LAST OF US Episode 6 Breakdown: Easter Eggs and Ending Explained!

I couldn't think of anything to say I just oh so far hey welcome back to screen Crush I'm Ryan Airy and this is all the Easter eggs references and little things that you might have missed in The Last of Us episode six can now the title of the episode Ken has a couple of different meanings where I'm from Ken means someone who is part of your family but Canon can also mean to make someone your family as in Joel kins Ellie Ken can also mean similar to as an akin to something so put all these together in this episode is about families with literal families and found families remember a couple episodes ago Ellie asked Joel what's the point of going on if you're just gonna die if you hope for the world why bother going on I mean you gotta try right keep going for family now at the time Joel specifically said that Ellie was not family she was cargo but they've been through a lot since then and this episode is when Joel finally admits to himself that Ellie is now his kin and we see other groups of families throughout this episode the farmer and his wife Tommy and Joel and the found family of the people of Jackson I'm ordering lunch do you run this thing no I'm good I brought my own person are you eating raw pancake mix no boo customers don't want to see that it started better or you're fired I'm sorry I'll work harder that's what I was saying we start on the image of a hunter with two white rabbits and I believe that at first we're meant to think that this is Joel after all later on he does talk about living a solitary life like this ranch cool what kind cheap but also this couple is living in a sanctuary that is built on love now think about where we've seen this before with Bill and Frank and in this episode in Jackson sanctuaries built on love and cooperation Thrive while fedra Falls now all of this is the opposite of Kansas City there Federer enforced a brutal law that began a brutal Revolution and then Kathleen was too consumed with hate to deal with the zombies that were literally under her feet eventually these zombies were released by the literal and metaphorical fires of her hatred and Kansas City fell and in this episode we see the contrast of that in Jackson but first we meet the couple in a cabin Marlin and Florence hey hey Marion he looks familiar who is that that is the legendary Graham green who you might remember from Dances With Wolves Danka the Tonka oh yeah Tatanka that's right the opening has a couple similarities with the games there's the long time jump into a new season and also when it becomes winter in the game the first image you see is a valley killing a white rabbit Joel intrudes on Marlin and Florence because he's lost I need you to tell us where we are if you got a map why are you lost and I just want to point out he is not lost in the game please tell me you're lost we didn't know the place was occupied we're just trying to make our way through now Marlin and Florence think that past the river is filled with Bandits and death because we never seen who's out there but we see the bodies they leave behind but remember the people of Jackson dump the bodies there so people will think that this place is dangerous now they actually do something similar in the game allowing the infected to roam around the city to deter Bandits what is that that people food looks amazing oh what this why this is a Chile roasted chicken with red pepper cream purple cabbage and zucchini wow did you make all that food just now during the video oh no I didn't make this and it's not takeout food either this is a delicious nutritious ready to eat meal by Factor they're the sponsor of this video factor is America's number one ready to eat meal kit there are meal delivery service with menus that are updated weekly with more than 34 Chef prepared dietitian approved meals I can choose my favorite meals or let Factor surprise me based on my preferences you see I hate cooking I worked in kitchens for like 10 years so to me it always 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screen Crush 50 to get 50 off your first Factor box now back to Joel being lost this is an interesting change from the game because it reflects where he is emotionally but we're going to talk about that just a little later in the video the opening scene also establishes the importance of trust in a relationship Joel wants the same directions from both people and Marlin asked us why wife are you telling me the truth yeah it's pretty clear that these two people trust one another and they know each other so well that they're practically the same human and we see the same trust through the community of Jackson where everyone shares what they have and by the end of the episode that same trust exists between Joel and Ellie and you know what this line not the Bugs the people there are Firefly people [Laughter] I mean look with all the weird monsters roaming around the land that's not the weirdest thing that could happen out there so outside Joel has a panic attack are you dying okay okay I'm okay the last time we saw him have one of these it was when the soldier pulled a gun on Ellie which triggered