WEBVTT - HBO's The Last of Us Ep. 6 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.800 Warning this podcast today spoilers for the Last of Us 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:07.280 episode six and light spoilers for aunt Man in the 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:26.279 Lost Pontomania in our nerd Out section. Hello, my name 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.280 is Jason Concepcion and I'm Rosy Night and welcome the next 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:34.040 revision the Crooked Media podcast, where we dive deep into 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:36.400 your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture. 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.360 In this episode, in the Airlock, we will be getting chili. 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.680 In the Last of US episodes, say heading to Wyoming 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.720 and in nerd Out, it's a theory from Listen to 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:50.680 Eli about a soutam part of ant Man in the 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:51.880 Wasp Quantumnia. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.160 Of course, if you want to jump around, check out 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.320 the time stamps in our show notes. Up next, let's 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:04.000 go to a Beautiful Jackson that Chris, Beauty Thin Mountain 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.399 air We need to dive into the Last of Us 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:19.000 episode six. Folks were stepping out of the airlock and 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.520 that's right. The altitude is hitting us differently now getting 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.120 less oxygen, but also a red blood cell count is increasing, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.480 and that's because we're in Beautiful Jackson, Wyoming for the 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.600 Last of Us episode six, titled Kin written by Craig Mason, 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:39.600 directed by Yasmila Zabinich. Another wonderful episode, and let's dive 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.600 into it. Three months after Joel and Allie escape from 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.720 Kansas City, we find them in Wyoming somewhere. It is 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.160 winter now. Joel and Ellie have broken into a hunting 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.000 cabin and there they briefly take an Indigenous couple hostage. 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.440 And I'll just say, it's wonderful to see Elaine Miles again, 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.520 who I yeah in the in the show Northern Exposure. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:07.320 Two icons here, and it's really fun to see Graham 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.720 Green too. Like it's so great to see like two 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.000 indigenous actors that I love. How chill they are about it, 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.200 They're like, we're fine. The worries. 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.120 Elayne Miles bringing the the vibe of her character from 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:26.000 Northern Exposure Florence to this episode. I will say asterisks. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.519 I haven't seen Northern Exposure since I was a child, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.240 and I don't know if it holds up. So if 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.560 it doesn't hold up, I feel like I'm happy to 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:38.359 see but I'm happy to see Elaine back. Joel tells 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.560 the couple, Hey, I'm looking for my brother. He looks 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.000 a lot like me. And this is a really brief 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.839 kind of scene, but we learn a couple of important things. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:54.919 One this couple has not seen Tommy, and two, anywhere 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:59.480 that people used to live in any kind of sizeable 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:04.440 population is now a no go zone. That includes former reservations, 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.520 that includes small towns, et cetera. And then thirdly, if 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:10.960 you go west of this river that's right over here, 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.400 you die. There's just bodies there. There, You see dead 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.880 infected there. You said see dead people there. Whoever it 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.360 is that's living on that side of the river kills 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.480 everyone that crosses it. And the couple tells Joel and Ellie, 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.520 if your brother's west of the river, he's gone, which 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:27.240 is not good. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.000 But you know what, I really loved this sequence, not 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.560 just because two great actors, really nice character moment. It's 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.280 very good like representation of two people who've just survived, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.720 but it really contradicts a usual zombie movie or comic 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.680 book trope. If Charles Xavier had turned up at this house, 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.720 or if Rick Grimes had turned up at this house, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:52.440 nobody would have survived. From I love that they leave, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.520 and they leave this couple to just keep surviving. That 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.200 was like a nice unexpected twist in this kind of opening. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.000 I'm glad you bring that up because I also think 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:06.600 that this is the influence of certainly Ellie, maybe even Tess. 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.640 An earlier version of Joel would have just killed everybody 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:10.120 in the cabin. 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:11.520 He would have been like, you haven't seen my brother, 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.040 I don't believe you. Time to die and we'll kind 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.400 of see how this is a big episode, which is 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.800 really interesting because in a way, it's a very small, intimate, 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:25.359 kind of almost like a bottle episode, but it is not. 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.640 It's like it's this huge character moment for Joel where 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.800 we really get an expansion on his journey and where 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.480 it's left him, and we get to see something introduced 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.520 here that was kind of teased in the prologue of 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.720 the game that will obviously become like a major part 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:41.880 of the story going forward. 