The Last of Us: Episode 5: Endure and Survive
“Endure and Survive,” The Last of Us‘ fifth episode, released Friday, February 10 (a couple days early because February 12 was Super Bowl Sunday). This episode goes into the story of Henry and Sam Burrell, the iconic brothers fighting for their lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
*This review contains HEAVY spoilers*
Through the Tunnels
We last left the Burrells holding Ellie and Joel at gunpoint. The beginning of “Endure and Survive” backtracks to 10 days or so ago, where the brothers are hiding in an attic, away from Kathleen and the FEDRA-resistance group. The two have a tight relationship. With Henry in his mid-twenties and Sam being only eight (a few years younger than Sam in the video game), the two rely on each other for survival. Henry has to be twice on guard for Sam not only because of his young age, but because Sam is also Deaf. The two communicate through American Sign Language and an erasable sketchpad, both of which are used heavily throughout the episode. The silence of their languages adds an even greater immersion of tension to the terrifying world.
After a week in the attic, the brothers run out of food and are forced to find new shelter. This leads them to discovering Ellie and Joel. Henry makes it clear that he and Sam do not want to hurt anyone; instead, they need help escaping the city. With some convincing from Ellie, Joel reluctantly decides to team up with the brothers. The four make a plan to travel through the maintenance tunnels, where Henry is almost positive no infected reside.
Fortunately, Henry is correct. The crew is safe from infected and discover an underground community, where families lived free from infected, FEDRA and enemies alike. They hide out in what appears to be a schoolroom; Joel and Henry sit down to talk while Ellie and Sam bond over their love for the Savage Starlight comic series.
While the journey to this scene contrasts from the game, its identical set design and intimate dialogue sums up a large part of the Last of Us is all about. More than a shooting game, it is a deep study of humanity. Humans are shaped through their experiences and that shapes their behavior and decisions. With the help of good writing and acting, these characters feel and are real.
The realness of these characters is a large reason for The Last of Us’ success. The writers in both the game and series are not asking for us to forgive Kathleen or any other characters, including Joel, who enact tremendous pain and suffering on others. They are not providing an excuse for their actions. Rather, The Last of Us illustrates that humanity is complex and not a binary of black and white or right and wrong. In times of desperation, people will do what they can to survive even if they know it to be very, very wrong.
In both the game and show, Sam asks if the infected are still people underneath the disease. An answer is never provided and we are left to ponder this horror of an existence alone.
Endure and Survive the Bloater
The tunnels spit the group of four out into a desolate neighborhood in the dead of night. They feel a rare sense of security before a sniper shoots them back into reality. Leaving Henry to watch the kids, Joel makes his way to the sniper, shoots him down and clears a path for the rest. Suddenly, Kathleen and her crew of tanks roar through the streets. Joel shoots down one of the tank, which crashes into a house and blows up. But Kathleen’s army is strong, and this attack is nothing compared to what else she has up her sleeve.
The crew of four are, in a word, fucked.
When Henry finally decides to show himself, begging for Kathleen to let the kids go, he is interrupted. The destroyed tank sinks into a large hole in the ground. Everyone is silent, shocked by what they’ve witness, unprepared for the monstrous hoard of infected that cascade out the hole.
Now Kathleen and her army have an enemy greater than our protagonists. Everyone fights off the infected with their guns and machines, but no one can take down the bloater, a behemoth and one of the final stages of infection. The creature is ruthless as it rips people’s heads off and deflects bullets like flies.
Despite all the odds being stacked against them, Ellie and the Burrells somehow manage to escape. They rest for the night in a little motel. When morning comes, Sam is no longer himself. He was bitten during their encounter with the infected, and has transformed overnight. He attacks Ellie. Henry is forced to shoot his brother and, succumbing to grief and shock, himself.
The Verdict
Joel and Ellie are once again on their own. Before returning on their journey west, they bury the brothers beside each other and Ellie places Sam’s sketchpad with the note “I’m sorry” on his grave. They now make their way to Tommy’s.
