That’s it, here we are! The 9th and final episode of The Last of Us is finally available, three months after its launch in early January. It is also the shortest opus with 43 minutes (which some will no doubt find rushed), but the choice of Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann will have been to focus on human relations above all, and via this prism there, it is a great success. It’s still directed by Ali Abassi who had already taken care of episode 8 last week, an episode that made everyone agree, and this one should also have more than one stuck, not if only for its intro scene, the one that will introduce the character of Anna, Ellie’s mother, played by the talented Ashley Johnson, who is none other than the actress who plays Ellie in video games . Not only is it meta, but in addition, the whole world will finally discover her talents as a great actress of the one we decided to call The Queen…
After Troy Baker last week with episode 8, it is therefore Ashley Johnson’s turn to make her debut in the series, with what is undoubtedly one of the best roles that Neil Druckmann could offer her. Play Anna, Ellie’s mother, in a scene where she will give birth to her child in a tragic situation, it is sincerely the best scene of the whole series, without any possible discussion. Realize, Ellie giving birth to Ellie. It’s meta, it’s powerful and it’s divinely played and realized. And this is all the more important since the video game has never dealt with the character of Ana. We were treated to a poster hanging in a bedroom in The Last of Us Part 2, but nothing about its history. A few weeks ago, Neil Druckmann admitted to Variety that he wrote the story of Ellie’s mother as a short story and thought about making it a DLC, but it never came to fruition. The series therefore allowed him to rectify the situation. And damn it, what a scene! In a few minutes, we immediately understand the stakes of this young woman pregnant up to her neck, who runs in the woods, frightened and who keeps turning around. We understand very quickly that she is being chased by someone, or something. At that time, we don’t know. Very quickly, she will arrive in front of a house (and moreover for the little anecdote, in the unfinished version of the episode that I had seen 3 months ago, the top of the house did not exist, it was a large blue tarpaulin that the production reworked in post-production). A house that again teases Season 2 and the events of The Last of Us Part 2, because it is neither more nor less than the replica of the house in which Ellie and Dina settle in the video game. At this point, the house is empty, Anna seeks help, but she will not come and is forced to barricade herself in a room upstairs. We understand right after that it was an infected person who was running her and not just anyone, a runner, those who run like mad.
One of the great strengths of this episode 9 is the narrative and emotional power with which we are transported. The stress of watching Anna’s water start to break, the attention to detail of watching her try to open the door as the handle slips from the liquid she just touched, so she uses her dress to open the door. The confrontation then, visceral and brutal since Anna uses her knife to strike him on the head. It’s fast and in this moment of panic, she ended up giving birth, herself surprised to hear her baby cry. The situation is raw, the scene too, with this real infant who was used for the sequence, with real cries, real tears. The umbilical cord that she will cut on her own to prevent the virus from being transmitted to Ellie, since she has just been bitten in the thigh. And then Ashley Johnson who gives us an incredible performance, nuanced by many emotions. The fear, the stress of giving birth, the rage to kill, the astonishment, then the joy of having her baby, of reassuring him, the tears too when begging Marlene to execute him. Powerful.
This scene also allows us to better understand the personality of Marlène who did everything to help her friend Anna, to have finally taken care of Ellie and to better understand the pain of having to sacrifice her for the good of the world. ‘Humanity, with this vaccine that will never come, and therefore to have even more empathy for it as Joel executes it in a more than dirty way. Anyway, this episode 9 is the moment when Joel will let go of his feelings for Ellie. He will show her the attachment he has for her, that he now considers her as his adopted daughter somewhere, while conversely Ellie will show herself to be more detached, more anxious, more doubtful as well. This moment when he talks to her about the board game he finds in a car with an almost disconcerting naivety. The looks he will throw at her on many occasions, we know that what he is looking for now is her happiness, and that is what will motivate him to take her out of the operating room at the end of the episode. But we will come back…
Another important scene in this episode 9, which video game fans were crying out for on social networks before, was the famous giraffe scene, which Neil Druckmann also reproduced in the series. To be honest with you, we were never taken emotionally by this sequence in the game, certainly soothing and iconic (and it had to be adapted in the series), but emotionally, it did not affect us more than That. Anyway, compared with the video game, it’s the same sequence, from the short scale that Joel lavishes on Ellie until the discovery of the animal, even going through the dialogues and the choice of the music which is exactly the same. The hospital scene will happen fairly quickly because the series will still ignore the clickers that we encountered in the tunnel in the video game. We will see Ellie and Joel talking to each other in the series, but nothing more. It’s true that they could have added an extra 10 min sequence to bring a little more intensity just after the contemplation sequence. There will therefore not be the sequence of the bus submerged in water, nor of Ellie to be revived after drowning, but a grenade attack by the Firelies and Joel will nevertheless be knocked out with the butt of a rifle.
Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, on the other hand, will catch up with the hospital scene where Joel will let his anger explode, proving to us once again how much of a survivalist he is, and that he will do everything to save Ellie. of certain death. Marlene, who we hadn’t seen since the first episode, is therefore back, and explains to Joel why they are obliged to take a sample from Ellie, which will cost her life but will allow them to obtain a vaccine. The scene of the shooting in the hospital that we play as a player is sublimated in the series, thanks to this staging which manages to transcribe all the hatred which lies dormant in Joel, ready to do anything to save Ellie. He will kill, a lot, finish off people, sometimes execute them with a knife, with this camera which will remain fixed on hands, feet, while muffling the sound to give an even more anxiety-provoking aspect to the situation, all carried by melancholic music. The whole thing works to death, maybe a little less with the hallway scene which was more impactful and iconic in the game. The chills. And then this masterful end, so unfair, so selfish, but so human. A true declaration of love from Joel to Ellie, even if it means lying to her face to face. A lie that will have a strong impact in The Last of Us Part 2 and therefore in Season 2.
What are we willing to do for the love of a loved one? Everything, sometimes the worst, a feeling that will also motivate the character of Abby, whose father was brutally killed by an angry Joel. A bullet in the head and whose camera takes the time to stay on it for a few seconds, as if to tell us what’s next. Clearly, those who don’t know video games, who discovered The Last of Us through this series are not ready for the events to come in Season 2. Season 2 which should be much longer as Neil said Druckman. Probably one part with Ellie, another with Abby. Now that the series is over, we can try to take a step back, review the 9 episodes one after the other, perhaps binge-watching them and thus better understand the total success of this narration which will have highlighted before a separate character for each episode. Sarah for episode 1, Tess for episode 2, Bill and Frank for 3, Henry and Sam for 5, Tommy for episode 6, Riley for 7, David and James (Troy Baker) for 8 , and of course Anna (Ashley Johnson) for the final episode. We realize that not only is it the best adaptation of a video game, but also a brilliant series. All is not perfect of course, the only downside of the series is the lack of infected and perhaps action. In 8:44, the series would have gained in intensity with more sequence facing clickers, even if it means extending the series by an additional episode. We hope that Season 2 will be able to restore this balance…