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.880 Yeah, I agree, you know to the bottle episode part 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.680 of it this cold open, I guess you would call 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.800 it kind of is it What makes it kind of 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.600 feel like a bottle is that, you know, I think 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.919 that there's like a way of looking at like television storytelling, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.120 or you'd look at this scene and go it kind 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.520 of doesn't need to happen. You learn a couple of 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.440 things about the river, but you never meet these these 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.640 characters end up not mattering, and you could have just 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.200 like had them show up at Jackson across the river 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.800 and then get and then get taken in. But I 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:20.480 think the thing that's cool about it is, unlike other 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:28.000 post apocalyptic shows, zombie apocalypse shows, you're getting a you're 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:32.760 getting a wide cross section of people who survived and 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.160 the different ways they survived. It's not just like this 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.040 group of survivors and everyone else that they run into 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:43.200 who they kill. It's all of these disparate groups spread 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.880 out across the country who have been making their way 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.320 in different in different you know, kind of ways, different 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:51.520 journeys they're taking to survive. And I thought that was 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:52.000 really cool. 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:53.720 That's a great point, and I think it's something that 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.599 got definitely, like our discord, very excited, because after this 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:58.720 episode a lot of people were talking about, like, well, 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:00.520 if you did a spinoff, what you saw all different 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.440 people all over the country and all over the world 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.359 how they survive, which again direct you back to Max 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.400 Brooks World war Z, which we've talked about because that's 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.880 a great example of it. But there is really something 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.040 very special about getting to see different kinds of people survive, 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.640 especially when in a lot of post apocalyptic stories you 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.640 see one kind of person, you see one. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:20.400 You see one, you do a group of people that 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.479 made it. I because our discord has been talking about 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.640 World war Z, and because you bring it up here, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.400 it brings the following question from World war Z to mind, 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:37.320 which is how does cold interact with the infected in 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.560 World war Z. Just for those of you haven't read it, 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:42.800 this is a slight spoiler from the book World Warz, 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.560 which is a really fun read. Winter time was the 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:48.600 time to kind of go on the offensive against the 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.800 zombies because they would freeze, and they would they would 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:53.960 lack the kind of mobility that they had in the summertime, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:55.840 so you could just go out and just kind of 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.960 like spear them while they were frozen there on the ground. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.680 And also you want freeze under the ice, and you're 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.680 trying to have these layers of ice that would melt. 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:05.800 And I'm very interested in this. I think there was 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:09.200 a really interesting discussion in the discord about basically like 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.640 would the cordyceps virus be able to essentially drive forward 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.640 like a frozen body and kind of because it's not 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.680 the same as a zombie, but it is still kind 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:23.960 of similar because of its only controlled by its brain. 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.840 I don't know. I think that as that heat does 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:30.080 exactly how does it not freeze? 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:31.560 I guess is my main question. 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.800 And the interesting thing that I would say is, I 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.720 do think that while this episode does not do like 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.080 a direct it does not give us a direct answer. 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.600 I do think it hints that living out in the 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.120 cold seems to be easier than living in like an 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.640 urbanized city where there's not a lot of snow. So 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:52.800 maybe there is a way that it finds. I mean, 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.120 think about it. Think about the ones that we saw 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.080 early on in Boston that were all laid on the 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.160 ground kind of connected to the hive mind. If they 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.800 got snowed over, surely they'd get frozen under that right, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:03.760 right right. 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.320 And and surely like if that was if they're all 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.880 frozen up, now's the time you kind of go out 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.240 and try and kill them so that when the springtime 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.200 comes maybe you can just kind of like expand your 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.440 livable area. But who knows. Clearly the fact that that's 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:19.480 maybe not being done or has been tried and has 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.000 failed tells you that the cordysps is a lot more 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:29.720 hardy than maybe the show is telling us. Yeah, so 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.800 Joel and Ellie head out. Ellie steals a couple of rabbits, 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.040 which is not cool. I don't think that's cool, but 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:36.040 that's okay. I guess I don't. 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.600 I think they would have given them to them probably, honestly, 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:40.200 I think they. 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.440 Probably would have given them to but it shows. It 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.240 also kind of gives you the this relationship, this budding 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.480 relationship between Joel and Ellie. They're rubbing off on each other. