Wow. What an amazing way to end the season of The
Last of Us. Having played the game I knew this ending
would absolutely obliterate everyone and I think the execution of the climax worked out
perfectly. Joel’s rampage through the hospital to save
Ellie while simultaneously dooming the world is narrative brilliance. This story beat is amazing and Neil Druckman
for actually making this scenario believable is astounding. Because the fact that we actually kind of
sympathize with Joel here is a really hard thing to do from a story perspective. Given that he murdered dozens of fireflies. Through the course of the show we’ve really
bonded to Joel and Ellie and the entire experiment of this arc is if we’d accept what Joel
does here. In order for us to accept this, we need to
fully understand the character and to be able to relate to him. Having the sound slowly fade out and primarily
drive the emotion of Joel’s headspace with music was an outstanding idea that helped
with this notion. It really submerges you into Joel’s twisted
and motivated perspective. What Joel is doing here is obviously not right,
but what makes this so compelling is that he’s a character who’s solely motivated
by what he cares about the most. He’s someone who has been broken since the
death of Sarah and Ellie is what fixed him. This idea is expressed in probably one of
my favorite lines in a script in a while where Joel and Ellie say this: “So time heals
all wounds, I guess. It wasn’t time that did it.” What a smart way to communicate this without
saying it outright. Having Joel look at Ellie in this moment visually
says that she is the one that cured his depression and her realizing that is peak writing to
me. And the crazy thing is that I think this is
a show-specific moment. From how integral this line is for Joel’s
entire arc, I’m surprised it didn’t originate in the game. Unless if they did say it at some point, but
it wasn’t in a cinematic. So this moment punctuates Joel’s arc perfectly
and I think is the best way to prepare the audience for the upcoming massacre. In comparison to the game, I think people
were more motivated to save Ellie and to kill all of these people because of how much they’ve
already killed in the game. It kind of becomes additional violence and
the people you kill here blend into the already big body count you’ve been accumulating. For the show, this is almost the opposite
because Joel and Ellie haven’t had to kill as many people. So Joel making the decision to kill the fireflies
is even bigger here. It has more dramatic weight because we haven’t
been mowing people down. In both the game and the show they are definitely
impactful segments, but I think the show executes it really well along with having a lot of
great moments to communicate how far gone Joel is. Like him gunning down the unarmed firefly
and him having to finish off someone with the knife. This particular moment feels like a mirror
to episode 4 where this drawn-out segment of the guy’s death was really haunting and
difficult. The fact that Joel is unmoved by having to
execute this person and does it without hesitation is a staggering contrast. And even the brief shot of showing Joel’s
face after killing the doctor is kind of terrifying. Joel becomes a monster here and it’s OK
to disagree with what he is doing. The show sets up both sides of the coin as
being immoral because even Marlene is killing Ellie without her approval. Obviously, the correct thing to do is to ask
Ellie if she is willing to sacrifice herself for the vaccine, but Marlene is equally doing
a bad thing by not giving her that choice. Which this is met by Joel’s outrage. So from a character point of view, everyone
here makes sense and it all clashes with one of the best climaxes in video game and even
show history. From here on out it basically follows the
game exactly which makes sense because I think the ending is spectacular. Through Ellie questioning Joel and the circumstances
in which they left, she knows that he is probably lying to her. So her giving him one final chance to come
clean at the end and puts their entire trust on the line I think speaks volumes for what
she knows deep down. So having Joel double down on the lie and
compromise their trust is a tragic ending despite it supposedly being uplifting since
Joel and Ellie are back together again. From here, the question remains as to how
this will impact their relationship going forward and will Ellie ever find out the truth
of what really happened. So the ending was executed to a complete tee
in comparison to the game and retained that gut-punch of an ending. I’m happy nothing was changed and despite
people saying that the ending was originally controversial, I think it has always been
an outstanding ending. From here let's go into some of the other
strengths of the episode. In particular, I loved the cold opening. I kind of missed this tradition that was set
up by the first two episodes and I’m glad it returned because it has the opportunity
to flesh out the world a lot more. Having the actress who played Ellie in the
game play her mother is such a genius way to pass on the torch and quite literally at
that. But the fact that this scene offers way more
than just seeing Ellie’s origin is great. We simultaneously learn how Ellie gained her
immunity through her mom getting bit before she cut the umbilical cord and seeing Marlene’s
relationship with Ellie’s mother. In the game, Marlene’s connection to Ellie
was pretty underdeveloped because her only scene was her giving Ellie to Joel and Tess. Along with the ending. For the show, they develop her character a
lot more which was a good change because it makes her eventual demise that much more moving. We understand the hurt and conflict within
