The Last of Us Episode 3 Spoiler Review

Here’s my The Last of Us episode 3 spoiler review which stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. The episode is directed by Peter Hoar (The Umbrella Academy).

SPOILER ALERT

Ellie being a bad-ass and starting her road down to violence with that scene with the trapped infected at the basement. Bella Ramsey definitely sounding more and more like game Ellie in this episode.

Joel begins to make jokes when they enter their stash area.

No intro unlike past two episodes but they make it up with that close up of an infected being cut up slowly by Ellie.

We get more of the back story for the infection, this time coming from Joel Miller’s point-of-view as he recounts it to Ellie.

I liked the moment Joel was being a protective adult trying to shield his young charge from the horrors they will spot down the road. And Ellie, being a typical teenager doesn’t listen. And Joel just lets her do her thing; possibly making her desensitized from all the bodies and death they have yet to encounter down the road. And you know what’s worse and traumatizing? It’s getting a flashback to that time when these innocent people were butchered.

The grim fate of the people is also so much scarier and creepier plus Pascal’s Joel doing more exposition. Swear to god, he’s definitely chattier compared to the game version which I totally like.

It’s a powerful moment to make the story deeper and painful too. Props to HBO for doing this bit because it slightly expands the universe that The Last of Us lives in especially since we barely got any stories from the time of the outbreak. Pretty violent though.

That flashback also neatly ties into Bill’s (Nick Offerman) backstory about how paranoid he is and how his paranoia and subscription to conspiracy theories saved his life.

And for people clamoring for gas masks, its here in this episode. Although not worn by Ellie or Joel. But hey, you got what you were asking for right?

I also loved the idea that Offerman’s here as a survivalist. Would have made Ron Swanson proud.

via GIPHY

TLOU is a dark show but episode 3 got some fun moments. It’s fun to watch Bill turn his community into a fort and has kept him relatively safe from the Infected. It’s nice to see how he jerryrigged everything to make sure nobody gets in. It’s definitely a loner’s paradise that’s what it is. And I don’t even mind that they changed the setting of this arc from abandoned street to abandoned suburb. Just wants to make me question though how he’s able to build an electrified fence undisturbed for a couple of years.

The episode also delves into the love story between Frank and Bill. Bill of course is that grumpy man that helps smugglers like Joel and there’s a ton of mission with Bill in the TLOU game, although for the game, it’s a sad ordeal as we see what happens to Frank.

There’s also a nice juxtaposition between that sex scene and the eventual fighting between the couple. And even that they have their nice moment. Seeing Tess in this episode is also a stark reminder that things have been good for a time between Frank, Bill, Tess and Joel.

Finding Love and Saying Goodbye at the End of the World

Bill and Frank’s episode show us the light and dark amidst the pandemic/ zombie apocalypse. Bill finds love with Frank and the latter vows to protect him no matter what. Frank in return saves Bill from a life of loneliness. Being there every moment of their lives together.

Bill’s letter to Joel is also indicative of how Joel will act at the season finale when faced with the decision of leaving Ellie with the Fireflies.

I know the game fanboys would be up in arms with the major changes with the story but I felt it was necessary. We’re here to tell a story, we’re here to watch Joel’s redemption arc and his second chance and moving the pieces around like this ensures that there’s a more heartfelt pay off at the end. We and the father daughter pair are on a cathartic journey and for that I respect HBO and the production team for this.

Tell you what I’m going to miss though. This scene…

And this scene…

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