The Last of Us Episode 5 is an exciting, traumatic hour of TV

The latest episode of HBO’s hit series The Last of Us is here a full two days early! Opting to release the episode on HBO Max Friday night to avoid competing with the Super Bowl, HBO has also given fans a gift by letting us see part two of an epic two-part story a few days earlier than normal.

“Endure and Survive” is one of the most action-packed, emotionally devastating episodes the series has yet produced, with big ramifications for Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and their journey. As always, there will be SPOILERS in this review for this week’s episode of The Last of Us.

The Last of Us Episode 5 review: “Endure and Survive”

We’ve officially crossed the halfway point for season 1. “Endure and Survive” marks the occasion with the single biggest action set piece on the show so far, as well as some of the most emotionally devastating moments.

The first 15 or so minutes of the episode are devoted to filling in the backstory of how the Kansas City QZ fell, and how Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) began her hunt for brothers Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard). I really enjoyed these opening flashbacks. They flesh out who Sam and Henry are and show how they went into hiding. It also gives Lynskey more room to flex her acting chops. I had a hard time totally buying her as a hardened revolutionary leader in Episode 4, but the added scenes of her trolling the captured FEDRA informants and ordering their deaths in the beginning of the episode went a long way toward convincing me.

Another interesting thing that about these opening flashbacks is that they establish just how recent the fall of the Kansas City QZ is. When Joel and Ellie arrived there in Episode 4, they were thrust into the middle of a chaotic, ongoing situation. “Endure and Survive” shows us that the resistance movement only overthrew FEDRA 10 days before Joel and Ellie’s arrival. The flashbacks show how Doctor Edelstein (John Getz) helped Henry and Sam go to ground before his capture, and that Sam and Henry witnessed Joel and Ellie’s car crash and subsequent shootout with the raiders. This brings us right up to date, as Henry decides to follow Joel and Ellie in hopes that Joel can help them get out of the city with his gritty resourcefulness.

Uneasy allies make for entertaining traveling companions

The episode then skips back to where we left off in Episode 4, with Sam and Henry holding Joel and Ellie at gunpoint. This first time we get these four characters in a room together perfectly encapsulates their dynamic. Joel is reluctant to trust Henry, enough that Ellie needs to reassure their new friends that “That’s just the way he sounds, he has an asshole voice!” Ellie herself is just excited to cross paths with other people who aren’t set on killing them, and to hang out with another kid.

The banter between Ellie, Joel, and their new traveling companions is a treat. We’ve spent a lot of time with Joel and Ellie by themselves; showing how they interact with other people helps to highlight how much their own relationship has changed.

Despite his reservations, Joel eventually decides to go along with Henry’s plan to sneak the group out of the city through a network of underground tunnels. Henry tells us that one of FEDRA’s few good deeds in Kansas City was driving all the infected underground, however he’s convinced that they aren’t in the tunnels he wants to sneak through.

Surprisingly, the plan actually works. Since they laid out how the plan was supposed to go, I was expecting it to go horribly wrong and for the group to be swarmed by infected. Instead we get a bunch of great character moments as everyone takes advantage of the momentary peace.

There are a lot of great little nods to the game in this section, such as the party discovering an underground classroom where Ellie and Sam talk comic books and play soccer. Even the specific comic book, Savage Starlight, is from the game, as is the signature catchphrase from which the episode takes its name: “Endure and Survive.”

Alas, all good things must last. While our heroes are underground, Kathleen and her forces continue searching the city, and we learn why she and Henry are so at odds. Henry’s younger brother Sam was diagnosed with leukemia, and FEDRA had the only medicine that could help him. In order to get it, Henry sold out his friend Michael, who was also Kathleen’s brother and the leader of the resistance movement. Michael was beaten to death by FEDRA, which spurred Kathleen’s quest for vengeance.

In a great twist, Kathleen reveals to her right hand man Perry (played by Jeffrey Wright, the same actor who portrayed Joel’s brother Tommy in The Last of Us video game) that Michael’s final wish was that she forgive Henry for selling him out. But Kathleen can’t do that; foregiveness was Michael’s thing, and it got him killed. So she hangs onto her vengeance, and because she actually overthrew FEDRA, unlike her brother, Perry and the rest of the resistance fighters are firmly behind her.

This was a great touch that filled in some big gaps from the previous episode, like how Kathleen won Perry’s loyalty. It also highlights the self-destructive nature of vengeance, one of the major themes of The Last of Us Part II video game. And it leads to a spectacular conclusion.