IR TV Review: THE LAST OF US - EPISODE 4 (“Please Hold On To My Hand”) [HBO]
After the gut punch and risky but effective shift that Episode 3 did using a bridge story as an illustration of loss and time, Episode 4 has more context but less impact. The reality is that Episode 3 was so heartbreaking just because of the transitionary nature of what it was showing (while still bringing in the main characters we know). It created a framework that allows for a better understanding of what is being lost and or fought for throughout the rest of the series. Nick Offerman and Mark Ramsey in Episode 3 created a humor and love in sea of tragedy so that when Joel and Ellie make their way there at the end of Episode 3, there is a complete understanding of what happened there that makes the journey they begin that leads into Episode 4 that more telling. The path across to the middle of the country again shifts because every area presents its own problems.
"The Last Of Us" like the game is a maze but what it becomes more about is can it pull the heartstrings of those lost into those of the living. Our leads dropping their guard can get them killed. The notion of choice and the intention of violence is an interesting and actual pivot point in the episode. Joel is softening in a way but that empathy against the growing strength of Ellie could get them killed. However the warmth of the humor even reflecting in the gallows element at certain moments is what makes certain scenes in these kinds of series, genre or not, transcendent. The scene towards the exact end of this episode or even during one scene in the woods as the stars spin above harks back, because of a pun game, to the "Catch Up" joke scene in "Pulp Fiction" after Vincent Vega returns Mia Wallace home after saving her from an overdose. There is something very tender and yet foreshadowing in the parallels of these scenes that reflect the darkness that both preceded them and what is to come. That is what "The Last Of Us" is: a parable on the beauty of what is left to save when it might already be lost. B
By Tim Wassberg
