being communists was pretty funny, he loved it there and had no idea.

This episode did a lot to further the characters in many ways. It showed that Ellie trusts Joel no matter what even when faced with him possibly forcing her to be taken on by Tommy. Ultimately Joel couldn’t do that and they go on to find the fireflies together. Joel is injured at the end of the episode when a group of scavengers attacks them, and they really leave us hanging. It’s a sad visual watching Ellie plead for him to wake up.

Episode 7 “Left Behind”

The majority of this episode plays in flashbacks. It begins, showing that Joel did indeed survive but he is in a very bad way, his puncture has become infected. Ellie has managed to get them to shelter and Joel is at least resting comfortably. While Ellie is trying to figure out what to do we flashback to the Left Behind DLC from the game, Ellie’s story about what really happened at that mall and some of her time at Fedra.

THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin' On A Prayer
source: HBOMax

This episode introduces us to Riley, played expertly by Storm Reid, as Ellie’s “best friend.” In reality, we can all see that it is the first time Ellie has been in love. Both Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid turn in amazing performances as we see this young love blossom and then just as quickly as it began, come to a tragic end. Ellie and Riley spend a night of fun in the mall until they attract a clicker, they manage to kill it but sadly both suffer bites.

Ellie doesn’t know she is immune until that moment and they agree to sit together until they both die, vowing to go into whatever comes next as a couple. Of course, Ellie is forced to kill Riley in what is just a series of heartbreaking moments throughout her short life so far. Back in the present Ellie stitched up Joel and we were forced to wait another week to see how he was going to fair.

Episode Eight “When We Are In Need”

The long-awaited cameo from Troy Baker finally happens in episode 8, he plays a henchman to David (Scott Shepherd) named, James. James is a man that follows orders to the letter even if he doesn’t always agree with them. David is masquerading as the religious leader of a small community of people that turn out to be accidental cannibals. I say accidentally because only David and a handful of others know that he is feeding the people.

THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin' On A Prayer
source: HBOMax

Joel is still out of commission when the episode begins so Ellie takes it upon herself to go hunting, actually downing a deer with the skills she learned from Joel. This brings her into contact with David and James, where she negotiates a trade of deer meat for medicine for Joel. The only problem is the people they ran into in episode 6 belonged to this group and Joel killed one of them when they were attacked. Ellie does manage to get her hands on the medicine before she is captured and when more of the group go looking for revenge, a moderately better Joel is there waiting. He is savage and doesn’t hold back, doing everything he can to get to Ellie.

In the end, Ellie rescues herself, killing James (original Joel) and David in a very tense sequence that had me yelling at my television. Joel arrives just as Ellie is walking out of the barn and when he says, “I got you baby girl,” you best believe the tears started streaming. It was a powerful episode.

Episode Nine – “Look For The Light”

We waited and waited and finally, in the finale, Ashley Johnson (Ellie from the games) made her appearance as Anna Williams but more importantly, Ellie’s mother! In flashback we see Anna running for her life, very very pregnant, get trapped in a house looking for other fireflies. She gets cornered by a clicker and though she manages to kill it (with the knife Ellie has used all season) she is bitten in the process. Anna quickly cuts the umbilical cord but it’s too late, baby Ellie has received a microdose, thus explaining her immunity.

THE LAST OF US, Season 1 Episodes 6-9: Livin' On A Prayer
source: HBOMax

This episode also gave us the return of Merle Dandridge as Marlene as Joel and Ellie finally found their way to the fireflies. Nothing good lasts very long on this show and as it turns out, the fireflies really do believe they can manufacture a cure but in doing so the process would kill Ellie. This is clearly something that Joel didn’t want to hear, he fought his demons and found his way back into being a father figure over the course of the season so daddy mode kicked in. Protect Ellie at all costs. Joel goes on a rampage and literally kills everyone in the outpost, including Marlene, to insure Ellie’s safety.

In an absolutely heartbreaking final sequence, we see Joel and Ellie making their way back to Wyoming and Tommy to hopefully live happily ever after when Joel is confronted about what happened and he chooses to lie to Ellie. He tells her it was impossible, that they didn’t even want to make a cure anymore. When Ellies asks him to promise her that was the truth Joel doubles down on his lie, you can tell it breaks him to do so. Ellie accepts that with one simple word to end the season, “okay.”

Conclusion:

By far this was the best single season of television I’ve watched in years. There have been a lot of good shows, don’t get me wrong, but nothing can compare to the level of excellence The Last of Us provided. The writing, the acting, the directing, the music, everything was dialed to eleven and executed at a master level. I said it before and I’ll say it again… if you aren’t watching this show yet, what are you waiting for?

 


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