"Endure and Survive" takes its name from the Savage Starlight comic that Ellie and a new friend bond over while hiding out in the Kansas City underground. After fleeing from the rebels that overthrew the city’s FEDRA authorities, Ellie and Sam (Keivonn Woodard) play together, reciting the comic’s motto, as Joel and Sam’s older brother, Henry (Lamar Johnson), recognize in each other the protectiveness they’ll need to make it out of Kansas City. But by the end of the episode, Henry and Sam are dead, Kansas City is overrun by the infected, and Joel and Ellie are alone again. For episode director Jeremy Webb, that “awful and tragic” ending — and the resilience Joel and Ellie display afterward — is the Last of Us way. “That’s just life, and you go on,” Webb says. “Joel knows that he’s in emotional quicksand up to his neck. He cares for Ellie in the same way that he cares for the daughter he could never save, and he’s in deep.” Read the full story |
