With final week’s “Please Maintain My Hand,” The Final of Us approached its mid-season with a nail-biting cliffhanger that noticed Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) held at gunpoint. Whereas not explicitly spelled out, it was strongly hinted siblings Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard) – the identical pair being hunted by ruthless insurgent chief Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) – had been those pointing the weapons at them.
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
Episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” confirms these suspected identities whereas digging deeper into the main points of their battle with Kathleen. The brothers additionally obtain some welcome backstory by way of a prolonged flashback. That stated, you’ll need to brace yourselves, as their story is a far cry from the candy, emotional side-story Invoice and Frank obtained in episode 3. So buckle up – and be careful for Bloaters – as we bravely dive into the fungal apocalypse for a fifth time.
Spoiler alert: The next comprises particulars about The Final of Us season 2, episode 5, “Endure and Survive.” Cease right here you probably have not watched the episode.
MORE CONTEXT FOR KATHLEEN, HENRY, AND SAM
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
The earlier chapter’s introduction of Henry and Sam appeared to recommend the collection was sticking near its supply materials, leaving little room for followers of the sport to be stunned by their story arc. However Kathleen’s look added a big new wrinkle, one which additional fleshed out the siblings’ narrative path whereas additionally giving viewers a juicy new villain to jeer at.
Within the recreation, Henry and Sam’s story begins after they ambush Joel and Ellie, simply as they did in final week’s episode. However the present rewinds their timeline by about 10 days. Kathleen and her Hunters have taken Kansas Metropolis from FEDRA in a brutally violent coup – additionally authentic to the collection – which sees the rebels beating, torturing, and killing their authorities oppressors. In addition they round-up all their neighbors who’d beforehand colluded with FEDRA. Kathleen interrogates these “responsible” collaborators on Henry’s whereabouts earlier than ordering their mass execution.
Once we meet up with Henry and Sam, it’s revealed they’re not fairly actual replicas of their polygon counterparts. For starters, Sam’s simply 8-years-old within the present versus a younger teen within the recreation. Within the collection, he’s additionally deaf, speaking with signal language and a Magic Slate toy (youthful readers might need to Google that one). The adjustments lead to Sam being way more reliant on Henry than within the recreation, in addition to the present portray an much more emotional, sympathetic image of their relationship.
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
The episode additionally makes an attempt to humanize Kathleen — a bit — providing further particulars on her motive. Whereas reflecting on her childhood, within the very bed room she grew up in, she opens as much as Perry (Jeffrey Worth) in regards to the extremely shut bond she shared together with her older brother Michael, the Hunter’s former chief and the person Henry supposedly had a hand in killing. We additionally study Michael was so sort and caring that, in his final dialog with Kathleen, he’d requested her to forgive Henry.
This collection has by no means shied away from muddying its characters within the morally murky waters between what’s proper and flawed, and this episode is not any totally different. Whereas it provides a peek at Kathleen’s softer facet it additionally, conversely, pulls again the curtain on Henry’s darker deeds. As he guiltily explains it to Joel, he did certainly willingly betray Michael — his good friend and mentor — giving the chief as much as FEDRA, who finally beat him to demise. He did so in alternate for drugs for Sam, who was affected by leukemia.
AN EXPLOSIVE BATTLE, EXPANDED
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
The episode does a wonderful job increasing Henry and Sam’s story, whereas additionally tying it — and complicating it — with their connection to Kathleen. This properly units the stage for a closing encounter that intently follows the sport’s occasions, however considerably ups its emotional stakes, in addition to its gore-soaked motion.
As within the supply materials, Joel, Ellie and the brothers team-up, counting on one another’s’ strengths — Joel’s means to show Contaminated to pulp and Henry’s data of town — to flee Kansas Metropolis (Pittsburgh within the recreation.)
Followers of the sport may instinctively attain for his or her PlayStation 5 controllers when the group’s path down a suburban avenue is protected by a sniper with an itchy set off finger. Gamers will recall this sequence results in a really video game-y problem, the place Joel should stealthily sneak up on and remove the shooter, then use his sufferer’s rifle to rigorously pick-off targets aggressively pursuing Ellie, Henry, and Sam.