“Endure and Survive” is, by far, the strongest episode in this impressive series. If one needed to sum up The Last of Us in its entirety, episode five could do the job. It has all the moments of action, sincerity, comedy, hardcore action and intense tragedy. All of these elements are included while pacing the story and . All the actors in this episode stand out, but Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Montreal Woodard truly shine. Their performances of these iconic brothers brought Henry and Sam to life and, despite how short their stay, will be dearly missed.
(5 / 5)
We can anticipate to catch up with Tommy 20 years after the events in episode one. We can expect perhaps another slower episode like episode 4. This is a rather slow part in the game (minus the various shootout fights). However, this show is great at throwing a few curveballs, so we’ll just have to wait for Sunday, February 19.
Until then, make sure you check out the other shows and games we’re watching and playing at HauntedMTL.
To a lot of fans, this is the film that killed the franchise. It says a lot that the next installment is yet another retcon. Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers attempts to explain Michael’s unrelenting evil, which lead to mixed opinions from longtime fans. There are two cuts of the film, theatrical vs producer’s. For a lot of people, the latter is the only one worth mentioning. Aiming to be as accurate as possible, I will be talking about the producer’s cut. Let’s begin!
Plot
We start Halloween VI with a six-year time jump from part five. Jamie is now barefoot and recently pregnant, running away from Michael as he wants her baby. While she manages to hide the little one away, Michael finally gets his hunger satiated by killing her. The moment is one of the most brutal ways in the franchise up until that point. Rest in peace, Jamie, you held your ground for as long as you could, the sequels were just too relentless.
The movie then cuts to a whole different scene going on. We have a new family living in the Myers house and their youngest child is hearing voices telling him to kill his loved ones. Tommy Lloyd is watching the family, played by none other than Paul Rudd in his first-ever theatrical role. Tommy still carries trauma from the events all those years ago when Laurie Strode was babysitting him. So when he finds Jamie’s baby, his part in the story becomes even more essential.
Dr Loomis also stars in what was Donald Pleasance’s final role before his passing. He and Tommy try to stop Michael once and for all before the cycle can repeat itself. As it turns out, Michael is a victim of a druid cult which makes him want to kill his family members every Halloween. Thorn, the cult in question, thinks they can control Michael and make him do their bidding. This results in catastrophe and Michael goes berzerk and kills all the cult members. Once again, it’s one of the most gruesome montages for the franchise up until that point.
Tommy and Kara are left to face Michael on their own which they manage to do with some corrosive liquid and good luck. However, nothing stays dead in this franchise as it’s soon revealed Michael somehow escaped and this time Dr Loomis might not be so lucky…
Overall thoughts
I would say for me personally Halloween VI definitely ranks somewhere near the bottom. The whole point of Michael is that there is no rhyme or reason to his killings and this film tries to go against that. I am glad the mistake was rectified by the upcoming installment. There were still some good things about it, such as Paul Rudd’s acting that reveals some raw talent as far as I’m concerned, as well as some direction choices and musical score. However, I also think it absolutely deserves all the criticism that it gets.
(2.5 / 5)
We’ve reached the final episode of American Horror Stories, season three. After the ups and downs of the season, I didn’t know what to expect. I felt that we were due a big finish, Killer Queens. But I feared we were in for a big letdown.
As it turns out, The Thing Under The Bed was neither.
The story
We begin our story with a little girl named Mary, who is scared of something under her bed. She sneaks out of her room, only to be caught by her father and sent back to sleep. And of course, there is something horrible waiting for her under her bed.
This scene cuts away to a woman named Jillian. She has strange dreams, including one about Mary. But her husband, Mark, doesn’t want to hear about it. He’s only interested in a little lovemaking because he wants a baby. Jillian doesn’t, which makes total sense because she’s already married to one. But her irritation with her childish husband goes away when he goes away. And by goes away, I mean he’s sloppily devoured by something vicious under their bed.