his memories of Sarah's death for years Joe was able to bury his trauma by burying his memories of Sarah but as he gets closer to Ellie he is feeling those same emotions so it's resurrecting these same traumas now every time he goes someplace normal like the cabin or Jackson it's dredging up his memories of the old world which makes him relive this trauma last week we talked about how the excellent Channel film wise pointed out that Joel shows his love through protection he loves you he's dependent on me not the same I think it's the same it's definitely the same now in his sleep he relives the worst moment of his life when he failed to protect Sarah from harm and now he is afraid that he's too old and deaf to protect Ellie the show has been drawing subtle parallels between Ellie and Sarah since the first episode Sarah has a butterfly pillowcase and when Ellie has her first private conversation with Joel she is sitting next to a model butterfly and Ellie doesn't make Joel's panic attack any better when she says I don't know when are you because just a reminder that you're dead I'm fine Joe was always able to face death when his own life was on the line but he is terrified of failing someone he loves again Ellie also keeps calling the river the river of death which is a neat nod to the River Styx from Greek mythology now according to myth you had to cross this River to enter the afterlife just as after Joel and Ellie cross they can enter the Heavenly Paradise of Jackson it's probably also worth mentioning that Achilles obtained his powers when he was dipped into the river sticks so it is a river of death but can also offer you invulnerability if you have the courage to face it in this case Joe and Ellie faced this trial and then they get a reward now I mentioned a little bit ago that Joel shows love through protection but he also uses protection as a way to distance himself from people if you're protecting someone then you're not relying on them they rely on you so with Ellie he refuses to allow her to do adult things he doesn't want to teach her to kill rabbits should have stolen two rabbits we can get our own rabbits you're gonna teach me help just keep moving and at first he doesn't want her to drink can I have some though but eventually he not only teaches her to shoot but he enjoys it taking a kind of fatherly Pride when she makes progress and speaking of progress Ellie is starting to wonder how their Journey can end if the fireflies are able to use her blood to make a vaccine what kind of life could they build for themselves in the new world so the idea of a future has never been an option for Joel until now but since they're actually in Wyoming the future seems closer than ever Joel immediately says that he wants a place that is safe and isolated an old farmhouse some land Ranch because up until now his entire goal has been protection and security he even says that he wants to raise sheep I would raise sheep they're quiet do what they're told I love the little affectionate smile he gives Ellie afterwards like a subtle sign of their growing Bond and notice how even at this point Joel is maintaining the emotional barrier between them like what do we do oh it's we now Joe's answer is perfect for a man who has lived a hard life who is now looking for peace the kind of peace that Marlon and Florence have back at that cabin but Ali can't help but mock his supposed desire for isolation so just you and a bunch of ship romantic but look behind this joke she is saying that Joel's life of solitude is really no life at all unlike Joel Ellie is a dreamer who sees Endless Possibilities in the world it's the first time in a car spaceship she mentions I read everything I could in the school library Neil Armstrong Buzz Aldrin Jim Lovell do you know who my favorite is really right and they were the first and second humans to land on the moon and Jim Lovell commanded the Apollo 13 mission as dramatized by Tom Hanks Houston we have a problem but her favorite astronaut was Sally Ride the first woman in space and also she was played by Ellen Rowe and For All Mankind one of the best shows on television so in the last of us too there is a cute cut scene where Joe and Ellie visit an old Museum where they sit in a capsule and pretend to go to space so this conversation is an awesome callback to that scene but even in all this daydreaming they're starting to have doubts I tried and Sam up until now they've had blind faith in the idea of a cure but now that they're close they're starting to wonder you know what if what if we win what if we lose and for Joel he's thinking what if I fail Ellie like I failed Sarah Joe replies a lot more complicated than that Gamers know as Joel takes his watch he tells Ellie dream of sheep ranches on the moon which is a lovely combination of their two dreams of the future now this shows that subconsciously Joe is starting to think of he and Ellie having a shared future together now I mentioned earlier that Joel did not want to treat la like an adult because then he would have to rely on her Reliance leads to need and need leads to affection and love which Joel still has to cut himself off from still his age catches