Episode three came as quite a surprise last Sunday night. In one of the most controversial and a beautifully put together masterpiece, we were given a reprieve from the usual grim outlook of the show. We got the love story of Bill and Frank. Lets dive right in.
Spoilers below… stop reading if you haven’t seen the episode.
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The calm before the storm
The episode starts off without the dreaded backstory on how this all came to be. Instead it starts off by showing our main protagonists Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) walking 10 miles away from Boston. You can sense the tension between them after everything that happened with Tess last episode. Joel doesn’t seem to want to talk. Ellie even tries to talk to him and make him understand that it wasn’t his or her fault with what happened. He nods in understanding and they begin their journey. Joel still remains guarded and starts to talk about Frank, who they are going to see for supplies.
They come across a place Joel has supplies stashed called Cumberland Farms. Ellie starts to get curious, even playing with a broken game machine and explaining to Joel she heard about these excitedly. She starts to look around and finds a trapped door underneath. Going down there out of curiosity. Seeing nothing at first but then spotting and hearing an infected who is trapped under debris. She gets close to it and starts to realize that there really is a person in there, but she takes her knife and cuts them on their forehead seeing it completely consumed by fungus underneath. Using her knife she stabs the infected to take them out their misery.
In the game it’s never really explained if these infected people are conscious to what is happening to them, but this is the first glimpse to where we can see that they are. There are different types of injected. The first are the runners who appear to experience hair loss, discolored skin accompanied with lesions, and bloodshot eyes. Stalkers are the second stage and can be seen with significant fungal growth around their eyes and shoulders. Skin will begin to peel from the face, sometimes causing the nose to fall off, as the fungus begins to break open the skull. Clickers are the third stage and are horrifically disfigured by the infection. By this stage, the skull has been split open due to advanced fungal growth on the brain, growing over or outright destroying the host’s eyes, leaving only a maw of teeth which are rotten and jagged. Their skin is covered in mold and scaly fungal growths. Bloaters are the fourth stage and the fungal growth on these are so advanced that it begins to form armored plates on the host, while also causing the body to bloat significantly. Clusters of pods filled with mycotoxin will begin to sprout from the body, which can be ripped off and thrown by the host. The fungus also seems to offer the host some protection against the elements, such as the cold. When the host is killed or dies from advanced fungal growth, the fungus continues to grow throughout the body, eventually emitting spores. There are more types but will more than likely be introduced in the second season.
A turning point
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The episode continues on as Joel and Ellie start to make their way to Franks. Elle starts asking Joel how this all started to be and he explains to her how this all started with the cordyceps being able to mutate into our food supply such as grains, cereal and pancake mix. Which brings us back to the first episode as to how the next door neighbor gets infected. He explains that if you eat enough of it, that is how you got infected. They then come across a clearing with skeletons and Joel explains that on Outbreak day soldiers told civilians they were going to a QZ and if their wasn’t room they were killed.
We are then brought back to September 30, 2003, Outbreak day. Here we meet Bill (Nick Offerman) , doing everything he can to survive in his bunker underneath his house. He has a whole bunch of surveillance equipment set up to see what the soldiers are doing. He surveys them in his house, waiting for them to leave. Once the coast is clear he comes out with his gun raised and realizes everyone has left. Then we are shown a bunch of clips on how Bill takes over the whole town and makes it his own. Gathering equipment, gas, food and anything needed to survive this apocalyptical world. Even building an electrical fence to keep the infected out.
Now we are taken to four years later, Bill gets a notification that someone is by the fence. He goes out to check, gun raised and comes across Frank (Murray Bartlett). Who is completely by himself, stuck in a hole from his group that he lost from the Baltimore QZ. Bill offers him a way out. He scans him to see if he is not injected, which he isn’t. This is a man who has completely lost hope in humanity. Hardened with all that has happened he is adamant about offering food or shelter to Frank. Bill then relents and offers him a shower and clothes.
