First Things First…
We’re moving on again after Henry and Sam’s deaths. They seemed like they hit Ellie especially hard. The image of her “I’m sorry” note on Sam’s scratch-and-erase pad, which she left on his grave, has stayed with me all week. How is she going to cope going forward? Is she hardening?
The preview for this episode showed Joel and Ellie arriving in Wyoming, and Joel finding Tommy. What’s this society going to be like? I’m sure it will present its own set of challenges.
7 Things I Like
7. “Dam”
It’s almost impossible for two people to have inside jokes if they don’t like each other.
That’s why I loved it so much when Ellie makes her “dam” joke and Joel responds…
“You’re no Will Livingston.”
It’s just a small moment, but it’s a sign of them coming together and enjoying each other’s company. Or more specifically, Joel finally enjoying Ellie’s company.
6. 90-Year-Old Lovebirds
“You made him soup?”
Marlon
Marlon and Florence, the indigenous couple who Joel and Ellie hold up in the beginning of the episode, have such a funny dynamic. You can tell they’ve been married a long time… probably on their own a long time… yet they haven’t lost their sense of humor.
They don’t overreact to being held up. They chuckle together at Ellie’s extreme profanity, and they full-on laugh when Florence says, “There are firefly people?”
One of this show’s great strengths is fleshing out even the most minor characters and making them feel real. These two feel like very real people riding out the rest of their lives together, away from QZ’s, new societies, or infected.
5. Jackson, Wyoming
“Once we get bacon, I mean, what’s even left?”
Tommy
After the shitholes the Boston and Kansas City QZ’s were—one under the tyranny of FEDRA, the other under the tyranny of rebels—seeing an idyllic commune like they’ve set up in Jackson is even more effective.
They have electricity… hot water… showers… you can sit at a real bar and have a real drink… you can go to the movies… you can sit in a living room by a fireplace… you even get to celebrate Christmas…
It’s so much fun seeing a community functioning in a way that at least resembles the pre-pandemic world.
4. Still a Badass
“Oh shit! Congrats… Joel, say congrats.”
Ellie
True Blood went off the rails about halfway through its run on HBO. But I still watched it and enjoyed it (for the most part) all the way through.
Rutina Wesley was a constant highlight as Tara. But I haven’t seen her in much since that show ended. So I was delighted to see her here—not just as part of this community, but as Tommy’s wife.
Like Tara, her character here, Maria, is a badass, but in different ways. She has no issue dealing with Ellie’s sass. When Ellie questions whether she was a hairdresser prior to the pandemic, she says no—she was a district attorney who put bad guys in jail.
She’s not happy about Joel’s arrival, but she takes the situation in stride. And she doesn’t hesitate to give Ellie advice that Ellie doesn’t want to hear—advice about being careful of who you trust, including Joel.
She also seems to have given Tommy peace and balance, when we know he was out of control even before the pandemic, and is guilty of killing innocent people afterward alongside Joel just to survive.
3. Reunion—for Better and for Worse
“We did those things. And they weren’t ‘things.’ We murdered people. And I don’t judge you for it. We survived the only way we knew how. But there were other ways. We just weren’t any good at ‘em.”
Tommy
Joel’s reunion with Tommy brings up a wellspring of emotions—joy, resentment, fear, uncertainty, and more.
The moment of Joel yelling Tommy’s name, dismounting his horse, and the two of them running to each other and giving a big bearhug is emotional. Joel doesn’t have a whole lot of purpose in his life. But as he told Ellie earlier in the season, the reason he goes on is for family.
Speaking of Ellie, she’s never seen Joel this way with anyone. Certainly not with her—and not even with Tess. But now she knows what it looks like when Joel loves someone.
She’s suddenly on the outside looking in, even in this wonderful new community they’ve arrived in. It’s understandable that her insecurities about winding up alone have been triggered.
But there’s so much more beyond this first scene…
After his initial happiness at finding Tommy fades, resentment begins oozing out of Joel. Resentment that Tommy is doing so much better than him… that Tommy found a home… that Tommy has barely seemed to age… and that Tommy stopped replying to Joel’s messages on the radio.
And that’s all before finding out Tommy is going to be a father…
Joel has no support or encouragement to offer, no congratulations, no happiness for his brother.
So whether he’s right or wrong for saying it, Joel’s reaction prompts Tommy to deliver a scathing line…
“Just because life stopped for you doesn’t mean it has to stop for me.”
2. Choosing Each Other
Joel and Ellie’s conversation the night they spend in Jackson is a gut punch.
He tells her she’s not his daughter, he’s not her dad, and they’re going their separate ways.
Of course, the next morning he comes around and gives her the choice of who’s going to take her to the Fireflies in Colorado. Ellie wastes no time choosing Joel rather than Tommy.
At this point, he seems to have finally squared it in his mind and heart that he is, in fact, good for her.
Their relationship makes much bigger strides in the five days it takes them to get from Wyoming to Colorado than it made in the three-month time jump we skipped over between last episode and where we pick up this episode.
Joel is FINALLY teaching Ellie how to shoot properly. Plus, he’s explaining football to her… and what a contractor was.
Despite the issues I have with these scenes even being in this episode, which I’ll get to, I did love them.
1. Joel’s Existential Crisis
The blowup Joel and Ellie have is apparently one of the most famous parts of the game. It’s an incredible scene, so well-acted by both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
But Pedro especially does stellar work throughout this episode. His scenes with Tommy are pitch-perfect. First, his lack of enthusiasm when he learns Maria is pregnant and Tommy is going to be a dad. And later, when he stops lying and bares his soul to Tommy. He tells him the truth about Ellie’s immunity, Tess’s death, all the ways in which he’s lost a step, and how scared he is that he’s going to fail Ellie and get her killed. He seems so small and frail here.
There are a couple of times in this episode when it looks like Joel might be having a heart attack, or at least heart issues. But to hear him talking to Tommy, it sounds like he’s been having panic attacks. He says he’s been so afraid.
We’ve seen Joel vulnerable before. But we’ve never seen him acknowledge his vulnerability. It feels like this could be a major step forward for him as a character now that he’s made peace with who he’s become.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Down for the Count?
The Fireflies having left the college campus they had been using in Colorado is just another obstacle for Joel and Ellie. As are these morons who attack them.
This is a good scene. But I was already so overwhelmed by how emotional the rest of the episode is that I couldn’t properly enjoy this.
I’m sure Joel doesn’t die here, but he looks like he’s dying. And the episode ends with Ellie pleading with him to get back up because she can’t do this alone. I just couldn’t appreciate it as much as I should have after so many other emotional beats.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Too Much, Too Fast
I love the scenes of Joel dealing with his anxieties and insecurities… baring his soul to Tommy… pushing Ellie away to protect both of them.
I also love the scenes of them on the road after they leave Jackson.
But I don’t like them all being in one episode—with the attack and Joel’s stabbing on top of everything.
We move through way too much plot in this episode. I mean, Joel’s original plan for leaving Boston and heading west was to find Tommy. Now, granted, Tommy doesn’t need rescuing. But to get their reunion, the introduction of this new community and Tommy’s new life, and to move on from it all in the same episode—and then still have more plot is too much.
Same goes for Joel and Ellie’s relationship.
Their fight, and Joel’s decision to push her away, needed room to breathe. Instead, we go from that crushing scene, when they’re at their most distant, to them being closer than we’ve ever seen, in a matter of minutes.
Tim Matassa
