Reaction Review: The Last Of Us Season 1 Episode 2: Infected
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
EPISODE SUMMARY
Warning: major spoilers for The Last of Us season 1 episode 2, “Infected”, are throughout the entire review. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
We begin with another flashback this episode (and another sequence that is not in the game whatsoever): Indonesia, 2003. We are introduced to Ibu Ratna: a respected professor of mycology (that is fungal biology) at the local university. She has been forced to meet with scientists, as there has been a case of ophiocordyceps discovered in a lab. She continues this meeting by stating that “cordyceps cannot survive in humans”. She echoes the reluctance of those before her (if you recall the first episode and how long ago the discussion about this parasitic infection started, then this only feels infuriating). As if to prove her wrong, she is taken to a cadaver that clearly has an infected bite mark on the bottom of her left leg; Ratna extracts the cordyceps parasite from the back of her throat using forceps. She knows this threat is very real.
So the rest of the conversation can now continue, and this same team asks her what to do next. She tearfully admits what no one wants to hear: “There is no medicine. There is no vaccine. Bomb. Start bombing. Bomb this city and everyone in it.” She wraps up this conversation by asking to be driven to her family so she can be with them while everyone dies. The scene ends, and we’re not sure if her warning was taken seriously (although we do find out that bombing doesn’t really work as well as one would hope later on in the episode).
We cut back to the present, and Ellie wakes up to Joel and Tess on watch. They are staring at her attentively after the shocking revelation of the last episode: Ellie is immune to the cordyceps fungus. They aren’t certain, though. They demand to inspect her wound to show that she isn’t infected anymore, as a good night’s sleep may show signs of improvement or a worsening infection. Once she proves — again — that she is unaffected by her bite from many moons ago, she brings up why Firefly head-honcho Marlene is so insistent on her being taken care of: she needs to be taken to the Firefly base camp out west that is working on a cure, and Ellie is the key. Joel and Tess have heard this song and dance before, and they’re not buying this optimism. Nonetheless, Joel wants that battery he’s been promised should he fulfill this quest (bringing Ellie to this base), and he creaks open a door so they can start their day. The door sounds exactly like a clicker’s croak: this is a harbinger of things to come. If you don’t know what a clicker is, just wait.
Outside, Ellie notices the destroyed buildings with vegetation growing all over them: the destruction of humanity has never looked so naturally exquisite. She’s also getting a little more familiar with being outside during the day, and walking outside of the small area she was permanently confined to for her entire life. She also notices locations that were bombed to stop the spread (clearly to no effect), alluding to the prologue of this episode: maybe they did try to bomb infected parts of Indonesia, and it wasn’t enough. Throughout the episode, Ellie drops some exposition that those that have played the game are very aware of by now. For those that aren’t, she reveals that she is an orphan, so no one is going to come looking for her. She hasn’t said every bit of information, but that is clearly to come later. She crosses a high bridge with Joel and Tess to go towards the hotel which they will zip through (it’s a shortcut that the adults are familiar with). As they cross, that same sound happens again: clickers are nearby. The three protagonists continue ahead apprehensively.
It is at this point that a couple of realizations gamers may have. Firstly, the hotel sequence happens way later in the game and only with Joel and Ellie. Secondly, Ellie being unable to swim is brought up here (do players know all about Joel and his swimming quests, particularly having to carry Ellie via floating platforms to locations); there’s no need to swim in the flooded hotel, so this is clearly a hint of an issue that is to come. They climb many flights of stairs, only to find that their usual route has been thwarted by the collapsing of the upper floor of the hotel. Tess is helped through the debris to find a way out. This gives Ellie and Joel time to themselves, and they awkwardly try to get to know one another. We found out a bit about Ellie before, and now it's Joel’s turn: he has killed a lot of infected people. That’s all we get, but this is still important.
Tess returns with bad news: their usual path in front of the hotel has been overrun by a sea of cordyceps-infected bodies, but they appear to be glued to the ground. Now comes a moment that isn’t really in the game (not in this way, anyway): Tess’ lesson on how cordyceps flows through people and nature and allows the two to interact with one another. She states that even stepping on the fungus on the ground will alert the infected nearby, creating a symbiotic response to send those affected by the parasite towards those that are endangering them. So they need a plan B, and Joel suggests that they cut through the Bostonian Museum. There is a lot of growth on the museum’s doors, but it is bone dry, and Joel feels that whatever danger was there is likely gone. They get inside, and maybe Joel’s instincts weren’t so accurate as Ellie spots a recently murdered civilian: there is clearly danger afoot.
Joel’s immediate response is for everyone to be as quiet as possible (those that have played the game know exactly why, if the trail of breadcrumbs to this very moment wasn't clear enough). They tiptoe up the stairs to try and get through the museum, but one wrong step causes some dust to snowfall down from above while a creak rings out. They pause, and then keep going. They then notice a bed of dried-out corpses on the steps ahead; they try to work their way through them, but Ellie accidentally crunches one of their hands with her foot. They pause again, and then carry on. They finally reach the top floor, and that infrastructure that was precariously sitting above them collapses (no wonder how their familiar hotel path similarly got nullified: every building is starting to crumble, and those tall skyscrapers Ellie was eyeballing aren't going to be hanging around for much longer, it seems).
