The Last of Us Series 1 Review Part 4 - Episode 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, now its time for the last part of my look at the Last of Us TV series as I will cover the finale of Series 1 and see how it compares to the dramatic climax of the video game. 

So, with that said the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

Episode 9 - Look For The Light 

So, the episode begins with a flashback of Ellie's mother Anna (Ashley Johnson) who is heavily pregnant running through the woods trying to escape an infected who is chasing her. Anna tries to bar the doors to prevent the infected breaking but it doesn't hold as the infected bursts through and attacks Anna, who manages to kill it with a knife but sees that she has been bitten on her leg and at the same time she gives birth to Ellie. Later on, Marlene (Merle Dandridge) who is the leader of a group of Fireflies finds Anna, who begs her to kill her and take Ellie, which Marlene hesitantly does. 

In the present day, Joel and Ellie have made it to Salt Lake City in search of the Fireflies secret lab and we find that Ellie is very quiet and subdued and clearly still feeling the trauma of her killing David in the previous episode. However as they travel on, they soon encounter a herd of giraffes much to the delight of Ellie, who feeds one of them some leaves. Joel then suggests they could forget the lab and head back to Jackson to reunite with Tommy but Ellie says they've come too far to not follow it through and says she wants to finish what they started. 

As they move on, Joel opens up about his feelings of loss over his daughter Sarah and how he even tried to shoot himself and failed. Ellie then suggests time heals all wounds but Joel tells her it wasn't time that did it and he gives her a look that says she is the reason his wounds are healed and Ellie after a beat tells him she's glad his attempt didn't work out. After this, Ellie reads some puns to cheer up Joel but then they are suddenly interrupted by a smoke grenade and they are both captured. 

Joel soon comes to and finds himself in the secret lab with the Fireflies and Marlene tells Joel that Ellie is being prepped for surgery and that her immunity comes from her being born with cordyceps within the womb that tricks real cordyceps into thinking she has it and that's why she is immune. Marlene however also explains that the surgeon says that the cordyceps has spread into Ellie's brain and by removing parts of it they can reverse engineer a cure but the process would kill her. Joel insists they find someone else and demands to be taken to Ellie but one of the soldiers knocks him down and Marlene insists she has no other choice and apologies but Joel coldly says "I do". Marlene then has Joel escorted out the building by two soldiers but he manages to kill them and take their guns and kill the remaining Fireflies as he makes his way to the operating room. Once there, Joel kills the surgeon and takes an unconscious Ellie off the table and he leaves with her. 

We then cut to Joel being confronted by Marlene who says they can still fix this despite what he has done and lowers her gun just enough for Joel shoot her with his in the stomach. Marlene pleads to be let go but Joel tells her she would just come after them and shoots her in the head before leaving with Ellie in a car. As Ellie comes round, Joel lies to her that the Fireflies gave up trying to find a cure and that there were dozens like to Ellie and also raiders attacked the hospital and he apologises for what has happened.

And the episode finishes with Joel and Ellie hiking back to Jackson on foot after the car breaks down and as Joel cheerfully talks about Sarah and comparing her to Ellie, Ellie suddenly stops and tells Joel about her best friend Riley being the first one she killed. Ellie also asks Joel to swear to her that everything he said about the Fireflies is true to which Joel says he swears and Ellie, giving an uncertain look says "OK". 

THOUGHTS

As a series finale, Look for the Light is an excellent ending to the season and its good to see it remain faithful to the ending of the game and its a great ending which has split fans right down the middle since the game was released debating whether Joel's desperate acts of violence to save Ellie were justified. The episode itself is ironically the shortest of the entire series at just a mere 43 minutes, it does have a rushed feel to it but at the same time it manages to squeeze what story it needs to in its short run time. However it would have been nice to have had a longer finale episode and an hour long one wouldn't have gone a miss and again there is a disappointing lack of infected in the episode apart from the one at the start who attacks Anna, Ellie's mother. That aside though this episode really is a very solid way to end the series and it has some wonderful moments as well as dark ones. 

PERFORMANCES (Warning spoilers are ahead and strong language!)

As for the performances again the cast here are top notch and give it their all in the finale.

