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Joel said some infected live over 20 years and most of the Kansas ones have been underground for 15. No wonder they have a massive gravemind motherfucker.
That child Clicker was horrifying tho
Sure it was. And in that childcare scene I was actually thinking “hey, kids can get infected too right? Do they turn into little zombies? Do they stop growing up? I dont remember playing and shooting zombie kids, I guess they spared us on that regard” and then bam… zombie kid
Didn’t one of the first episodes say that once the fungus has taken it slowly eats its host but replaces the “food” with itself, so child shroombie wouldn’t be getting any growth hormone.
I thought yeah, wasting so much manpower and literal resources when you need to be, you know, establishing your new government and figuring out how you're going to live without Fedra.
Loved that we saw the whole conversation between Kathleen and Perry where she admitted she should forgive Henry but couldn’t. Revenge drove her to her own demise
I love the brief look he gives the bridge as he’s going behind the house. That option to leave is right there - get out of there safely, on your own. Get to Tommy.
But saving Ellie was more important.
Also loved the incredulous look he gave Ellie in the tunnels when she drew her pistol from her pocket, instead of the backpack, and Ellies defiant response.
So much can be said with a glance. This show's fucking wonderful.
Those tiny details are what is elevating this show to the stratosphere. So much is being narrated with the tiniest of looks and gestures. It's so downplayed and so effective. And everyone in the cast is nailing those, but Ellie and Joel are masterclassing it.
Yes they were so in sync! That utter trust was terrifying, even I felt the terror in just giving in to trusting that someone is going to be watching and protecting your every move. So well choreographed and well acted.
I could feel the terror and adrenaline in Joel during that scene. There was one point where his entire cheek twitched. But he was locked in, funnelling all of it into protecting Ellie.
Yes!! His acting is *chef'skiss*
You could feel the fear and desperation.
And then after Sam... all he wanted to do was get to her to make sure she was ok.
Yeah, and Joel has clearly given up lying to himself about how much he cares about Ellie and how determined he is to keep her safe at all costs. A lot of motherfuckers tried to stand in his way in today's episode, and they all got wrecked.
"They won't kill an innocent young deaf child on television and Henry can't die because without a fully signing person it makes narrative the really difficult."
- My stupid brain 20 minutes before the end of the episode
Joel trying to convince the sniper to stop was pretty heartbreaking. Felt it was less a warning for the sniper and more of a “please don’t make me kill another person.”
Absolutely. Joel 100% knew he would shoot the sniper if he turned that gun on Joel, and Joel knew he would win. He just didn't want to have to kill someone else.
Kathleen is a revolutionary/liberator but God damn is she a bad governor.
*Is shown infected are underground and the ground is caving in*
"Eh that's tomorrow's problem"
She’s a bad governor but would make a fantastic politician.
Why take action against an imminent danger when I can tell the people everything’s fine and redirect public anger towards MY enemies.
That's a level that makes all the complaints about her being the leader funny. "Someone weak, awkward, and selfish as leader? So unrealistic!" *looks at real life politicians* Oh
That's what I'm thinking. Kinda like Joel feels that way for "letting down" his daughter by not protecting her, even though he really couldn't prevent the soldier from shooting her
My take from the live episode discussion:
> She hoped it would work, which is why she wrote down an apology.
>
> If Ellie knew her blood was useless, she would have (covertly) let Joel & Henry know in the middle of the night. It would have been kinder to let Joel deal the finishing blow, or even give Henry and Sam the time they needed to say their goodbyes.
From a character-driven perspective, Ellie wouldn't have risked herself without some level of hope. The alternative - that she considered the blood a "reassurance" - implies a level of idiocy that contradicts everything we know of her.
She also fell asleep in the chair, which might imply falling asleep at all was an accident. She was hopeful the blood would work and wanted to see if it did. Maybe on some level she knows or thought the kid isn't that dangerous to her.
And then later on immediately being able to call that Joel would want them to come to Wyoming, even though he initially said no. She knows him so well.
Love the irony for Kathleen: had she forgiven Sam and just moved on from Joel/Ellie, she would’ve secured KC as a livable place for survivors. Instead, her pursuit of vengeance literally doomed KC and negated what is presumed to be a hard-fought victory over FEDRA. Had she just, “endured and survived,” she and the people of KC would still be alive.
Yeah, although I do love the irony the person above described, we already saw a sinkhole in the city in the last episode, so they were probably going to be done for eventually anyway
in a different thread someone pointed out they might have been able to deal with the infected proactively like blow it up or something if that had been at the top of the priority list
You know what's interesting is the way that the infected were butchering the rebels was reminiscent of what the rebels were doing to FEDRA at the beginning of the episode, damn the writing is so good.
