The Last of Us' Episode 6

2023 - 2 - 19

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Esquire.com"

The Last of Us Episode 6 Is Hopeful For Once! (Then Burns It All ... (Esquire.com)

For one beautiful moment, we see what a normal(ish) life could look like for Joel and Ellie.

In true The Last of Us fashion, it's a brutal end to this chapter, which showed us a future for Joel and Ellie: one where they could live in Jackson, enjoying relative peace. [mushrooms](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42760795/last-of-us-fungus-cordyceps-mycologist/), Appalachia, [Pedro Pascal](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42744061/pedro-pascal-snl-clicker-the-last-of-us/), and The Last of Us. Ellie resents Joel for making the call to stay behind—until he has a change of heart, anyway. In the home stretch of delivering Ellie to a team of doctors working on a vaccine, Joel makes a rational conclusion: Tommy is the best person to keep Ellie safe the rest of the way. [Episode Five](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42801413/the-last-of-us-episode-5-recap/)—we miss you, [Henry and Sam](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42803877/how-do-henry-and-sam-die-in-the-last-of-us/)—Episode Six of the HBO video game adaptation dares to offer us a bit of hope. While the adversaries wander off, we see that Joel isn't looking so good—and this might be his first ouchie from the series where he can't whip out a video-gamey health pack to make it all better. Joel suffers a major stab wound in the fight. "I explain that I would have to choose my own family at this point and he has a very adverse response to that. It's a major change from The Last of Us Part I game, where we hardly get to see the fully-functioning town, led by the formidable Maria. Joel assumed that his brother got himself mixed up in some Firefly antics, but the man is thriving. Episode Six is an absolute feast for fans of The Last of Us video games. Our man Joel has been searching for his long-lost brother, the ex-Firefly [Tommy](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42955210/the-last-of-us-tommy-show-vs-game/), for nearly the entire season.

'The Last of Us,' Season 1, Episode 6: The Ties That Bind (The New York Times)

This week, Joel and Ellie encounter a safer and more social way of life, but it's not clear whether they want any part of it.

This episode opens with a flashback to Henry’s suicide, which again includes the sound of Ellie’s haunting reaction: a startled combination of a gasp and a pained moan. He is not too keen on the way Joel seems to roll his eyes at Jackson’s communistic “share and share alike” approach to survival. As for Tommy — described derisively by Joel two episodes ago as “a joiner” — he looks both happy and wary to see his brother. (When Joel asks for the best way to head west, Marlon says, “Go east.”) But then our heroes make it all the way to Jackson, where they encounter a whole other way of living: calmer, safer and more social. It’s too bad that Joel and Ellie didn’t get to spend more time with grumpy old Marlon and Florence, because those two were a hoot. Maria thinks she knows the kind of person Joel is, based on what Tommy has told her about their time on the road. In this week’s “The Last of Us,” Joel and Ellie spend a fair amount of the episode riding horses, shooting guns and facing down posses, just like those western heroes. Marlon and Florence warned them that Wyoming would be a deathtrap, with every major city swarming with infected and the wilderness strewn with corpses. She has seen the horrors of “Killer City.” So what does she want for herself? To be fair, by the time they get to Jackson, they are feeling pretty stressed. And it makes sense for Joel — who has seen enough of this fallen world — to want to escape from everything and everybody. She seems less sure of what a “normal” life should be like.

'The Last of Us' Episode 6 Recap: An Awkward Reunion (CNET)

Joel and Tommy figure out who's gonna bring Ellie the rest of the way. Sean Keane headshot. Sean Keane.

Both versions end up with Joel badly wounded and Ellie in charge of their fates, but the show gives us a rather excellent cover of Depeche Mode's [Never Let Me Down Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snILjFUkk_A) -- the same song that played at the end of episode 1. Joel scuffles with one of them and ultimately breaks his neck, but discovers that he's been stabbed in the stomach with a piece of wood. Tommy ultimately apologizes for his comment, and Joel confesses the depths of his trauma and the agony caused by his attachment to Ellie. After determining that the rebel group is likely in Salt Lake City, they're forced to escape as a group of marauders arrive. Predictably, she chooses Joel and the dream team heads out to I-25. [The Goodbye Girl](https://youtu.be/4wiL-ry9XMI) -- a 1977 movie about a prickly man who bonds with a precocious girl. [Rutina Wesley](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2179180/), whom you might know from True Blood) turns out to be Tommy's wife, Maria, and brings them to their rather lovely settlement for a reunion. Crossing the river, Ellie and Joel encounter a group of people who set a sniffer dog on them to determine if they're infected. Joel is a little weirded out by the fact that his little brother got married without him knowing, but Ellie helps him express his congratulations. Maria is also pregnant, which makes Tommy less inclined to take responsibility for shepherding Ellie to the Fireflies. The pup gives Joel the all-clear, then it seems like Ellie won't be so fortunate -- we know she's bitten, so the dog might tear her to shreds. Joel wants to settle down on a ranch and raise sheep because "they're quiet, do what they're told."

