Reaction Review: The Last Of Us Season 1 Episode 7: Left Behind
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
EPISODE SUMMARY
Warning: major spoilers for The Last of Us season 1 episode 7, “Left Behind”, are throughout the entire review. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
We cut to snowy plains with trickles of blood. Ellie has whisked the recently injured Joel to a hiding spot to try and help him survive. He instructs her to go to his brother Tommy’s settlement while she dresses his wound and blankets him. She darts out of the room after being given this request. She opens a door, and we suddenly cut to a flashback: a younger Ellie doing sprints with other girls in a gymnasium. A fellow student takes her headphones and eggs her on, teasing her about a “friend” that is no longer here. Ellie socks her, and we cut to what looks like the principal’s office (Ellie is now sporting her own black eye). This isn’t really a principal, though. This is Captain Kwong, and this is a boarding school run by what appears to be FEDRA. He instructs her to either wind up dead as a rebel, or play by the school’s rules and become an officer down the road. Ellie questions why he cares. Kwong says “we’re the only thing holding this all together”. He sees a leadership quality in Ellie: not an abuser. She agrees to follow his lead, and is dismissed from this lecture. Ellie wants her Walkman back, and Captain Kwong obliges: he scratches her back so she can scratch his.
Ellie is reading Savage Starlight: her favourite comic book series (it’s also adorable seeing that she has a little book of puns on her bedside table: we all love Ellie’s corny jokes). She notices the empty bed across the room. This was clearly where Ellie’s friend had stayed. Ellie goes to sleep when curfew is in effect. At nearly two in the morning, a random figure comes crawling in through Ellie’s window and puts her hand on her mouth. Ellie kicks her off and pulls out her switchblade on her. It’s Riley: the friend that went missing. Ellie was wondering where Riley went, as she’s been missing for three weeks. Riley wants to know why Ellie has a black eye, but Ellie is more concerned with where Riley went. Finally, Riley gives an answer: she joined the Fireflies. Ellie doesn’t believe her at first, but then Riley promises to give more details if Ellie goes with on a trip. Ellie refuses. Riley doesn’t take “no” for an answer, so Ellie reluctantly gets ready.
They enter a random hideout and start climbing its stairways, despite how run down and eerie it looks. They stumble upon a fresh corpse which alarms Riley: she doesn’t recall him being there the day before. Ellie gets a close look at the bottle of alcohol next to the corpse and there are pills next to it: sadly, it’s clear that he wanted to go. The corpse breaks through the floor and startles the two girls (and us). That was odd, but at least now they’ve got some booze. They share the strong stuff together, because why not. Ellie wants to see Riley’s gun, and she mirrors Joel’s initial treatment of firearms around Ellie: by refusing. Eventually, Riley relents and Ellie inspects it. All is cool. She hands the pistol back and begins grilling Riley: why did she want to become a Firefly? Riley tells Ellie that an older woman was fond of Riley being able to sneak out of the boarding school and asked if she opposed FEDRA: Riley obviously said yes. Apparently, it was as easy as that to get into the Fireflies (according to Riley). They leap rooftops towards their destination.
After a bit of trekking, they take a break and have a friendly quarrel about Fireflies’ “propaganda bullshit”. After this banter, Riley leads Ellie into the barricaded mall, which was apparently full of infected; Riley calls conspiracy on this and states that it’s likely fully abandoned. Once in, Riley instructs Ellie what to do next in order to get them both deeper into the mall, but Ellie has to go alone.. Ellie is surprised to see the entire mall light up: this was clearly a surprise Riley had for Ellie. Before she gets too excited, Ellie wonders about the lights that just turned on and if they’ll make them sitting ducks. Riley assures her that they’ll be fine. Now they have the night ahead of them to have fun. After a few nice distractions, they reach Riley’s big reveal: a carousel in the middle of the mall, and it’s all for them and no one else. Riley knows how to operate it as well. A merry-go-round, carnival version of “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure serenades the two youths that have the whole night ahead of them. While riding their respective horses, they take a few more swigs of their booze. The ride comes to a stop, and Ellie and Riley now have to confront each other: why the latter actually snuck out.