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.040 Joel is slightly mellowed, right, but also Ellie is, in 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.040 the words of Joel, doing what she had has to 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.840 do to survive, like, and she's impressed her. That's around it. Yeah, 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.080 and it's kind of reluctant. 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.120 He's like, oh, you shouldn't have done it, but really 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.360 he's gonna eat those rabbits, you know. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.760 And as they head out, all of a sudden, Joel 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.880 is struck by some kind of episode, which we eventually 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:22.800 learn is a Tony soprano style panic attack and anxiety attack. 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.200 And I think a really quite a good depiction of 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:27.800 an anxiety attack if anybody's ever had one. Yeah, there's 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.280 a lot what it's like you're like, I'm not breathing. Well, 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.439 now I'm scared. Am I having a heart attack? 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.480 I'm like, I'm having a heart attack. And they're like, well, 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.320 I can't breathe. If I think about I can't breathe, 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:40.800 then I'm not going to be able to breathe. 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:42.720 And now I'm a little sudd I'm so conscious of 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:44.920 my breathing and my fur aid and all of a sudden, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.880 I'm freaking out. And that is exactly what it's like. 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:50.880 It's horrible, terrible, and they did a really good job. 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.080 And something I find really interesting about this is in 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.079 the prologue of the original Lost of Us Part one game, 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.160 you see that Joel is on like a number of 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.040 different meds and one of them is anxiety EMDs, And 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.680 then I feel like that's just a that's something that 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.040 was kind of like, Okay, that happened. But I always 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:07.720 I feel like a lot of people who played it 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:09.959 always thought like how much would that suck? Like if 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.040 you're you already have anxiety and then you're in the 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.720 fucking apocalypse, like that would just suck. And so many 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.160 of us struggle from anxiety or or suffer from PTSD 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.000 or all different kinds of kind of terrible things that 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.600 affect our day to day life when there's not you know, 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:31.880 infected hunting us down. And I'm very I was very 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:35.440 interested and surprised and kind of happy with the fact 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.360 that they decided to lean into this, and I. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:38.600 Found it very interesting too. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.120 I find it very interesting that this is where Joel's 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.720 anxiety comes out. It's about his family, it's about Tommy, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.480 It's about Ellie. Like we've seen him do, fight against bloaters, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.200 all this crazy stuff we saw Sam and Henry, but 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.160 it's something in him about finding Tommy or being with 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.160 Ellie that's kind of bringing it to the forefront again. 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:03.120 We will discuss this more further into the recap. X 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:10.439 Ray Vision will be back. Exciting news. What is it. 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:12.680 We just dropped some brand new merch for all of 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.120 you X ray Visions fans out there. It's a very 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:17.920 very cool X ray Vision was Right t shirt inspired 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:22.560 by the iconic Magneto was Right imagery from the early 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:27.680 two thousand's run of Marvel comics The X Men. Shouts 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.520 to my guy Magnus, he was right, and he's been 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.800 right for quite some time. And this is also a 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.840 reference not just to that but to the fact that 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:41.240 all our predictions are basically depending on how we interpret them. Right, obviously, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.120 head to crook dot com slash store to get your 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:52.960 shirt now, and we're back now. As Ellie is watching this, 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.720 she's freaking out and she says, man, if you die, 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:00.360 I'm fucked. And Joel, you know, luckily manages to together. 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.600 It's just an anxiety attack. You just kind of waited out, 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:08.000 and they're fine. They camp at the river. Joel lets 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:13.600 Ellie have a little nip of the old alcohol, you know. Yeah, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.680 I know she's already committed murders and stuff, you know, 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.800 and see people like he shows somebody, Yeah, come on, 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.480 give her a little nip of the of the juice. 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.280 And they have a little bonding conversation. Assume we meet 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.959 the fireflies and managed to save the world. Ellie asks, uh, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.960 what do we do then? You know, and she's like, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.600 you know, you can go anywhere you want, you can 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.240 do anything you want. What are you going to do? 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.360 And uh, Joel is like, well, that's never been an option. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.000 But eventually, in one of the more vulnerable moments I 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.719 think up to now, he volunteers that he'd like to 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.440 set up away from all people, which is not a 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:03.400 surprise to the surprising part comes, which is he'd like 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.560 to run a sheep branch, have some sheep out there 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:13.080 grazing on the hillside, and Ellie jokes that it's romantic. 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.000 Yeah, Joel gets some he gets some good Ellie shade 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.520 where he's like, they're quiet and they do what they're told. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:20.840 Like he's like, always did this this. You could tell 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.280 that little crankiness between them, but really it's becoming that 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:25.120 loving banter. 