The Last of Us: Why Ellie and Riley Episode 7 is as essential to the series as Bill and Frank Episode 3

Warning, spoilers. It is recommended that you watch The Last of Us Episode 7 before continuing reading this article.

A true phenomenon, The Last of Us can boast that it is already considered the best video game adaptation. A huge success on HBO in the US and Prime Video in France, the series (created by Neil Druckman and Craig Mazin) draws large audiences week after week, convincing fans of the video game franchise as much as neophytes.

And as the first season slowly but surely draws to an epic conclusion, The Last of Us is once again overtaken by an episode of special significance that further elevates the series to seminal status and inevitability.

Available starting Monday, February 27 on Prime Video, the final chapter, titled “Left Behind,” is a direct transposition of the famous DLC (Additional Downloadable Content) from the first video game. The Last of Us: Part I.

The latter is caused by the desire to continue the story of Eli and Riley, whose meeting is told in the comic book. The Last of Us: The American Dream Written by Neil Druckman and illustrated by artist Faith Erin Hicks.

It is necessary to return to the past

In this seventh episode, The Last of Us finds itself once again in the past, more specifically Eli (Bella Ramsey). A young girl is in a total panic after Joel (Pedro Pascal) is injured in a robbery attack at a Utah hospital. He may be losing the only person left who protects and cares for him.

This anguish caused by the loss of a loved one brings him back to a painful and traumatic memory: the death of Riley (Storm Reid), his best friend and roommate at the training center/boarding school. FEDRA (Federal Disaster Management Agency).

In a DLC released a year after the video game The Last of Us: Part I, the player is brought back when Joel is injured by falling several stories (rather than being stabbed like in the series) and Ellie searches for something to heal him. The mission is simple for the player: you have to go through the mall to find a first aid kit, all without getting killed by the infected. The quest is interspersed with scenes depicting Eli and Riley’s last night in Boston.

And it’s this night that becomes the focus of the episode, given that the mission itself serves more for the player’s enjoyment and gameplay than the narrative. Episode 7 accurately captures the highlights of a night between two young girls in a disused mall before Riley leaves Boston.

Indeed, the latter joined the Fireflies (a military revolutionary group of which Marlene is a part) and took on a mission in another city. Before leaving, he wants to spend one last surprise evening with Eli, whom he has never known outside the FEDRA Center. This nostalgic break from the main plot of The Last of Us once again enriches the development of Joel and Ellie’s relationship.

While last episode Joel told Ellie that she didn’t know what mourning was, this episode proves that the young lady knows exactly what it is. That night at the mall will be the last in Riley’s life, as after some fun, the two teenagers are attacked by an infected (in several DLCs). Even if they managed to neutralize it, unfortunately, they were bitten.

And it’s thanks to this flashback that we know how Ellie figured out that she was immune to Cordyceps because she’ll be the only one to make it through the night and not transform, unlike Riley. As in the game, we don’t know if Ellie should have killed her or if the Fireflies intervened before, but Ellie should have accepted Riley’s doom.

Losing Riley was a real trauma for Ellie, who couldn’t bear to lose Joel now. This seventh episode tells us a lot more about Ellie’s past and her personality — even an interesting preamble at the center of FEDRA, which shows Ellie’s anger and ambivalence about violence — which has been slightly neglected at its expense. Explores Joel’s character, especially in his relationships with Tess, Bill, Frank and Tom.

A refreshing teenage break

With this seventh episode, The Last of Us very faithfully reproduces the cinematics of Eli and Riley from the video game, down to the smallest detail, between the famous joke book. No pun intended (Riley’s gift to Ellie), a passage through the arcade game room, a carousel ride, and a photo booth session, even if some structural changes are made due to the fluidity of the script.

More than a necessary throwback to the past, “Left Behind” is also an encouraging nail in The Last of Us’ oppressive plot. Since the beginning of the series, Ellie has had to deal with many ups and downs and dangerous situations that have led to growth and development. It matures faster than others.

However, it is good to remember that he is only fourteen years old and his childhood was stolen, so to speak. By giving herself this last night with Riley, Ellie gives herself a moment of lightness that allows her to breathe and be herself without sheltering from the anger and violence that acts as a shield in her everyday life. Riley and her have fun with masks, disguises, rides on the carousel or even playing a mystery game.

This episode covers all codes of works coming of age With two teenagers who are looking for each other, who are in limbo, who are rebelling and discovering their first emotions. They hide, drink alcohol for the first time, argue, question each other, flirt, want to please each other and even exchange their first kiss.

