Reaction Review: The Last Of Us Season 1 Episode 5: Endure and Survive
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
EPISODE SUMMARY
Warning: major spoilers for The Last of Us season 1 episode 5, “Endure and Survive”, are throughout the entire review. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
A rally kicks off the episode, with chants for “freedom” ringing amidst a rallying against FEDRA. Lives are claimed amidst the protests, and FEDRA is forced to retaliate by patrolling. We see Sam and Henry in the middle of this nightmare figuring out ways to get out. We then cut to Kathleen — who we were introduced to last episode — brainwashing a new group of recruits to follow her lead of hate. She promises to protect them from FEDRA as long as they can direct her to Henry, who she has been chasing ever since we met her (and we’re not certain as to why). She doesn’t get any answers, and so she instructs for them to get executed by her soldiers. Suddenly, a confession comes out: Henry is with “Edlestein”. This means he is still in the city with his brother Sam. Kathleen has the information that she needed. She then instructs her team to kill all of the innocents in the cell.
Sam and Henry come back to their base and run into a gentleman, who one can only assume is the Edlestein brought up earlier. It’s the attic space we found in the previous episode, so chances are this episode takes place before where we previously left off. Edlestein tells Henry that his brother, Sam, is as scared as he is because Henry is scared: in short, he is told to strengthen up to be a leader for his sibling. Sam needs the support as a deaf, autistic, young boy. Henry then follows this advice and assures Sam that they are safe. They continue to draw on the walls of the attic. Ten days later, Henry senses a commotion outside: it’s FEDRA making its rounds. Sam indicates that they have run out of food, but Henry is busy feigning his fear as to what is about to happen to them. Nonetheless, he still tries to make his brother feel safe. After affirming that they will be safe, Henry helps Sam apply war paint across his face. With renewed confidence, they try to set out for the day.
A sudden flurry of explosions and gunshots alarms Henry who gets into protective mode. It’s the scene we saw last episode of Ellie and Joel fending off scavengers, only this time it’s from Henry’s perspective. Henry decides to go for plan B so they can stay safe: approach Joel and Ellie that night. We finished the previous episode thinking that our protagonists are in danger. Really, Henry isn’t here to attack them, but he holds them at gunpoint so he can get his points across. He actually wants to team up so Sam can get the proper care and supplies he needs. We finally get to the bottom of Kathleen’s obsession with Henry: the latter, he admits, is the most wanted man in Kansas City (although I have a feeling that will be Jalen Hurts after this Sunday’s Super Bowl: the event that made The Last of Us air today on HBOMax instead of Sunday).
The four people share a meal, and Joel is ready to leave. Henry isn’t prepared to quit here, though. The next morning, Henry has a talk with Joel. Henry is a collaborator with FEDRA: an informant that has clearly burned Kathleen and her rebellion. Henry isn’t here to backstab Joel, or so he claims. He states that he knows the city inside and out because of his ties, so he will help Joel and Ellie out (as long as they both “clear the way” for Henry and his brother). Speaking of which, little Sam is bonding with Ellie while this planning is going on, and Henry is relieved that his sibling is having fun for the first time in years. With this trust in place, it’s time to plot. While Henry gives the lowdown, his brother Sam backs him up by writing down the word “tunnels”: the key method of travel to remain unnoticed by either FEDRA or Kathleen’s squad. Joel still isn’t clear as to why he is needed, especially if it’s so easy to navigate. Well, these tunnels are allegedly full of the infected people that FEDRA shoved into the tunnels, although Henry claims that it is clean outside of one or two people. The escape begins.
The tunnels do appear empty upon the arrival of our four leads, but these quarters are pitch black and anything is possible at any turn. After a fade-to-black and back — an insinuation that time has passed — our team arrives at a dead end full of drawings on the wall. Sam is intrigued, because he too has drawn on the walls. Joel holds him back from getting closer, and he leads the way through the doorway. We see what was once a living area, just like the one Henry and Sam had in the attic, although this is much larger. This settlement is clearly abandoned, and you can sense the despair that comes from what was clearly a failed plan to survive. Sam pulls out a Savage Starlight comic book, and Ellie states that she loves this series as well: they’re bonding even more now, and Henry likes what he sees. They quote the comic book’s slogan, which happens to be the name of this episode: “endure and survive”. Joel and Henry aren’t so peachy, as they feel like the coast isn’t clear yet.