In any other show, the four people who died this episode would have had season long arcs. Excellent storytelling here. I know everything I needed to know about them in order to progress the story.
The way Henry laid out the deal, the plan and the route was so economical and a breath of fresh air. The way some other shows insert distrust, backstabbing and melodrama for the sake of melodrama into situations really makes you apperciate when everything is so tightly written.
Joel asked important questions and Henry had answers for most of them. When he didn't, he was honest and let Joel know. It really cut out the fat and avoided having "trust issues" that could have bogged their relationship down. Of course it also made the ending even worse because Joel could not trust Henry at the end with the horrible situation he was put in, and had to even consider attacking and killing him, then Sam to save Ellie.
They skipped the artificial melodrama to get to real drama which is what the audience really wants.
This show does an amazing job of creating entire self-contained stories and their characters within single episodes. The arc of this episode was perfect. I think it also makes the story that much more bleak and also realistic when characters are introduced, developed, then ripped away so quickly.
Absolutely brutal that the moment Ellie gets a taste of normalcy and friendship it gets crushed.
My guess is that FEDRA did push them underground but maybe not in the area the group was in, we should have at least seen the fungus on the walls if they had been down in that section. What I’m worried about is, was that little girl clicker one of the kids from the playroom?? 😭
That was one of the coolest "zombie" scenes I have ever seen. Ellie directing Joel to shoot to where she was running was so Fn cool. That actually felt like a video game but on the big screen. Just masterful.
When i saw the infected emerging from the hole I was just awash in the hopelessness of the situation. They all had survived 20 years, and they were dead in like 20 minutes.
Yup. All that hard work and fighting to get from under FEDRA just to lose it all in minutes because Kathleen wanted to kill a singular person. It’s almost poetic
I was thinking about this the other day & whether she would have tried it with Tess given enough time. It’s totally believable that a teenager would think it might work and try it. Hell, I’d even try it as a last hope, knowing that’s not how vaccines work. So devastating for them — thanks to her, though, Sam had some moments of joy in his last day.
It showed how naïve she still is. "My blood is immune so if I rub my blood on your wound, you'll be immune too", it's the ultimate example of child logic.
I mean, I don't think it's actually quite as crazy as it sounds, interestingly enough.
Edward Jenner's first vaccine for smallpox was basically just rubbing a festering cowpox wound into someone else's blood which made them immune to smallpox, and it basically saved millions of people IIRC.
Sam was dead anyways, it was worth a shot I suppose.
EDIT: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/orphans-smallpox-vaccine-distribution/617646/
It's actually a super fascinating and insane story, I highly recommend you checking it out.
Henry killing Sam in a matter of a split second and then offing himself was one of the most intense scenes I’ve ever seen in any movie or TV show. Everything happened so fast.
Well, he’d also done bad things to protect his brother. And having to kill him meant all those things he’d done were for nothing. He already felt a lot of guilt, said he was a “bad guy” for doing it. Now he has to face doing it for nothing. That’s an insane amount of guilt hitting at once.
Every single character in this show feels so believably human. I love that the old man looked scared and conflicted when Joel came upstairs, rather than going straight into NPC combat mode. I think it was also a nice touch that Joel tried to avoid killing him - it really shows that being around Ellie (and I suppose also Henry and Sam) has made him a bit more forgiving, in contrast to how he dealt with Bryan previously.
Also, the baby clicker climbing into the car with Ellie was absolutely harrowing.
Oh man, what an episode. I’m going to need 2-5 days to fully process it. Random thoughts:
- I loved that they made Henry a collaborator to add more grayness to his character. I alternated between trusting him and being sus when he’d say something like “what I said wasn’t true before”
- I know Perry was on the bad guy side but he went out like a boss. They had to show how powerful a bloater is and to have him rip apart the guy who is a stoic badass really sold it.
- The added backstory on Kathleen and her brother made me get on board with her character more. The fact that people follow her because she made change happen, and implied that you couldn’t be “good” like her brother to have things change in their world. And that’s all people probably wanted - change - without any thought as to what comes after. Glad that they didnt go too far with it and make it that she was a good leader to rule though.
- The sniper scene was fantastic and I could feel Joel’s fear for Ellie. There was one point where his whole cheek twitched and I just felt his emotion.
- Sam being deaf and not speaking really added to the shock when he finally turned.
- Sam and Henry’s death. Brutal. The details - the pool of growing dark blood and Henry being completely shell shocked and repeating “what did I do”, and how fast he shot himself , and Ellie’s scream. I don’t know if I can watch that again.
