The Last of Us S1:E8 “When We Are In Need” Review

By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)

This review is spoiler-free.

The penultimate episode of The Last of Us has arrived, and it’s been one that fans of the video game have been looking forward to – the introduction of David…

David, a would-be preacher, leads a band of survivors, struggling to get by in the harsh Winter conditions, and will do everything he can to keep his ‘flock’ safe. If you have played the first game, this episode plays out pretty much the same way, so there won’t be any real shocks in terms of the story, but it is a very important episode for Ellie. Bella Ramsey has been smashing it all season, but here she is really allowed to let loose her rage and aggression, a bloodlust which, until now, we have only seen tiny glimpses of. Her wrath is unleashed as she does all she can to keep Joel safe, while also at the same time ensuring she is also out of harm’s way. I enjoyed the story they told here, and what it meant for Ellie’s character development, but with that said, I do think this was the weakest episode of the series so far. While I do believe this was the weakest, it was still very good, it’s just that the others have been great. If I was rating the episodes out of ten, the show has yet to dip below an eight, this was an eight – so the quality of the episodes continues to be consistently excellent. This will be one of the shows of the year, without question!

As for the performances, Bella Ramsey was once again phenomenal, and she had one of my favourite moments of the series so far! As for the new additions to the show, I thought Scott Shepard (David) did more than justice to his video game counterpart. I enjoyed the energy he brought to the role and appreciated the subtlety of his performance. There was also a nice guest role for Troy Baker (James) – the voice of Joel from the video games. While Baker is known for his voice-over work, the man can act, and I loved his take on James – who in the games is a little vanilla. It also made me chuckle that Baker actually got to take part in this element of the story, as in the video game he spends most of it injured and asleep!

The episode does a terrific job of setting the story and our characters up for the season finale next week. The events of this episode will lay heavy on Ellie and will definitely shape her going forwards, for better or worse. I fully expect the show to stick their landing in the finale and I am curious about where they will leave things. There is still no word on how many seasons they plan to run, and with certain major story plot points still to come, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly or slowly the show goes in reaching them. Maybe we’ll get an idea in next week’s finale?

What did you think of the latest episode of The Last of Us? Let us know in the comments or find us on social media.