The Last of Us Episode 1 Recap

You get me every Sunday to help recap the latest episode of The Last of Us. Full of bad takes and not too sober ramblings. But if you missed something, this is your place. Keep in mind I am coming to the series fresh as I have NEVER played the games. I know right. Here is The Last of Us Episode 1 Recap.

We start the episode in 1968 as a group of scientists on a television show discuss the dangers of a fungal epidemic. The now famous zombie insect fungus comes up and we get a warning that global warming could make even scarier fungi. It’s a dire warning I am sure we will take seriously.

HBO is still killing the opening credits game for sure.

Act 1: 2002

After the credits, a title card announces the time jump to 2003. Sarah wakes up and soon after wakes her dad up and starts to make him a birthday breakfast. They joke about her school and we meet a new dude. This guy is a bit more crass and it is clear that both men work together. Later we learn that is Uncle Tommy.

As she prepares to leave she grabs a watch and some money. She lingers on an older pocket knife with an engraving. As they head out we meet their elderly neighbors.

In class, Sarah gets distracted by a light flash but still appears studious as she catches the city bus at the end of the school day. She gets off in front of a watch shop where she gets the watch she grabbed from the drawer fixed. Before she finishes her transaction the owner closes abruptly and locks up the shop, but not before telling her to go home immediately. She heads home and swings by the old neighbors to visit. As she visits they make cookies. The old woman starts to have a seizure. Sarah doesn’t notice and packs up to leave. The neighbor’s dog starts to whine at the old lady who now appears normal.

As she leaves she sees and hears two giant fighter jets fly close to the ground. Later that night Joel returns home. It is late, ten she tells him. He also didn’t bring home the cake that he promised Sarah he would get. She gives him the gift of a fixed watch and they fall asleep watching a movie. Someone calls very late at night. The voice on the other end says he is in jail. He (Tommy) asks Joel to bail him out. He puts Sarah to bed and heads to jail. While he leaves a number of helicopters fly overhead. The noise of the street gets more and more hectic. The emergency broadcast network is on. The neighbor’s dog bangs on the window and Sarah goes out into the street to investigate. The dog refuses to go back to their owner’s house.

Sarah goes in to investigate. The house ain’t great. Lots of blood and the old lady apparently has attacked everyone and is spitting some sort of fungus on them. Sarah runs and the old lady runs after her. Joel pulls up in his truck with Tommy and hits the old lady with a wrench. They run.

In the truck, we learn it’s a virus. Spread mostly in the city. She is worried they are already sick. They drive by a large home that is ablaze. They also swing by a broken-down car and the couple has a baby. Joel instructs Tommy to keep going. The army controls one side of the highway and there is a traffic jam on the other. They off-road until they hit a county highway. Along the county highway, they head into town and things are even more chaotic in town. Lots of people lots of cars. Lots of mayhem. A plane crashes close to where the truck is.

Everyone wakes up in the truck which now appears to be on its side. Everyone is ok if not shaken up. Zombies are everywhere. Sarah’s ankle is broken Tommy and Joel get separated. Joel picks up Sarah and they head for the river but not before stumbling on a giant zombie feeding ground. The zombies run after him into a diner. They are very fast if not clumsy. It’s not good they almost catch him but not before someone shoots the nearest one. The person who shot the zombie is a military soldier. The soldier radios for directions. The higher-ups tell him to kill the two of them. Tommy kills the soldier but not before we see Sarah on the ground. Sarah has been shot in the stomach. He attempts to staunch her bleeding but there is a lot of blood. He tries to get her up but she is already gone.

Act 2: 2022

Twenty years later a different child walks through the woods. The child is young. Not much older than nine or ten. As they crest the hill we see a warzone of what Boston looks like. There are giant walls and policemen manning gates. The little child passes out in front of them. She is brought into a room in a wheelchair. Not entirely dissimilar to another fungal favorite The Girl With All the Gifts. They ask her what her name is. If she is alone. She has a scratch on her leg. The policeman tells her that after she gets some medicine she can have whatever food she wants. They give her a shot.

We head out into the community and there is a burn pile with a mountain of bodies. I mean if its fungus is burning really a great idea? Joel is driving a truck and we see him throw the body of the kid we just met on the pile of dead bodies. She must have been infected. Joel gets his wages and agrees to a new job the following day.