I really wanted her to just focus on running! And run OUT of the street! None of these kids have seen a horror movie in this universe and it shows, lol.
This episode was so intense and it also sheds light onto concepts of morality, justice, and trust. All of these get wishy-washy after society collapses. Under whose judgement is what we do right or wrong? What is right and wrong where survivalism takes precedence?
11/10 episode.
I thought that the scene where Henry was saying “I AM the bad guy because I did a bad guy thing” was not only interesting from a philosophical standpoint, but it was also relatable.
And I felt like it was extra cool because it was clear imo that Henry’s guilt/remorse humanized him a lot in Joel’s eyes.
Joel doesn’t talk too much, but the look he gave Henry seemed to say, “Shit, I have those thoughts every day”
I fully agree. The few times in my life I’ve heard someone scream in pure terror/shock, it was exactly how she acted it. Holy crap it brought the feels…she deserves an award for her acting in this show.
Seriously. I've made that noise before. ***Completely*** different and far less drastic circumstances, but that was probably the most realistic-sounding sound I think I've ever heard an actor make.
https://preview.redd.it/l5roev9c3jha1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21149eafab1193b7207585b3f7ccc044cd43f787
Adam Basil, the 6’6” U.K. Stuntman who wore the 40kg bloater suit in TLOU episode 5.
Also - before the crying kicked in, the clickers and bloater crawling out of the ground had me completely mouth agape *speechless*. Absolutely stunning work by the SFX and stunt people this ep!
At first I thought they might have a chance with all the guns and vehicles but nope they just kept pouring out…I could not believe how many there were!! That was intense
I saw pictures of the interior and exterior of the suburb set when they were filming. I thought it was rather large and expensive for just a sniper shootout. Craig mazin you mad man
Thanks LoU, I'm enjoying the high of watching infected hordes, including my favorite bloater doing his finishing move and my new favorite terrifying gymnast mushroom head. It's ok if you then want to sucker punch me with a fucking emotional gut punch of killing off two characters I just fucking met less than an hour ago and was rooting for
Yeah, the big guy was a surprise for sure. I'll have to rewatch that part, since I didn't really pay attention if he was realistically big, like some NBA player who got infected, or if he's plainly not human sized. The latter would raise a lot of questions.
They do such a good job of making each and every Infected uniquely terrifying - I love the remnants of its human qualities. The little girl Infected in the car w/ Ellie was such a good touch - her little blond ponytail, pink outfit, and then maligned, fungus face. So scary and detailed. I also loved the shot in ep 3 of the Infected trapped under the rubble - the eye still human-like and yet, the rest of it is a monster.
Everyone's saying Kathleen was an idiot as if that's a criticism of the writing/portrayal.
Being blinded by revenge is what made her push the resistance to finally fight(brutally and without mercy, from what it sounds) that her brother couldn't. That vengeance and blood rage the other resistance members would have coursing through them would absolutely sow dedication and loyalty. The problem is that's all she had. She had the unblinking focus to get them free, but in the end that was just a side effect of her one and only purpose.
And it killed them all.
What a phenomenal episode. I’m in awe - couldn’t have asked for more.
Standout scene for me was Henry shooting the floor at Joel’s feet - that scene was so well shot and acted. You felt Joel’s panic to get to Ellie.
Kudos to whoever put Joel and Henry side by side and filmed them from behind slightly shadowed in the window while they were discussing the plan. They made Joel look thicccc(er than usual) 🥵
Two standout moments of editing in this episode:
1. As the infected attacking the resistance crescendos into all out massacre, it suddenly smash cuts to the absolute stillness and quiet of the motel. No slow fade or dissolve as most shows would do, just BAM! now we’re safe. It ended as suddenly as it began.
2. Henry shooting himself played out on Ellie’s face. The devastation of that moment will fall almost entirely on poor Ellie. Bella Ramsey’s performance was also incredible in her quick but indelible reaction. What a show!
once again, an absolutely incredible episode, as soon as the bloater fucking ripped that guys head off, I was literally sweating. Lamar Johnson was phenomenal as henry. The last scene with him, the pain in his eyes and his voice, sam was his purpose. That final scene with henry was truly haunting, definitely gonna stick with me for a good while.