What worked
In short, this episode just worked. The acting was professional and believable. The cinematography and lighting work were wonderful, adding spooky effects and startling moments without impairing visibility.
Best of all, the story was solid. There were no plotholes to be found. Our main character, Jillian, was relatable and sympathetic.
This was maybe my favorite part of the story. I thought Jillian was a remarkably sympathetic character. She was dealt a hand she never asked for, having her husband slaughtered in their bedroom. I don’t think she missed him, so much as she was afraid of the legal ramifications of being caught with literal blood on her hands.
Then, when it would have been safest for her to just lay low and save up for a good defense attorney, she instead goes into unlikely hero mode. She does her best to save people, putting herself in legal and physical danger. It’s hard not to root for her.
It’s also a little hard not to root for the antagonist, too. I don’t want to ruin the twist for you, so I’m going to tread lightly here. But it’s great when you have an antagonist who might be off their rocker, but also maybe has a point.
What didn’t work
I can only really think of one complaint with this episode. And that is how frequently one character says the word Chickadee. And if you’ve seen the episode, you know what I am talking about.
I get it, he has a pet name for his daughter. It’s adorable. It’s meant to convey that the two of them have a healthy loving relationship and I get it. We all get it. Blind monks get it. But the fact remains that no parent on Earth calls their kid by their pet name every single time they speak an individual sentence to them. It was just too damn much.
All in all, this was a good episode. It was a classic story, turned on its head, told by professionals from start to finish. And I hope that if there is another season, we see more stories like this one. But after the efforts put into this season at large, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last we see of American Horror Stories.
(4 / 5)
If you’ve watched enough short-form horror anthology shows, you’ll notice that some stories are mainstays. Each show seems to put on the same sort of episodes, with the occasional surprising storyline that we’ve never (or at least rarely) seen before.
Leprechaun was an example of a repeated story—the story of a greedy thief whose punishment far outweighs the crime.
The story
We begin our story in 1841, with a drunk man leaving the bar one late night. He’s distracted by something glowing at the end of the well. When he reaches down for the glowing thing, he falls in. Moments later, he screams.
We then cut to the modern day. The well is still there, and now it’s surrounded by a dying town. In this town lives a young man named Colin. He’s married, his wife is pregnant, and he’s out of work. Like many of his friends.
Desperate for cash, Colin and his friends decide to rob a bank. They put together an Equate version of Ocean’s Eleven, and break in one night. But, of course, they find that the gold is nothing more than bait. And the creature waiting for them is something they never expected.
What worked
The first thing I want to point out is how real this episode felt. At least to anyone currently living in the same small town they grew up in. These characters felt like guys I went to school with. Guys I would see at the bar.
I appreciated the real anger and frustration these characters are feeling. Especially Colin. He’s bitter, and maybe he has a right to be. He did exactly what he was supposed to do to succeed. He went to school and invested in his career, and yet now he’s out of work and struggling to support his family. I probably don’t need to tell you how that feels. Because of this, we can all kind of understand why he was tempted to rob a bank.
I also want to talk about the fact that this was, as I said, an often-explored story. That can be a bad thing, but it can also be a good thing. This story is told over and over because it’s a good story. A relatable story. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
What didn’t work
That being said, this version didn’t try to do much to break out of the mold.
Because we have seen this story so many times, most of us could tell the story themselves. I would have expected something new, or some twist. But, in the end, the story didn’t bring anything new to the discussion.
Maybe because of this, the ending left a lot to be desired. Trapped in the basement of the bank, everyone just sort of stares at everyone else, until the thieves give up. And that’s it. The ending wasn’t scary, shocking, or funny. It was just sad, on multiple levels.
Overall, this was an okay story. It was entertaining, if not surprising. I would compare this episode to homemade macaroni and cheese. Everyone’s got their own version, they’re all pretty good, and none of them are exciting.
There’s just one episode left in this season of American Horror Stories. Let’s hope they’ve saved the best for last.
(3.5 / 5)
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