Episode 8 – When We Are in Need

As the end of “The Last of Us” approaches, the group faces tougher and tougher challenges. In this episode they face off against a preacher and his group of cannibals. Yes, you read that correctly.

Ellie is still caring for Joel, who is bedridden at the beginning of the episode and is having trouble because she is way in over her head. At some point she realizes that they are short on food and decides to go hunting.

Some amazing luck allowed Ellie to find a decently sized buck and shoot it with her rifle. It ran away with serious injuries, and Ellie followed after it. 

The deer traveled some way before it finally collapsed. Two other hunters appear, and not knowing that Ellie was on the buck’s trail, they decide to take it back to their camp.  Before they can, though, Ellie came up behind them and threatened to shoot them.

Out of fear for their lives, the hunters, named David and James, attempt to negotiate with Ellie by offering up resources from their camp. Realizing her opportunity, Ellie asked for medicine for infections so she could use it on Joel. The hunters agree, and David tells James to go grab the medication from their camp.

Ellie holds David at gunpoint and makes him drag the deer to a little hut they found.  David constructs a fire, and as the two talk, Ellie realizes that the guy who stabbed and was killed by Joel in an earlier episode was a part of David and James’ group.

James comes back with the medicine and Ellie leaves without the deer, frightened by her conversation with David. She applies the medicine to Joel when she gets back to the house where she and Joel are temporarily living. 

Ellie realizes she probably has to leave because she does not want David or his company finding her. She scouts the outside area to see if it is safe, and discovers it is not. She saw a group of men roaming around their residential neighborhood, so she sprinted back into the house.

Ellie gives Joel a knife and jumps on the horse to lure the group of men away from Joel. She gets their attention by shooting her handgun at them, then riding her horse away. One individual shot her horse while it was sprinting and Ellie flew off. 

Ellie must have suffered a head injury when she came off her horse, because when she opens her eyes, it is super blurry and she faints. When she wakes up, she is in a cage with David in front of her. There is some dialogue and apparently David wants to induct her into their camp as a friend. 

The scene cuts to the other men that were still in the neighborhood looking for Joel, who they called “the crazy man.” One of the men ended up finding Joel, but Joel’s knife found him first. Joel put the man in the front of the house as bait and waited nearby for the others.

The deadman’s friend saw the body, but Joel was quick to attack and knocked him out. The scene cuts and goes back to Ellie in her cage. David tries to feed her but as Ellie looks at the plate of food, she notices something underneath a conspicuous looking table, and realizes it was a human ear. 

Ellie freaks out and kicks the plate of food. David tries to reason with her and Ellie puts on a wonderful act by trying to sugar up to David so she can grab his keys. It is here we find out David is not only  a cannibal, but also a pedophile. 

David puts his hand on Ellie’s and tells her he wants to start a “future” with her. Ellie used that opportunity to break David’s finger and grab his keys, but David was quicker and got away, leaving Ellie in her cell. As he left, he threatened to cut up Ellie and eat her.

The next scene shows Joel who has obtained two prisoners from the group of men roaming the neighborhood, and is torturing them to find out where Ellie is. He kills them and heads to where they pointed on his map. When he arrives, he finds the storage area of the cannibals’ future victims, which makes Joel leave immediately. 

In another part of the camp, David comes back to Ellie’s cell with James. With a lot of struggle, they grab Ellie and put her on the table next to her cage. Before David is able to finish her with his butcher knife, Ellie tells him she is infected, so he cannot eat her. As proof she shows them her scarred arm. 

Ellie also points out how she scratched David’s hand, so he will be infected anyway. This puts both David and James in a state of panic and confusion. Ellie uses this chance to grab the butcher knife, kill James, and escape. 

Ellie goes into a relatively large adjacent room to hide from David, and arms herself with a knife she finds there. David comes into the room and after a little bit of cat and mouse, Ellie tries to stab David in the back, but once again David has quicker reactions and knocks Ellie to the ground, and she drops her knife.

David pins Ellie to the ground and attempts to take advantage of her, but Ellie is able to grab her knife again and stab him. She then runs out of the building and is greeted by Joel.

The episode ends with Joel and Ellie running away from the camp. 

If the show follows the video game, the next episode will be a lot calmer than the last. Most likely Ellie and Joel will find the Fireflies and succeed in the several month long journey.