So, now its time for the final part of my review of The Last of US TV show based on the acclaimed video game and here I will look at episode 7 and 8 of the series and see how they compare to the game. I was going to do the finale episode together with 7 and 8 but I figured I would do that as a single post of its own instead, so that will possible on from this.
And the usual warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
Episode 7 - Left Behind
So, episode 7 is based on the game's DLC of the same title, Left Behind and is primarily a flashback story surrounding Ellie's last night with her best friend Riley as they sneak out and find an abandoned shopping mall.
And the episode begins with Ellie looking after Joel, who was badly wounded in the previous episode with a stab wound. And Joel pleads with Ellie to leave him and travel, which Ellie considers as she moves to the door but then she thinks back to the events that lead up to her being infected.
So, the story shifts back by 3 months to when Ellie was in a military boarding school run by FEDRA and in the school, Ellie get's into a fight with one of the cadets. Ellie is later taken to Captain Kwong (Terry Chen) who tells her she should follow the rules as she could become a leader one day of FEDRA.
Ellie later on that night encounters an intruder sneaking into her room, who turns out to be her best friend, Riley (Storm Reid) who had run away a few weeks ago previously. Riley tells Ellie that she joined up with the Fireflies (who are opposed to FEDRA) much to Ellie's surprise but also says she wants to take Ellie somewhere special which turns out to be an abandoned mall. In the mall, Ellie to her delight has some first experiences of a using an escalator, riding a carousel, a photo booth and finally an arcade where they both play each other at Mortal Kombat II.
However during their time there, Ellie discovers Riley has some homemade bombs and Riley tells Ellie that the Fireflies are moving her to Atlanta and that she took Ellie here to say goodbye for she leaves. Ellie storms off in a huff but soon returns on hearing a scream, which just turns out to be a ghoul puppet in the mall. Riley asks Ellie to forgive and to lighten the mood, Riley puts on a song and they put on some Halloween masks and dance. Afterward they remove their masks and share a moment where Ellie tearfully asks Riley not to go and Riley agrees and they both kiss.
However, they are then interrupted by an infected stalker, who attacks them both and between them they manage to finally kill the infected. Riley however indicates to Ellie that she has been bitten on her arm, much to Ellie's horror and Riley herself has been bitten on her hand. Together they tearfully sit with one another and decide what they should do before they turn into infected themselves and Riley suggests they should wait it out and lose their minds together and sit and hug each other.
The story then moves to the present where Ellie makes her decision to stay and save Joel as she desperately rummages through some drawers to find something to help Joel and she discovers a needle and thread. Ellie then runs back to Joel and holds his hand tight and begins to stitch up his wound with the needle and thread in an effort to save him.
THOUGHTS
Left Behind is easily one of the best episodes of the series so far and it is beautifully played by both Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid who plays Riley as they bring the DLC perfectly to life on the small screen. And their story is charming, funny and heartbreaking all at once as these two best friends have a great time and even discover their love for each other before it all comes to a tragic end when they are bitten by an infected who was in the mall. Pedro this time takes a back seat in the episode given the main focus is on the story of Ellie and Rilley and that Joel is gravely wounded there isn't much for him to do anyway. But this episode definitely works really well and given the DLC is part of the game, it certainly deserves its own episode here.
PERFORMANCES
As for the performances they are superb in this episode and both Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid are terrific here and share a great chemistry with one another as Ellie and Riley.
Starting with Bella, who easily gives her best performance here so far in the series as she shows a whole range of emotions here from anger, joy, fear, love and sadness all rolled perfectly into one episode.
And Bella has numerous highlights in this episode that include the scene where Riley sneaks into Ellie's room at the FEDRA school. And Riley sees Ellie's scar from her fight earlier on and Riley says "Tell me who did it and I'll fuck them up!" and Ellie tells her "I already fucked them up!". Ellie than asks Riley "Tell me where the hell you've been these last 3 weeks!" and Riley admits "I joined the Fireflies" and she shows Ellie a tattoo on her stomach and Ellie surprised says "Holy shit! You actually did it!!" and Riley says "I said I was going to wasn't I?". Riley then says to Ellie "I want you to come with me and have the best night of your life".