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
The collection retains this sequence’s pulse-spiking depth, delivering the present’s largest motion set-piece but. However it additionally organically weaves Kathleen’s dogged pursuit of the group into it. The sport’s generic sniper is traded for one in every of Kathleen’s Hunters, who’s pinning his targets down till she will be able to arrive with back-up. Each the sport and present see Ellie, Henry, and Sam chased by the armored automobile with “RUN” spray-painted throughout its entrance, in addition to attacking Hunters.
Within the episode, nonetheless, there are way more Hunters, led by Kathleen. The larger distinction although, is triggered by that truck’s explosive demise. Slightly than catching fireplace and unceremoniously crashing right into a home, courtesy of Joel’s sharp taking pictures, its collision opens a large sinkhole inhabited by hungry Contaminated. Kathleen almost catches her targets and will get her revenge, however this huge eruption of fungal freaks interrupts her plans, whereas giving followers a brutally satisfying send-off for each her and Perry.
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
Together with her character arc delivered to a face-mutilating conclusion — critically, that Contaminated tears into her like a toddler opening a Christmas current— the collection returns to the sport’s repeatedly scheduled programming. Joel, Ellie, and the brothers catch their breath and put together to mattress down earlier than persevering with their journey west. In fact, being The Final of Us, this comfortable ending is only a tease. It’s quickly revealed Sam was bitten, main him to assault Ellie the following morning, leading to Henry killing his brother earlier than turning the gun on himself.
The important thing distinction right here is Ellie’s data and response to Sam’s an infection. She learns of it the night time earlier than, retains it a secret from Joel and Henry, and even tries to treatment him by spreading her personal immune blood on his open wound. It’s not clear if she really believes this treatment will work or she’s simply trying to consolation a terrified Sam.
Regardless, she spends the night time in the identical room with him — one other variation from the sport — and the following day’s occasions play out the identical. This leaves the viewers, particularly those that don’t know that is coming, heartbroken as extra characters they’ve develop into hooked up to obtain a gut-wrenching goodbye. A minimum of within the present, Joel buries the brothers’ our bodies and Ellie writes “I’m Sorry” on Sam’s Magic Slate earlier than inserting it atop his grave.
BETRAYALS, BLOATERS, AND MORE NODS, CALL-OUTS, AND EASTER EGGS
For these complaining the collection has been comparatively mild on Contaminated-focused motion, this episode greater than makes up for it; the truth is, that closing battle brings the long-anticipated arrival of the Bloater. Teased within the collection’ trailers, this hulking mass of mushroom-y menace serves as a form of boss battle within the recreation, one which unfolds earlier, in Invoice’s chapter. The beast is simply as terrifying within the collection, and that’s earlier than it tears Perry’s head off with all the trouble of an individual opening a bag of chips.
(Picture by Liane Hentscher/HBO)
Past the Bloater, recreation followers may discover how the collection performs with a betrayal that takes place within the supply materials. The sport contains a tense second the place Henry abandons Joel and Ellie whereas they’re trapped and below assault. He later rescues them from a river, however he’d initially left them to die so he might save his personal and Sam’s hides.
The episode remembers this betrayal however reverses and tweaks it. Whereas Joel’s sniping from his perch within the distance, Henry begs Ellie for assist from below a automotive, prompting her — who might simply go away him behind — to look to Joel for a sign. With a delicate nod, he offers her the OK to assist the siblings.
We additionally get one other call-out to Ellie’s beloved comedian guide collection, “Savage Starlight,” in addition to a close to line-for-line dialog between her and Sam about what scares them. The latter hits a bit tougher within the episode, because the boy communicates his feeling by way of his Magic Slate. Henry pausing to benefit from the sound of his little brother’s lengthy, misplaced laughter, and a fast shot of the “Home Guidelines” board in an underground settlement are additionally pulled instantly from the sport.
97%
The Final of Us: Season 1
(2023)
new episodes air on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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