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.040 Joel then asks Ellie the same question, and she gazes 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:36.320 up at the moon hovering above them, and that is 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:40.400 her answer, the moon outer space, And then they start 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:45.400 talking about astronauts. Apparently Ellie has a great interest in astronauts, 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.920 which makes sense, you know, the world being what it is, 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.000 you'd think about escape and when she was being raised 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.880 at the Federal Orphanage, she read all she could about 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.840 astronauts and she says, you know, my favorite astronaut is 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.880 Joel guesses Sally Ride. She's best astronaut name ever, and 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:05.920 then really pregnant pause here. Then Ellie wonders about her 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.920 immunity and the vaccine that could possibly be created from 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:14.040 her blood, and she says, you know, do you think 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.320 it would actually work? Would it work? And then she 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:20.520 heartbreakingly Now, and it's important to remember this is three 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.080 months later. Now, it's taken three months for her to 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.960 talk about this. She then tells Joel how she tried 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.960 to cure Sam by rubbing the blood into his wounds, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.360 and she says, I know it was stupid, but I 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:37.359 wanted to save him. Joel then tells Ellie listen, Marlene, 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.760 for whatever, you know, whatever else she was, she was 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.920 really smart. If she says the firefly scientist can make 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:49.440 a vaccine, they can do it. Now. I don't truly 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.080 believe Joel means this, but I think it's also a 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.000 pretty big indicator of his growth as a person. Yes, 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:02.120 he's not previous to this before his experience with Ellie, 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:04.760 been the type of person who would like sugarcoat a thing. 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.360 But I think here he is, in a very dad 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.240 like way, trying to kind of sand the rough edges 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.680 off the truth, which is we don't know. 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.720 Yeah, and I think he's really moved by what Ellie 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.200 tells him about Sam. Yeah, And I think he kind 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.600 of wants to He wants to make it a little 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.240 bit easy for her to give her that little bit 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.200 of hope that he doesn't have. It's kind of the 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.960 inversion of when he just wouldn't believe at the beginning. 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.280 Now he wants Ellie to believe, even if he's not 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:34.440 sure if it's true or not. 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.680 Here's a really small moment, but I thought one was 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.400 really evocative of like what's going on with Joel right now. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.360 So they're going to sleep. Ellie is like, I'll take 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.560 the second watch. Joel is like, mister dad, mister tough 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.840 guy is like, no, no, I'll take both. And then 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.480 he says, hey, why don't you while you're sleeping dream 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.880 about sheep branches on the moon. She says she will, 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.000 and then of course when Joel wakes up, what happens. 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.760 He fell asleep during second watch and Ellie had to 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.240 do it. And it's just this very small microcosm of 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.520 what's going on with Joel in this episode, which is 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:12.000 he's getting older, he's losing a step, or certainly he's 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.280 worried that he's losing a step and is not able 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.520 to be the man that he was. But he's also 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:25.040 not comfortable about letting Ellie know just how scared that 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.640 he is that he is getting older and losing it, 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.040 and he gets into her about the fact that he 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:39.320 was angry' that's his way of hiding his fear. He's angry, 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:40.240 he's pissed off. 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.800 I'm responsible for you liked And she's like, don't don't 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:48.560 want to sleep that? Yeah, come on that point at 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:50.640 this point, like that's what he doesn't want to admit, 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.080 and then she tells him all the things that she 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.840 learned from him that she did while he was asleep. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.760 I checked my six I looked for tracks, I went 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.000 to the highest point to set up my watch. And 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:10.200 she says, what can I say, I'm a natural, And 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.720 again Joel kind of remains pissed, but you can also 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:18.440 tell he's a little impressed. There's not He's reluctantly impressed. 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.960 They then set up on the river for a while 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:27.119 and watch it for what I would imagine was you know, 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.119 an hour, a couple of hours, just to see what 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.560 would happen. Joel fires a shot just to see if 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:34.440 anybody's gonna come investigate it. 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.280 Well, you know what's gonna happen. Nothing happens. So they 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:42.240 cross the bridge. Ellie is is whistling as they cross 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:44.280 the bridge, and she's thinking about, you know, like what 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:45.880 would it take to be a good hunter. She thinks 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.280 she'd be good at it. They come to a hydroelectric dam. 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.760 Joel kind of explains the principle of what it used 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:56.200 to do, and they kind of move on, and at 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.920 this point Ellie raises the posse. They come to another river, 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:04.000 at which point Ellie raises the possibility that one they 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:05.560 don't quite know where they are. 