The Last of Us – Endure and Survive review S1 E5

Even though it’s just February, it’s already stating the obvious that The Last of Us is one of the best shows of 2023. Most series would be content to bask in the accolades of an episode like Long, Long Time through TV award season.

The Last of Us’ showrunners see a high-water mark episode like the third installment and try to top it. Endure and Survive takes the emotional depth of Long, Long Time and adds in some true next level type video game carnage to establish the show’s try and top that episode.

It’s always impressive watching a new series hit its stride so quickly consistently hitting its blueprint for excellent episodes for multiple seasons.

Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his younger brother, Sam (Keivonn Woodard), are on the run from Kathleen’s resistance, who’ve finally overthrown the Kansas City FEDRA branch.

Based on the treatment of the FEDRA survivors…scratch that, victims, no one will miss their harsh and brutal treatment. And the FEDRA informants? There’s no trial for them. They’ve already been declared guilty as charged.

Kathleen is obsessed with finding Henry since he got her brother killed. Henry and Sam reunite with the doctor we saw Kathleen kill last episode for a point of reference. They’ve got enough food for 11 days.

Ten days later the doc is missing after making a food run — hope he’s ok, oh…wait — and Joel and Elle crash into town.

Recognizing the opportunity, Henry and Sam track down Joel and Elle to propose an alliance to safely get out of town. The Last of Us hasn’t had any misses with casting. The actors brought on for an episode or two have all done phenomenal work with performances that have me wishing for more time with them. That’s certainly the case with Johnson and Woodard. I’m old enough to have young Gary Coleman flashbacks watching Woodard, who’s from my old stomping grounds of Bowie, Maryland. 

Incorporating ASL with Sam gives him more presence and Woodard conveys so much with his expressions and body language. Johnson gives Henry a loving, protective nature without being overprotective and frustrating as a character. 

Henry’s path for escaping involves going into the underground tunnels where FEDRA apparently cleared of infected. The four find an underground settlement that seems to confirm it’s all good down there. Course last episode also had this weird surge underground suggesting that there is indeed something under the surface even if Kathleen chose to ignore it. 

The scenes with Elle and Sam playing are incredibly sweet. Bella Ramsey is so versatile in how she makes Elle this tough, hard-edged teenager in one moment and then a child happy to have someone relatively her own age to laugh and joke around with in this wild reality. Elle and Sam bond over comic books and she has no trouble communicating with him using his pad.

Henry admits to Joel that Kathleen is justified in coming after him explaining that Sam got leukemia. FEDRA had medicine, but Henry had to give up the leader of the resistance movement, Dylan — Kathleen’s brother — in order to get it. 

“I am the bad guy because I did a bad guy thing.” Henry’s logic is basic, but he seems resigned to his fate if Kathleen catches him. Kathleen also shares her introspection with her right-hand man, Perry.

You can find a plethora of YouTube videos breaking down issues with the modern portrayal of strong women in action roles. Kathleen should be hailed as a positive example. She can be tough, cruel, merciless, but in this scene, she shows a remorse over the person she’s become and how disappointed her brother would be in her. Melanie Lynskey was so good throughout this episode giving Kathleen so many more layers than the typical villain of the episode. 

Joel and the gang successfully make it out of the tunnels and are almost home free when a resistance sniper pins them down. When Joel flanks him and finds it’s an old guy, he basically begs him not to do anything crazy. We hadn’t seen this merciful side of Joel before again showing that he’s not loving having to go around being this emotionless, uncaring dude he presents all the time. 

Taking out the sniper proved too time-consuming as Kathleen’s resistance is closing in on Henry, Sam and Elle and Joel can only take out a few of them from his sniper position. But taking out the plow had an unintended consequence — it weakened the ground enough for a surge of infected to emerge from underground. This was a terrifying oh s#!$ moment that truly captured the shocks of playing the game in arguably the best adaptation of a video game moment ever brought to live action. 

The infected overwhelm Kathleen’s crew while Joel tries to snipe out a clear path for Elle, Henry and Sam. Then to make things worse, an actual boss Infected emerges promptly dismembering the resistance and Perry. Hardly knew you pal.

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Elle rescues Henry and Sam from Infected clawing at them under a car, but before they can get away Kathleen is aiming at them. There’s no deep monologue moment — there’s no time as Infected converge on Kathleen as Joel leads the others away from the carnage of an overrun Kansas City. 

At an old hotel, Joel extends the invitation to travel to Wyoming to Henry. This is the protector side of Joel, who sees Henry as a kindred spirit doing whatever it takes to keep a child safe even if that means being the bad guy. Henry is happy to accept and interrupts Sam and Elle’s comic reading time to get him to bed. When Henry leaves, Sam asks Elle if she’s ever afraid of anything. 

Ramsey and Woodard are so good in this scene that even if you see it coming, it still stings. Sam shows Elle his bite mark and asks if he’s still him inside when he comes a monster. Elle doesn’t hesitate to cut her hand thinking that her blood will heal Sam. It’s a selfless gesture and shows Elle’s boundless heart. While she promised to stay up all night with him eventually Elle falls asleep and awakens to see Sam sitting at the side of the bed. 

She goes over to him, and he’s already turned. Infected Sam sends Elle crashing into the living room where a distraught Henry shoots and kills his brother. Joel knows the potential for what will happen next and pleads with Henry to give him the gun. It’s too late as a grief-stricken Henry turns the gun on himself and pulls the trigger.

Clearly affected by this tragedy, Joel does something uncharacteristic and takes the time to bury them. Elle is rattled more than we’ve seen her. This loss was tough for her and she doesn’t want to confront these emotions instead she’s just ready to go west to the next likely tragedy. 

Man, this episode delivered on every possible front. Emotionally gripping moments, stellar character development and an insane action sequence that paid off with a heartbreaking conclusion. The Last of Us has now established itself as can’t miss entertainment. HBO probably did the right thing in airing this before Super Bowl Sunday but Endure and Survive will likely stick with audiences much longer than the big game. 

Rating: 10 out of 10

Photo Credit: HBO