WEBVTT

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- What?
(intense music)

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Oh, hi, Jermaine's here.

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Last of Us video review finale.

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No, I'm not okay right now.

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I guess...

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I guess let's talk about it.

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Now, it may be hard to believe

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but episode nine of the Last
of Us, the season one finale

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was the shortest episode
of the entire season.

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It sure doesn't feel like that though

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because in that 45 minutes,
it packs in more revelations

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than maybe the entire
season leading up to it.

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For example, the episode opens

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with the flashback revealing not only how

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and when Ellie was born, but
it explains why she's immune

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and that Marlene has known her

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and her mother their entire lives.

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All this is new mythology
beyond what we saw

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in the video games, and it
gave so much more weight

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to everything that comes after it.

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What comes after is that Joel

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and Ellie have finally
made it to Salt Lake City,

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where they believe the Firefly
Hospital is located, and

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though Ellie is noticeably
quieter and potentially broken

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after events of the
previous episode, if nothing

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seeing a giraffe for the
first time can't fix.

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(laughs genuinely)
"Eat this."

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(cool music)
(laughs genuinely)

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In a handful of touching
moments of reflection,

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Ellie makes it clear to Joel

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that after everything she
and they've gone through,

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she needs for this
journey to mean something

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and Joel reveals that
to him, it already does.

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He's found the love he was missing

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in his life ever since he
lost his daughter, Sarah.

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He even reveals that he at
one time tried to kill himself

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and it's only now that he knows why

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the world wouldn't let it happen.

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But of course, this is
the Last of Us, and just

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as our heroes are bonding and
connecting like never before,

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things take a turn, not just for the worst

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but the worst possible things
you can possibly imagine.

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Things that even though I
played the game 10 years ago,

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I still can't quite believe.

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It all starts with Joel and Ellie

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being captured by the fireflies.

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Marlene is there, and she explains to Joel

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that the doctors think Ellie
can in fact provide a cure.

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This is great news, right?

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Wrong, that cure is in her brain

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and Ellie's going to have to die.

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It's a sacrifice Marlene is ready to make

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to save the entire world but Joel is not.

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What follows next is hard to watch

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and even harder to talk about.

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It's Joel, in the selfish
act of want and violence

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walking through the firefly
hospital like some kind

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of mass shooter, killing
anyone who gets in his way.

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Innocent, guilty, doesn't matter.

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Even people begging for mercy,

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they all die, all so he
can try to save Ellie.

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Joel eventually finds Ellie,
and when he gets there,

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he kills the doctor that could
help cure the entire world

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and later does the same
to his friend Marlene,

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who begs him to look at the bigger picture

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and to think about what Ellie would want.

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Joel does not do that.

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Then amazingly, it gets worse.

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Joel Gaslights Ellie telling her lies

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about there being more immune
people at the hospital.

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There were not, and that the
doctors had stopped looking

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for a cure, which they had not.

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Finally, he says he
had to shoot his way up

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because of raiders.

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There were no raiders.

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Can you even imagine doing this,

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saying this to someone
you love, killing, lying.

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But then again, Joel also did it for love.

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He saved Ellie's life.

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It's just a brutal, awful
situation all around.

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In the end, Joel masks his
guilt by kindly comparing Ellie

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to Sarah before in the show's
powerful final moments,

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assuring her that he's not lying.

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She believes him.

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Mainstream television does
not normally tackle things

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like this.

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Morally deplorable acts,
moments of pure evil

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perpetuated by people
we expect to be heroes

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even if it's for a
potentially worthy cause.

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Heck, the best anti-heroes in TV history

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never killed dozens of
people in cold blood,

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dooming the entire world in the process,

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just so they themselves
could have a peace of mind.

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Okay, I'm sure a few of them
did, but you get the point.

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Joel's violent actions and
Ellie's belief in him leave us

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in an uncomfortable place
to end this first season.

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We have so many questions,
so many feelings,

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but the best art does that, right?

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It challenges us to think

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to look at different perspectives,

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to think about the filmmaker's intentions.

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Ultimately, while it probably
wasn't their main intention,

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what the last of us really ended up doing

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was cementing itself as a
landmark piece of television,

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the gold standard for what a
video game adaptation could be,

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and we cannot wait for that pain

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to start again in season two.

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To read more about this episode,

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check out gizmoto.com/io9.