‘The Last Of Us’ Episode 3 Spoiler-Free Review

TV & Film

Jan 30

Joel and Ellie walking in the woods — Image Source: HBO Max

The newest episode of HBO’s The Last of Us is here, and for those of us that have not played the game, it came as a complete surprise. The episode was a change of pace from the first two episodes and left many of us with heavy hearts and very wet eyes.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US EPISODES 1 AND 2 AND POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE GAME

The episode picks up 10 miles west of Boston and sees Joel reeling from the loss of Tess. While he is still traveling with Ellie, he clearly blames her for Tess’ death, and she addresses it early on in the episode. Ellie reminds Joel that he and Tess chose to take her with them because they knew that they could use her to get a car battery, so Tess’ death was not her fault. While this does not make Joel feel better, he does accept her reasoning and treats her better. We also get our first look at the nature outside of the city, and it is stunning. There are mountains, trees, and clear streams where they can clean themselves and gather fresh water.

As the pair makes their way to a main road we see a plane crash, and a mass grave along the road, and learn that they are headed towards Bill and Frank who are characters we haven’t met yet. Joel explains that the pandemic started on Thursday, got worse on Friday, and by Monday, everything they knew was gone. It reflects what it was like for us during the COVID-19 pandemic and how quickly everything was shut down. This also makes the idea of this happening even scarier since we have something similar to compare it to.

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Joel explains the horrors of the mass graves and the reality of what the military was doing to people even if they weren’t infected. This acts as the catalyst for the first of many flashbacks in the episode, and we are taken back to 2003. We watch as the military empties a small town of its residents, and we meet Bill, a survivalist who hides from the military and then turns the town into a safe zone for himself.

Fours year later, he meets Frank and what ensues is many years of companionship and one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever seen. The episode ends with Joel and Ellie making it to Bill and Frank’s home where they are able to gather supplies and get a working truck. The two then head toward Wyoming to find Tommy.

This was one of the most beautiful episodes of a show I have ever seen. It moved at a slower pace than the first two, but it brought up an interesting question: What happens to those that choose to not fight their way through life and simply want to live with the one they love? This masterpiece of an episode felt like a full-length film even though it was only an hour and twenty-eight minutes long. There was very little action, but we got one of the best LGBTQIA+ couples on television. While the episode was mostly about Bill and Frank, the life they created, and how they built a friendship with Joel and Tess, we did get some great scenes between Joel and Ellie. One of the best aspects of the episode was seeing how she is becoming like a daughter to him, which I assume is why he is struggling with her so much.

I did have a thought while watching this episode after learning about the reasoning for the mass grave. In the first episode, we met a young child that wandered into Boston and was killed after the scanner showed red. The child showed no signs of infections and the wound was not examined. What if FEDRA is killing people that may be immune like Ellie, but they don’t know because they are killing anyone with a red scan? I hope this is explored as we get further into the season.