Starting with Pedro Pascal, who is excellent in the finale and he has some great moments with Bella as Joel and Ellie really show how far their relationship as adopted father-daughter has come but he does have the off moment here and there in his performance which I will get to but they don't detract from what has been a great performance throughout the show.

And Pedro's notable scenes include the one where Joel confides in Ellie over his suicide attempt after he lost Sarah. So, Joel sits down and sits to Ellie "I was the guy who shot and missed. There's no story. Sarah died... and I couldn't see the point anymore. Simple as that. And I wasn't scared either. I was ready. I couldn't have been more ready. When I-- When I... went to pull the trigger, I-I flinched. Still don't know why. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this...". Ellie interrupts him and says "I know why you are telling me this" and Joel says "Yeah I reckon you do" and Ellie says "So time heals all wounds, I guess" and Joel looks at her says "It wasn't time that did it" and they share a silent moment and Ellie says "I'm glad that didn't work out for you" and Joel tearfully says "Yeah, me too". 

And then there is the scene where after Joel has been captured by the Fireflies he comes to and sees Marlene who says to him "Welcome to the Fireflies". And Marlene says to Joel "You are the last person I want to be in debt to you but I owe you one, we all do. How did you do it?" and Joel says "It was all her. She fought like hell to get here" and Marlene says "She would have been dead on day one". Joel then asks "Where is she? Can I see her?" and Marlene says "You can't, she's being prepped for surgery" and Joel confused asks "What do you mean surgery?". Marlene tells Joel about the surgeon discovering the cordyceps infection has spread into Ellie's brain but they can take samples of her brain to make a cure but it dawns on Joel that it would kill Ellie. 

Joel then says "Cordyceps grows on the brain..." and Marlene regretfully says "It does" and Joel says "Find someone else" but Marlene tells him "There is no one else. We didn't tell her, there will be no fear and we won't cause her any pain" but Joel angrily says "No, no. You take me to her! You take me to her NOW!!" and one of the Fireflies hits him in the chest and he goes down and he pleads with Marlene "Please, you don't understand". Marlene however emotionally says to Joel "I do understand. I've know Ellie her whole live, I made a promise to her mother to look after her, I promised! So, I do understand, I'm the only one who understands. I'm sorry but I have no other choice here" but then Joel looks at her and says in a foreboding tone "I do". 

Then there is the scene where Joel drives Ellie away from the hospital after killing the Fireflies and she comes around from her sedation. So, Joel lies to Ellie about what happened and says "They were running some tests on you and some others. Turns out there's a whole lot more like you. People that are immune. Dozens of them. And the doctors, they couldn't make any of it work. They've actually... They've stopped looking for a cure". Joel then explains "Raiders then attacked the hospital and I barely got you out of there" and he says sadly "I'm sorry". And this is followed by the flashback to Joel having shot Marlene in the underground car park of the hospital and she pleads with him and says "Please! Let me go!" and Joel says to her "You'll just come after her" and shoots her in the head.

And last of all is the scene at the end of the episode where Joel and Ellie hike back to Jackson and he cheerfully talks about Sarah and how Ellie would have liked her. So, Joel says to Ellie "You know, Sarah and I used to hike like this all the time. I wouldn't say it was her favorite thing. She wasn't a fan of the mosquitoes and such. But she was such a big climber... or scampering. That's probably the right word. That girl... she'd see a big rock, and just... pew. She would liked you. Not to say the two of you are the same. Definitely different kids". Ellie asks "How so?" and Joel says "Well Sarah was more...I don't want to say girly not that you're not girly" and Ellie says "I'm not" and Joel admits "No, you're not". Joel then says "She was taller, she had a killer smile" and he nervously says to Ellie "I'm not saying you don't. But you know why I think she'd like you?" and Ellie asks "Why?" and he says to her "Because your funny".

And then there is the final moment between Ellie and Joel as Ellie tells him about Riley dying and how she regrets how Tess and Sam followed and Joel says "None of that is on you". Joel then says "Look, sometimes things don't work out the way we hope. You can feel like... like you've come to an end... and you don't know what to do next. But if you just keep goin'... you find something new to fight for. And maybe that's not what..." and Ellie interrupts him and says "Swear to me. Swear to me everything you said about the Fireflies is true" and Joel after a moment says "I swear" and Ellie looks at him uncertainly and says "OK".  

