‘Endure and Survive’: Ellie’s heroism and Kansas City’s dark fate in ‘The Last of Us’ episode 5

The latest episode of “The Last of Us” is titled “Endure and Survive,” taken from a quote in Ellie’s favorite comic book series “Savage Starlight.” Jeremy Webb directed both this episode and the previous one, “Please Hold To My Hand.”

In this blog post, let’s discuss some of the themes tackled in the episode (is Henry bad?), the changes made from the game (and how they made the story even more compelling), and the original characters Kathleen and Perry, who I already talked about in previous posts but there are still a few things about them that need to be discussed. But first, let’s discuss the theories that I got right and those that I got terribly wrong.

My Theories: Some right, some wrong

1. ✓ I said that there will be flashbacks. I got that right. The show opened with scenes from 11 days before the events of episode 4, when Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) arrived in Kansas City.
2. ✓ I said that Sam (Keivonn Woodard) is deaf and mute in this version. I got that one right as well. In the game, Sam is not disabled. The trailer for the episode showed Henry (Lamar Johnson) using sign language and I said that this might not be because they want to be as discreet as possible when trying to avoid detection, but this is actually because Sam has a disability. This is an interesting change in the show because having an 8-year-old deaf brother makes it even harder for Henry.
3. ✓ I said that Sam is too afraid to go outside and painting a superhero mask over his eyes made him braver. Got that one right as well.
4. ✓ I also said that it wasn’t just the two of them who were at the attic. At one point, we saw the doctor with them at the attic.
5. ✗ But I said that it was Perry. Apparently, it was the doctor who Kathleen killed in the previous episode.
6. ✗ I also said that Perry will kill Kathleen. Got that wrong. I misjudged Perry. He’s loyal af to Kathleen.
7. ✗ In this post, I said Kathleen may be from an asylum and she was Dr. Adelstein’s patient. So what he really meant by, “I am your doctor,” is that he is Kansas City’s only medical practitioner. Kathleen killing the doctor means she’s so ruthless that she will kill even the doctor.
8. ✗ I also got it wrong that Perry would tell them to leave the attic because Kathleen has already issued a shoot-to-kill order against them. Apparently, they left because they were out of food. The two never learned about the doctor’s death and Perry was never on their side.
9. ✗ I also got this one wrong: I said that Perry needs both Sam and Henry to stay alive not because he cares, but because they know someone or something outside Kansas City. The brothers don’t know anyone or anything outside the city; they just want to be as free as a bird.
10. ✓ But I got it right that the two knew something about the danger under.

So 5/10?

Is Henry bad?

I love that the episode made us question whether Henry is good or bad. In order to keep his brother another chance at life, he ratted out Kathleen’s brother in exchange for medication for Sam’s leukemia. This is an important ethical question that this episode is raising. Kathleen’s brother is described in the episode as a great man, someone who is ready to forgive anyone who wrongs him. Kind of like a Jesus figure, don’t you think?

If you think about it, they are describing somewhat a savior figure or a perfect leader. So if you are Henry, are you going to be this person’s Judas or are you going to let your brother die? By sacrificing a leader in exchange for medicine, Henry ultimately sealed Kansas City’s fate (more on that later).

Henry seems to be convinced that he is a bad person. He sees himself as worse than the Federal Disaster Response Agency (Fedra) because he is a collaborator. But during times like that in the show, can one really blame someone for doing what Henry did? I would argue that it is still Fedra’s fault. They could have just given Henry the medicine without forcing him to do what he clearly did not want to do. Henry knew he was going to be hated.

It is important when answering questions like this to take a look at the power dynamics. Fedra has Henry in the palm of their hands. They had more power than he did. So Henry is not guilty.

Ellie’s heroism

I love watching Ellie in this episode. There were two heroic moments involving her. The first one had a great ending for them, but the second one makes you believe she will begin to doubt herself.

The first heroic moment: When the swarm of infected were attacking both Sam and Henry, Ellie knifed two clickers, successfully saving the two Kansas boys. Yes, she had support from Joel, but Ellie was fearless the entire time. She just dashed to save the brothers.

The second heroic moment: Upon finding out that Sam was bitten by an infected, Ellie, not knowing better, tried to save him. She taught her blood was medicine because that was what was told about herself. She truly believed that she was going to be Sam’s savior for the second time. But her condition doesn’t work that way, apparently. Although she is immune from the bite of an infected, she cannot just pass on her “gift” to somebody by washing his would with her blood.

Failing to save Sam will start making her doubt that she is humanity’s last hope. She is no Jesus. There may never be a Jesus.

Kansas City’s dark fate

The episode started with the Hunters and the people of Kansas City celebrating their successful uprising from the oppressive governance of Fedra. Before this, Fedra has been raping, torturing, and murdering people, and turning them against each other (i.e., collaborators vs the Hunters).

But the downfall of Fedra in Kansas City didn’t mean actual freedom from oppression because the Hunters were doing exactly what Fedra did, with a slight difference in motivation. Kathleen prioritizing the searching for Henry meant that their problem underground—their real problem—has been neglected.

Speaking of Kathleen, I think she had made a mistake taking Dr. Adelstein as captive. The doctor didn’t know that someone amongst the collaborators outed him as a collaborator as well, so what she should have done was to let somebody follow him around so they can uncover Henry’s hiding place. (Eh di ikaw na mag-lead ng Hunters, Rey.)

Anyway, back to Kansas City. People in Kansas City have been living without the infected because of Fedra. They successfully drove the infected away to the tunnels. Fedra may have known how to deal with the infected, but the people didn’t, because there were no infected to fight. They knew how to survive by dealing with and evading Fedra, but they didn’t know how to fight the infected. That is why Henry needed Joel. So now that the Hunters governing Kansas City, they were incompetently protecting everyone from the infected.

The swarm of infected easily made a meal out of the Hunters, too. To be fair, there was a bloater amongst the infected, so it’s like a village basketball team against a top NBA team. But, but, but, they had guns. Joel had no problem killing one, two, three, four, five infected with a sniper, but the Hunters just let themselves be infected snacks. (Eh di ikaw na maging Hunter, Rey.)

I expected Perry to last long, but dude was no match against the bloater. Kathleen’s death was poetic justice. This is the leader who said, “Children die all the time,” and so a child infected killed her. (Speaking of which, that meant up until a few years ago, people were still getting infected because there’s a child infected. Fucking hell, Kansas City.)

Kansas City’s fate could best be summarized by zooming in on Sam and Henry—despite moments of bravery, they still couldn’t make it. Halfway into season 1’s story, we’re seeing doom everywhere Joel and Ellie go.