While Ellie and Sam play soccer, Joel apologizes for snapping at Henry when he admitted he was an informant for FEDRA: he understands he did what he did to protect his brother Sam. Henry then confesses that he has actually killed someone before (a revelation we’ve heard a few characters unfortunately have to give before in this series, as is the reality of this world). Henry brings up that Sam had leukaemia, and the one drug that would save his life was held by FEDRA. FEDRA gave Henry a condition: the life of the leader of the resistance movement in Kansas City. We find out that man was Kathleen’s brother. Things finally click into place. Kathleen wants Henry’s life as reparation, but Henry just wanted to save his brother’s life. Henry continues his discussion with Joel by remarking on how protective of Ellie he is despite not being her dad; once he flies too close to the sun and reminds Joel of his dead daughter, Sarah, Joel decides it’s time to leave.
Back to Kathleen. The search for Henry isn’t working out. She’s residing in her old childhood room back at the house she grew up in (clearly ghosted in the age of the apocalypse). She reminisces on her late brother, and after her fond memories, she admits that she is much more hateful than he is. He tried to teach her a life of forgiveness, and she says it lead to his death at the hand of Henry. She gets the support that she needs after this monologue, and she feels like she can trust the squad that she took over from her late brother. That’s enough of that for now.
Joel and company continue trekking in the dark hours of the night. The coast appears to be clear, until the team is met with a barrage of gunshots. They hide from car to car, yet the bullets keep tracking their every move. Joel opts to sneak up into the house that the shooter may be hiding in and take him out. He demands that Ellie should trust him before darting in. The shooter continues to open fire. It doesn’t matter as Joel manages to get into the house. Joel reaches the shooter: a geriatric with a sniper rifle. He instructs the rifleman to put the gun down or Joel will shoot. The stranger — whose name is Anthony (we hear on a walkie talkie being instructed by Kathleen [!]) — doesn’t listen and gets killed. Joel picks up on this message and screams at his team to run. Kathleen and her squad is obliterating the lot that Ellie and company are hiding in with a truck, and Joel takes the rifle to take out the driver: he succeeds. The truck crashes into a nearby house. The rest of the squad drive up and pull out their weapons, ready to strike, but the truck explodes after a gas leakage catches fire. Ellie is rescued by Henry and Sam. Kathleen isn’t going to give up as she commands that Henry and Sam reveal themselves.
Henry promises to surrender himself if Kathleen lets the kids survive, but Kathleen doesn’t want to let them all live. “Kids die, Henry. They die all the time.” is her rationale. Henry panics while Kathleen talks and asks Ellie to save Sam by running for it. Henry gives himself up. Kathleen is ready to kill Henry until a sinkhole emerges and swallows the flaming truck. Suddenly all of those infected citizens hidden by FEDRA underground emerge. They sprint towards anyone and anything. Kathleen’s squad is fending for their lives. Joel is protecting Ellie, Sam and Henry. It’s an absolute bloodbath, and one of the best payoffs of the series so far. And then a louder bellow occurs: it's a bloater (someone that is completely infected to the point of superhuman strength and near-invincibility). Kathleen is protected while her squad sacrifices themselves for her. Ellie is met with her own terror: a clicker that finds her hiding in a vehicle, with many more nearby. Joel continues to shoot them off so Ellie can escape. Henry and Sam are saved by Ellie -- who stabs a clicker that is terrorizing them — by stabbing it, only for Kathleen to find them and try yet again to kill them. She is attacked by a clicker, to our relief. Joel rejoins them, and they evacuate the chaos.
