HBO’s original series The Last of Us season one episode five entitled “Endure and Survive” starts with a flash back to how the rebels took over the city. The cinematography in the flashback plays a heavy role in how the viewer sees the real struggle with how the rebels fought to take the city. The way the smoke from the riots plus the fire set a clear tone of darkness and fear. The surprising thing about this is how the rebels do not seem to be any better than those they fought. This is demonstrated by how the viewer sees a soldier being hanged while people cheer. What also helps is the lighting and how it is used to set the tone in an interrogation scene. The way the light shines to the corners, however there is no light in the middle where the people are sitting indicating that there is a looming threat for all of them.
Additionally, the viewer sees Lamar Johnson’s Henry and Keivonn Woodard’s Sam as they hid away from the leader of the rebels. By far the most fascinating part about this is how the viewer can make a comparison between Sam and Henry and Ann Frank with both of them being forced to hide to escape prosecution. Another interesting part about this is how Keivonn Woodard manages to convey the emotion of a child living in an apocalyptic world while only communicating using sign language. Not to mention how later on he decorates his and Henry’s hiding place with pictures of his alter ego. It appears to look like the part of a child’s mind where they go to escape the harsh reality, they live in. Perhaps in Sam’s mind, this is a representation of how he deals with the hardships of his life, with him staying in his safe place while his alter ego goes out and saves the day.
Later into the episode, it is revealed by Henry made a difficult choice between his little brother and the rebellion. Ultimately, he chose to save his brother over the original leader of the rebels due to Sam needing medication that only the military could provide Henry. In his mind, he understands why the new rebel leader wants to kill him as he would want the same if the roles were reversed. Which is why he just wants to leave without hurting anybody. Luckily, as they meet Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller, and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie they find a lovely place to hold out until they all leave the city. At this point, the cinematography plays another role in setting a tone for a scene as they explore a sewer tunnel the viewer immediately gets a bad feeling as it is completely dark. This is until they find a small classroom that is lit from above by the light on the surface. Thanks to the lightning it is as if the world has given them a personal safe place away from all the horror. This is demonstrated by how Ellie and Sam play around and finally act like the kids they are. Thanks to the fantastic acting by Bella Ramsey and Keivonn Woodard they manage to create a sense of peace for the viewer with how they play soccer and talking about their favorite comic book. It almost feels as if they are siblings and have known each other for years.
At the end of the episode, the viewer is treated to an intense scene involving a huge, infected monster where it seems as if nothing can stop it. The fact that the only light in the scene comes from an exploding truck where the monster comes out from underneath the earth further adds to the tension. Also, the fact that a horde of infected people run out of the earth along with the monster makes the scene much more intense as well. Ultimately, as a result of this encounter Sam is bitten with Ellie trying to heal him with her blood in a futile attempt to save him. This leads to him turning into an infected person with Henry killing him and then himself out of guilt. This lets the viewer know that in this world one should enjoy the small moments of peace while they can.
By far, in this episode the series did a better job at fleshing out Sam and Henry’s characters than the game. It gave them reasons as to why the viewer should root for them to make out alive. The viewer sees Sam as a small child who should get to have fun as he is only eight years old and not worry about going hungry. Also, the viewer sees Henry as an older brother who is just trying to keep a little brother safe. This creates a stronger connection between the viewer and the characters as a lot of people can relate to their situation. The fact that Sam is deaf makes the connection even stronger as the viewer knows that not being able to hear in their world is practically a death sentence since danger can be around the corner and one would need to hear to stay save. This is why the series manages to outshine the game in this regard.
Rating: 9.5/10