Then there is the scene where Ellie enters the mall and Riley turns the power on and lights up the mall for Ellie to see it properly. And Riley says to Ellie "Tonight I'm going to show you the wonders of the mall!" as Ellie looks on in amazement. And then after this, Ellie rides the escalator and says "Shit! What is this?!" and Riley tells her "Its called an escalator" and Ellie says "Wow! This is so fucking cool!" as she runs up and down it.
And then there is the scene where Riley gives Ellie a book of puns (the one Ellie has on her throughout the series). So, Riley produces the pun book and says "Ta-da!" and Ellie excitedly says "Shut up! They made a second one! Where did you get that?" and Riley reads from it "What did the frustrated cannibal do?" and Ellie says "Lay it on me" and Riley says "He threw up his hands" and they both laugh. Ellie then says "Gimme. I want a go!" and she takes the book and reads one "What did the triangle say to the circle?" and Riley feigns uncertainty "Oh...." and Ellie says "You're so pointless!". Ellie then reads another "How does a computer get drunk? It takes screenshots!" and they laugh and Riley asks "What are screenshots?" and Ellie says "I don't know!".
Another great scene is when Ellie finds out that Riley has been making bombs for the Fireflies and she storms off in a huff and shouts "None of this shit was about me was it?!". Riley then goes after her and says to Ellie "Tonight's my last night in Boston" and Ellie angrily asks "Why did you bring me here? and Riley says "Because I wanted to see you" and Ellie asks "And..." and Riley tells her "And I wanted to say goodbye. This isn't easy, Ellie" and Ellie spitefully says "It is, you just said it. Goodbye!" and she storms off.
And last of all is the scene where Ellie and Riley both dance with one another wearing their masks and they take them off and share a laugh and a moment as they stare at each other. And Ellie emotionally looks at Riley and says to her "Don't go" and Riley smiles and says "Okay" and Ellie suddenly kisses Riley and they both smile and Ellie says "I'm sorry" and Riley just smiles and says "For what?" and they both giggle. Ellie then asks "What do we do now?" and Riley smiles and says "We'll figure it out" but then they are both interrupted by the infected who attacks them both and after a struggle they kill the infected but soon discover they are both bitten. And this gives us the best moment from Bella Ramsey in the entire series up to this point where Ellie looks down at her bite mark on her arm and screams "No, no, no, no!! NO!!!!!!" as she frantically rubs her arm and looks in horror at Riley who reveals the bite on her hand. Its a great moment without a doubt and worthy of an Emmy nomination alone for Bella, who if she isn't nominated for one next year, it will be a total insult!
Storm Reid next up is great in her role as Riley, Ellie's best friend who has joined the Fireflies and comes back to share one last night with Ellie before she leaves but their night ends with tragic circumstances. And Storm is easily up to the task of holding her won with Bella in her role and makes Riley a likeable rebel and their friendship is both funny and heartbreaking all at once.
And Storm has her share of great scenes that include the one where Rile first sneaks into Ellie's room and she tells Ellie she joined the Fireflies. And Ellie asks Riley "Why didn't you tell me about any of this?!" and Riley says "I don't know. I just panicked. And I ran and the longer I was away, the harder it was for me to come back, does that make sense?". Ellie then says "No, I get it. I wouldn't have gone back to ya know" and Riley smiles and says "You know, you're the one thing I missed from that fucking place...if that makes a difference" and Ellie smiles.
And there is the scene where they enter the mall and Riley asks Ellie "What did you think?" and Ellie looks on amazed and says "This is...Wait what about the lights?" and Riley reassures her "Its alright, this is basically just a big bunker. No one can see shit but us and besides its just me and you. And you ain't seen nothin yet! Tonight I'm gonna show you the four wonders of the mall!".
