The Last of Us HBO version continues on its merry way, again deploying a pronounced respect for the plot of the video game. After episode 6 in the form of a breather, the stakes become even more personal for Joel and Ellie, as the freezing winter becomes the scene of bloody events.
We are already on the home stretch of The Last of Us ! After the introduction, the first obstacles, an excellent parallel episode, the arc in Kansas City and the unprecedented arrival in Jackson, it’s time for winter! A crucial period in video games, given thatthis is a chapter mainly dedicated to Ellie. Indeed, the episodes “Left Behind” and “When We Are in Need” faithfully adapt the famous DLC of the video game, as well as the intense confrontation with the community of David.
The Last of Us : Left Behind
As a reminder, after the release of The Last of Us in summer 2013, Naughty Dog had the good idea to release a 3-4 hour DLC on Valentine’s Day 2014. Entitled “Left Behind”, the latter was inserted at the same time than for the series, namely right after Joel’s near-fatal injury following their Colorado getaway. The opportunity to play on two temporalities, where Ellie was looking for drugs in the present, and remembering an important episode from her past!
Episode 7 (the only episode directed by a woman, namely Lisa Johnson) therefore adapts the famous DLC with real fidelity, focusing above all on the flashback element: the day Ellie was bitten by an infected, more than a month before she met Joel and Tess. The opportunity therefore to discover who this famous Riley is, and to relive a good number of passages directly inherited from the DLC of 2014.
Neil Druckmann wrote this episode entirely, hence the extremely faithful character to the whole. After an introductory sequence at the FEDRA school, we discover Riley, played by Storm Reid (Euphoria, The Suicide Squad). This 17-year-old teenager returns from a long stay outside Boston, when she was recruited by the Fireflies. The tension between the two best friends is palpable given that Ellie has still not digested this departure, but Riley effectively manages to lighten the atmosphere. Like always, the chemistry between the actresses hits the mark, and carries the whole episode !
What we fight for
The spectator can thus rediscover this famous getaway in the shopping center, with its share of references (the arcade terminal, the carousel, the Halloween masks, the dance on ” I Got You Babe“, the photo booth…) digested and of course the famous kiss between Ellie and Riley. A pivotal point for Ellie (which will find its repercussions in The Last of Us Part II), just after Riley decides to stay with her for love.
Of course, this short moment in levitation will be interrupted by an infected, which will bite the two young girls. So follow the duo’s final moments, eager to fight every second they have left to live. The rest we know: Ellie miraculously survived, and decides in 2023 to do everything so that Joel can survive his abdominal injury. It is from this moment that things go wrong!
blood stained winter
Episode 8 is directed by Ali Abbasi (Nights of Mashhad) and begins from the point of view of David’s community. A segment highly anticipated by fans and for good reason: the player was playing Ellie for the first time, forced to hunt herself. It was in this context that she met David (played by Nolan North, aka Nathan Drake), a curious leader of a group of survivors who resorted to cannibalism to survive.
The series adaptation adds a dimension of a religious prophet to the latter, guiding his lost sheep with gentleness, but also an iron fist when circumstances require it (the slap!). An addition not necessarily necessary at first sight, but providing an additional degree of embodiment to characters we initially only saw as NPCs out to get us (a pity not to see them again afterwards, to believe that they completely disappear from the plot), and who appear here as survivors ready to do anything to protect their own (like any individual in The Last of Us).
Survival at all costs
“When We Are in Need” therefore focuses on the Ellie-David relationship (impeccably interpreted by Scott Shepherd), and on the symbolic resurrection of Joel, ready to break his knees to save his protege. If we deplore a limited number of opponents, Joel always lets show the individual that he could be in the past: extremely violent and dangerous (survival at all costs!). Bonus point: Troy Baker (the original interpreter of Joel) embodies here James, David’s underling!
David’s attraction-repulsion towards Ellie is also well transcribed there (here again his nature as a self-proclaimed guide is highlighted), in sequences repeated as they are: the revelations by the fireside (Joel did indeed kill one of their members in episode 6), the dialogue in the cell, and of course the final altercation in the restaurant engulfed in flames. A total respect, but which (again) greatly reduces the graphic character and the degree of overall viscerality.
Direction Salt Lake City
Brief, The Last of Us therefore presents us with a Joel and an Ellie this time more united than ever, but something has changed in Ellie. In addition to the resurgences of the loss of Riley, the young teenager now understands the increased violence of this lawless world. Survival at all costs, of course, but losing its humanity somewhat : this will obviously be the main subject of episode 9 “Look for Light”, concluding this Season 1.