Joel and Henry now know that they can fully trust one another, and this seems like a team that was meant to happen. Ellie reads more Savage Starlight to Sam before he interrupts her: he asks her via writing if she is ever scared. Ellie wonders if she doesn’t appear scared to Sam. He says “never”. Ellie confirms that she's actually scared all of the time. Sam keeps questioning and we eventually learn why: he appears to be infected, as can be seen by the growth on his ankle. Ellie knows that she is invincible and believes that her blood may be medicine to help him; she swiftly cuts her hand open and smears blood on his would to try and save him. Sam asks Ellie to stay awake with him in case anything happens; she promises, and Sam teachers her the sign to make said promise.
The next morning, it's clear that Ellie had fallen asleep. Sam is still awake and staring outside. Unfortunately, her blood didn’t cure him. Sam attacks Ellie as he is now infected, and Joel and Henry downstairs hear this instantly. They come to try and stop the attack, and Henry instinctively kills Sam. He then realizes that he had killed his own brother, even though it was to save everyone else. He cannot accept the choice he made, and he commits suicide, despite Joel asking him to hand over his gun multiple times. Joel and Ellie bury their bodies, and Ellie is clearly not the same as she once was. “Which way’s west?” she coldly asks, just wanting to get on the road. She wrote down “I am sorry” on the pad of paper Sam used to communicate and leaves it on his grave. They head west as a duo: separated from those they could trust because of the cold hands of death once again.
FIRST REACTION
Wow. The start of the episode was as standard as the one before, but it’s clear that this was actually a two parter to the Henry/Sam/Kathleen subplot. Although “Endure and Survive” is so much more than that. It’s a clear indication as to how wonderfully structured the series as a whole is. While it seems like stories come and go at the drop of a hat here (so many characters that we get introduced to die rather quickly), the overall themes of The Last of Us are what have staying power. After “Long Long Time” and the revelation of how important it is to have a loved one in this climate in order to survive, seeing Henry grapple with the death of Sam (the brother he put himself in danger to protect as much as possible) was quite something. It’s more than realizing that one’s last remaining family member is now dead: it’s the end of hope for Henry as he knew it. You need that reason to live in this post-apocalyptic world. Without it, there just isn’t any point: either remain alone and on the run from the infected, FEDRA, and scavengers for the rest of your short life, or just get the inevitable over with.
We’re also starting to see part of Ellie’s optimism dwindle as well. Now that she’s seeing death happen again and again, she herself is becoming jaded; Sam was especially tough, because of how much she bonded with someone around her age (or at least not significantly older like almost everyone else she has interacted with for most of her life). While Joel is starting to warm up as a father figure to Ellie (or so it seems), she is growing cold of this real world she was shielded from while being locked away as the key to humanity’s survival. Furthermore, while Kathleen appears to now be gone, I get the sense that her work is only a snippet of the bigger picture as to how bad FEDRA will be down the road, especially since this rebel force got seemingly wiped out by infected in this episode (so that’s a drop in the amount of people willing to stand up to FEDRA).
The whole episode built up to the thrilling climax in the third act, and what an absolute nightmare that was. Those viewers that have been whining about the lack of action likely got their fix this episode, and it was some beautifully executed chaos in a show that has proven once again that it knows how to savour its important moments. We don’t see characters using firearms as much as they would in the game, nor are we in the presence of infected so often. It makes for payoffs like this one: an exhilarating ten minute onslaught that actually was more insane than what we got in the game around this point. Those that haven’t played The Last of Us likely didn’t see what was coming with Sam’s infection, although the show eliminates the shock factor of the twist by having Sam reveal his growth to Ellie the night before. What this means is that the adaptation is aiming for more of an awareness of how the last remnants of civilization may occasionally try to help one another. it also gives us insight as to how Ellie’s immunity works: clearly it isn’t just about the contents of her blood, since it didn’t help Sam.
The sacrifice Henry makes is just as devastating here as it is in the game, but with the hindsight of how The Last of Us the series has prioritized the last dregs of love in a hateful world, this moment hurts so much. Here was hope, and once again it was gone. What an episode. Consider how many times The Last of Us has left us cold in only five episodes: just five. We still have four to go, and lots of story to cover. So far, I am quite impressed with this adaptation and how quickly — yet properly — it has managed to zip through the game and make it work for television. I await what comes next, and I have a feeling it may be winter soon in The Last of Us.
Final Grade: 4.5/5
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.