'The Last of Us' Episode 6: Pedro Pascal's Powerhouse Performance (Rolling Stone)

HBO's hit sees Joel and Ellie stumble upon an idyllic community in Jackson, Wyoming, while also facing the biggest threat to their survival yet.

Now he’s the one on the ground with a terrible wound to the midsection, and his surrogate daughter is the one hoping against hope that he can survive. That The Last of Us can do both within the same episode, and have it feel all of a piece, is among its most impressive traits. But Jackson is doing as fine at the end of “Kin” as it was when Joel and Ellie first arrived. Ellie’s conversation with Maria is the first she’s heard of Joel having (and then losing) a daughter. But in the process, his stomach gets impaled by the shard of a baseball bat, and the episode ends with a panicked Ellie tending to his wound and pleading for him to get up. It’s remarkable how easily this show can jump from [Bill and Frank’s love story](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/the-last-of-us-season-1-episode-3-recap-hbo-nick-offerman-murray-bartlett-gay-love-1234667212/) to the dark Kansas City two-parter to this calm, very [Station Eleven](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/station-eleven-review-1265799/)-esque look at Joel and Ellie’s relationship, and at the possibilities of finding peace even in a post-apocalyptic world. In the melee, Joel briefly appears to be the superman he wants to be for Ellie, snapping the neck of one of his attackers. Instead, the threat is to the relationship of the two leads, as his fear of opening up to her instead makes her think she’s being abandoned by him. Where “Endure and Survive” was full of [mayhem, spectacle, and despair](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/the-last-of-us-episode-5-recap-hbo-sam-keivonn-woodard-henry-lamar-johnson-melanie-lynskey-death-1234674650/), “Kin” is quiet and contemplative, heavy on character and so light on action until the end that we don’t even see any infected. [Rutina Wesley](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/qa-true-blood-star-rutina-wesley-on-taras-vampire-transformation-243584/) from Queen Sugar and True Blood), and they are expecting a baby. It is the dead of winter, and our heroes have stumbled across an older Native couple — played by the great character actor Graham Greene and Northern Exposure alum Elaine Miles — who have managed to carve out a life for themselves in a cabin in the middle of nowhere that few people or infected ever come across. [The Last of Us](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/the-last-of-us-review-hbo-zombies-neil-druckmann-pedro-pascal-bella-ramsey-1234655768/), which at times is extremely straightforward, but exciting and crafted at a high level.

The Last of Us | Episode 6 review: Kin (whynow)

Recovering from the aftermath of episode 5, Joel and Ellie finally reach Tommy's and have a moment to breathe in episode 6.

The episode provides Joel and Ellie with a chance to breathe a little easier for a bit. Gamers will know these are the henchmen of David, a major antagonist in the game. The episode has plenty of references to the game. We spied Ellie taking a pack of tampons in one of the earlier episodes, and in this episode, Maria gives Ellie a Diva Cup. Now travelling through the snow-covered wilderness, Joel and Ellie encounter Marlon and Florence, an elderly couple living in the woods. The tragic death of Sam and Henry will definitely haunt us, and it certainly does our heroes Joel and Ellie, as we pick up with them 3 months after the events of episode 5.

The Last of Us Episode 6: TV Show vs Game Comparison - IGN (IGN)

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are simply terrific as they navigate some of the story's most memorable scenes, all of which sideline action in favour of heated, ...

Children of the Corn, written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, opens in theaters on March 3, 2023, and will be available on Demand and digital on March 21, 2023.](/videos/children-of-the-corn-2023-official-red-band-trailer) Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. Based on the short story by Stephen King, Children of the Corn is a chilling new re-telling for a whole new generation. Check out the launch trailer for another look at Lara Croft in action.Tomb Raider Reloaded allows players to jump back into the boots of groundbreaking adventurer Lara Croft in an action-filled quest to obtain the ancient Scion artifact, clearing ever-changing rooms filled with new and familiar enemies as well as hazardous traps and puzzles. Additionally, the video above will let you see the scenes from both the show and the game in action. But, how close does the show compare to the game?