After the touching love story spanning 2 decades between Frank and Bill, episode 4 of the series The Last Of Us brought the audience back to the uncle and niece duo Joel and Ellie. This episode is adapted from one of the most impressive storylines in the original game series, as they have to face off against a ruthless group of Hunters.

From the ambush that damaged Joel’s car, to clearing the way for some of the protagonist duo’s new allies, the latest episode of The Last Of Us built quite close to the original. Perhaps the biggest difference lies in the context, when in the TV version, the Hunters have occupied Kansas City instead of Pittsburgh. Besides, this episode has also “teased” the appearance of one of the scariest zombie species in the world of zombies. The Last Of Us.

Who ambushed Joel and Ellie in the last scene of episode 4?

Episode 4 of The Last Of Us ended with an unfinished episode, when two strange characters broke into Joel and Ellie’s hideout and used guns to threaten them. This is actually Henry (played by Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), the two brothers that the Hunters are actively looking for for most of this episode.

Similar to Frank and Bill, Henry and Sam are also two characters from the original series. But it seems their story has changed somewhat in the TV version. In the original, they were just members of a small traveling group and came to Pittsburgh to find supplies. Later, their group was attacked and murdered by the Hunters. Henry and Sam are the only two survivors.

In the HBO series, it seems that the two cousins ​​are closely related to the Hunters, possibly even being members of this group of people. However, for unknown reasons, they became the object of intense hunting and the top priority of the Hunters. Even after losing their forces by Joel and Ellie, the Hunters still thought it was all Henry and Sam’s fault, fueling the flames of hatred even more fiercely.

Decoding the origin and purpose of the Hunters

As mentioned above, episode 4 The Last Of Us brought in a new community of survivors, known as Hunters, with a story developed and explored a little deeper than the original.

In the original game series, Hunters are the ones who tend to attack anyone who accidentally sets foot in their territory in the city of Pittsburgh and steal all their necessities. Violence is pretty much the Hunters’ only option of action, and the victim will not have the opportunity to reconcile or negotiate peacefully. In the TV version, the Hunters are residents who used to live in a quarantine area in Kansas City. However, after that, because they were too tired and dissatisfied with the way FEDRA was operating, they formed a rebel group and overthrew the government here.

This explains why we don’t see any FedRA soldiers in Kansas in episode 4 of The Last Of Us. Besides, HBO also created a new character, Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), the leader of the Hunters, and who is also looking for ways to track down those who betrayed her, the two brothers Henry and Sam as analyzed above. This innovation allows Hunters of the TV version to have more depth, more completeness and open up many other development directions in the future.

Also, the latest episode of The Last Of Us It also shows that Kathleen has a particular grudge against Henry, and that stems from the personal conflicts between the two characters. Henry was one of the people who pointed Kathleen’s brother to FEDRA and got him murdered by the military organization. That’s why Kathleen prioritized finding Henry and Sam, while also claiming that Joel and Ellie were allies outside of Kansas City asked by the cousins ​​to destroy the Hunters. .

Decoding the new zombie species of The Last Of Us

During the search for Henry and Sam, Kathleen and “right hand man” Perry discovered a mysterious basement, with the cracked floor constantly moving, revealing a terrifying creature hiding and moving. under. Kathleen understands very well how serious the threat they are facing is. However, the fire of hatred made this character still defy everything, hiding everything so that the Hunters could focus on finding Henry.

Based on the original game series as well as the episode 5 teaser, it can be confirmed that this creature is Bloater – one of the scariest zombies in the world. The Last Of Us. Bloater is actually the 4th stage in the parasitic process of Cordyceps fungus, after Runner, Stalker and Clicker. At this point, the patient has been infected for years, even decades, with patches of fungus that have grown outward and covered their entire body, forming a solid layer of “armor”. very difficult to break through.

In the story of the city of Pittsburgh in the original game series, the player will have to confront a Bloater in the basement of a hotel. This could be the inspiration for the HBO series, promising to bring more tense, breathless action sequences in the next episode.

In the game version, Bloater is a slow zombie and has lost sight. But in return, they are especially strong and can deal great damage. In addition, they can also form mushroom scales on their bodies and throw them at the enemy as a way of long-range attack, both to knock down their prey, and to disperse fungal spores into the air. However, because the entire body is covered with many patches of fungus, Bloater is especially sensitive to fire – the fatal weakness of this zombie species.

Joel and Ellie’s Relationship

One of the most important scenes in the ending of The Last of Us Episode 4 takes place right before the final scene of Henry and Sam. That’s when Joel becomes more curious about Ellie’s past and wants to talk more with his companion. By doing this, Joel violated the rule he himself set out at the end of episode 3: It is not to mention what happened.

This may be just a small detail, but it is a big step forward in the psychology as well as the relationship between Joel and Ellie. In the first moments of episode 4, Joel even frankly stated that Ellie is not family or relative, but just a commodity he promised to Marlene and the Fireflies.

But after going through life-and-death moments together when facing the Hunters, it seems that the distance between the two has been shortened a bit. Joel even laughed spontaneously at Ellie’s pun, an experience he rarely had after the death of his daughter Sarah 20 years ago.

Why can’t Joel hear Henry and Sam?

Before falling asleep, Joel scattered a lot of broken glass around the bed so that he could wake up immediately when an intruder broke in. However, when Henry and Sam approached and controlled Ellie, he did not know and even slept soundly. This may be quite absurd for a veteran of survival and combat like Joel, but it was actually explained in an earlier scene.

If we pay attention, we can realize that Joel rarely hears Ellie’s call. It wasn’t until the girl was about to scream that he jerked back to answer. After observing, Ellie speculated that his right ear had weaker hearing than his left ear, perhaps the effect of many years of gun use. When sleeping in the last segment of episode 4, Joel accidentally lay on his left side, causing his left ear to press down on the ground. In addition, before that, when sleeping in the forest, Joel was almost awake to guard Ellie. The fatigue caused him to fall into a deep sleep and was unable to detect the presence of Henry and Sam.