The Last Of Us Episode 9 Review
Credit to: Naughty Dog, Sony and HBO...Look for the light
Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re taking a look at the season finale of the hit HBO Max series, The Last of Us! This has been one hell of an adventure, and I’m so glad I got to experience it with all of you lovely people. I want to thank you all for sticking with me, reading each article, and enjoying the series with me, because this series has reminded me what it’s all about when it comes to writing: it’s fun! Talking about this masterpiece, getting all teary-eyed with what felt like every episode, and longing for the next one has just been so fun. I of course write about entertainment because well, I’m entertained, but more than that, I just find it really fun to be able to engage with you all about these wonderful projects. Can’t get enough. But let me cut myself short. Without any further ado, let’s just jump right into it.
Episode 9: Look for the Light
Pros
Parenthood. What comes with it? Stress, something that many would say I’m sure, but my personal answer would be love. Love is what keeps us going. To have a child is to have created something out of love. To care for a child is to love. To protect a child is to love. For people like Joel, the willingness to go far to save a child is love. Nothing is too far for Joel when it comes to his daughter, and now that Ellie is in his life, the same goes to her. We see Joel do some things in this episode that might change the way you feel about him. Is he flawed? Of course he is, so is everyone else in the world, that’s what makes him human. But it’s the things that he does in this episode that might be a bit much. Personally, I agree with his decision. I’ve agreed with this moment since the video game first came out, and here in the live action adaptation, we see quite a few extra details added in just to really emphasize how heavy of an impact his choice truly was. Now, this article would’ve normally come out the day this episode dropped, but honestly, giving time for y’all to not only watch the episode and digest, and/or come across other people’s opinions on the episode allows me to ask you this question, which is a little spoilery: If put in the situation where your own child were to be in danger or potential danger, would you wait and trust others to make sure they’re okay, or would you go out after them and do any and everything to ensure that they come back to you safely? In relation to the episode, Ellie is put in a risky situation, although it’s not intended to do her harm. The situation she finds herself in would’ve potentially saved the entire planet, but it would’ve potentially resulted in her death. Would you risk your child’s life to save the world, or doom the world to save your child? It’s a tough call.
Morally speaking, you’d want the world to win, but this is your child. Ellie may not be Joel’s flesh and blood, but after losing his own daughter Sarah, after bonding with this new child Ellie, after losing Tess, watching people around him die and lose their loved ones, Joel decides not to go through any more pain. Ellie has become his purpose, and will do any and everything to protect her, so he does. The people who attempt to use Ellie’s resistance to infection aren’t bad people. They may be flawed, but they truly did think about what’s best for the world. Joel himself isn’t a bad person either. He too may be flawed, but he thought about what’s best for Ellie. When the two collided, it was Joel who came out on top, though he may have ultimately doomed the planet. Would it have worked, who knows? Joel wasn’t about to let that be a question, and I understand it. When you say your child means the world to you, you’d throw the world to the side for your child. But others might not. It’s the clash of two different perspectives that force the fans to argue about Joel’s decision, but at the end of the day, he did what he did, and we have no choice but to live in that world full of Infected, full of raiders, full of twisted cultists, full of FEDRA forces and more. The second season will show us the outcome of Joel’s selfishness, but until then, we as fans have no choice but to wait and debate. This episode was a fantastic closer, and I’m so happy with this first season. Thank y’all for enjoying this series with me, I can’t wait to talk about the second season when it comes later down the line.
Cons
After seeing the hard work the creators have put into this series, episode by episode, from beginning to end, and leaving us with this moment that turns out to be so influential for the second installment of the video game series, I’d be dead wrong to fault this. I myself am not a super fan, as I’ve expressed before. I have no reason to just throw good scores at the series just because it made me emotional. I’ve watched series that have made me emotional, but overall sucked. This isn’t the case. You can see the dedication, you can see the risks of making changes to things that fans would consider sacred to the story, and you can see just how important this series is to everyone involved with it. I absolutely loved this episode, I loved this entire season, and I love the fact that it’s become such a talking point around the world. I’m glad to have been a part of it.
Final Thoughts
All I can say is, “Wow.” I’m just so impressed with this project. I’ve expressed this way back when I first started reviewing this series that I was worried. Video game adaptations have had a bad rap for quite a few years now, so of course I had my doubts. After experiencing this series, rather this season in its entirety, I can genuinely say that I fell in love with it. It actually made me appreciate the video game a lot more. Maybe not the second game to be completely honest with y’all, but the first one for sure. I do hope that if the second season is an adaptation of the second game, they make some changes. There’s a lot of good content in it, but there’s certain things, especially one major event that happens early on in the game that fans including myself, completely disagree with. This show has so much riding on it, especially after this fantastic season, so I do hope that the second season continues off of this successful first one. But what do you all think? Let us know on our Instagram, and make sure you follow us over 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!
