First Things First…
“Long, Long Gone” will be hard to follow. Bill and Frank will be hard to follow.
But, I’m excited to get some forward momentum building in this story. So far, we had two episodes that are mostly world building and table setting. Then we got a major diversion to tell the Bill and Frank story, along with just enough Ellie and Joel to set them on their path.
Now, we’re finally on what I expect is the real journey. I think this will start to tell us what the show will really become.
7 Things I Like
7. Diarrhea Is Genetic
It runs in your jeans.
I love these absurd jokes that break the ice between Ellie and Joel. And this one just before the end of the episode breaks it further than it’s ever been broken to this point. He warms to her more and more throughout the episode—despite calling her “cargo”—but this is the high point in their relationship so far. It’s actually the happiest we’ve seen either of them. Listen to both of their laughs. They’re so pure.
6. Breaking His Own Rules
“No, you’re cargo. And I made a promise to Tess. And she was like family.”
Joel
It doesn’t take long for Joel to break his own rules from last episode. He answers Ellie’s questions. He tells her who Tommy is, how they wound up in Boston, and why Tommy is now in Wyoming.
So much for keeping their histories to themselves.
Joel also brings up Tess—which technically isn’t breaking a rule, since he only said Ellie isn’t allowed to talk about her. But obviously, the point is the same. He’s getting more comfortable opening up, even about difficult personal topics.
But more than just as a sign of Joel’s attitude defrosting, it was also good to get some more background. It’s interesting the way he talks about Tommy—as a “joiner” who always wants to be part of something and wants to save the world. He sees Tommy as having made a mistake when he joined the military all those years ago and having made another mistake joining the Fireflies.
5. Not a Psycho
It’s looking less like Ellie is a psycho and more like she’s just a curious, rambunctious, overzealous teen.
I was glad to see her have an emotional reaction after shooting the guy to save Joel. And she doesn’t even kill him (although she does paralyze him before Joel kills him), but it still upsets her. That’s a good sign.
Ellie also tells Joel that wasn’t her first time hurting someone. But when he asks her about it, she doesn’t want to talk about it. I don’t know what that story is yet, but again, it seems like whatever happened at least upset her.
There might still be some of that morbid curiosity and intrigue we saw in the first episode when she watches Joel beat the FEDRA agent to death, and again when she sliced into an infected last episode. But I’m glad it seems like that’s all it is.
4. How to Carry a Gun Without Blowing Your Own Ass Off
Even though Joel takes Ellie’s gun away from her after she uses it to save him, he gives it back quickly. Plus, he finds out she’s been trained a little bit in FEDRA school, so she’s not clueless about how to use it. And he starts teaching her—how to grip the gun, how to pull the trigger properly…
Considering the world they live in, it probably should’ve been obvious to him sooner that this is the right move, instead of just assuming she’s too young and it’s too dangerous for her to have a gun.
Now, it’s not clear if he’s helping her so she’s more useful to him or so she can defend herself once they’re apart. But either way, it’s another sign—in an episode full of them—that these two are coming together in a real way.
3. Paternal Instinct
“Those people you said, there’s no way anyone knows we’re here, right? No one’s gonna find us.”
Ellie
When Joel pulls over and says they’ve travelled enough for one day, and they set up camp that first night on the road, I was surprised. I assumed they’d look for shelter—although I guess shelter is hard to come by. I still didn’t think they’d lie out in the open, so exposed. Who’s to say who could be out there? Like the guy manning the radio in Episode One says, there are rapists and slavers and even worse out there. So this seems like they’re taking a major risk, even if it’s necessary.
But here’s what I find interesting…
Joel originally says HE needs sleep. After all, he’s doing all the driving. But after he gives Ellie a warning about the kinds of people who could be out there, and she asks him about it later when they’re both in their sleeping bags, it’s clear she’s unnerved and looking for reassurance.
So he reassures her, and she rolls over to go to sleep. But he immediately starts looking out at the woods. Then we see him with his gun, standing watch at the perimeter. Then we skip ahead to morning, when he has his coffee brewing. So we can’t be sure how long he stayed up—but I suspect he sacrificed a full night’s sleep and kept watch all night. I think that’s what his protective instinct required him to do.
2. The Oppressors Are Dead, Long Live the Oppressors
Kathleen’s group overthrew an oppressive FEDRA regime in Kansas City and upended the QZ.
But are they any better?
She keeps talking about somebody named Henry–who I think we meet in the episode’s final moments–snitching on her brother to FEDRA, which led to her brother being beaten to death. So not only is she looking for Henry—she seems to think he’s responsible for everything. Even when they find the bodies Joel drops, she tells her people the “outsiders” who did this must’ve been called in by Henry, who MIGHT have a radio.
Now, I think Henry—and Sam, his brother?—are the kids who catch Joel and Ellie at the end. Kathleen and her henchman find an attic hideout with empty food cans and drawings of them dressed as superheroes. So the idea that he’s some criminal mastermind working against her seems even less likely.
Kathleen even murders a DOCTOR, of all people, in cold blood, because she thinks he’s holding back information about where Henry is holed up.
She’s also hiding something else. When her henchman shows her a room in a building they’re searching, the entire floor is moving. It kind of looks like a sinkhole. I don’t know if that’s infected trying to break free or cordyceps about to start growing through the floor or what, but she insists they not tell anyone for now.
Kathleen may have earned her people’s respect and trust by helping to take down the prior regime. But it sure seems like she rules by fear and deception now.
1. Good in a Fight, but Not Superman
Joel can fight. He can shoot. He’s not afraid to do what needs to be done.
But he’s not Superman. (Or Jack Bauer, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, or anyone of that ilk.)
When he and Ellie are getting shot at and hiding behind the truck, he’s scared. But he still gives her clear instructions and protects her.
I was afraid they were going to portray him as some insanely gifted commando. But he’s not.
He’s a bit of a badass. But he’s also a 56-year-old man with bad knees.
I like this look for him. I think of it as grizzled competence. It might be the best anyone can hope for in their world. And hopefully it will be enough to keep Ellie safe.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Caught
I’m not mad about Joel and Ellie getting caught at the end of the episode.
But it would’ve worked better for me if we ended without the cliffhanger, with the two of them cracking up at the diarrhea joke and calling each other stupid. The screen actually fades to black as they’re laughing at each other, and I thought for a moment that’s what was happening.
Opening the next episode with Ellie waking Joel up and him realizing they’re being held at gunpoint would’ve been a helluva cold open.
Tim Matassa
