“The Last of Us” Episode 5 Recap: A Winding Story of Two Brothers

The last of us episode 5 has arrived on HBO and HBO Max Fridayreturning to Ellie and Joel (Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal) after their sleep rudely interrupted by two guys wielding guns. The encounter came as the smuggler and his teenage boyfriend were trying to escape Kansas City.

The Midtwestern town has been taken over by a militant group led by the vengeful Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey Since yellow jackets). Her brother Michael was killed by FEDRA (the Federal Disaster Response Agency), which operates quarantine zones with remnants of the US military and is one of the last remaining elements of the government.

It’s also an interruption to our heroes’ true quest – to bring Ellie to the Fireflies, a rebel group that wants to replicate her immunity to the fungal infection that has turned billions of people into monsters.

The pair holding Ellie and Joel at gunpoint will be familiar to anyone who is played PlayStation game which inspired the series, but fans might be surprised at how much the adaptation adds to their backstory. time for SPOILERS as we dive into dark episode 5.

The Fall of Fedra

The episode opens with a flashback showing how Kathleen’s civilian militia overthrew FEDRA 10 days before Joel and Ellie arrived in town – the people rose up against this oppressive force and practically slaughtered its members in the streets. It’s graphic and gruesome, and 8-year-old Sam (Kevin Woodard) witnesses some of this violence as his older brother Henry (Lamar Johnson) pushes him to hide in an attic.

Talking to a group of captive FEDRA collaborators, Kathleen offers them her mercy in exchange for Henry’s location. One of the people speaks, but she still orders her henchmen to kill the whole group. It seems her quest for revenge has left her without mercy.

Shortly before they leave their hiding place, Henry comforts his younger brother by painting a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bandana (in Raphael red) over his face. It looks great, and it’s a good moment of relief from all the intensity.

Unlike the game, Sam is deaf – so is actor Keivonn Woodard in real life. It’s a fascinating change that makes the character dynamic with Henry and Ellie even more engaging.

Crossroads

Henry spots Joel taking out a group of Kathleen scavengers, and he realizes our hero can help him and Sam get out of town. Despite Joel’s “asshole voice”, they form a tenuous alliance and enter the underground maintenance tunnels.

FEDRA managed to clear the city of the infected by forcing them into these tunnels. Unbeknownst to Kathleen and company, FEDRA has seemingly eliminated the monsters. The camerawork and lighting as our foursome enter the tunnels is also sublime.

We later learn that Henry worked with FEDRA so Sam could get treatment for leukemia. He had to abandon Kathleen’s resistance leader brother for this. Joel initially thinks of Henry as a rat, but eventually recognizes that he was right to do whatever it took to keep Sam safe.

A heartbreaking side story

The sewer living space where Ellie, Joel, Henry, and Sam briefly take a break is empty, but it was clearly a place people managed to survive for a long time. Joel spots a child’s drawing of two people holding guns, with the caption “Danny, Ish, our protectors.”

If this has piqued your curiosity, we learn the whereabouts of these people in-game from scattered notes. This version of events takes place in Pittsburgh, but the show’s names and setting are the same, so it’s likely that events play out the same way. Be careful though, it’s horrible.

Following the outbreak, Susan, Kyle, and their children met a survivor named Ish, who took them to his hideout in the city’s sewer system. Their community of survivors has grown to nearly 50 people (including a guy called Danny), and they’ve carved out a little haven for themselves under the post-apocalyptic hell above.

Unfortunately, despite Ish, Kyle, and Danny’s best efforts to maintain security, the infected eventually entered through “one open door” and ruined everything.

Kyle barricaded himself with a few kids in a room, inadvertently trapping them all. Instead of letting these children starve or become infected, he shot them all, covered them with a sheet and scribbled “They didn’t suffer” on the floor. Then he committed suicide.

“Jesus Christ,” Joel said upon seeing the remains. It’s quite sinister.

Kyle’s wife, Susan, managed to get away with Ish and a few other children, but she was devastated by the loss of her family and tried to return to the sewers. Ish managed to stop him.

“Every part of my being just wants to give up. It would be so easy to surrender to this world. I can’t do that, though. I have too much faith in humanity,” reads his final note. “I saw that we are still capable of doing good. We can do it. I have to stay strong…for her.”

It’s unknown what happened to them after that time, but let’s assume they arrived somewhere safe and lived happily ever after. Sounds likely in this hellish fictional world, right?

The other side

In a sequence that plays out similarly to part of the game, the tunnels lead our heroes to the suburbs, where a sniper’s bullet pierces their jovial atmosphere. Joel manages to sneak in and take the guy out, but not before calling in reinforcements. Kathleen and her henchman Perry lead a massive force to their location, and they trap Ellie, Henry, and Sam.

She understands that Henry betrayed his brother to save Sam, but she clarifies that the children will not be allowed to live.

“Did you ever stop to think maybe he was meant to die?” she says. “That’s what happens when you fuck with fate.”

Just as she prepares to shoot Henry, a mass of infected rises from the basement and slaughters Kathleen’s forces. The big one is known as the Bloater in the games – these late-stage Infected are super tough and strong, as evidenced by this one ripping Perry’s head off right away. Kathleen is killed by a child who has turned into a Clicker, who jumps on her and tears her to shreds.

A dark twist

Ellie, Joel, Sam, and Henry make it out seemingly unscathed and find an old motel to rest up in (it’s also happens pretty much the same in-game). Ellie theatrically reads comics with Sam while the two men sleep in the next room, but the young man is clearly distracted.

“If you turn into a monster, is it still you inside?” he wrote in a note, setting Ellie and us up for an emotional punch.

He reveals to his new pal that he got bitten in the hustle, which is basically a death sentence. Revealing her immunity to Sam, she smears some of his blood on his wound. Which sounds like a good idea, but neither of them seem convinced. None of them make these confessions in-game.

Ellie also agrees to stay awake with nervous Sam, but she dozes off. She wakes to find him sitting with his back to her, soon discovering that the infection has set in. Sam is gone – though his lingering deafness suggests human remains remain – replaced by a savage monster attacking him.

Their scuffle brings them into the room with the adults, where Henry picks up a gun and shoots the little brother he’s sacrificed so much for. He briefly points the gun at Joel before turning it on himself and pulling the trigger.

“Oh my God,” Joel says as he, Ellie, and everyone in the audience try to process this gruesome scene.

Say goodbye

Ellie and Joel bury their lost friends nearby, and the teenager places the reusable Magic Slate notepad she used to talk to Sam on the boy’s grave.

“I’m sorry,” it read.

Although emotionally distraught, the two continue their journey west to find Joel’s brother Tommy and the Fireflies. It was hard.

Episode 6 of The Last of Us is coming to HBO Max next Sunday, February 19.