She feared the direction of the boarding school and how it is preparing them for the worse. After this candid moment, they head into a photo booth. After a few awkward photos, they’re content to move onto the next event: an entire arcade with no one in it. Need I say more? One Riley breaks into the change machine so they can go hog-wild on any game they want, they first approach Mortal Kombat II (clearly Ellie is a fan, since her room back at the boarding school had a big poster of the game on the wall). After one round — even with a nice fatality — it’s onto the next, and the night is still young. While they have fun, we cut to another part of the mall, where an infected individual awakens due to their hollering. After another round, Ellie senses something is off. She uses the excuse of the time — and not wanting to get into trouble under Captain Kwong’s authority — to try and get out. Riley is hesitant and gets Ellie to stay through persuasion. They head to the deserted food court and reach the Macho Nacho stand. This is where Riley has been sleeping when she escaped. She even has a second volume of that pun book Ellie has! It’s time to rifle through some jokes. While they have fun, we the viewer can only worry about that random infected.
Ellie has something else capturing her attention: homemade bombs. She puts two and two together. Riley didn’t find this mall: the fireflies have stationed her there. The night seems over for good, and Ellie storms out. She feels like this was a recruitment session to bring Ellie into the Fireflies, but Riley states that’s not the case. She is being sent away on a mission and wanted to see Ellie one last time; she even asked if Ellie could join, and Marlene, the older woman that recruited Riley (who we know quite well), said no. Ellie bids Riley goodbye and angrily leaves. As Ellie storms out, she has a change of heart after shedding a tear and heads back into the mall, but she has lost her way back to Riley. Suddenly, she hears Riley shrieking, and she bolts towards her. It’s not Riley: it’s just a Halloween decoration, but Riley is still nearby (thank goodness).
Now they have to confront each other once more. Riley states that the Fireflies felt like the first family she’s ever had: they mattered to her. Ellie retaliates that Riley mattered to her first. Ellie finally accepts that Riley is leaving, and states that she is her best friend and she will be missed. Now that the night feels saved, Riley wants to continue forth to the final surprise she has for the night: but first, they have to don Halloween masks (a clown and a werewolf, if these count for anything). They get on top of the store counter and share a dance in their goofy masks. They stop dancing because Ellie slows down, and she uses this opportunity to beg Riley not to leave. She gives her a kiss and then expresses instant doubt and apologizes. Riley is not sorry. Both are giddy — realizing that they are in love with each other — and they ask what they will do now. Finally, that dreaded infected fiend pops out. Riley pulls out her gun and starts blasting, but it isn’t enough. Ellie stabs him repeatedly, but that too is in vein. Riley tried clubbing him, and Ellie stabs him in the head. He appears to be dead. Ellie gets a closer look to get her knife back: she can’t believe she’s killed someone. Riley is looking elsewhere: Ellie has been bitten. She’s about to be infected.
We know Ellie will be immune, given what we’ve seen thus far. What’s even worse is that Riley has been bitten, and we can guess her fate. Before we see more, we cut to the present: Joel is gasping for life. Ellie speeds through the house to find whatever it takes to save him: she can’t afford to lose another loved one. We cut back to that fateful night between Ellie and Riley, both believing that they will die. “What are we going to do?”, asks Ellie. Riley states that they have two options: to both commit suicide, or to keep going and let the infection overtake them. In the present, Ellie finds a spool and sewing needle that she can stitch Joel up with. She clearly doesn't know what she’s doing, but she’s going to figure it out so he can survive. Will he? We’re not sure, because that’s where the episode ends: with Ellie refusing to leave anyone behind.
FIRST REACTION
Here was another episode that sidesteps, much like “Long Long Time”, with so much purpose and meaning. Instead of focusing on a love story between characters we’ll likely never see again, , we see one surrounding Ellie and Riley: the story you can play in the Left Behind prequel game to The Last of Us. While we don’t get much outside of this love story, we get a bit of a bigger picture on two entities that the show has kind of been quiet on this whole time: the Fireflies and FEDRA. We learn a bit more about the recruitment and authoritative processes of both feuding groups and the effect they have on the youth of this fucked up world. Two girls that love one another have different ideologies, but they also aren’t necessarily fully aligned with these parties either. They just want a place in this world, an identity, and security.
This was a nice escape, just like “Long Long Time” was. While not quite as impactful as the previous episode as a stand alone fable, “Left Behind” feels important for Ellie’s character, and this is why it feels crucial to place this late into the season. With Joel now out for the count, we see how Ellie treats those that she loves: with complete devotion. The Last of Us has kind of sped through its story a teensy bit, and it has made the character development feel slightly rushed, but it’s episodes like “Left Behind” that humanizes the show quite a bit. The last time we had a slowdown like this, explosive, detrimental roads were ahead. We have two episodes left. Buckle up: things are going to get insane from here.
Final Grade: 4/5
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.