Inside the community, things look pretty grim. A number of charges are read before a number of civilians are hung on public gallows. Did I mention things were grim? Joel swaps Hydrocodones for various paraphernalia with a soldier. Joel also wants a truck. They negotiate over the truck. The soldier tells Joel to stay off the streets because things have been going down lately.

When you are “Loose in the Darkness Look for the Light” is written EVERYWHERE.

Inside the darkness of Boston, someone named Tess hears a number of excuses from a con man who sold her a battery that she never got. The dude seems to be a small-time bad guy. Tess wants to be done with the whole thing but just as they are a bomb blows a hole into a wall and she stumbles away into the rubble. Just then a group of soldiers arrest her and she tells them she is not a FireFly.

We finally meet Ellie, who is chained to a radiator. A woman comes in and goes through a checklist of tests. Ellie knows them all, passes them all, and is very angry.

Meanwhile, Joel heads into an apartment building where a giant line of people leads into an apartment with a man who has a ton of radio equipment. Tommy is missing. Tommy has been gone for three weeks. Has been last scene in Wyoming in a tower. Our radio man tells Joel not to go. That there are raiders and slavers in the open county.

Joel stomps off into his own apartment where he pulls up a floorboard and unpacks a map and a ton of tools. He is planning a trip. But he is mixing his booze and pills first. After passing out later that night someone comes in and lays next to him in a clearly familiar and affectionate way. Its Tess. She explains why she looks so beat up. She explains to Joel that his battery is missing. She is worried Joel will go crazy and ruin the deal she made with Robert, who was the small-time crook. They are going to find him and get the battery and their money.

We get our first look at the fireflies. Marlene seems to be in charge and she is getting shit from one of her subordinates. We also learn that the fireflies are fighting the government which is currently called Fedra. Fedra is this military authoritarian regime. Ellie is being held by this group and they have some sort of information about Ellie and it involves getting her out west.

Tess and Joel learn where the battery is and plot a strategy on how to enact their revenge.

Marlene brings Ellie a bag full of items including a switchblade. Marlene reminds Ellie that she was the one who saved her from being shot by the soldiers. We also learn that Ellie was previously placed in a Fedra military school. Marlene takes offense to the term terrorists and brings up someone named Riley. We also learn that Ellie has a greater purpose.

Tess and Joel head into the sewers. They find a room where someone has been eaten alive by a myriad of different fungi. It is a scene very reminiscent of the excellent Annihilation. As they climb up into another apartment building they find the crook dead alongside all of his goons. They then hear some people struggling. It is Marlene and Ellie. Ellie tries to attack Joel.

Marlene wanted the battery too. We also learn their history involves Tommy. Marlene tells Joel and Tess to take Ellie to the Firefly base and they will give him gas and a battery and anything else they need if they get Ellie to the safe house. Ellie doesn’t love the plan but goes along with Joel and Tess reluctantly.

They swing by Joel’s apartment and the adults have a conversation while Ellie explores the apartment. She finds a book and quickly deciphers what the radio code is. Joel lays down and takes a nap. He wakes up hours later at dusk. Ellie is watching out the window. She is worried about going beyond the wall. He tells her he has been a lot and they will be fine. Tess returns. Says it’s time to go.

Fedra is out patrolling in full force as the three of our main characters make their way out of the city. Our drug-dealing cop catches them and gives them fungus tests but before Ellie can take hers she stabs the soldier with her knife. Joel finishes him off. We also learn that Ellie comes up positive for the virus. She tells them she has been testing positive for three weeks but is ok. She isn’t sick.

As they run away we get the needle drop of the eighties classic Depeche Mode’s Never Let Me Down Again. It is an eighties song which in radio speak means trouble. The song plays out as the trio heads into the ominous-looking area surrounding Boston.

Fungal Thoughts.

1. If you have not read The Girl With All the Gifts, you need to. I just wrote a chapter about it here. Email me if you want a copy.
2. Pedro Pascal really is that great.
3. Merle Dandridge plays Marlene in the game and on screen. That is very cool.
4. Joel is an Iraqi war veteran. I feel like that will be important.
5. So this show and game feel very ACAB.
6. Bella Ramsey gonna be in The Orphan 3. Calling it now.
7. The stranger thing super needle drop seems to be here to stay