Hope and doubt collide in an eventful episode 6 of The Last of Us

Enlarge / Will someone please get this girl an electric heater?

New episodes of The Last of Us are premiering on HBO every Sunday night, and Ars' Kyle Orland (who has played the games) and Andrew Cunningham (who hasn't) will be talking about them here right after the episodes air. While these recaps don't delve into every single plot point of the episodes, there are obviously heavy spoilers contained within, so go watch the episode first if you want to go in fresh.

Kyle: Besides the obvious "move the plot forward" bits reuniting of Joel and his brother Tommy, I was surprised at how deep this episode went on the mental and physical anguish of an aging, obviously traumatized Joel. This kind of thing is hinted at in the games, especially the sequel, but it's more of a vague undercurrent beneath Joel's general image as "Unflappable Survivor Badass."

Andrew: The three-month time jump following last week's emotional wringer is enough time for Joel and Ellie to have made it from Missouri to southern Wyoming. Their dynamic doesn't seem to have changed much, but we do see Joel struggling with something that looks an awful lot like panic attacks. And then Joel finds his brother, who it turns out doesn't need so much saving after all.

The Jackson commune where they end up might be the only place outside of flashbacks that we've seen that feels genuinely safe, maybe even genuinely comfortable. There's no FEDRA, no vigilantes waving don't-tread-on-me flags, no sign of infected. They aren't doomsday preppers trying to go it alone. They have Christmas lights! They have movie nights.

Something about that setting plus seeing his brother again—it's easy to revert to a previous version of yourself when you see a close friend or family member you haven't seen in a while—totally shatters Joel's defenses, and all the emotional subtext of his relationship with Ellie just comes tumbling out.

She's obviously very worried about COVID

Kyle: Kind of a tangent, but this episode, and episode 3 before it, really hammer home how crucial consistent electricity is to a modern peacful society. Just having the ability to give the people some running water, heat, and movies to keep the kids busy seems to be the main difference between fascist dystopia and Jackson's idealized commune.

Andrew: There's some real truth to that. I was living in New Jersey (and my now-wife was out of town) when Hurricane Sandy hit, and our apartment complex took the better part of a week to get power restored. I was living a nomadic existence for a few days, bouncing between places with electricity while I waited for ours to come back. New Jersey still has these gigantic malls that are dying out most other places in the country, and you could go to one and see people gathered around those outlets they embed in the floors, all waiting for their phones to charge.

Having electricity and alcohol really seems to have taken the edge off for the people in this episode; if it weren't for the barricades (and the handwritten labels on all the whiskey bottles at the bar, a nice touch), Jackson could almost be a normal town.

How about this for a slogan: Jackson, city of brotherly love. Is that taken?

Kyle: I found myself wondering if Jackson's example could be replicated in other far flung communities in this world. Being in the middle of nowhere and unknown to short-wave radios seems pretty key to keeping them safe from Infected and raiders. Being a relatively small community also probably helps—harder to get up to no good if the entire town knows you by sight.

All that said, feels like a couple dozen guys from Kansas City with heavy artillery could overtake this idyllic hamlet and ruin it incredibly quickly.

Andrew: We're just going to quietly hope that no one does that!

It also doesn't hurt that Jackson has a consistent source of hydroelectric power, something that just won't be possible in a lot of other places.

Kyle: Yeah, if this outbreak had just happened 20 years later there would be tons of solar panels around to repurpose!

Andrew: Giant wind farms to tap into! Not to get political but I think renewable energy might be good?

Kyle: We need the Green New Deal to protect us from the zombie apocalypse!

Andrew: "I can't believe these commies want to take away our right to get infected by the deadly mushroom virus" says Tucker Carlson.

Just Ellie enjoying the best meal of her life...

Kyle: Speaking of politics, I loved Tommy's reaction to the undeniable fact that he has been living under communism for years and loving it. You can almost see his brain rewiring itself in real time.

Andrew: "Sure, we live in a commune, and everything belongs to everyone, but it’s not communism."

I do think the Big Emotional Decision in this episode feels just a little rushed. Joel bares his soul, Joel talks Tommy into taking Ellie, and then in the morning Joel has changed his mind and that’s that. It does work, it’s just a big pivot point for their relationship and it all happens pretty quickly.

Kyle: Yeah it felt kind of like an episode of Full House where Danny goes through a crisis of faith in his parenting and Uncle Jesse convinces him to just be cool about it and it all works out just in time for an all new Family Matters.

Are my timely sitcom metaphors working for you?

Andrew: Yes, this is a hip and current reference and I'm glad you made it.

Like a lot of the show's action sequences, the one at the science lab is a bit hard to comment on because it's pretty straightforward. A small roving band of Generic Jerks comes upon Our Heroes and fighting ensues. It is thematically resonant that Joel's fears about his own capabilities are proven "right" so soon after he acknowledges them.

And then the whole sequence with the monkeys and the university and everything set off my "this feels like a video game" sensors. Am I off the mark?

Joel at a respawn point.

Kyle: You're not. The whole last 15 minutes of the episode were pretty faithful to the games, as far as I remember. Which is a good opportunity for me to turn it around in you and ask you to predict what happens to Joel and Ellie after this cliffhanger...

Andrew: Well I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but if Joel dies he just respawns at the last save point. So the only question for viewers is how much of the monkey-college sequences we'll need to watch a second or third time while Joel tries to get a handle on the enemies' attack patterns.

I suspect that Ellie, having been trained in the ways of survival, will suddenly find herself in the role of Unlikely Protector while Joel convalesces, may make an unlikely friend or two in trying to find him help. I am not sure about that but I'm more sure than I am that the show is going to let a main character die this early.

Kyle: I’d point you to the first season of Game of Thrones as a counterexample, but I’m pretty sure no one at HBO is using that as a guiding document for this...

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