The Final of Us Episode 5 Recap: Endure and Survive

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us, Season 1 Episode 5, “Endure and Survive.”]

Lest you had been feeling like The Final of Us was taking it simple on viewers with its depiction of America 20 years right into a zombie apocalypse, Episode 5 of the HBO drama proves to be an actual intestine punch. “Endure and Survive” correctly introduces brothers Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), two characters who originated within the first Final of Us sport, and their story turns into central to the present’s most tragic and heartbreaking sequence so far.

But it’s additionally vital, as a result of each component concerned speaks to a key theme of the sequence: how far would we go for the individuals we love? Co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have each spoken about how the sequence facilities round how the worst atrocities individuals commit are sometimes motivated by defending these they love. “Endure and Survive” exhibits precisely that, laying out the results of what occurs when individuals resolve their household takes priority over everybody else.

Whereas Episode 4 ended with a dramatic cliffhanger, as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) wakes as much as discover herself being held at gunpoint, Episode 5 steps again in time to correctly introduce Henry, a younger man attempting to handle his brother within the chaos of the quarantine zone managed by the group often known as FEDRA. Whereas FEDRA serves because the final vestige of the American authorities on this world, it’s develop into controlling and fascist within the years because the outbreak, resulting in a number of quarantine zones attempting to revolt towards its authority.

As we study in Episode 5, one such revolt passed off in Kansas Metropolis, with FEDRA making an attempt to crack down on the ringleaders to protect its authority. That’s the state of affairs which led Henry to rat out Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey)’s brother to FEDRA, realizing that it might result in the person’s demise — that’s how determined he was to trace down some vital drugs for Sam.

The Final of Us (HBO)

The consequence for his alternative, although, is that when Kathleen and her forces efficiently overthrow FEDRA, Henry is now Public Enemy #1, as she turns into decided to hunt him down and get revenge for her brother’s demise. Henry and Sam disguise out for so long as they’ll earlier than working out of meals, encountering Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) whereas attempting to remain in hiding but additionally find one thing to eat.

Sadly, they’ll’t keep secure eternally. It’s Kathleen’s concentrate on revenge for her brother that leads her to carry out her whole posse on a manhunt that ends in catastrophe for just about everybody concerned — she’s amongst the numerous killed through the climactic assault, and people aren’t the one deaths that make an affect. The 2 most brutal casualties happen the morning after the battle, as Ellie will get attacked by an contaminated Sam and Henry shoots him out of pure intuition, earlier than dying by suicide a couple of moments afterward.(A change from the sport to the sequence is that Sam initially wasn’t Deaf, a shift which doesn’t dramatically have an effect on the motion, however does make the ending really feel all of the extra tragic.)

The sequence of occasions is heartbreaking for therefore many causes, however one in all them is the way it reminds us what it means, to resolve what we’re residing for. It’s not essentially a query we residing in the actual world have a lot time to think about, with work and household and taxes and sports activities and buddies and HBO premium dramas to distract us each day, however societal collapse has a approach of giving an individual focus.

Those that have performed the sport know the way far Joel will go to guard Ellie, and now individuals new to The Final of Us have gotten a glimpse at the kind of heartbreaking violence that’s deemed vital for the sake of affection. As terrifying because the Cordyceps zombies could be in The Final of Us, the present is at all times very clear on how the actual supply of terror is humanity at its worst — although, at occasions, it’s balanced out with humanity at its finest.

“Endure and Survive” is a narrative of individuals making impossible-to-imagine selections, and pushing the viewer to think about simply how they themselves may face these decisions. It’s the darkest installment of the present but, however it’s one which’s unimaginable to neglect.

The Final of Us sometimes airs Sundays on HBO. (Episode 5 premiered early this week, on account of the Tremendous Bowl.)