Bella Ramsey next is also great in her final performance of the series as Ellie and here we see a different side of Ellie as she is no longer playful as before and has become more sullen and subdued after the trauma of her harrowing, violent encounter with David. However Ellie does cheer up in the episode as she encounters some giraffes and reads some puns for Joel to cheer him up before it all goes south. 

And Bella has her share of good scenes her such as the one where Joel suggests they just forget about the lab and just head back to Jackson but Ellie refuses. And Joel says to Ellie "We don't have to do this" and Ellie says "What do you mean? What else are we supposed to do?" and Joel says "Nothing. We head back to Tommy's and forget the whole damn thing" but Ellie says "After all we've been through... everything I've done... it can't be for nothing. I know you mean well. I know you wanna protect me. You have. And when we're done, we'll go wherever you want. Tommy's, sheep ranch, the moon. I'll follow you anywhere you go. But there's no halfway with this. We finish what we started" and Joel nods. 

Then there is the scene where Ellie tries cheering up Joel with her pun book and Joel says to her "You know what I'm in the mood for?" and Ellie asks "What?" and Joel smiles and says "Shitty puns" and Ellie perks up and says "Oooh!" and gets her book out. And Ellie reads from a page "People are making apocalypse jokes life there's no tomorrow" and Joel groans and Ellie asks "Too soon?" and Joel says "No, its topical" and she laughs and reads another "Why do space rocks taste better than earth rocks? Because their meateor!" and Joel says "That was terrible, that was a zero out of 10!" and Ellie says "That was good! How about this one. What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breath you idiot!" and Joel says "That was a three" and Ellie protests "Three that was a seven!" and Joel says "A five! I'll give it a five out of ten!" before they are interrupted by a smoke grenade and captured.

And last of all is the scene where Ellie and Joel hike to Jackson on foot at the end and as Joel cheerily talks about comparing Ellie to his daughter Sarah, Ellie stops him and tells about her best friend Riley. And Ellie says to Joel "Back in Kansas City, you asked me about the first time I killed someone. When I got bit in the mall, I-I wasn't on my own. My best friend was there and she got bit, too. We didn't know what to do, and she says, we can just wait it out... be all poetic and just lose our minds together. And then she did. And I had to-- Her name was Riley... and she was the first to die. And then it was Tess. And then Sam..". Joel tells her "None of that was on you" and Ellie says "I know that but..." and as Joel tries to tell her things don't always work out the way we want she says to him "Swear to me. Swear to me everything you said about the Fireflies was true" and Joel after a moment says "I swear" and Ellie looks at him uncertainly and finally says "OK". 

As for the other cast members, Merle Dandridge does an excellent job as Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies who takes in Ellie for surgery but has some bad news to share with Joel about Ellie's survival which leads to Joel making a drastic choice.

And Merle really only has a few scenes in the episode, so I will mention two of them starting with the one Joel and Ellie are captured by the Fireflies and Joel wakes up on a bed in the hospital to see Marlene stand over him. And she says to him "Welcome to the Fireflies. You know I'm amazed you made it here, I had five guys protecting me and I almost got killed. How did you do it?" and Joel slowly gets up off the bed and says "It was all her, she fought like hell to get here" but Marlene says "She would have been dead on day one. You know you are the last person I wanted to be in debt to but I owe you. We all do". Joel then asks "Where's Ellie?" and Marlene tells him "She's fine" and Joel says "Can I see her?" and Marlene says "You can't, she's being prepped for surgery" and Joel puzzled asks "Surgery". And Marlene explains that Ellie was born with coryceps while in the womb and that the real cordyceps was fooled into thinking she had it and that's why she is immune. 

Marlene then tells Joel "The surgeon says that he can look at parts of her that infected that are sending out chemical messengers, remove them and multiply those cells in a lab. He thinks it could be a cure, Joel. A cure!". Joel however realises that Ellie might not survive this and asks "Cordyceps grows in the brain?" and Marlene grimly says "It does" and Joel after a pause says "Find someone else" but Marlene says "There is no one else. We didn't tell, we won't cause her any pain or fear" but Joel defiantly says "No, you take me to her. You take me to her RIGHT NOW!!" and one of the soldiers butts him in the chest. 