her to kill Ellie for the greater good and it offers an interesting contrast between
her and Joel. They both care for Ellie but since Joel has
been shattered by Sarah, it’s impossible for him to give her up without fighting. While Marlene is on the opposite end of that
spectrum in which she’s a selfless person who wants to serve the greater good. At the obvious expense of killing an innocent
girl. So this cold open was actually really important
in the grand scheme of things and shows how the TV show medium has an easier time in telling
stories. Given that they cut to flashbacks without
interrupting the flow of gameplay. Then the one scene that everyone has been
really excited for is the giraffe scene. This again was a perfect translation from
the game and captures the pure whimsical joy that comes from our characters in this moment. It essentially operates as the calm before
the storm and the pure bliss that the characters share here has priceless value. It also acts as a good contrast to the last
episode in which Ellie brutally murders David. So having this moment kind of brightens up
her mood and she then opens up to Joel. Which I also liked how they made Ellie barely
speak in the beginning. It was a clever reversal of her character
and it immediately portrays the notion that something is wrong with her. She’s always been the one to constantly
talk and make jokes and it’s even crazy how Joel is the one making jokes now considering
his starting point. Along with him opening up more about Sarah. Everything up until this point was basically
pulled from the game, but the addition in which Joel tried to kill himself adds another
vulnerable layer onto joel that increases his overall value in my eyes. The show has really made Joel into a fractured
and hurt individual and the reveal of his suicide attempt adds on a brilliant final
layer. Especially since he lied about it earlier
so the callback here has even more meaning. Going into one aspect about the episode that
has been getting criticized the most is the pacing. The common complaint is that the episode was
way too fast and they should have slowed down, and for once I kind of agree with this sentiment. I do think the pacing was pretty solid and
included no filler at all. It was very optimal in a way. However, since this is the finale, I think
it should have been longer. Joel and Ellie's current journey into the
city feels kind of weird because it essentially has no conflict. This is actually the one time where I think
the game did a better job in its execution of events. In the game, they had to maneuver through
a tunnel of infected and eventually they get to an area that has a rip current going through
one of the tunnels, and Joel and Ellie get swept away. When they emerge, Joel is trying to resuscitate
Ellie and in the process, the Fireflies captures them. To me, this leaves a better ending for Joel
because it acts as more of an emotional cliffhanger for him. Ellie was on the precipice of death and suddenly
he can’t see her again. It creates a sense of emotional shock for
Joel because the last thing going through his mind was Ellie being close to death. So the first thing he wants to do upon waking
up is see her again and to reassure his biggest worry that she isn’t dead. This creates more of an urgency to see Ellie
because this is his last memory of her. Instead of a happy one in which they are sharing
puns. Then Marlene denying Joel to see her again
stings that much more because of the way things ended. So if they went from the pun scene into a
zombie scene that then gets interrupted by the Fireflies, I think it would have flowed
much better. Now I don’t think this pacing issue compromises
the climax in the show by any means, but I think it is a minor downgrade from the game. Along with the fact that it would have been
nice to see a bit more zombies. I did just say in my last video that it’s
not a big deal to not include that many zombies within this show, but this is the one time
where they would be appropriate. It would have given Joel and Ellie one final
obstacle to overcome together before the ending. Because when you think about it, the last
time they really cooperated was back in episode 5. So seeing them work together as a team to
show their efficiency and growth would have been great to see. I think this would perfectly tie in the infected
threat and would have easily combated the notion of there being a lack of them. There is an infected appearance in the beginning
of the episode, but since Joel and Ellie are in a city again, it would make sense to have
an encounter. So while this isn’t a major flaw, I’m
surprised by the rare instance in which the game is better than the show for once. This is a pretty straight adaptation since
there aren’t a lot of original moments here in the show, and this is a time in which they
should have brought more over from the game. Overall though, I think episode 9 is a slam
dunk in its execution and this marks one of the best video game to tv show/movie adaptations. Sitting right next to Arcane in terms of quality. I am really excited to see how they handle
The Last of Us 2. So far they’ve announced that Bella Ramsey
will remain as Ellie which I think is a great choice. It was kind of in question because of the
second game doing a time jump. But she’s 19 so she can definitely play
a slightly more mature version of the character. Then they’re also going to do 2 seasons
for The Last of Us 2. Considering that the game is huge and is like
double the length of the first game. So yeah, thank you for joining me on this
series and I’ll put a playlist of each one of my episodic reviews in the end screen. Have a great day and let me know what you
thought about episode 9 of The Last of Us.