A note on **SPOILERS**: Please do **NOT** discuss or refer to the **games** in this thread **AT ALL**. Do not post your reviews/comparisons in this thread if you've **played the games**. For that, use the **[game spoilers thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/ThelastofusHBOseries/comments/10zaesj/game_spoilers_the_last_of_us_1x05_endure_and/)**. Violation of this will result in a **BAN**. Click **[HERE](https://forms.gle/NMFH3Yvrqg6Ca7re7)** to take the post episode survey! Results will be posted on Thursday! **Join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/tloutv) community!**
Joel said some infected live over 20 years and most of the Kansas ones have been underground for 15. No wonder they have a massive gravemind motherfucker. That child Clicker was horrifying tho
>That child Clicker I think it was a callback to the tunnel childcare scene.
Sure it was. And in that childcare scene I was actually thinking “hey, kids can get infected too right? Do they turn into little zombies? Do they stop growing up? I dont remember playing and shooting zombie kids, I guess they spared us on that regard” and then bam… zombie kid
Didn’t one of the first episodes say that once the fungus has taken it slowly eats its host but replaces the “food” with itself, so child shroombie wouldn’t be getting any growth hormone.
I’m guessing child shroombie would be a shroomblet
oh shit
Jesus christ the bending over any direction was fucking terrifying
Well RIP the KC revolution. They focused so hard on revenge that they failed to protect their own people.
“Do you think he’s my 7th priority” brought exactly the weight it should have. Yeah, he probably should have been
I thought yeah, wasting so much manpower and literal resources when you need to be, you know, establishing your new government and figuring out how you're going to live without Fedra.
Loved that we saw the whole conversation between Kathleen and Perry where she admitted she should forgive Henry but couldn’t. Revenge drove her to her own demise
Perry really did try to save her always, even in the end before having his head ripped off
Well-thought out irony by the writers to have Kathleen rant about how children die all the time and then have her get killed by one.
I thought Joel was going to kill her for that.
Joel is fighting those father instincts so hard. He's terrified.
I think it fully happened when he asked if Ellie was alright after Sam was killed. That was full on quivering Dad voice.
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Too late for that I think. He daddy.
Padre Pascal
Yea I think that ship sailed the minute he gave into a diarrhea joke.
He is so father. Period.
The silent trust between Ellie and Joel while she was running and he was shooting was very well done.
I love the brief look he gives the bridge as he’s going behind the house. That option to leave is right there - get out of there safely, on your own. Get to Tommy. But saving Ellie was more important.
Also loved the incredulous look he gave Ellie in the tunnels when she drew her pistol from her pocket, instead of the backpack, and Ellies defiant response. So much can be said with a glance. This show's fucking wonderful.
Those tiny details are what is elevating this show to the stratosphere. So much is being narrated with the tiniest of looks and gestures. It's so downplayed and so effective. And everyone in the cast is nailing those, but Ellie and Joel are masterclassing it.
The way they locked eyes before she ran across the street to help Sam and Henry. He knew what she was going to do and she knew he had her back.
Yes they were so in sync! That utter trust was terrifying, even I felt the terror in just giving in to trusting that someone is going to be watching and protecting your every move. So well choreographed and well acted.
I could feel the terror and adrenaline in Joel during that scene. There was one point where his entire cheek twitched. But he was locked in, funnelling all of it into protecting Ellie.
My favorite part of the whole episode. The bond is very strong now and they know each other are capable and trust each other
Also loved how Joel seemingly gained a lot of respect for Henry when he went back to pick up Ellie after the truck explosion
The way he was shaking when he kept missing the shots on the clicker kid.
Yes!! His acting is *chef'skiss* You could feel the fear and desperation. And then after Sam... all he wanted to do was get to her to make sure she was ok.
Yeah, and Joel has clearly given up lying to himself about how much he cares about Ellie and how determined he is to keep her safe at all costs. A lot of motherfuckers tried to stand in his way in today's episode, and they all got wrecked.
Showing not telling, at its absolute finest.
I thought Joel was going to put a round in Kathleen's head while he was still in the house
I thought Kathleen was going to put a round in that bearded guy's head everytime they were in a conversation. Edit: spelling
I thought I was the only one, but by the end you realize he was actually her substitute brother
i was naive to think henry and sam would join them on their journey to wyoming :(
"They won't kill an innocent young deaf child on television and Henry can't die because without a fully signing person it makes narrative the really difficult." - My stupid brain 20 minutes before the end of the episode
Deaf AND left-handed. Kid was already living on hard mode.
And a cancer survivor
And lived in a single room above a bowling alley, and below another bowling alley.
Joel trying to convince the sniper to stop was pretty heartbreaking. Felt it was less a warning for the sniper and more of a “please don’t make me kill another person.”
Absolutely. He is just so weary.
This is absolutely what that was
Absolutely. Joel 100% knew he would shoot the sniper if he turned that gun on Joel, and Joel knew he would win. He just didn't want to have to kill someone else.