Then there is the scene where Ellie discovers the homemade bombs that Riley has made and she makes to leave angrily. So, in the scene Ellie says to Riley "So you leave me. I think you're dead. All of a sudden, you're alive. And you give me this night... this amazing fucking night. And now you're leaving again. Forever. To join some cause I don't even think you understand. Tell me I'm wrong!". And Riley says "I think... that you don't know everything. You don't know what it was like to have a family. To belong. I mean, I didn't have them for long, but I had them. I belonged to them. And I want that again. Maybe the Fireflies aren't what I think they are, but they chose me. I matter to them" and Ellie tells her "You mattered to me first!". And Ellie asks Riley "Why did you bring me here?" and Riley says "Tonight is my last night in Boston and because I wanted to see you...and this isn't easy Ellie" but Ellie says "It is, you just said it, goodbye!" and she storms out.
And last of all is the emotional scene where after Ellie and Riley have both been bitten they tearfully sit with one another. But before that, Ellie smashes the glass in some display cabinets as she screams "GODDAMN IT!!!!" and finally collapses and Riley calmly tells her "There's some more shit over there if you want to break something else". Ellie then sits down next to Riley and Ellie asks "What are we going to do?" and Riley says "Well the way I see it we have two options. One...we take the easy way out. Its quick and painless. No, no, I don't like option one. Option two is that we just keep going". Ellie tearfully says "What are you talking about?! Its over" and Riley says "It will be...but not yet but whether its two years or two minutes, we don't give that up" and they hold each others hands. Riley then tearfully says "We can be all poetic and shit and just lose our minds together" and Ellie asks "What is option three?" and Riley in tears says "I'm sorry" and they both hug and I'm getting sad just typing this!!!
As for Pedro, well he doesn't have much to do in this episode as he mainly just lies on the floor and his one notable scene is where he tells Ellie to abandon him and leave him behind but Ellie refuses to and later of course stitches up his wound with a needle and thread.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Left Behind is a great episode, which is beautifully funny, touching and tragic all at once and its emotional pay off with Ellie and Riley is another big one that packs a real punch. It also showcases two superb performances by Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid and this is definitely some of Bella's finest work in the series so far and it will be criminal if she doesn't get an Emmy nomination for her work on this series as she just gets better and better as it goes on. And there are some minor differences from the game DLC here and there but for the most part it is faithful to the DLC's story and is easily one of the highlights of the series so far.
So, I will rate Left Behind
9 out of 10
Episode 8 - When We Are In Need
So, episode 8 sees things carry on from where the previous one left off with Ellie taking care of Joel, who is badly wounded from his stab wound and she runs into a seemingly benign person named David, who offers her to come back to religious group but he's not all he seems.
And the episode begins with Ellie hunting for deer to get something to eat as she also cares for Joel, who's wound has now turned infectious. Ellie soon encounters two men David (Scott Shepherd) and James (Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in the games) and David offers to help her as Ellie asks them if they have medicine for infections and David says they do have penicillin and Ellie offers them half the deer in exchange for the medicine and David tells James to go back for it. David in the meantime sits with Ellie and reveals that one of his men were killed by a man traveling with a girl, which makes Ellie immediately suspicious and James soon returns with the penicillin and David allows Ellie to leave. Ellie then returns to give Joel the injection to save his infection.
The next day however, David then heads back out with his men to find Ellie's whereabouts and to get revenge for the death of the man, Alec, that Joel killed in episode 6 that stabbed him. Ellie on hearing them coming, draws them away from their hideout riding horseback but she is shot off her horse by James. David takes Ellie back to his community, which is run as a religious cult and locks her in a cage and she notices a severed ear lying on the ground and from this we see that David has been feeding his group the dead bodies of their group, which they are not aware of. David also offers Ellie to join their group and even lead it with him but Ellie refuses and breaks David's finger and he angrily leaves.
Meanwhile Joel awakens and has slowly recovered from his wounds and kills one of David's men who enters the hideout. Joel then knocks out and brutally interrogates two more of David's men and forces them to show where Ellie has been taken to on a map and as one of the men shows Joel on the map, Joel stabs the man to death and the other terrified man says he wont tell him anything and Joel coldly says "Its ok. I believed him!" and he beats the man to death with a pipe.
