Endure and Survive is Episode 5 of The Last Of Us.

Spoilers Below

I give detailed, blow by blow details as I review. If you want to skip the spoilers jump down to the Scoring!

If you have watched Endure and Survive let me know if you agree with my scoring below.

Freedom (Flashback)

Endure and Survive opens with a mob chanting “Freedom, Freedom” before the scene devolves into a violent mob. The Boss Lady is looking for her child. She is pissed at the Fedra loyalists. She wants them to tell her where Henry is. After telling her Soldier to kill the captives one of them chimes up. He knows where Hendry is. Or at least his general whereabouts.

As Bossy Lady leaves she tells her men to kills the captives and burn the bodies. It’s faster than a trial.

We then jump to Henry, the doctor, and his guardian. They are in the attic we saw in Episode 4. We see Henry’s Guardian give him crayons to draw with.

Days pass. Henry and his Guardian are running out of supplies. When the food runs out Henry’s Guardian is forced to leave the attic. They need to find supplies.

They morning they decide to leave merges with the Joel and Ellie timeline. Henry and his Guardian are about to walk out onto the street when Joel’s truck crashes into the building and a gunfight erupts. The Guardian sees something in Joel. Henry’s Guardian can recognize a survivor when he sees one.

Meeting (Current TimeLine)

Ellie is calling for Joel. Henry and his Guardian have them at gunpoint. Henry and his Guardian are nervous. They don’t want trouble with Joel, but it is hard when you have someone at gunpoint.

Then the bomb drops.

I thought Henry was the kid and older guy was the Guardian. The older guy is HENRY!!!! The younger kid is Sam, Henry’s little brother. I thought Henry was the Bosses kid, but I was totally wrong.

The foursome reaches a truce and shares a meal by lantern light. After they break bed Joel is Joel. He wants everyone to go their way but Henry has something Joel wants. He knows the city and a potential way out. They make a deal. Henry will show the way as long as Joel will clear the way.

We also find out who the Boss lady is. Her name is Kathleen.

Escape

The four move to the bank to get to the initial entrance into the tunnels. The tension rises as the four make it into the underground. Deep underground they come across what looks like a daycare. The walls acre covered in drawings. The room is full of small furniture and toys. After the infection spread people moved underground in an attempt to survive.

Ellie asked where the people went. Joel says maybe they weren’t careful and got infected. Joel prowls as Sam and Ellie share a moment before they decide to wait out the day. It is safer to move in the shadows.

As Ellie and Sam play soccer Henry tells Joel his story. He gave up the leader of resistance to get Sam cancer medication. The leader of the resistance was also Kathleen’s brother.

The Other Side

The band of four makes it out of the tunnels. They walk through a residential area in the dark, chatting as they walk. At least until someone takes a shot at them. Joel is going to circle around and take out the sniper. Whoever is shotting has bad aim. Joel can see the river and the bridge as he is about to attack the house. He finds an old man at the window and begs him to put is rifle down. The man tries to spin around to shoot Joel but he’s too slow.

As Joel is picking up the man’s rifle we here Kathleen on a radio. She is coming. Joel screams out the window, telling Ellie and the others to run.

Joel struggles with the rifle as the lead vehicle smashes through vehicles with its plow. Ellie desperately fires over her shoulder as the vehicle continues to barrel down on them.

Just as Ellie falls Joel makes the shot and the plow veers off. Ellie, Henry and Sam are stranded with Kathleen approaching as Joel is about to have his own position attacked. He is now in the old man’s position. Stuck with a rifle at the window as someone assaults his position.

Henry urges Ellie to take Sam and run. He is going to sacrifice himself so the kids can escape.

The Horde

Kathleen is about to put a bullet into Henry when the plow vehicle sinks into the ground. The sounds of infected drift upwards on the wind. The undead are about to swarm.

As the horde tears into Kathleen’s soldiers Ellie, Henry, and Sam run for it, covered by Joel in the window. Ellie just barely makes it into an old SUV as the horde overruns the other survivors. Then, out of the pit comes a massive beast. Bullets don’t hurt it.

Joel desperately fires at a child infected as it climbs into the SUV with Ellie but he can’t make the shot. Ellie sees Henry and Sam being attacked under a truck and attacks. They are almost back to Joel when Kathleen corners them. The child infected that followed Ellie into the SUV chirps before it dives onto Kathleen, giving the group a chance to escape.

Abandoned Hotel Motel

The band of four made it out. They found an abandoned hotel. Ellie and Sam are reading comic books as Joel tells Henry he can come with them to Wyoming if they want. Henry agrees and says he will tell Sam in the morning.