Before the tragic conclusion, “Left Behind” tells the story of the power of friendship and the beginnings of romance – killed in full bloom – without any sexualization or reducing the share of innocence, and brings a breath of fresh air to a season that we almost forgot about the post-apocalyptic context.

That’s exactly what Storm Reid, Riley’s translator, liked, who praised the work of the entire team of The Last of Us to convey the very beautiful relationship between Ellie and Riley on screen, as she told AlloCiné during the roundtable:

“I think it’s an ode to feelings and young people on the cusp of adolescence. I love that the crew and Craig and our brilliant director and everyone involved in making this episode didn’t want to feel like they were romanticizing their relationship. There are so many of these young people.

It’s an organic friendship through which you explore other things. And I think they did a great job, even on set, of following these bonds of friendship and love, with flirtatious moments for these teenagers who also become kids again. And I think that’s great.”

This very intimate episode of “Left” is also carried by the exceptional performance of their interpreters. Bella Ramsey continues to bring all of her talents to bear as Ellie, and she shares a wonderful partnership and alchemy with her partner Storm Reid.

The episode gives pride of place to a performance by an actress best known for her role as Gia, Rue’s (Zendaya) sister in Euphoria, who sensitively portrays Riley’s character, who is ultimately “left behind.”

Then back to the present, we see that Ellie knows she won’t leave Joel. Not now. She realizes how important this man is to her and will do everything to keep him alive and be by his side no matter what. He is ultimately the master of his own destiny, and it is he who must take matters into his own hands in order to have any hope of survival.

The mirror effect with episode 3 on Bill and Frank

While watching “Left Behind,” you can’t help but think of another sublime episode of The Last of Us, namely “Long, Long Time,” the third chapter of the series centered around the love story of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray). Bartlett). Their places within the season are not trivial choices, as “Big, Big Time” is the 3rd episode from the beginning and “Left Behind” is the 3rd episode from the end.

As if in a mirror effect, these two chapters respond to each other by telling two love stories, homosexual moreover, as beautiful as they are tragic. On the one hand, we are witnessing the death of a long and full novel, on the other hand, the death of a short and growing novel.

There are similarities in these love stories that play out until their endings: Billy and Frank kill each other in their old age because Frank is dying and Billy can’t bear to live without him, while Ellie and Riley consider killing themselves after being bitten. infected, but ultimately decide to live out “their last moments” together.

Asked by AlloCiné, Bella Ramsey believes there is “Parallels between two stories” And that two episodes are moving because they are also very brutal:

It shows the harsh reality of the world in which these characters live. There are stories that sometimes end up in a lonely place, and sometimes there are stories that are brutally and brutally short. Ellie and the other characters understand. that lives in pain in this post-apocalyptic environment.”

For her part, Storm Reid hopes that the seventh episode, which focuses on Ellie and Riley, will have the same impact as the chapter dedicated to Billy and Frank, the actor has been upset for “a long, long time”:

“I remember watching episode 3 and being completely blown away and moved. I think I’ll feel the same way because it’s so beautiful and poetic. And I’m excited about everything that’s happening. In the series, obviously. We’re deepening our characters’ perspectives, their arcs and their stories and I think it’s really useful, especially for those who haven’t played the game.

Both episodes are brilliantly written, with great emotion and delicacy in expressing feelings, whether it’s full of recklessness in the case of Riley and Ellie, or experience in the case of Bill and Frank.

No offense to several critics of the DLC – but critically acclaimed and multi-award winning – this episode is a great tableau of gameplay, storytelling, performance (especially in the video game world) and is a consistent and important element in the game’s development. Eli’s character and relationship with Joel.

During a roundtable hosted by AlloCiné, Bela Ramsay recalled what The Last of Us was all about. More than a “post-apocalyptic zombie series,” this work, and the game it’s adapted from, is a story. Full of love—fatherly, brotherly, or romantic—and humanity, which episode seven echoes, as did episode 3:

“The Last of Us is basically a love story in all its forms, between Ellie and Joel, between Joel and Tess, then between Bill and Frank and Ellie and Riley. The show just explores all the ranges of feelings and weird emotions, and that love is unfathomable. It provides and represents.

Likewise, I think it’s important that all of these types of love are represented, whether it’s between two straight characters or two gay characters, it’s the same love. So I think it’s important that people are seen and represented because just because we’re living in the apocalypse doesn’t mean those people don’t exist.

The Last of Us series is available on Prime Video.