Back at the community, David drags Ellie out of her cage and prepares to kill her with a meat cleaver but she tells him that she is infected and shows her the bite on her arm and warns him that he is infected too now as she bite his hand. Ellie manages to escape and kill James with the cleaver in the process and David follows her. Ellie sneaks into the steakhouse and throws a broken piece of wood on fire that sets the house alight, David tries to reason with Ellie who attacks him but he pins down her down on the ground. David then tries to rape Ellie but she manages to grab his cleaver and viciously stabs him to death with it in a blind rage.
Ellie later on stumbles outside, traumatized by the experience, Joel runs into her and she screams at first until she sees it is him and then sobs and hugs him and Joel holds her and says the words "Its OK baby girl! I got you. I got you" as Joel gives Ellie his jacket and they walk away from the smouldering steakhouse.
THOUGHTS
When We Are In Need for me is hands down the best episode of the series as it is a very powerful, at times disturbing but unquestionably gripping episode that sees some superb performances especially from Bella Ramsey and Scott Shepherd who as Ellie and David engage in a psychological battle with each other throughout. And yes the episode does yet lack the presence of any infected, which did upset some fans particularly as there is a scene in the game where Ellie and David work together and fight off some infected when they first meet and he gains her trust before showing his more sinister side whereas here Ellie mistrusts David from the start. However, I think the battle of the minds works so well here in the episode that you don't really need the infected scene and the series tries to push the angle that infected wouldn't be found in more isolated areas unlike the game where they are everywhere.
They also decided to go with the idea of David being something of a religious cult leader who has found God and preaches to his community even though most of them are unaware that they are being fed the flesh of the dead bodies in the group. And you could maybe argue the religious themes feel a bit cliched but the idea of David hiding the cannibalism from his community is altogether a better and more twisted idea than them just being cannibals in the game.
PERFORMANCES
As for the performances, starting with Bella Ramsey, this is hands down her best performance in the whole series as she gives her absolute all in this episode showing Ellie's raw emotions from anger, fear to absolute blind rage as she fights for her life against David.
And Bella has so many highlights in this episode that include the scene where David having locked her up in a cage, returns with some food on a plate, which slides through to her. David tells her "For what its worth, its just deer meet. I swear" and Ellie notices the severed ear on the floor and she says "You're gonna chop me up into little pieces" and David says "I'd rather not. Please tell me your name. If you want to judge me..." and Ellie shouts at him "Judge you?! You're EATING PEOPLE! You sick fuck!" and she kicks away the plate. And they talk for a bit and David then rests his hand on the cage and Ellie reaches out her hand and puts it on his as David tries to get her trust. However then Ellie breaks David's finger and he cries out and steps back and angrily says "You little cunt!" and Ellie says "Ellie." and David asks "What?" and Ellie says "Tell them all Ellie was the little girl that broke your FUCKING FINGER!!!" and David threatens her "What was it you said? Tiny little pieces??!".
And this is followed by the scene where David and James drag Ellie out of the cage and put her on a table and prepare to kill her with a butcher knife. And Ellie screams "Wait!!! Wait!!" and James tells her "Shut up!" and Ellie begs "Wait, wait, wait!! Please don't do it! Please don't do it!" but David says to her "You had your chance!" and as David lifts the cleaver into the air, Ellie yells "I'M INFECTED!!" and she says to him "Look at my arm, roll up my sleeve! Look at it!!" and they do and see the bit mark on her arm. Ellie then says "I'm infected and now are you" as we see the bite mark on David's hand and Ellie says "Like you said, everything happens for a reason right?"
And then there is the brutal scene where David pins down Ellie and tries to rape her and she manages to grab his cleaver and stabs him with it 22 times screaming with rage and terror and grief all at once before she finally stops with her face all covered with blood. We then see Ellie emerge from the smoking steakhouse only to bump into Joel and she screams "NO! GET OFF OF ME!! GET OFF!" and Joel tries to calm her down and says "Its ok! Its me! Its me!!" and Ellie sees him and calms down a little but she can barely speak and only manages "He..." as she sobs and hugs Joel and Joel warmly holds her and says "Its ok, baby girl. I got you, I got you". Its easily one of the most powerful and emotional moments in the show when Joel calls her "baby girl" the same as he did with his daughter Sarah as he now sees Ellie as his own daughter. This is the stuff that Emmy and BAFTA award winning performances are made of, just incredible stuff from Bella throughout.