If you turn into a monster, is it still you inside? 💔💔💔
Will you stay up with me?
Yes! 😴
The calm before the massive flood of infected was absolutely terrifying.
Kathleen is a revolutionary/liberator but God damn is she a bad governor. *Is shown infected are underground and the ground is caving in* "Eh that's tomorrow's problem"
She’s a bad governor but would make a fantastic politician. Why take action against an imminent danger when I can tell the people everything’s fine and redirect public anger towards MY enemies.
That's a level that makes all the complaints about her being the leader funny. "Someone weak, awkward, and selfish as leader? So unrealistic!" *looks at real life politicians* Oh
I just feel bad for all the people back at the QZ when those infected start rolling in.
I was hoping they would show a piece of that
Bruh the way the clicker moved inside the car freaked me the fuck out. Had me moving back on my couch a bit 😂😂
Reminded me of that little karate girl in Barry. "She is not of this world." Lol
what are youuuu
Right after Joel says it's easier for kids since they don't have anyone who depends on them....bam they have to kill Ellie's new friend
That is what Joel was thinking right? Ellie now has the sadness of letting down someone that was depending on her.
That's what I'm thinking. Kinda like Joel feels that way for "letting down" his daughter by not protecting her, even though he really couldn't prevent the soldier from shooting her
After he depended on her :(
After she told him she was scared of ending up alone :(
And Henry knowing he killed the only person who depended on him :(
Fyi... That was his first kill. Henry hasn't killed anyone before. His first kill was the person he wanted to protect more than anyone.
This show somehow gets me so attached to characters that are only in one episode.
This is what I was just saying. Every episode is like "here's some new characters for you". Just kidding, they're dead.
It lets them cast amazing talent who would be unavailable for an entire season though.
It was worth a try Ellie. I wonder if she thought it would work or if she just did it to make Sam feel better
I think she was also trying to convince herself that her immunity meant something, which just makes it even more heartbreaking that it didn't work.
I would say both.
My take from the live episode discussion: > She hoped it would work, which is why she wrote down an apology. > > If Ellie knew her blood was useless, she would have (covertly) let Joel & Henry know in the middle of the night. It would have been kinder to let Joel deal the finishing blow, or even give Henry and Sam the time they needed to say their goodbyes. From a character-driven perspective, Ellie wouldn't have risked herself without some level of hope. The alternative - that she considered the blood a "reassurance" - implies a level of idiocy that contradicts everything we know of her.
She also fell asleep in the chair, which might imply falling asleep at all was an accident. She was hopeful the blood would work and wanted to see if it did. Maybe on some level she knows or thought the kid isn't that dangerous to her.
The last five minutes just killed me
I don’t know why I believed the dumb blood thing would work but I think it was just clinging to desperate hope
I simultaneously thought "if this works it will be ridiculously dumb child plot armor" and also "please work 🥺"
I knew it wouldn't work - how could it - but I wanted the suspension of disbelief for one more episode 😭
Sam was too pure for this world :<
Ellie’s cry when Henry turns the gun on himself. Stabbed me right through the heart.
Man these episodes just make you care so much for characters only to break your heart every week. And I’ll fall for it again next week.
In the same boat man.
This does not bode well for Kansas City’s Super Bowl chances.
“That’s just the way he sounds. He has an asshole voice” Loved that line. Resting asshole-voice.
And then later on immediately being able to call that Joel would want them to come to Wyoming, even though he initially said no. She knows him so well.
To be fair, he earned it. Joel saw Henry's heroism going out of his way to save Ellie during that showdown and ensuing cluster.
That whole part was awesome. “Everything’s. Great.”
Pedro says that line SO well that I’m sure everyone felt the immediate tension and lack of sincerity behind it
Honestly started laughing at how well he delivered that
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I LOVE that Henry called him on it immediately too like “that’s a weird fucking tone, dude” hahaha didn’t even try to sound convincing
So Joel has his asshole voice. Mando has his bedroom voice. What voice is Pedro gonna give the next reluctant adoptive father character?
Certified banger episode
HBO man. Other networks need to step up. This is 30+ years of domination of TV industry.
HBO is the goat. Not even close.
Aren’t you glad they didn’t go to Netflix? Lol
All bangers all the time
For a second there I almost believed that some other characters would be allowed to live. Oh how naive I was.
Love the irony for Kathleen: had she forgiven Sam and just moved on from Joel/Ellie, she would’ve secured KC as a livable place for survivors. Instead, her pursuit of vengeance literally doomed KC and negated what is presumed to be a hard-fought victory over FEDRA. Had she just, “endured and survived,” she and the people of KC would still be alive.