Ellie and Sam bond as Sam asks her if she is ever scared. They pass his Magic Slate back and forth as Ellie admits that she is scared too. At least of scorpions. She then gets serious, telling Sam she doesn’t want to end up alone. She asks Sam what he’s afraid of. He tells her he wants to know if its still you inside if you turn. Right before showing Ellie his bite wound. Sam is infected.

Ellie tells Sam her blood is medicine. She slices open her hand and presses it to Sam’s wound. Sam begs her to stay awake with him. She promises.

Morning Comes

Ellie wakes up to find Sam staring out the window. He is very still and doesn’t respond when she says hey. But he’s deaf right? Or did he turn.

He turned.

Henry panics as Sam attacks. He shoots at the ground to keep Joel from attacking before shooting his own son. Henry is in shock, staring at his son. His life’s purpose is over. Henry puts the revolver to his head and pulls the trigger.

Joel and Ellie bury their two friends. Ellie’s last act is to put the Magic Slate on top of Sam’s grave. Her last words for Sam are an apology. She feels like she let him down.

Endure and Survive Scoring

Endure and Survive was powerful and amazing. The story is touching, heartfelt, and just all around mind blowing. This is the first time the fifth episode of a series has ever scored a 100/100. The infected horde was just so well done. It’s what I want from every horde!

Season	Episode	Episode Name	Score
1	1	When You’re Lost in the Darkness	100
1	2	Infected	100
1	3	Long Long Time	95
1	4	Please Hold on to My Hand	94
1	5	Endure and Survive	100
1	6	Kin	90
1	7	Left Behind	90
1	8	When We Are In Need	100
1	9	Look for the Light	100

See all Zombie Series.

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Long Long Time is the 3rd episode of the The Last of Us. The first two episodes both scored a 100/100. That is the first time that’s ever happened since The Walking Dead Season 1. If you aren’t watching, you really need to fix that. The only part that sucks is that if you are on the East Coast you have to wait until 9pm to get your fix!

Spoilers Below

I give detailed, blow by blow details as I review. If you want to skip the spoilers jump down to the Scoring!

If you have watched Long Long Time let me know what scene you thought was the most powerful.

Opening Scene

Joel and Ellie have made it out of Boston. They are out in the wilderness, alive, but clearly affected by the loss of Tess. Joel is pissed. Ellie is more more and emotionally intelligent than any fourteen year old should be. She knows that Joel is pissed and that he might be angry at her for Tess’s death.

Cumberland Farms

Joel and Ellie come across a gas station as they move through the woods. Joel stashed supplies in the past but seems to have forgotten exactly where. While Joel searches, Ellie finds a hatch in the floor. Because she apparently has no survival instinct she decides to go into the dark basement under the convenience store. As Ellie explores she finds an infected man crushed beneath a fallen section of wall.

Ellie’s eyes are hard and cold as she slowly drags her blade across the Zombie’s face. What is she thinking? Is she wondering what is inside her? She isn’t infected like others, but that doesn’t mean the Cordyceps isn’t changing her somehow right?

When Joel calls for her she simply tells him the store wasn’t as picked over as he thought. Ellie found a box of tampons. She doesn’t tell Joel she just made her first kill.

Walking

Joel and Ellie are hiking. They are also bonding. We get a bit of back story as they chat. The tainted food carried the fungus. The world ended quickly as everyone who ate the infected food turned into Zombies. Ellie has a Right Angle Flashlight on her backpack which I absolutely just ordered.

Joel warns Ellie that they may want to cut across open ground. There are things ahead she may not want to see. The ground is littered with the skeletal remains of survivors who were gunned down to make sure they didn’t turn.

September 30th 2003 (Flashback)

Survivors are being loaded onto trucks as police and military forces try to keep them organized.

A man is sitting in his basement, watching what is going above him on his video cameras. Bill, played by Nick Offerman, has entered the scene. Bill has a plan. He gets gas and supplies. He’s been planning for the end of the world and is ready to deal with it.

Fences go up. Defenses are set. Firewood is cut. The garden is planted.

Bill is enjoying his dinner when his security system warns him of movement. A Zombie walks directly into a trap and gets blown away. Bill – “It doesn’t get old.”

This statement is important. It clearly shows that Bill has seen multiple Zombies fall to his defenses. He knows what dangers this new world has in store for him.

Bill – Four Years Later, 2007 (Flashback)

Bill’s preparations have clearly served him well. He’s survived years while others have died in droves.

The security system beeps. Bill has captured a man in a trap. Bill has a tester. The man is not infected. Bill wants the man to keep moving on but the man is hungry. Frank is hungry. Bill is worried that if he feeds Frank others will show up.

Something passes between Bill and Frank. Bill might be safe but just like anyone he needs companionship. There is a human need to be near others.

