Summary
Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, try to escape from Kansas City whilst making some new friends along the way.
Man, the show really played with me. Despite playing the game and knowing this story I really felt the death of Sam, played by Keivonn Montreal Woodard, and Henry, played by Lamar Johnson, it hit like a ton of bricks. There was a small part of me that was ignoring what I knew would happen and was hoping just for a minute that this time around they might survive.
To change the subject, I think this episode may have been the most action packed yet. The sniping scene towards the end of the episode was straight out of the game and watching the horde of infected decimate all of the bandits was both horrifying and also oddly cathartic. I think this large amount of action and tension helped this episode to be one of the most riveting to watch of the whole season.
I think my one issue with the episode, and it is I will admit only a small detail, is the way Ellie reacts to seeing Sam and Henry dead. After seeing them die Ellie doesn’t cry, and whilst I can understand that she has been surviving in this world for some time and will be to a degree desensitised to death, I don’t think she is at that part of her journey where she could just shut out her emotions and carry on like this. I know later on in the story she will get to that place, but where this falls on the timeline I just thought she would be a little more upset.
Overall, another incredibly good episode. Yes, Ellie’s response to the death of Sam and Henry bugged me a bit but it was an incredibly small and insignificant thing in the context of the wider episode.
4/5
Pros.
The action
The sniping scene is straight out of the game
The death of Sam and Henry hits hard
The pacing is superb
Cons.
Ellie’s muted emotional response to the death of Sam and Henry
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Another Millennial Reviewer 