Pedro Pascal is also really good once again here although he doesn't really appear properly toward the end of the episode as Joel still recovering from his stab wound and thanks to Ellie treating his wounds with penicillin, he makes a recovery and begins his search for her.
And Pedro has two notable scenes in the episode starting with the one where he brutally tortures two of David's men to find out where Ellie is being held. And I actually have to say I really felt sorry for the men Joel tortures here as the creator of the show Craig Mazon does a good job at making these men basically human and fearful for their lives in live or death situations similar to when Joel kills Bryan in Episode 4.
And in the scene one of the men, Marco says to Joel "Please leave him alone" and Joel threatens him "You're next" and the other man, Timothy says "Please, I don't know any girl" and Joel then stabs him in his knee and Timothy screams "FUCK!! Jesus! Marco!!" and Joel hits him on the face and says "He can't help you. Focus right here. Or i'll pop off your fuckin knee-cap". Timothy manages to say "She's alive" and Joel twists the knife in and asks "Where?" and Timothy in great pain says "The town" and Joel yells "WHAT TOWN????!!!" and Timothy says "Silver Lake!" and Joel pulls out a map and Timothy says "Its not a real town. Its a resort".
Joel then pulls the knife out of Timothy's knee and shoves the handle of the knife into his mouth and points to the map and says "You're gonna point to where we are and where your resort is. And it better bet the same exact spot your buddy points to". Timothy leans forward and points the knife to a spot on the map and releases the knife from his mouth and he pleads "That's where we are. Go ask him. He'll tell you. I'm not lying!". Joel then plunges the knife deep into Timothy's chest and Marco shouts out in horror "JESUS!!! Why the fuck did you do that?! He told you what he wanted!!". Joel then walks over to Marco and grabs a lead pipe and Marco tearfully says to Joel "You motherfucker. Fuck you. I ain't telling you shit!" and Joel says "Its OK. I believed him!" and he swings the pipe down on Marco and we cut to black.
And last of all is the memorable scene at the end where Ellie having just brutally killed David, stumbles outside into the snow in a daze, Joel then runs up to her from behind and she screams "NO!! GET OFF OF ME!! GET OFF!". Joel then tries to calm her down and says "Its OK! Its OK! Its me! Its me!" and Ellie begins to sob and tries to tell Joel what happened with David "He..." and she hugs him and Joel warmly holds and comforts her saying "Its OK, baby girl. I got you. I got you" and the two of them leave together. It certainly is one of the most powerful scenes in the series and indeed the game as it packs quite an emotional punch and its just a pity that it took such extreme circumstances for them to finally truly bond as adopted father and daughter.
Scott Shepherd next up is terrific in his role as David, the creepy leader of a religious group who appears to be benign but is in reality a predatory cannibal who wants Ellie for his own depraved ends. And Shepherd does a phenomenal job in the role even better than Nolan North did in the game as his David is even more creepy and sinister than the David in the game given that he deceives his group into thinking they are eating deer meat but are in fact eat the flesh of dead bodies while preaching the faith of God to them all at the same time!
And Shepherd has his share of great scenes in this episode that include the one where David and Ellie share a fire together not long after they first meet and David sends James off to get medicine for Joel and he explains that their meeting is not by chance. So, David tells Ellie "See I believe everything happens for a reason. For example, one of our group, Alec was a man with a family and a little girl and he was killed recently by a crazy man, who was also seen with a little girl" and Ellie suddenly flinches and David smiles and says "You see? Everything does happen for a reason".