Joel gasps on the floor and says "Please, you don't understand" and Marlene tells him "I do. I was there when she was born, Joel. I promised her mother that I would save her child. I promised! So I do understand. I'm the only one who understands. I'm sorry. I have no other choice" and Joel gives her a defiant look and says "I do". After a pause, Marlene tells her soldiers "Walk him out of here to the highway, give him his pack and this" and she holds out Ellie's switchblade "If he tries anything...shoot him". 

And last of all is the scene where after Joel has killed most of the Firefly soldiers, he carries an unconscious Ellie as he arrives in a lift in an underground car park where Marlene waits for him with her gun pointed at him. And Marlene pleads with Joel "You can't keep her safe forever. No matter how hard you try no matter how many people you kill she's gonna grow up, Joel. And then you'll die. She'll leave. Then what? How long till she's torn apart by Infected or murdered by raiders? Because she lives in a broken world that you could have saved". Joel however says "That's not for you to decide". Marlene then says to Joel "So, what would she decide, huh? Because I think she'd wanna do what's right. And you know it. It's not too late. Even now even after what you've done. We can still find a way" and Joel for a moment ponders over what she says but then shoots her in the stomach. And then we see Marlene lie on the floor, pleading for her life "Wait! Let me go!" but Joel looks at her and says "You'd just come after her" and he shoots her in the head. 

And last of all is Ashley Johnson who makes an appearance as Anna, Ellie's mother who gives birth to Ellie in her main scene where being attacked by an infected who bites Anna on the leg but Anna manages to kill the infected with a switchblade (presumably the same one Ellie uses later on). 

And I will mention her main scene where Marlene finds Anna in the abandoned house a short while after she gave birth to Ellie And Anna pleads with Marlene to shoot her and look after Ellie and says to Marlene "How long have we know each other?" and Marlene says "All our lives" and Anna pleads with her "Please you have to take her and shoot me" and Marlene tearfully refuses at first but realises she has little choice. So, Marlene takes the baby outside and gives it one of the Fireflies and says "Cover her ears" and Marlene goes back in and shoots Anna. 

SUM UP

So, to sum up Look for the Light is a great ending to the series which remains very faithful to the original ending of the game. The episode all features great performances from the two leads as well as solid performances from Merle Dandridge and Ashley Johnson in her brief role as Anna, Ellie's mother. It also features some charming moments between Joel and Ellie such as the giraffe scene, Joel opening up on his suicide attempt over losing Sarah and the puns scene. 

There are one or two complaints however such as despite his performance for the most part being great, Pedro does deliver a couple of lines in a lame way and the main one being when Joel says to Marlene "You'd just come after her" before shooting her as he says it in such a flat lifeless way that doesn't work. Then there is the line at the very end of the episode where Ellie asks Joel to tell her that what he said about the Fireflies is true and Joel says "I swear" and again he delivers it in a flat way with little conviction. But these are minor complaints and Pedro's performance over all as Joel has been excellent throughout the series. 

Another issue is to do with of course the lack of infected once again as there is a moment in the video game where Ellie and Joel take out some infected before they reach the Fireflies lab and we only get that one infected at the start that attacks Anna. So, viewers really do get short change once again with the lack on infected, who were intrinsic part of the game and the world. 

The episode is also a bit too short as well given it is a finale as I mentioned earlier, it has the shortest run time of all the episodes in the series, which seems a bit puzzling given a finale should by all rights be longer. So, this definitely gives this episode a rather rushed feel particularly in the moments such as the pun scene, which could have had more time to breath than it was given. 

Regardless of all that, this is still a strong closing episode of series 1 and it bodes well for series 2, which might not be for another year or two yet. 

So, I will give Look for the Light:

9 out of 10 

So, that's it for this one guys and I will be back at some point with a non Last of Us related post.

Until then its bye for now.

The Last of Us Series 1 Review Part 3 - Episodes 7-8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!