up to him and he falls asleep but Ellie is there to protect him she follows his lessons check my six I look for tracks I found the high ground and I kept watch now later in the episode she continues to protect him warning him of an attack that he can't hear coming and then there's that ending which I'm going to go over a little later so even though Ellie is becoming a capable fighter Jill still doesn't want to rely on her wake me up next time they have a conversation about dressing a deer what's the dressing the part we take the guts out oh yeah and actually we saw a dress deer outside the cabin at the very start of the episode so Joel talks about removing the deer's guts it implies that Ellie doesn't have the stomach for this but later we see that Joel is impaled in the guts and is going to have to deal with that Fallout herself so the two of them come across a dam damn where like in the game Joe admits that he has no idea how electricity works so that made electricity don't ask me I don't have a clue look I know what it is I don't know how it does it now in the game the dam is actually where he is reunited with Tommy and it's like a whole level where you fight off Invaders and the show though Jackson gets their power from the dam but it's unguarded when they do run across the guards Joel's PTSD kicks in so the guards have this dog who is trained to smell the cordyceps fungus now contrast this was fedra who had like fancy digital scanners that detected the fungus in your blood their scanners showed that Ellie was positive while the dog instinctively knows that Ellie is safe to be around it is interesting that the bad guys fedra rely on technology but the good guys from Jackson detect the virus with dogs because dogs are in a mutually beneficial relationship with humans just as the people of Jackson all work for one another whereas fedra uses people like tools but there's other contrast between Federer and Jackson I'm going to go over just a little bit later so this event with the dog reminds Joel of two traumatic events the death of Sarah when another man with a gun pointed a gun at a teenager in his care and also to the soldier outside the qz when Jill had his flashback to Sarah's death and then we actually get to enter the town of Jackson so in the games you just kind of look at it before moving on to Colorado but I'm glad that they gave Joe and Ellie a chance to regroup there's always a part of the hero's journey where the heroes meet with the helper sometimes called the goddess it's the place that gives them the option of safety before they choose to move on into even darker trials and Lord of the Rings it's Galadriel lothlorian and Star Wars it's Luke on the way to Alderaan and here it's Jackson now there are several clues that connect this place to a sense of safety and belonging there's the sheep that Joel wants to raise also there's this place called the settlers cabin which implies Jackson is a kind of larger version of the cabin Sanctuary at the start of this episode so feeling safe and normal like I said brings up all these memories for Joel which in turn leads to him strengthening his bond with Ellie and this prepares Ellie for the trial that she is about to face next episode and she will have to take care of Joel but also bean and Jackson gives the heroes new Stakes they can see the kind of world that they're fighting for if the vaccine works and communities like this could appear all over the country and they can rebuild now you get to see more of Jackson in the last of us too this bar The Tipsy Tyson that's from the game and there are other similarities like the light strung up over town and and all the animal pens and I could be wrong but I think that the girl in the bar watching Ellie is Dina who she becomes very close to in the next game oh and the horse Shimmer is the one that she rides in the last of us too the first thing they see when they enter Jackson is people working together and cooperating to build up their Town contrast this with Kansas city where the first thing they saw was their attackers whereas here they immediately see family so to see where Tommy and Joel greet each other is pretty much lifted from the game with Tommy even wearing the same denim jacket he tells him come here to save you because Joe has always had to save Tommy remember in the first episode Tommy has to call Joel to get him out of jail but more importantly is the reason Tommy is in jail when an infected attacked a woman in a bar Tommy stepped in to save her Tommy is always the type to step up and save others like Joel said Tommy's what we used to call a joiner now because Tommy always wants to help people that is why Joe asks him to take Ellie to Colorado later on you want me to take her Tommy is married to Maria but in the game she is like the leader of Jackson here she's more humble no one person's in charge I'm on the council and Marie is played by rutina Wesley who you may recognize from HBO's True Blood now all of this is slowly revealed over a meal when Ellie has to remind Joel of his manners got another love all the emotions that are playing under the surface here once Joel's initial relief from seeing Tommy