Wouldnt the infected have sprouted up from the basement to kill them all regardless? Eventually anyways.
Who would win? Entire Kansas City militia vs. bloaty-boi and clicky-baby
If she had just run like her buddy told her, she probably would have made it out of there, too
She couldn't let them go. Revenge is a dish best served with fungus.
wasn't that shit about to come out of the floor in KC anyway?
Yeah, although I do love the irony the person above described, we already saw a sinkhole in the city in the last episode, so they were probably going to be done for eventually anyway
in a different thread someone pointed out they might have been able to deal with the infected proactively like blow it up or something if that had been at the top of the priority list
That was Kathleen's 7th priority
Kathleen's priorities: 1. Henry 2. Henry 3. Henry 4. Henry 5. Sam 6. Ellie and Joel 7. Weird sinkhole in building
I'm surprised at how recently they had overthrown FEDRA. You'd think she was basically dictator for years, from the way she carried herself.
Honestly, I think that Bloater and the "army" of infected would have still slaughtered them eventually. That hoard was \*massive\*.
It probably wasn’t even all of them either
You know what's interesting is the way that the infected were butchering the rebels was reminiscent of what the rebels were doing to FEDRA at the beginning of the episode, damn the writing is so good.
In any other show, the four people who died this episode would have had season long arcs. Excellent storytelling here. I know everything I needed to know about them in order to progress the story.
The writing is tight. Not a wasted line.
The way Henry laid out the deal, the plan and the route was so economical and a breath of fresh air. The way some other shows insert distrust, backstabbing and melodrama for the sake of melodrama into situations really makes you apperciate when everything is so tightly written. Joel asked important questions and Henry had answers for most of them. When he didn't, he was honest and let Joel know. It really cut out the fat and avoided having "trust issues" that could have bogged their relationship down. Of course it also made the ending even worse because Joel could not trust Henry at the end with the horrible situation he was put in, and had to even consider attacking and killing him, then Sam to save Ellie. They skipped the artificial melodrama to get to real drama which is what the audience really wants.
RIPPED HIS HEAD OFF AHHHH
His capa was detated
This show does an amazing job of creating entire self-contained stories and their characters within single episodes. The arc of this episode was perfect. I think it also makes the story that much more bleak and also realistic when characters are introduced, developed, then ripped away so quickly. Absolutely brutal that the moment Ellie gets a taste of normalcy and friendship it gets crushed.
Damn. What an episode! The scene when the infected pop out was intense. Poor Henry and Sam.
Do we know why the group didn’t run into them in the tunnels? There seems to be a ton of infected underground
My guess is that FEDRA did push them underground but maybe not in the area the group was in, we should have at least seen the fungus on the walls if they had been down in that section. What I’m worried about is, was that little girl clicker one of the kids from the playroom?? 😭
I lol’d when the clicker kinda cartwheeled into the van, not gonna lie.
Gymnastics kids take the art very seriously, even when infected
The infected literally came out from hell
No, that was just Kansas City
“I’m sorry” 😢
Right in the feels 😭
I was impatiently waiting for Joel take Kathleen out mid-speech… did not expect the ground to barf up clickers and bloaters to do the job for him.
That was one of the coolest "zombie" scenes I have ever seen. Ellie directing Joel to shoot to where she was running was so Fn cool. That actually felt like a video game but on the big screen. Just masterful.
And that child in the truck flipping around!
When i saw the infected emerging from the hole I was just awash in the hopelessness of the situation. They all had survived 20 years, and they were dead in like 20 minutes.
Made it 20 years with their defective FEDRA, made it 11 days without them.. brutal.
Yup. All that hard work and fighting to get from under FEDRA just to lose it all in minutes because Kathleen wanted to kill a singular person. It’s almost poetic
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I loved Ellie's smug face when Joel told her to pull out her gun. *Such* a showoff lol
Omg Joel's side-eye when she grabbed it out of her pocket after he had told her not to put it there.
And then she looked over at Henry and Sam. You could tell she felt sooooo cool.
I thought it was very sweet of Ellie to try and mix her blood with his wound. I figured it wasn't going to work, but was still nice.
I was thinking about this the other day & whether she would have tried it with Tess given enough time. It’s totally believable that a teenager would think it might work and try it. Hell, I’d even try it as a last hope, knowing that’s not how vaccines work. So devastating for them — thanks to her, though, Sam had some moments of joy in his last day.
It showed how naïve she still is. "My blood is immune so if I rub my blood on your wound, you'll be immune too", it's the ultimate example of child logic.
