Episode 4 was shorter than most episodes but packed quite of punch! Not surprising with the show continue to break records for HBO. According to data shared by Deadline, episode 4 was watched by 7.5 million viewers, up 17 percent from the most-praised episode 3. Which that episode earned 6.4 million views the week prior. However, it was such a big departure for the other episodes and seems to stick closer to the game narrative. Let’s dive right in.
Spoilers below… stop reading if you haven’t seen the episode.
Courtesy of HBO/HBO Max
Wandering ways
The episode starts off with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) practicing in the bathroom with the gun she stole from Bill’s house. This will be a pre-requisite as to what comes later on in the episode. Out of curiosity Ellie starts asking Joel questions regarding cars and Joel (Pedro Pascal) even starts spilling out Science lingo which she makes a crack out saying he has no idea what they are saying. The episode continues with bickering back and forth in the car on their way to Kansas. Even with Ellie pulling out the iconic pun book and starts delivering some terrible dad jokes just to make Joel smile.
They even used a scene straight from the game where Ellie pulls out a porno mag and Joel being a typical Dad gets uncomfortable, telling her not to look at that. Not knowing what to say due to being uncomfortable. The scene was important because it shows that their dynamic is starting to soften a bit. Joel is letting Ellie in little by little with her pun jokes and all. The pair then finds themselves in the woods, camping out. Ellie asks if infected will venture out this far and Joel tells her no. It’s others they need to watch out. The others including raiders and such. Ellie continues with the pun book, trying to lighten the mood and get Joel to smile.
No where to go
The next day they make their way back on the road towards Kansas. Joel starts to open up when Ellie starts to ask questions about how he ended up in Boston and he starts opening up to her. He tells her that him, his brother, Tommy and Tess were part of crew. Tommy then meets Marlene and joins the Fireflies to save the world. He starts being cynical and how it’s all a pipe dream. Ellie tells him what is the point to keep going on then if he lost hope. He tells her he keeps going for family.
The pair then comes to a crossroads with nowhere else to go. Blocked by all cars from people who left them in a panic from Outbreak day. Joel finally decides to go backtrack and reassures Ellie they are fine. They find themselves in Kansas City and can’t seem to find the highway. Lost with nowhere to go. We then see a QZ and wonder where is FEDRA. In panic Joel starts to realize they are in trouble with incoming raiders. A man starts stumbling out, pretending he is hurt and Ellie asks if they are going to help him. Joel already knows he is faking it and this is raiders looking to kill them. Chaos starts to consume them from incoming raiders and Joel loses control of the car, crashing it.
They get out of the car and Joel tells Ellie to hide in a hole and don’t come out till he tells her too. She resists at first, but then starts hearing gun shots. Joel then starts to take on all the raiders, killing them one by one. Hearing Joel in trouble and being overtaken by a raider, she shoots him. Shot the raider tries to plead with them for his life. Joel doesn’t want Ellie to see this and tells her to go back in the hole. Ellie then hears him kill him. They make their way out and Joel’s fatherly instincts kick in asking her is she is ok. He thinks this is the first time she has shot a gun. Later on he finds out that’s not the case.
Courtesy of HBO/HBO Max
Here comes trouble
The next scene with meet Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) torturing a man. She is the leader of the raiders and looking for “Henry”. We later find out the reason that she is trying to avenge her brother. She starts to list out everything that this Henry did. She holds a gun to the man who we learn is a doctor that she has known for a long time. We start to get the sense that Henry worked for FEDRA or ratted out to them all the names of the raiders. Her brother being one of them. Who are the raiders? Raiders are a human class of adversaries that usually operate in groups but despite their being human, the first game does little to make us think about the people we’re mowing down.
The game itself doesn’t identify them as much but now they are humanized and given a plot. Given here with Kathleen, we start to sympathize with her and see the hard decisions she has to make with the loss of her brother. Her backstory we yet to find out, but we start to see these people as not being as bad as we think. They are were stuck in a world overrun by the government, sounds familiar? I think we would all do what these people did in this situation. As we learned from the previous episode, FEDRA killed people who didn’t fit inside QZ’s infected or not. We will more than likely learn about more that they did as these episodes continue on.
Laughter in darkness
On her path to vengeance she orders all the raiders to look for Henry and anyone aiding him. Her second in command is Perry (Jeffrey Pierce) who is played by familiar face who originally voiced Tommy in the Last of Us games. We then see Joel and Ellie hidden in an abandoned shop, hiding out from the raiders. The pair start to bond and Joel asks Ellie again if she is ok. He explains to her that she shouldn’t have to do that, that she is just a kid. She finally tells him that wasn’t her first time shooting someone. This gives us a glimpse of her backstory. The game doesn’t really explain who is her first kill but we can guess it was probably her friend Riley who got infected with her. This tragic realization makes it all the more sad on what she had to do so early on to survive. Relenting, Joel finally gives her the gun and teaches her how to use it. He tells her to only use it for emergencies and put it in her back. They start to leave the shop once the coast is clear. Joel turns to look at Ellie and tells her we’ll get through this. In that moment we know he will do anything to protect her by any means necessary.
Kathleen and Perry start to look through all the buildings trying to see where their intruders are. They go into an abandoned building finding an attic. There she comes across the hiding spot of Henry. We learn Henry is with another person called Sam and see all these drawings of superheroes on the wall. She tells Perry to seal off the building when they come across something underground.. In the upcoming episode we find out it will be a Bloater. The worst of the infected.
Joel and Ellie find a building they can seek shelter in and go up 30 or more flights or till Joel can make it. While going up Ellie asks him how he knew that guy wasn’t infected. He tells her that he has been on both sides. Out of breath they finally stop at the 33rd Floor. Spent Joel falls to the fall exhausted and Ellie makes a crack at him being a lazy ass. He then starts to sprinkle a whole bunch of glass on the floor. Confused, Ellie ask as to why he tells her that we will hear when someone sneaks up on us. Before they go to sleep, Joel asks Ellie about what she meant it wasn’t her first time. She tells him she doesn’t want to talk about. He starts to feel sorry for her. To break the tension she tells him a joke about Diarria being hereditary and running in their genes. She finally makes him laugh and victoriously tells him so. They both start to giggle and shows how close they are becoming. When then hear Ellie and see she is being held at gunpoint by who learn to be in Episode 5, Henry and Joel finally looks and sees Sam holding him at gunpoint. We know they will both become a bigger part in their story thanks to the games.
Below courtesy of HBO is a trailer on what is to come for Episode 5 and thanks to the Superbowl this episode will be on Friday instead of Sunday:
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.
