By: Rey Anthony Ostria | Feb 25, 2023
The Jasmila Žbanić-directed episode 6, titled “Kin,” is the first episode with no infected (if you don’t count the infected under the building in episode 4). Despite this, “The Last of Us” still delivers what it’s supposed to: a study on grief and redemption when something hard to explain happens. (Am I talking about “The Leftovers”? I don’t know.)
The episode starts with a few seconds from the darkest moment from the previous episode. After a gunshot, they cut to black and then after a couple of seconds, we see snow. Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are in a totally different region. Here, they come to terms with past failures and they get to experience what it’s like to be in a place where no one is in charge.
But first, let’s talk about family. As always, there will be heavy spoilers from the episode. Please watch that first before reading this.
Table of Contents
Family
After Joel and Ellie “missed the street signs in the enormous fucking forest,” they asked a couple for directions. I say “asked,” but I don’t know if that’s the appropriate term when you’re in an apocalypse and you have to point a gun to get at someone to get information from them. Intimidate? Anyway, that’s besides the point.
This couple, played by Graham Greene and Elaine Miles, seem to know each other very well. She just had to move her eyes slowly to her left, then the wife already telepathically told her husband that someone was in the house. When he asked her, “Did you tell him the truth?” and she said yes, he did not lie to Joel about where they were in the map.
Just like the couple, it seems Joel and Ellie have had enough time knowing each other well. It was already easy for Joel to guess that Ellie’s favorite astronaut is Sally Ride and she didn’t even seem surprised that he knew. The next day, when Joel woke up and Ellie was keeping watch, she said, “Still mumbling on your sleep,” she was basically saying that wasn’t the first time.
When they arrived in Jackson, Wyoming, Joel and Ellie learned that Tommy (Gabriel Luna) has a wife now—Maria (Rutina Wesley), the elected council member who was the reason why Joel couldn’t contact Tommy through the radio anymore. Ellie learns about Sarah through Maria. This is the first time she knows that Joel had a daughter before the fungus pandemic.
Maria warns Ellie about Joel because, “The only people who can betray us are ones we trust.” We cannot blame Maria for thinking bad about Joel because she knows what he and Tommy did in the past. Her telling Ellie about this isn’t really because she doesn’t trust Joel. It’s just out of concern for Ellie.
Past Failures
Before we talk about the past failures, let’s talk about past sins.
Joel and Tommy Miller have unresolved issues. Tommy judged Joel for the “things” they did in the past. Knowing what he knows now, now that he’s in the safety of the Jackson settlement, Tommy judges him even more. For the new Tommy, there could have been other ways to survive.
In the past episode, we learned from Joel that they did what the Hunters in Kansas City were doing—acting like they needed help and then trying to robbing people at gunpoint. Those were the reasons why Tommy left the Fireflies and Joel back in Boston. He was always the brother who wanted to do the righteous thing. In the first episode, he was the one who suggested to stop and help the family by the road and Joel was the one who decided that they shouldn’t.
When Tommy told Joel, “Just because life stopped for you, doesn’t mean it has to stop for me, too,” that was the sassiest way to say, “Nah, bro. I cannot help you with your ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ shit because I gotta stay alive for my upcoming child.”
A few hours later, Tommy apologizes for saying this and then accepts Joel’s request that he delivers Ellie to the Fireflies. Pedro Pascal’s performance in this scene is peak Pedro Pascal, I have to say, and if he doesn’t win an Emmy for this, Emmy peeps should stop being proud of their jobs.
Craig Mazin explains what we already understand but I think he still perfectly summed it up:
And so much of what this episode is about Joel coming to terms with how terrified he is, suddenly, that she is going to die and it’s going to be his fault. And if you’ve been paying attention along the way, what you will see is for as many times as Joel has helped her, he’s also failed her. And those are the the things that he dwell on. Like a lot of us, if you have core shame, or core trauma the way Joel does, the things that you do well are discounted. Your failure, anything that reminds you of the tragedy of your past, you will magnify in your mind and your heart until it threatens to subsume you.
Co-Showrunner Craig Mazin in the Official “The Last of Us” Podcast
Communism
In episode 3, there’s anarchism. In episode 4 and episode 5, there’s populism. In episode 6, there’s communism that actually fucking works, if I may use Ellie’s words. It’s funny how Tommy, a former US military man is in denial that the entire Jackson settlement is actually communism.
No one is in charge, the church caters not just to one religious group, the jail is somewhat unnecessary, and everyone pitches in and shares resources. The place is so goddamn perfect Maria didn’t even forget to give Ellie a menstrual cup even if the girl didn’t ask for it.
This later became a topic of conversation for Joel and Ellie. She asked whether that was how things used to be before the infection spread. (I thought you went to school, Ellie.) He said the United States was too big for communism (I don’t know about that, Joel).
Other Things That Were Hard To Miss
- Tommy wanted to help Joel because sending her to the Fireflies was the only way for him to give a normal future to her would-be child.
- The movie they were watching at the cinema was “The Goodbye Girl.”
- While watching the movie, Ellie saw Tommy leave so she followed her.
- The writers wrote that Ellie dreams of becoming an astronaut because Ashley Johnson, the actress who voiced her in the games, loves astronomy.
- Maria lost her 3-year-old son Kevin only two days after Joel lost Sarah. It was nice of Tommy to have a memorial for Sarah.
- The morning when they were about to leave Jackson, Ellie was still hoping that it was Joel who was going to accompany her. When Tommy opened the door and she saw him, she looked down as if to say, “Okay. So this really is it.” This show’s storytelling with the way people’s eyes move (Elaine Miles’ and Bella Ramsey’s) are sooo geeewd.
- The university at the end of the episode is University of Eastern Colorado, southeast of Wyoming.
In the episode’s ending, Joel is fighting for his life after a raider impales him with the sharp end of a broken baseball bat. They successfully flee the University of Eastern Colorado, but now Ellie has to take care of the unconscious Joel. Time and time again, Ellie has to take care of Joel and I think that is the whole point to the show—Joel needs Ellie just as much as she needs her.
I don’t think the season will end Joel’s journey this early because there’s at least one scene from the trailer that involves him, but we haven’t seen in any of the episodes yet.
That’s it. That’s everyone there is to know about episode 6. I’ll post spoiler free photos from episode 7 later today or early tomorrow.
Email me at ra@ravstheworld.com if you think I failed to discuss something important about the episode or the other episodes.
If you reached this far in the post, thank you very much! Stay safe!
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