This alerts the much-anticipated clicker, and it finally stumbles out of the shadows. Via mouthing and signalling, Joel explains to Ellie that this creature cannot see. it can only hear, and she must be silent (not quiet: silent). She gets the picture now. Clickers are infected people that are well on their way to a complete cordyceps takeover, with the fungus starting to blossom outside of their bodies. Since the parasite attacks through the brain as one of its hotspots, the fungus grows outside of one's face, so it blocks their vision. This particular clicker finally hears Ellie's panicked breathing, and Joel sprays a flurry of bullets into its stomach. Joel, Ellie, and Tess book it. There are clearly more clickers nearby, and some glass from a panel that Joel has shattered has distracted it (as it thinks that this is where the three went). Joel waits around the corner and reloads his pistol, preparing for his second strike.
The clicker creeps up right beside Joel, but it notices something else: Ellie. It paces towards her whereabouts, and Joel sneaks up beside her to protect her. As they try to escape, Joel accidentally steps on some of the very glass he just broke. The clicker lunges, and Joel plugs bullets into it. One headshot finally does the trick (something players of the game are alerted to via a much-needed tip); Joel lands a couple of extra shots in its back to be safe. This alerts another clicker, and Tess comes out of nowhere to save the day by plunging a hatchet into its neck; Joel lands two more shots in its head to put it out of its misery. Where has Tess been, anyway? Nonetheless, it appears that Ellie has been bitten again, but she comedically shrugs it off (if anyone is going to be bitten, it may as well be the immune kid).
Joel is still not sure about Ellie, and now he is worried that the second bite may be the one that does the trick. Tess seems antsy and shuts him up, demanding that he just takes the good news (that someone may actually be immune) for once: maybe there is hope after all. As Joel and Ellie cross a lopsided plank bridge between scaffolding at an alarming height from the museum to another rooftop, Tess lingers behind with what she calls a bad ankle. She then encourages them to trudge ahead while they admire the view of city hall from the rooftops (finally, a happy moment for the two to bond over, and Tess stops them. This must be serious). They reach city hall, as was planned, and no one is there to meet them. Joel investigates and finds a truck with fresh blood splattered inside of it; he then spots the dead bodies stashed underneath it hastily. Ellie notices the trickles of blood from that pile, and she deduces that whoever did this is inside city hall. She would be right: there is an absolute bloodbath inside.
Upon inspection, Joel concludes that someone was recently bitten and this resulted in a breakout attack that killed everyone (not unlike the requests to bomb sites with infected individuals: mass chaos to try and stop the spread). There’s no one here for them. Joel states that they may as well go home, and Tess finally snaps. She refuses to leave after this dead end, and Ellie proves once again that she is quite a gifted thinker: she resolves that Tess has been infected. Once again, she is right. Tess panics after revealing her infection on her neck, because she can no longer avoid her fate. She uses this instance to try and push Joel even further: if she is this infected already and Ellie still hasn't turned, she has to be immune. She has to be taken to the Fireflies base. She begins to even beg Joel to do this, insisting that she has never asked him for anything. He finally begrudgingly seems to accept what the soon-to-be changed Tess has asked, because the Tess he has known for years will shortly be no more.
One of the fresh bodies on the ground begins to crawl towards our protagonists, and Joel shoots it. As Tess forewarned before, it set off a chain reaction through the ground: the cordyceps fungus alerted the army of infected outside to sprint towards our heroes inside of city hall. They are doomed. Tess decides that she is a goner, so she will sacrifice herself while Ellie and Joel get away safely. She tips over tanks of gasoline and grenades to set up an explosive trap, and she gives one final request to Joel: “Save who you can save.” This reminds him of his late daughter, Sarah, that he had no chance of reviving when she was shot in the last episode. He books it with Ellie out of city hall, and she doesn't want to go with him: they don't get along so well, after all. As they flee, Tess tries to light her lighter, but the flint wheel isn't catching its spark quite properly. One of the infected spots her and makes its way over to attack her with a fatal kiss: the parasitic fungus crawls out of his mouth and down her throat (it's a little fucked, to be honest). Finally, her lighter works, and she drops it below her. She closes her eyes, and accepts her fate. City hall explodes: another building of stature that has been destroyed in the name of this pandemic. Ellie is shaken and unsure of how to even respond. The episode ends with silence: no clickers, no explosions, and no banter. Only dread.
FIRST REACTION
Another strong episode from this promising series, “Infected” is a great way to introduce how the illness works to those that are unfamiliar. The build up to the clicker (a step up from the typical kind of infected folk that we have seen thus far) is gradual and graceful. Additionally, the notion of how the world is falling apart around us while this fungus refuses to quit is established quite well here. We know what a connection Ellie and Joel will have alter, but their disdain for one another right now is working wonders for the series, especially since Tess is gone now and that much-needed bridge between the two is now gone. Furthermore, Joel's number one partner, and a new friend to Ellie, has just died. There’s now a void of chemistry, and we have yet to see what this is going to look like. It’s a sudden way to end the episode, but an enticing conclusion (last episode, we had music to play us out. This time, the deafening silence leaves us suspended in mid air, dangling and awaiting our fall).
The differences between the game and series are getting louder and louder now. Parts of the game are getting condensed together and played out of order, but it's clear that The Last of Us the series is going to go by the beat of its own drum. One minor inquiry I have is why there was a change regarding Tess’ sacrifice: in the game, I believe it is the military that guns her down when they are on their trail. I guess the series is focusing more on the ways of the infected (well, look at the episode name, I guess) at this point so the change makes sense, and the teaser for next week’s Bill-centred episode seems to point more in the direction of how the world has been overrun by the military (so we’ll likely see more of this element of this universe by then). Overall a really strong episode with magnificent development, and I can't wait to see what happens when Joel and Ellie team up with Bill.
Final Grade: 4/5
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.