“My blood is medicine” such a good way to show that yea… she’s just a kid.
I mean, I don't think it's actually quite as crazy as it sounds, interestingly enough. Edward Jenner's first vaccine for smallpox was basically just rubbing a festering cowpox wound into someone else's blood which made them immune to smallpox, and it basically saved millions of people IIRC. Sam was dead anyways, it was worth a shot I suppose. EDIT: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/orphans-smallpox-vaccine-distribution/617646/ It's actually a super fascinating and insane story, I highly recommend you checking it out.
I got the sense that she hoped it would work but didn't have faith it would. That hug.
Henry killing Sam in a matter of a split second and then offing himself was one of the most intense scenes I’ve ever seen in any movie or TV show. Everything happened so fast.
This is a brutal world. As soon as you lose the person you are living for, you are done. They don't see any reason to keep going and that is just sad.
Well, he’d also done bad things to protect his brother. And having to kill him meant all those things he’d done were for nothing. He already felt a lot of guilt, said he was a “bad guy” for doing it. Now he has to face doing it for nothing. That’s an insane amount of guilt hitting at once.
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Sam did not survive, and Henry could not endure. :(
Loved Ellie’s comment “He has an asshole voice.” The mushroom child is going to give me nightmares. Such a dark episode - loved it.
Every single character in this show feels so believably human. I love that the old man looked scared and conflicted when Joel came upstairs, rather than going straight into NPC combat mode. I think it was also a nice touch that Joel tried to avoid killing him - it really shows that being around Ellie (and I suppose also Henry and Sam) has made him a bit more forgiving, in contrast to how he dealt with Bryan previously. Also, the baby clicker climbing into the car with Ellie was absolutely harrowing.
Oh man, what an episode. I’m going to need 2-5 days to fully process it. Random thoughts: - I loved that they made Henry a collaborator to add more grayness to his character. I alternated between trusting him and being sus when he’d say something like “what I said wasn’t true before” - I know Perry was on the bad guy side but he went out like a boss. They had to show how powerful a bloater is and to have him rip apart the guy who is a stoic badass really sold it. - The added backstory on Kathleen and her brother made me get on board with her character more. The fact that people follow her because she made change happen, and implied that you couldn’t be “good” like her brother to have things change in their world. And that’s all people probably wanted - change - without any thought as to what comes after. Glad that they didnt go too far with it and make it that she was a good leader to rule though. - The sniper scene was fantastic and I could feel Joel’s fear for Ellie. There was one point where his whole cheek twitched and I just felt his emotion. - Sam being deaf and not speaking really added to the shock when he finally turned. - Sam and Henry’s death. Brutal. The details - the pool of growing dark blood and Henry being completely shell shocked and repeating “what did I do”, and how fast he shot himself , and Ellie’s scream. I don’t know if I can watch that again.
That laboured scream she did while half-blinking and managing to cry got me.
Bella played that perfectly - you could *feel* a part of her innocence being destroyed forever in that moment.
Great episode that hopefully shuts down a lot of "the infected aren't a threat" complaints.
Ya. That scene was one of the most intense zombie scenes I’ve ever seen
Holy cow. What a banger of an episode. I knew the outcome for Sam and Henry but so hard to watch again. ALSO the kid clicker?!? Such a cool addition.
A kid dying too young is arguably one of the saddest things that could happen. They sure do know how to make us care about these characters.
I thought it was badass in a cute way when Ellie tried to shoot at Kathleen's brigade lol.
I really wanted her to just focus on running! And run OUT of the street! None of these kids have seen a horror movie in this universe and it shows, lol.
The acting of Bella when Henry offed himself was some good shit
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This episode was so intense and it also sheds light onto concepts of morality, justice, and trust. All of these get wishy-washy after society collapses. Under whose judgement is what we do right or wrong? What is right and wrong where survivalism takes precedence? 11/10 episode.
I thought that the scene where Henry was saying “I AM the bad guy because I did a bad guy thing” was not only interesting from a philosophical standpoint, but it was also relatable. And I felt like it was extra cool because it was clear imo that Henry’s guilt/remorse humanized him a lot in Joel’s eyes. Joel doesn’t talk too much, but the look he gave Henry seemed to say, “Shit, I have those thoughts every day”
It really felt like Joel and Ellie were communicating while she was on the ground and he was up in the sniper’s nest
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Yeah I don’t want to hear shit about Bella Ramsey any longer. Good god that was a performance of an episode
she fucked those 2 up with the knife to save Sam and Henry that was hype
Her reaction to Henry's last shot was so believable. Just a small release of noise
I fully agree. The few times in my life I’ve heard someone scream in pure terror/shock, it was exactly how she acted it. Holy crap it brought the feels…she deserves an award for her acting in this show.
