The Last of Us episode 5 review: An episode that captures the true essence of the story

4.5/5

Story: Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) team up with a man named Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his eight-year-old brother Sam (Keivonn Woodard) to find a way to escape from Kansas. Like the protagonists, Henry and Sam are also being relentlessly hunted by Kathleen and her gang of revolutionaries.

Review: The mark of an exceptional TV episode is its ability to perfectly blend the methodically paced scenes with the ones loaded with action, drama, and emotion. Episode five of The Last of Us, titled Endure and Survive, will go down in history as among the greatest, on par with Ozymandias (Breaking Bad) and Battle of the Bastards (Game of Thrones). It is also a masterclass in how to write compelling characters who are contained within a single episode. It is a characteristic most modern TV shows have failed to successfully execute.

Henry and Sam’s arc in the story is one of the most heartbreaking subplots in The Last of Us lore. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have added additional backstories to give these characters more layers of nuance and complexity. Whereas the introduction of new characters such as Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) and Perry (Jeffrey Pierce) serve as multifaceted plot devices that provide exposition about the collapse of civilisation and the ongoing subplot in Kansas.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Those who have played the games will be well aware of what to expect from the end of the episode. Sam’s eventual turn as an infected and Henry’s suicide in the aftermath is surprisingly even more evocative and gut-wrenching than the original. These final scenes have been significantly elevated thanks to Bella Ramsey's incredible performance. Her portrayal of Ellie has reached new heights to the point where Ashley Johnson’s iconic portrayal in the games has almost become a distant memory. With the fifth episode, Ramsey has emphatically silenced her critics.

The human conflict often overshadows the fact that there are ‘infected’ roaming around the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Episodes three and four barely featured any infected, because the season’s overall narrative structure demanded it. But the fifth episode more than made up for the lack of the infected with the live-action debut of the bloater — a giant infected that is almost indestructible. The use of prosthetics over CGI has added authenticity to these scenes, and they are truly horrifying. Most of these scenes play out very differently from the game, but the ones that do are almost like-for-like.

The little things that make this episode truly special range from Kathleen’s relentless quest to hunt down Henry, at the cost of risking the safety of her people, to Henry’s final moments where his life crumbles in a matter of seconds. Henry’s last words echo the heartbreaking choice he is forced to make and the questionable decisions he has made in the recent past to ensure Sam’s safety. The extraordinary final scenes in the episode warrant a place in the highest echelons of top-tier TV moments. The performances by Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, Lamar Johnson, and young Keivonn Woodard, and the execution of these final scenes, are done to perfection.

Verdict: The mid-season finale of The Last of Us is arguably one of the best TV episodes ever produced. The series builds on the solid foundations laid by the previous episodes to deliver the best episode of the season so far.