Are Bill and Frank gay? I am not sure at this point but feel like they might be. (Good for them.)

Maybe what saved Frank was Bill’s gaydar?

Frank prepares dinner. Rabbit and Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages. Bill is more refined than he might appear. Frank is enjoying his dinner as Bill struggles to come to grips with the newcomer. Frank knows that he is supposed to dine and dash but he sees the piano and can’t help but sit down and tickle the ivories.

The first song Frank picks hits a nerve with Bill. Bill sits down to take his turn at the keyboard. Neither Bill or Frank have a good singing voice but somehow it is still a very touching scene.

Frank bends over to kiss Bill. It is a touching scene. It is also the first scene that maybe could have been done better. There wasn’t enough passion in the kiss. For two men, starved of life, I would have thought there first kiss would have been more ravenous.

Two seconds later the reason why becomes clear. Bill has never been true to himself. Frank is is first gay love, and gay lover.

Bill & Frank – Three Years Later (Flashback)

Frank is pissed. Bill does not want to give Frank supplies to fix up the house.

Why? Because Bill and Frank are going to have friends.

In the next cut scene we see Bill, Frank, Tess, and Joel having lunch. Bill is up tight and worried about security. Frank is just happy to have people over.

Bill doesn’t want Joel and Tess to ruin their lives. Joel helps bring Frank to their side by promising to bring him new fencing. Joel also warns Frank that scavengers will be coming. Bill’s defenses may not be as solid as he thinks.

Bill & Rank 2013 (Flashback)

Bill has updated his fence. What was wire is now stacks of crushed cars. Frank surprises Bill with a small strawberry patch. It is a sweet and emotional moment. Now I’m scared for the “crash”.

Bill tells Frank he was never afraid before he showed up. The meaning is clear. Before Frank Bill wasn’t afraid to die because he had nothing to die for.

Frank is sleeping. The scavengers have arrived.

Bill’s traps go off. Some of the scavengers are killed but there are too many of them. Frank drags Bill inside after he is wounded. Bill, like a moron, was standing out in the open.

Bill is bleeding out. His last words to Frank before he passes out are, “Call Joel, he’ll take care of ya.”

Bill & Frank – Older

Time has passed. Frank is frail and no longer able to walk. Bill pushes him around in his wheelchair and tends to their homestead. It appears that Frank has had a stroke? He appears weak and can only move with Bill’s help.

Bill wakes up to find Frank in his chair. Frank declares it is his last day. He doesn’t want to live as a burden on Bill. Frank asks for one more good day. Frank has a plan. One more good day. Marriage. And finally a glass of wine full of enough drugs to end his life.

Bill cries but follows Frank’s instructions.

Frank prepares the same rabbit and Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages meal they had on the day they first met. Bill dutifully mixes Frank’s drink with the medications as requested. Frank downs the glass after confirming the dosage is enough.

Frank notices there were already pills in the bottle. Bill plans on going with Frank into the next world. They laugh about how romantic the gesture is.

Welcome to Lincoln (Current Timeline)

Joel and Ellie have arrived at Bill’s homestead. Things look deserted. Joel calls out to his friends. The medicated meal on the table doesn’t look too old. Joel and Ellie have arrived not too long after the fateful dinner. Bill and Frank are dead.

Bill’s letter to whomever, but probably Joel, is heart wrenching.

Joel and Ellie now have a truck, weapons, and supplies. Joel is grumpy as hell, but the two of them are in much better straits than they were.

The two of them ransack Bill’s supplies. Not only do they have hot water for showers but also toilet paper, guns, ammo, and food. Joel tells Ellie no when she asks about a gun but she finds one in Bill’s desk and takes in anyway.

Joel and Ellie get into Bill’s Chevy S10 and head out. Ellie is amazed. She has never been in a car. Joel is more realistic. It’s an old budget truck. Hopefully it will get him to his brother.

Long Long Time Scoring

First thing. Both Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal are amazing. They are incredible actors. Bill, played by Nick Offerman, and Frank, played by Murray Bartlett are also great – their story just doesn’t have the same weight as Joel and Ellie’s. Still, the episode was amazing. How could it hold up to the first two episodes? That is an unfair expectation isn’t it?

Still, Long Long Time was a gripping and emotional episode and scores a 95/100, making it Worth Your Time.

Season	Episode	Episode Name	Score
1	1	When You’re Lost in the Darkness	100
1	2	Infected	100
1	3	Long Long Time	95
1	4	Please Hold on to My Hand	94
1	5	Endure and Survive	100
1	6	Kin	90
1	7	Left Behind	90
1	8	When We Are In Need	100
1	9	Look for the Light	100

See all Zombie Series.

Get the Last Of Us Game here.