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.080 She's like, which one is the river of two? 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.200 Is this the river of death? And then it's only 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.200 moments after that that they are completely surrounded by armed 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:20.680 figures on horseback. The horse folks bring a dog out 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:25.560 and the dog will test whether Joel and Ellie are infected. Uh, 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.920 and there are some really tense moments Joel, of course, 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:33.200 Joel has another panic attack right here. Then they send 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.800 the dog at Ellie and it is it's extremely fraught, 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.040 but Ellie comes up clean and not only that, but 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:42.760 the dog seems to really like her. Yeah. 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.119 I found this really interesting because it kind of like 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.520 it tells us so much about the the state of 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:54.359 Ellie's infection without really telling us anything. The fact that 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:59.840 the dog can't smell it means that she is truly clear, right, right. 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.600 What theate whatever the amount of fungus in her system is, 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.880 it's an amount that cannot be detected by a dog, 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:09.920 and it's certainly not enough to get her to get 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:10.600 her sick. 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.000 Yeah, I'm so interested in it because I'm like, would 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.480 she still come up positive on the federal tests? And 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.040 how outdated were those tests and how many people did 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.080 they miss? You know, it's I just think it's so interesting, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.160 and I love that moment where yeah, like the dog 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.480 just loves her, Yeah, and there's just this instant connection. 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.480 Then Joel is like, hey, I'm looking for my brother, 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.560 and then a woman rides up and says, wait, what's 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.399 his name? And next thing you know, the group is 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:38.000 taking Joel and Ellie back to their home. Jackson, Wyoming, 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:42.800 now a fortified town with this big palisade wall around it, 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.280 and the places is buzzin'. 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:50.480 I mean, it's like it's like pre full civilization in there. 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.760 Let's look it up right now, the population of Jackson, Wyoming, 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:59.120 it is apparently ten thousand, let's call it eleven. There's 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.920 certainly not a li seven thousand people there, but it 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.960 looks that's a lot like it looks like an active 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:09.679 town with kids and men and women of all ages, 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.440 all wandering around doing stuff, going to and fro, certainly 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.560 not wanting for anything. The hydroelectric dam, it turns out, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:20.040 is supplying this town with all the electricity it needs. 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.600 They have hot water, they have everything they could possibly want. 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.840 And as they're walking in, who does Joel see working 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:31.960 on a scaffolding, like working construction as he used to 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:36.080 do his brother Tommy, And they embrace and Tommy's like, 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:37.959 what the fuck are you doing here? And Joel is like, 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.159 I came here to save you. By the way, it 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:41.520 looks like Tommy doesn't need saving. 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.280 He's fine, It's like and Joel and Ellie are like 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:47.320 in shock because this is yes, this is not just 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:49.040 as we'll come to find out, this is not just 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:54.000 like a great place in the context of post fedra. 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:57.879 This is a great place pre like this is something 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:03.240 here that is really special and feels very sustainable, but 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:05.720 as we learn, it's at the cost of being like 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.800 extremely exclusionary because you call them risk letting other people in. 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:14.560 Later on, they're at the cafeteria, Joel and Ellie are 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.440 eating what looks like a delicious stew under the watchful 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:19.720 gaze of Tommy and his partner Maria, the woman who 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.720 was in that party that surrounded Joelinellie previously, Ellie kind 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.880 of like snaps at a girl who's like watching her. 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:32.880 It's like very interest her, and then Maria is like, hey, 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:35.400 like they're just curious because kids around here don't look 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.480 her talk like you at which and this was like, listen, 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:40.520 this is a this is a really fun episode of 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.360 of a great show. This was the one line where 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.760 I was like, do they not look her? First of all, 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:50.200 who has heard Ellie talk like she just got here? 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.320 Second of all, she honestly looks like every other kid here. 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.240 I think it's because she's swearing, Like is what they mean? 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:58.960 Like she's like aggressive and like I swear. 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:00.920 Other kids not traumato. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:06.640 I guess maybe they they say I think they say 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.240 they've been there for like seven years or something, So 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:11.920 I guess I guess there who've never seen infected, but. 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:16.440 Their parents are out there like slaughtering the raiders who 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:20.240 crossed the river and like posting their corpses on the 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:20.800 banks of. 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:26.920 Right, I think, But yeah, let's talk about quickly. Let's 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:29.479 talk about the girl because this girl who's staring at 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:33.040 Ellie has like become a huge talking point and on 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:37.640