wears off he starts to resent him why didn't Tommy tell him that he was alive or that he found this Sanctuary why does Tommy get to live a happily ever after with the wife and baby and Joel has to suffer what's he going to get in return all of these emotions come bubbling to the surface throughout this episode and the rifle that Tommy describes still got my 700 but I found a variable Power Scope sub animal way is a Remington model 700 which is used by snipers in the U.S Marine Corps and the military it's also the bolt action rifle that appears in the last of this game that we talked about last week and we keep talking about how this show has the theme of losing and regaining your Humanity the fungus that invades people's bodies is symbolic of the hate that infects our souls both Rob us of our literal and symbolic Humanity Jackson is the definition of humanity they continually show One Another Love by working together to create a better life for each other and then Tommy just really twists the knife I'm going to be a father and Joel feels jealous and cheated cheated that Tommy gets to have the life that was still stolen from him Tommy says just because life stopped for you doesn't mean it has to stop for me and just like we've talked about that life stopping is symbolized by Joel's broken watch he still wears the watch as a reminder of his grief and it shows how he can never move on from his pain the longer he is in like these real life more normal circumstances the more Joel thinks of Sarah he sees a girl that looks like her and he briefly imagines that she is alive Joe's love for Ellie is slowly breaking down this facade he's built around himself until he finally breaks down again meanwhile Ellie is getting a taste of the good life and now she has a maternal influence who's given her a diva cup but she can't resist playing with it a week young at heart that one now notice that when she goes to Maria's house there's a stained glass image of some flowers Victoria Barkley on Twitter pointed out that these are peace lilies flowers are symbolic of femininity growth and Community they are a plant that serves little functional purpose apart from showing love and making a home it's why Frank wanted to plant them around their house it's how we show love peace lilies in particular symbolize War famine and disease no peace why never mind inside Ellie sees a Scrabble board which is another subtle sign of civilization gravel is a game that's about math reading spelling all luxuries that you can indulge in when you're no longer having to scrape a living off the land and then Maria gets her cleaned up and Gifts her with a large purple coat it's a super purple now purple is a symbol of royalty and luxury this symbolizes how Ellie is now in these luxurious surroundings but also Maria's role as a leader in the town and then she finally tells Ellie about Sarah Sarah was Joel's daughter and this little bit of knowledge is starting to break down the final barrier between Joel and Ellie Joel can no longer bury the existence of his daughter or the fact that Ellie reminds him of Sarah this small bit of Truth gives the two of them the tools to fully trust one another but Maria gives her some important bit of advice the only people who can betray us are the ones we trust now this will come into play later in the series but I won't say how but for now it's a reminder of the episode's ongoing theme of showing how people form bonds when they truly rely on one another for safety now the movie they're watching is called the Goodbye Girl a 1977 film that Richard Dreyfuss won an Oscar for the movie is about a single mom who is left by her boyfriend a man that she trusted who betrayed her and then Richard Dreyfuss moves in as a subletter and they form a kind of found family very similar to the found family between Joel and Ellie now at first Dreyfuss butts head with Marsha Mason and her daughter I play the guitar in the middle of the night whenever I cannot sleep and then he does leave them during the movie just like Joel threatens to leave Ellie but the movie ends with Richard Dreyfus asking her to restring his guitar implying that he does love her and he will return yes and the inclusion of this guitar is an important nod to Joel later in the episode after he started to feel safe and Trust Ellie he dreams less about survival and instead thinks about having fun when I was a kid I wanted to be a singer and remember in his house we saw his guitar in this poster for the Austin City Limits now in the game Joe actually plays guitar and teaches Ellie how to play as well did I teach you how to play so for both Joel and the Richard Dreyfuss character music is used as an expression of love and this episode is also key for Joel to finally have an emotional catharsis after initially rejecting Tommy Joe realizes that he is too old and tired to fight physically and emotionally also in the show they decide to not stop in Jackson but Tommy says kids will be watching movies tonight so all these years Joe has been able to bury his past because he's separated from the person who can share his grief with him his brother is the only person alive who truly knows him and he offers