Another great scene is where David has Ellie locked in a cage and he talks of his group and that he is a preacher and Ellie says "Is this some weird cult thing?" and David smiles and says "Well you got me there. I am a preacher but just pretty standard bible stuff". Ellie says "The whole world ended and you still believe that shit?" and David says "I actually believed it after the world ended. Before that I was a math teacher. Math. Taught kids your age". David then says "Well...I found God after the apocalypse, which is either the best time or worst time to find him".
Then there is the great scene where David tries to reason with Ellie while she is locked in the cage and tells her "You see a lot. So do I. And you know what I see when I look at you? Me. You remind me of me. You're a natural leader, you're smart...you're loyal. Violent" and Ellie unsettled by this says "You don't anything about me". David however tells Ellie "I do. If I let you out that cage right now and put that knife in your hands, you'd stick me in a second. You have a violent heart. And I should know, I've always had a violent heart". And as he approaches her, he puts his hand on the cage bar and Ellie seemingly puts her hand on his as he tries to convince her to join him but she twists his hand instead and tries to grab his keys and he pushes her back. David then gets up and says "You little cunt!" and Ellie tells her name to him "Ellie" and David asks "What?" and Ellie says "Tell them Ellie is the little girl that broke your FUCKING FINGER!!" and David threatens her "What is it you said? Tiny little pieces?!".
And lastly there is the great scene where Ellie narrowly escapes being cleaved by David and runs away into the steakhouse and David tries to find her. So, David says to Ellie who is hiding "Ellie! Ellie... I know you're not infected. No one infected fights this hard to stay alive. So... how did you do it? What's the secret? Or are you just that fucking special? No one likes being humiliated, Ellie. You don't know how good I am! You don't know what I could've given you! If you had just LET ME!". David then continues as the fire spreads around him "Well, I have news for you. Neither one of us is dying today. You see, I've changed my mind. I've decided you do need a father. So I'm gonna keep you... and I'm gonna teach you. Ellie. Ellie...".
Ellie then charges at him and hits him in his side with a knife and David pushes her to the ground and he whinces as he grabs his side "Ah fuck!". Ellie then desperately goes for David's meat cleaver and David kicks her in the stomach and turns her over and pins her down and sits on top of her and says "Oh, I thought you already knew! The fighting is the part I like best!" and Ellie screams and David leers at her and says "Don't be afraid. There's no fear in love" and he moves to undo his belt and Ellie manages to grab the cleaver and hit him with it and she then goes to town on his face and stabs him 21 times with the cleaver in a blind rage.
And last of all is Troy Baker who does a fine job with his somewhat smaller role as James, David's second in command who is aware of the cannibalism in the group. I won't mention any of his scenes here though for time but his performance is pretty good all the same and his character is more keen to kill Ellie and get rid of her than take her back as James says to David "She'd just be another mouth to feed, David". And later on of course, Ellie kills James with the same meat cleaver she butchers David with although instead James literally gets it in the neck, which apparently was a scene they need to shot quite a few times!
SUM UP
So, to sum up When We Are In Need is my favourite episode of the series and it really sees the cast all on top form and Bella Ramsey at her peak in the show and she should win an Emmy on the strength of this episode alone. The episode is of course quite dark and disturbing in its tone even more so than the others in the show but it doesn't detract in any way from its power or its raw emotion. If I did have one criticism however, it would probably be the brutality of Ellie's murder of David as she stabs him twice as many times in the show as she does in the game but then Joel stops her in the game after 10 stabs as he gets inside the steakhouse but here he doesn't as David says he locked the doors, so Ellie had no one to hold her back. So, it definitely remains easily the most shocking murder in the entire show and indeed the game.
You could also argue if you are purist fan of the game that the lack of infected is also another issue with this episode as Craig Mazon seems intent on diminishing their presence in the world as the series continues to the point you have to wonder is it worth trying to get a cure for the infection anymore especially there are no infected to be seen!!
However all that aside, this is still a fantastic episode and a very powerful piece of drama that is hard to watch at times but is also undoubtedly compelling viewing and the best the series has to offer.
And I will rate this episode:
10 out of 10
So, that's it for Part 3 and I will be back soon with the final part and the final episode of the series.
Until then its bye for now!
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