The Last of Us will always be a show about survival. Not necessarily from zombies, but in general. We haven’t seen many Infected so far: aside from the Clicker scene in Episode 2, Joel and Ellie’s worst encounters have been with other survivors in Kansas City. That changed in Episode 5. Joel and Ellie make an uneasy alliance, and just when they think they’re free, something terrible happens — twice.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Episode 5 picks up where Episode 4 left off, but first we get a look at 10 days prior, when Henry and Sam find refuge in a Kansas City hideout away from the murderous Kathleen. They stay as long as they can, but run out of food. Just as they’re about to leave, Henry hears shooting, and he observes Joel’s shootout with the revolutionaries that we saw in Episode 4.
We then join the action from the end of Episode 4, with Joel and Ellie being held at gunpoint by Henry and Sam. This is much less scary now that we know they’re out of ammunition, but our heroes are sufficiently spooked. They form an uneasy alliance when Henry tells Joel about a way out of the city through underground tunnels, although there are hordes of Infected lying in wait below the surface.
After traversing the tunnels and taking a break in an abandoned daycare, the foursome finally emerge and believe themselves home-free. But then a sniper starts shooting from a house, forcing them to take cover. Joel manages to wind his way there and disarm the shooter, but by then they’ve contacted Kathleen and her crew.
Kathleen arrives, and Henry is close to surrendering when he’s saved by a horrible twist of fate: a sinkhole opens, revealing dozens of Infected. They ravage Kathleen’s crew, and Ellie is only able to escape with the help of Joel manning the sniper rifle. She even manages to save Henry and Sam after they get pinned under a car by a few Infected.
After retreating to a hotel, Sam and Ellie bond over a comic book before he lets Ellie in on a secret: he was bitten. Ellie tries to treat the wound with her immune blood, but is unsure whether it will work. She agrees to stay awake with him, but drifts off. When she wakes, Sam is sitting on the edge of the bed. He lashes out at her, completely turned. Ellie screams for help, and Henry and Joel burst in. Henry holds Joel at gunpoint, forbidding him from shooting Sam: that’s a job for his brother. Henry shoots Sam, then immediately goes into shock and turns the gun on himself.
Joel and Ellie bury the two brothers before setting out for Wyoming, now even more aware of how hard this world can be and what sort of difficult decisions could await them.
The Last of Us is streaming on HBO Max.
