Episode Grade: (8.3/10)
Joel and Ellie finally reach Wyoming, where they find Tommy has settled in with a remote community. After getting some much-needed rest and supplies, they head towards the Fireflies’ base in Colorado. That’s when they run into trouble.
Plot (40/50)
This was a solid episode that benefitted from a greater focus on the human relationships between the characters. Joel and Ellie finally reach Wyoming where they find Tommy living in an isolated settlement of sorts. He’s doing well and even has a kid on the way, which is why he was unable to radio Joel back (more on that in the next section). The subplot of Joel’s health has been brewing for a couple episodes now, and in this episode, his deteriorating health became a central issue. Joel admits to Tommy that he’s no longer physically capable of protecting Ellie the way he would like to. He then asks Tommy to take Ellie to the Fireflies in his stead. Eventually, Joel lets Ellie make a choice, and of course she chooses him. This was an odd way of handling this particular situation to say the least. They spent a significant amount of time building this up as a significant moment only to negate it by proceeding as if nothing happened. Of course, plenty happened on the character development front, but when I say “nothing” I mean in terms of the plot. We started with Joel accompanying Ellie, and we ended with Joel accompanying Ellie; hence, nothing changed. If Tommy was willing to accompany Ellie, then why didn’t they both go with her? That would’ve resolved Joel’s concerns as well as Ellie’s concerns. In any case, Joel and Ellie head to Colorado well-rested and well-supplied. Unfortunately, when they get to Colorado, they find the Firefly base abandoned. It seems the fireflies are all headed to Salt Lake City. To make matters worse, Joel and Ellie get ambushed by a band of raiders. They manage to escape, but Joel gets stabbed in the process and ends up losing consciousness at the end of the episode. This was a great bit of consistency that added legitimacy to Joel’s concerns about his ability to protect Ellie. He was right to recognize his waning health and ask Tommy for help, but he let his emotions get the better of him. As a result, he now finds himself in a precarious position. Now obviously Joel will survive, but it will be interesting to see how the writers manage this situation seeing as how Ellie’s not strong enough nor skilled enough to handle this on her own. Does Joel just regain his consciousness long enough to get to a building where he can recoup his strength? Does somebody find them and decide to lend them a hand? Maybe Tommy decided to follow them after growing concerned. These all seem a bit cheap, hopefully the writers can come up with something that makes more sense.
Character Development (13/15)
Ellie’s relationship with Joel is rocked when she learns about Sarah, Joel’s dead daughter. She pushes Joel to talk about Sarah, but he pushes back just as hard as he’s still not comfortable talking about Sarah. He’s been carrying so much guilt and grief for two decades that’s resurfacing now that he’s come to care for Ellie like a daughter. Ellie’s upset that Joel would abandon her out of fear of losing her like he lost his daughter. And even though they both know that going with Tommy would give her a stronger chance of survival, they end up sticking together. Speaking of Tommy, he chose not to radio back in order to protect himself and the community that welcomed him in. With that said, Joel’s initial anger here was understandable. He risked his life countless times and lost Tess on his way to save Tommy when Tommy was doing just fine this entire time. On the other hand, Tommy’s actions, while selfish, are also understandable. He was welcomed into a community that has managed to establish some semblance of peace because of their ability to stay under the radar. The least he could do to repay them is to follow their rules. Add to that the fact that he has a kid underway, and all of a sudden his actions don’t seem as selfish. The brothers quickly reconciling was natural considering how long they’ve been apart and how easily they could be separated or killed at any moment. Also, it was nice to see some originality in the way Tommy analyzed the horrors he and Joel committed to survive. He doesn’t judge his brother for what he did, but he also has the self-awareness to admit that there were other, less violent methods of survival. Overall, the meeting of the brothers was excellently done. Maria welcoming Joel because of his relation to her husband, Tommy, while still being cautious and overprotective of the community she helped build struck a good balance. If Joel returns to this community at some point in the future, look for these two to clash.
Theme/Messages (4/5)
- Balancing logic and emotions is a perpetual human challenge.
- There’s always another way, and it’s always easier to see in hindsight.
- Selfishness is such a loaded word… often times if you tweak the time horizon and perspective, selfishness quickly turns into selflessness.
Acting (13/15)
Pedro Pascal (Joel) tore the house down with his emotionally charged performance. Bella Ramsey (Ellie), once again, held her own.
Cinematography (13/15)
- Beautiful early shots of the scenary
- Cool shot of Joel and Ellie riding off into the sunset (49:24)
- Great shot of Joel, Ellie, and the horse against a backdrop of train tracks and snow as the camera panned out to highlight how isolated they were (59:04)
- Closing out the episode with Jessica Mazin’s cover of “Never Let me Down Again” by Depeche Mode was a fantastic callback to the ending of the first episode. Remember, 80s music is code for trouble. What a fitting way to end the episode.