He still doesn’t trust him but Frank starts to make him open up. Where Bill is all darkness, Frank is all light and seeing the positive in everything left in this hopeless place. Bill makes him a 5 star course meal paired with wine. Frank is overwhelmed and doesn’t remember the last time he has eaten like this. Being gracious as ever Frank says his thanks and is about to leave till he goes to the piano and starts to play. Bill just awkwardly stands there and doesn’t know how to act. He was so used to being alone. Emotional he tells him to stop and Frank gestures for him to play. Dejectedly Bill starts to play and sing a very beautiful ballad that rings true to both of them. The lyrics hitting them both and realizing they both don’t want to be alone. Overcome by their emotions they start to emotionally kiss. This starts their beautiful relationship.
Love always wins
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Even in the darkest of times love can manage to overcome just that. The pair start to make love and Frank tells Bill that he will stay with him for a couple of days. Switch to three years later we see them both fighting and bickering about the world around them. Frank just wants some normalcy and some paint and Bill just wants to keep them isolated. Frustrated Frank tells him he wants to do normal things and fix some shops in town. He tells Bill he wants some friends. Then tells him he is talking to a women on the radio who we then learn is Tess. Cue the next scene, we see Tess, Joel, Frank and Bill all sitting down for lunch working together on an mission.
Bill holds onto his gun and Joel realizes he doesn’t trust anyone except Frank. He tells him that they are decent people and mean no harm. He still doesn’t trust them but let’s go of his gun. Joel tells him he has a year tops left on that fence, but Frank doesn’t listen to him.
One they leave Frank tells Bill he traded his gun for strawberry seeds. They take the strawberries and start to eat them in happiness. It’s the little things they start to remember about a time of how it was before the world became this way. One moment of happiness till all hell breaks loose and we see raiders trying to get into the fence that Joel told him was going to break. Frank runs outside seeing Bill shot and severely hurt. He brings him inside and starts to tend to him, but Bill thinks he doesn’t have much time left. Telling him to call Joel and not to stay by himself. Frank stubbornly doesn’t listen to him and takes care of him.
Ten years later we see the pair outside, much older with Frank in a wheelchair. Hardly being able to paint but trying anyway. We can see he is clearly sick but fighting to carry on for Bill. Caring for him Bill gives Frank his pills and staying by his side carrying him to bed. When times are the hardest we always stick to the people we love no matter what. The next morning, Frank tells Bill this is his last day. Bill can’t believe what he is saying and tries to convince him to live. Emotional he can’t accept why, but Frank makes him understand that he can’t live on like this. He tells him he has bad many bad days but more good days. He tells him what he wants to do and says that they will get married finally, cook a delicious dinner and crush all the pills up to put in the wine. We are then given a beautiful montage of the pair doing everything on his last day. Cue the tears, they are at the last meal with it being the first meal Bill cooked for Frank when they met. At the last scene of the pair, we see Bill crush the pills and put them in Frank’s wine. Frank realizes there is more pills in the bottle of wine. Bill tells him that he was his purpose and wants to die with him. Frank is angry but then says it’s incredibly romantic and we see Bill take Frank into the bedroom where they will both die in bed.
Finally we see Joel and Ellie at the fence getting in thanks to the code Frank told him. They enter the house looking for them. Ellie thinks they are gone. We see the half done painting Frank painted and Ellie finding a note. She then begins to read it and they both realize they are dead. Bill leaves Joel the key to the house for anything that they will need. The letter explains everything that happened. He left him all his weapons and equipment to keep and Tess, who didn’t know was dead safe.
Joel finally goes outside all emotional, everything hitting him at once. He goes in the garage finding a truck and a car battery. Everything that he will need to get to his brother and the Fireflies. Going back inside he asks Ellie to show her his arm. Finally believing that she is the cure all along he explains that his brother is out in Wyoming and is connected to the Fireflies. He gives her some ground rules as they start their journey to leave. They grab what they can from Bills to bring with them. Even grabbing clothes and taking a shower. Straight out the game Ellie is wearing the infamous red shirt. Stumbling upon a gun downstairs Ellie take it and hides it. They both get into the truck and Joel realizes this is Ellie’s first time. It ends with them listening to an old song from Linda Ronstadt leaving while we see an open window.
Below courtesy of HBO is a trailer on what is to come for Episode 4:
Cast includes Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker also star in the series.
Brace yourselves because we are going to be in for quite a ride. New episodes of HBO’s The Last of Us will be airing on Sunday at 9:00 PM EST, running up to the Season 1 finale on March 12, 2023.
