The Last Of Us Episode 6 Review

Credit to: Naughty Dog, Sony and HBO 

It’s All About Family, Y’all

Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re taking a look at the sixth episode of The Last of Us! It has to be said, this is one of the most consistent series I’ve ever watched. Considering how big the franchise is in the gaming community, it’s honestly great to see the live action adaptation thriving and surviving, much like the characters in the show. It’s also such a good thing to see people like myself being able to enjoy the show, drawing comparisons to the original while appreciating the new details or changes, but also to see people who have no idea what’s going on be shocked by new developments each week. Anyway, I’m just blabbering at this point. Without any further ado, let’s just jump right into it.

Pros

This episode felt very peaceful. And honestly, we needed it after the last one. Things got to wind down a bit here, and that’s in part from the character of Maria, played by Rutina Wesley. She wasn’t a huge part of the episode, but she was to Ellie. She has the qualities of a good leader even though she herself isn’t one and never considers herself one, as she finds it important to take care of others and finds the presence of rules to be necessary. In this episode, she’s part of a group of people secluded in a snowy region. They live in a closed off area, protected from the Infected and raiders, and it’s here where Maria, a certain someone that I won’t spoil, and a group of others make it their job to see that things stay that way. It’s honestly really interesting to see places like this exist, while there’s government controlled areas ran by FEDRA that supposedly protect their people. The difference between the two are night and day. FEDRA rules with an iron fist, making sure that what they say goes, and the people have no choice but to follow along or be executed. Maria and her people are the example of “we the people”, as they themselves are what keeps the wheel spinning. There’s no such thing as a leader there. Maria and a couple of others are a part of a council that was democratically voted in, and they vote on new rules to be set in place. Joel and Ellie come from a completely different world from this. Ellie doesn’t know what any of this means as she’s too young to have experienced anything like this beyond FEDRA, and Joel is just the average American. Sure there’s votes and all that, but it’s still a government power that controls everything. These are just people, living the best that they can. They even live as communists, which sounds pretty bad, but as everyone is all equal, there really is no issue. There’s no power to be held by one single person, as it’s all a collective. Maria herself is what we all strive to be: happy. Content with life. Follows the rules because she understands what they do for us. She’s simple, in a good way. Says what needs to be said, even if it’s something we don’t want to hear it. Might upset certain people, but the straightforwardness she possesses comes from a good place, her heart.

Joel and Ellie go through a whole in this one, and it’s all emotional. We dive deep into Joel’s psyche and his struggles with his age, and the struggles of losing his daughter. We see him being reminded of her throughout the entire episode, and it’s this loss that helps to develop Joel and Ellie as a duo. They do take a heavy, heavy tumble, but they rise back up and come back stronger than ever. They still have boundaries they need to leap over, but we all know they’ll get where they need to be eventually. A bit before the episode ends, we even see them joking more naturally, so it’s some good progress they’re making. I love that, and I’m sure it’s something y’all do too.

Cons

There’s thankfully not much I have against this episode, but something that I do have to say is that Maria isn’t given quite enough time. She has a lot going for her as a character, and that’s something that should’ve been explored a little more. Beyond her, I do also feel that this episode had a lot going on in some places. We have Joel and Ellie’s relationship to worry about, we have them both personally to worry about in terms of the demons they face, we have that certain someone and Maria to worry about (you’ll understand when you watch the episode), and more. It was a bit much crammed in here, and it wasn’t a bad thing, but a slightly longer run time to the already long run time would have helped flesh out certain aspects of the episode. It’s all good though, this was still a solid episode.

Final Thoughts

I loved the episode, and while I have a couple of gripes, that doesn’t mean that you should stop watching or not get into the series in the first place. The best way to describe this is that this episode was weaker, not worse than the other episodes. It’s all still crazy good and is worth every second of your time. But what did you all think? Let us know on our Instagram and make sure you’re following us there to stay up to date with the latest and greatest entertainment news and reviews. But that’s all from me, this has been The Wolf Den!