Joel a much needed outlet for his emotions whether he knows it or not Joel is craving an emotional connection he needs to rely on someone for Mutual benefit so he finally tells the truth she's a man but Joel only reveals this out of desperation he thinks that he cannot protect Ellie and he's desperate to Pawn off the responsibility to someone else now look if I can get a little biblical here go there go there it's fine thank you Joel asking for Tommy to take his burden away is much like Christ and Gethsemane praying to God to remove the burden of dying on the cross I would have said this was a coincidence but later in the episode Joel gets speared in the side like Christ which also happens in the game now the episode has a lot of fun explaining what exactly Jackson is this is the commune we're Communists and noticed that Tommy who grew up during the Cold War doesn't like that label and I know that socialism is a pretty charged word and later Joe goes over a simplified explanation of how the U.S worked some people wanted to own everything and some people didn't want anyone to own anything at all I actually think we're somewhere in between but when Joe's talking about Jackson he also says the country's too big for that so what we're seeing in Jackson is less of a communist society and more of a tribal Society in most indigenous cultures everything was shared by the tribe and the tribe raised the children together and this can really only work in small communities like Jackson or in Worlds with unlimited resources like in Star Trek yeah that's right in fact we see other utopian ideals in Jackson like their multi-faith church now then thousands of years of human civilization it kind of split us off into smaller homes and boxes away from that initial tribalism and now we all work for a piece of the planet's resources and this is how fedra operates people have to work for their ration cards and the worst the job is the more it pays it's capitalism that is persisting in an age where capitalism no longer makes sense careful I'm just saying that in a post-apocalyptic Society everyone benefits when you work together hell look they've even decorated an ATM machine for Christmas and they also fly the American flag and they are governed by a functional democracy unlike fedra so then Tommy and Joel go for a drink and it's telling that this booze is much better than the hooch that Joel has now at first Joel lies to Tommy going back to the episode's theme of trust so how's Tess she's fine all right he doesn't know anything about this place or where Tommy's loyalties now lie and he also sticks with his original story of Ellie from the first episode she's the daughter of some Firefly monkey mug this is why Joel confronts Tommy for cutting him out of his paradise and Tommy explains that he did this because of Jackson's strict rules of no contact now this stinks extra hard for Joel because in his mind family always comes first keep going for family Joe has Justified all the evil things he's done because it meant the continuing survival of his kin the things I did tell me those things that you judge me for how did those things to Keep Us Alive now of course Jesus was killed on the cross which ultimately led to his rebirth and resurrection and Joel does experience a kind of spiritual rebirth in this episode and later in the series makes a sacrifice for the sins of others that I won't say Gamers know God how heartbreaking was it to hear Joel a Pillar of Strength break down like this but she had to shoot him to save me I couldn't move I couldn't think of anything to say just just Joe is most terrified that he needs Ellie to survive because that means that he is no longer strong enough to protect her and for the first time since Sarah he is afraid the episode talks a lot about dreams of the future Maybe an old farmhouse some land Ranch but Joel's actual dreams when he's sleeping are still haunted by his past I just know that when I wake up I've lost something and man ah Pedro gets to act that's all I've ever done it's failure again now back at the house Ellie finds a diary in a scene that's lifted from the game is this really really about boys movies and then Joe and Ellie finally have an emotional catharsis that is lifted straight from the game first she misinterprets his desire to leave her behind no way you still here if you're gonna ditch me ditch me admit that you wanted to get rid of me the whole time and then just like in the game Ellie Cuts right to Joel's heart I'm not her you know Joel responds with Maria told me about Sarah and no don't say another word and what happens next is crucial Ellie keeps going I'm sorry about your daughter Joel but I have less people too now this is because Ellie is fearless and she also understands who Joel really is he's not a merciless killer he's a protector and she sees through his facade Ellie who represents the potential salvation for Humanity has always been able to identify the humanity and others and these next lines are when they truly come to understand each other as they start to share their traumas I'm sorry about your daughter Joel but I have lost people too you have no idea what loss is everybody