'The Last of Us' Episode 5 Review: Emotional and hard-hitting, 'Endure and Survive' closes a brutal nightmare
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The first four episodes of HBO’s blockbuster series ‘The Last of Us’ have been riveting and the kind of changes that have been made to the stories are making things more realistic for the public. Last week’s episode introduced a new, menacing villain in the form of ‘The Hunters’. Led by Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), the group has taken over Kansas City and outgunned FEDRA. Kathleen is now the ruler of the place and she takes all the decisions. She has been doing everything to find a man named Henry and panics when she sees that two of his men have been killed. Meanwhile, Joel and Ellie are currently sleeping in one of the buildings in an area ruled by The Hunters. After the ending of the previous episode, people who have played the video game series knew what to expect from Episode 5. However, they didn’t know that the network would them on such an emotional ride.
The episode primarily focuses on Henry and his younger brother Sam, and how they spend their time with Joel and Ellie. Joel and Henry’s lives are pretty similar as they are trying to protect the people they care for. But the best part of the entire episode takes place when we get to know how ‘The Hunters’ took over the city and became the rulers of the city. So, the episode starts with riots happening in the city of Kansas as Kathleen’s group overthrew the government of Kansas City. During this time, Henry and Sam were trying to get away from this crazy situation. Sam is deaf and they both use sign language to talk to each other.
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Brutal side of Kathleen's revolution
The Hunters have taken a lot of people as prisoners and its leader, Kathleen, is asking everyone if they have seen Henry and Sam. She tells them that Kansas is free and people can whatever they want while threatening to kill them if they don’t tell her where Edelstein is. No one tells anything to her and before leaving, she tells one of her people to kill them and burn the bodies. As soon as you see those visuals, you realize what was missing from the last week’s episode. ‘The Hunters’ has been one of the craziest groups of characters in the games and they are known for violence. The riot scene perfectly captured the brutal side of Kathleen’s revolution. Meanwhile, in present times, Henry and Kathleen are trying to protect their families. Of course, one is more violent than the other and can do anything to accomplish what she wants to.
The brotherly bond that's shown between Henry and Sam is wonderful to watch. Even when the world is falling apart and everyone is so cruel to each other, their relationship feels like a breath of fresh air. Also, there are a lot of easter eggs for those who are massive fans of the game series and they will love all the minor details in this episode.
This episode will also be a sigh of relief for those who complained that the last week’s episode had such little action. However, Episode 5 has some really enthralling action sequences and the final fight between all the major characters and the creature crawling out of the ground is marvelous.
'Endure and Survive' is hard-hitting and an emotional roller coaster
Lamar Johnson (Henry) and Keivonn Woodard (Sam) give scintillating performances and we could feel how determined Henry was to protect his little brother. As always, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are mesmerizing. But the real MVP of this week’s episode is none other than Melanie Lynskey. She is at that point in her career where you can give her any role and she would give you an award-worthy performance. Kathleen is here for revenge and Lysnkey shows that in her body language and brutality. Once again, she has shown that she is one of the greatest actors working in the industry right now.
All in all, ‘Endure and Survive’ is another breathtaking addition to this video game adaptation and will take viewers on an emotional roller coaster. The concluding moment of this week’s episode will surely break your heart and make you realize how the series continues to be so good because of its epic storytelling.
This episode was very similar to how things turn out in the game and the epic fight between the humans and the infected certainly makes it one of the best episodes of the series.
***** stars for ‘Endure and Survive’