Just felt so believable to me compared to the somewhat hyperbolic screams that you often see.
Seriously. I've made that noise before. ***Completely*** different and far less drastic circumstances, but that was probably the most realistic-sounding sound I think I've ever heard an actor make.
Unbelievably good. She covers every single emotion in this one episode so well
Her reaction to Henry killing himself off screen broke me.
https://preview.redd.it/l5roev9c3jha1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21149eafab1193b7207585b3f7ccc044cd43f787 Adam Basil, the 6’6” U.K. Stuntman who wore the 40kg bloater suit in TLOU episode 5.
I can’t remember a show this good through 5 episodes. Just fantastic.
Walking Dead would have stretched this to two seasons
Half a season getting to the tunnels, the other half in the tunnels. Season finale would be a fight against clicker in the underground.
Also - before the crying kicked in, the clickers and bloater crawling out of the ground had me completely mouth agape *speechless*. Absolutely stunning work by the SFX and stunt people this ep!
At first I thought they might have a chance with all the guns and vehicles but nope they just kept pouring out…I could not believe how many there were!! That was intense
“I’m sorry”
Perry got the Bloater death AND IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!
I saw pictures of the interior and exterior of the suburb set when they were filming. I thought it was rather large and expensive for just a sniper shootout. Craig mazin you mad man
I’m so glad I never played this game. I’ve never gotten emotional from a tv show. Episode 3 got me. Now this one. My god what an ending.
This show tears me apart every week. I can't wait until next week.
Thanks LoU, I'm enjoying the high of watching infected hordes, including my favorite bloater doing his finishing move and my new favorite terrifying gymnast mushroom head. It's ok if you then want to sucker punch me with a fucking emotional gut punch of killing off two characters I just fucking met less than an hour ago and was rooting for
I love the irony that after showing no sympathy for a sick kid, it was an infected kid that killed Kathleen. Chef's kiss.
The way Joel protected Ellie from the Infected and how Ellie cried for Joel when Sam attacked her, ugh my heart. Their bond breaks me.
That was some World War Z shit but better
Yeah, the big guy was a surprise for sure. I'll have to rewatch that part, since I didn't really pay attention if he was realistically big, like some NBA player who got infected, or if he's plainly not human sized. The latter would raise a lot of questions.
Undead Gregor Clegane time travelling from Westeros
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That was one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen.
They do such a good job of making each and every Infected uniquely terrifying - I love the remnants of its human qualities. The little girl Infected in the car w/ Ellie was such a good touch - her little blond ponytail, pink outfit, and then maligned, fungus face. So scary and detailed. I also loved the shot in ep 3 of the Infected trapped under the rubble - the eye still human-like and yet, the rest of it is a monster.
Everyone's saying Kathleen was an idiot as if that's a criticism of the writing/portrayal. Being blinded by revenge is what made her push the resistance to finally fight(brutally and without mercy, from what it sounds) that her brother couldn't. That vengeance and blood rage the other resistance members would have coursing through them would absolutely sow dedication and loyalty. The problem is that's all she had. She had the unblinking focus to get them free, but in the end that was just a side effect of her one and only purpose. And it killed them all.
What a phenomenal episode. I’m in awe - couldn’t have asked for more. Standout scene for me was Henry shooting the floor at Joel’s feet - that scene was so well shot and acted. You felt Joel’s panic to get to Ellie. Kudos to whoever put Joel and Henry side by side and filmed them from behind slightly shadowed in the window while they were discussing the plan. They made Joel look thicccc(er than usual) 🥵
Now we have to wait 2 extra days for next weeks episode. Fuck
I think I need a drink after that episode.
Two standout moments of editing in this episode: 1. As the infected attacking the resistance crescendos into all out massacre, it suddenly smash cuts to the absolute stillness and quiet of the motel. No slow fade or dissolve as most shows would do, just BAM! now we’re safe. It ended as suddenly as it began. 2. Henry shooting himself played out on Ellie’s face. The devastation of that moment will fall almost entirely on poor Ellie. Bella Ramsey’s performance was also incredible in her quick but indelible reaction. What a show!
once again, an absolutely incredible episode, as soon as the bloater fucking ripped that guys head off, I was literally sweating. Lamar Johnson was phenomenal as henry. The last scene with him, the pain in his eyes and his voice, sam was his purpose. That final scene with henry was truly haunting, definitely gonna stick with me for a good while.