I've cared for has either died or left me everyone except for you and just like in the game they agree to go their separate ways but in the game this moment is interrupted by an action scene and we are going our separate ways get it together we're not alone but the show gives the characters time to breathe and dwell on their emotions then Joel relives what I'm guessing is his last Christmas with Sarah and he recalls hanging up an ornament so the Christmas tree in town must have been triggering for him which is why he mocked Tommy for having one Christmas trees and big pretty decent setup now the next morning Tommy picks up Ellie but they find Joel in the stable ready to go and you know what relationships are defined by your ability to survive a fight so this scene shows just how close they've become you deserve a choice I still think you'd be better off with Thomas let's go and then we get these lovely scenes where their bond is added strongest and they are genuinely happy to be together their inner Serenity is also reflected by how beautifully this is filmed and by the way if you're wondering how La knows how to ride a horse I think we're going to find out in the next episode so on the ride Joel starts to tell her about how the world worked in the past including how football was played just like in the game let me see if I get this straight if you mess up your fourth down then you give the ball to the other team huh yep so basically just moving him One Direction basically but violent but for the first time he is telling her about his own life in the before time I just did my job which was building that's right houses doors that kind of thing this is actually Joel starting to recognize Ellie as a full equal there's a similar moment in Saving Private Ryan when Captain Miller finally shares what he did before the war I'm a school teacher I teach English composition but like Joel is also allowed to embellish how important he was everybody loved contractors so in both Saving Private Ryan and in the last of us sharing elements of the past connect you with people in the present so now by finally talking about the past Joel can work through his pain and this frees him up to finally actually think about the future so when they enter the university they immediately start to talk about the future the kind of sheep we'll see in simplest into your dream and when Joel explains College he says I think it was just as much about partying and finding themselves as anything else and this is when he reveals that he actually wanted to be a singer see as he starts to let go of his past he can dream for a better future than just the boring sheep farm that he saw for himself before Joel actually writes a song for Ellie in the games and this is reflected in this episode when we see a songwriting sheet on the bulletin board in Ellie's room so when they come to the university there are many similarities to the games there's the packing list and I've never been a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo and the monkeys have been released by the lab techs before they moved out but in the game the monkeys are infected and one of them bit the lead doctor before he could leave anyway [Applause] and there's also the Firefly logos that are painted around everywhere now outside we see shooting pill boxes like the one that bill should have built in the street outside his house and just like in the game Joel and Ellie work out to the fireflies have moved on to Utah except in the game you find out by like listening to these audio recorders then some Bandits find them and Joel snaps this guy's neck which is also a pretty common stealth move in the game and just like in the game he gets stabbed in his side and Ellie is forced to take charge now the song at the end is a big clue that we're about to transition into Ellie driving the narrative this is a cover of Depeche Mode's never let me down again the 80s song that closed out the first episode the lyrics speak to the show's recurring themes of trust Reliance and protection I'm taking a ride with my best friend I hope he never lets me down again he knows where he's taking me taking me where I want to be except unlike in the first episode those lyrics are not sung by Dave Gehan they're sung by a woman showing that now Ellie is the one who has to protect Joel guys just a reminder to try out factor with our Link in the description to get 50 off your first order with the code screen Crush 50. but let me know what you guys think of all this down in the comments below or at me on Twitter and if it's your first time here please subscribe and smash that Bell for alerts for screen Crush I'm Ryan Airy [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: ScreenCrush

Views: 317,181

Keywords: screencrush, heavy spoilers, new rockstars, LAST OF US Episode 6 Breakdown, last of us episode 5, lastr of us episode 6 breakdown, last of us epsiode 6 breakdown, lastr of us epsiode 6 breakdown, the last of us episode 6, the lastr of us episode 6, last oif us episode 6, thik story last of us, emergency awesome

Id: UaQ-qd5EfI8

Length: 27min 48sec (1668 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 19 2023