'The Last of Us' Proves that 'Kin' Is the Climactic Embrace of Brotherhood that Joel has been Seeking as he Reunites with Tommy

by Darian Scalamoni

    HBO has done a masterful job of not making a carbon copy of The Last of Us on screen for the series but does the perfect adaptation of the material to make it more emotional, visceral and just as raw as the experience one got through the game.

    Following last week's emotional episode in which we saw the introduction and quick demise of Sam and Henry, this episode was filled with all the same beats you should have felt from the previous episodes, but this time, it's flipped on Joel. In what was sure to be an emotional reuniting, we finally get to a climactic moment within the story where Joel gets to reunite with his brother Tommy (played by Gabriel Luna). It's clear from the beginning of where our story began with this show that Joel had always had a very close-knit relationship with his brother. After all, he's been scavenging to find him for years and when they do finally embrace within the episode titled Kin, Joel tells Tommy that he's there to save him. However, it seems more so that Joel is the one that needs the saving as Tommy is now a member of a community of people along with a wife and a child on the way.

    It's clear from the beginning of this episode that something is off with Joel. After a quick reminder of the deaths of Sam and Henry, we get a flash forward of three months as Joel and Ellie navigate their way to Wyoming. The mountainous, snow-covered terrain puts us in the log cabin of an elderly couple that displays terrific chemistry on screen, so much so, that you truly believe the actors are married outside of their parts. As they give our main characters direction, we get our closest thing to action for close to the whole episode as men and women with bandanas clad over their mouths come along with a cordyceps-sniffing dog to make sure that Joel and Ellie are not infected. In what comes to be a tense moment, Ellie passes the smell test. Then, Joel reveals they're just passing through trying to find his brother, and that's when Maria steps up to ask what his name is. 

    Maria brings Joel and Ellie on horseback to her community to which we see that long-awaited hug from the brothers. While it's incredibly fulfilling to see Joel and Tommy embrace, we quickly realize that there is a lot of unsolved animosity despite years apart. After the death of Joel's daughter, Sarah, Joel and Tommy had to fend for their lives by killing just to survive. However, within Tommy's new commune and marriage to Maria, it seems she had gotten into his ear about the influence of his brother. Despite the initial confusion, Joel and Ellie get respective tours of the community known as Jackson, which is a bit of an added head scratcher for the two of them. Jackson signifies the first real sense of stability not only for them, but for the audience as well throughout a show that has been filled with wrong turns, problems arising and quick deaths for established characters. Joel and Ellie seem to understand the significance of shelter, but they also know the bigger sense of what is at hand. There is potential for the remainder of the world to go back to the way things used to be if someone can use Ellie's blood for a vaccine against the Infected. 

    With a show that is based so much on relativity, sacrifice and priority, it's incredible to be reminded of the mission Joel and Ellie are on to provide a potential Jackson for everyone even if it means they can't have it themselves unless they find a cure. A major round of applause for everyone involved for building out a Jackson that is so authentic to the town within the game, as well. The location scouts, production designers, lighting team and everyone who works below the line on this series helps make it so renowned and event viewing, which HBO is best known for. Having said all of that, Joel comes to this new locale with one thing that viewers haven't heard out of him yet, and that's fear. He talks to the only person he can trust in Tommy about his sleepless nights, his fearful dreams of nothingness, harshness of who he's become and why he freezes to try and protect the people he cares about ever since the loss of his daughter years prior. It's at this point that Joel tells his brother of Ellie's immunity and begs him to not tell anyone ("Not even Maria") before convincing Tommy to be the one to take Ellie to the University of Colorado hospital where there may be a team of doctors who can help use Ellie to find a cure. 

    After some time to think on it, Tommy quietly agrees while we later see Joel approaching Ellie about his plan but not before Ellie confronts him about his intentions. Ellie had overheard the conversation to which she tells Joel that she's not his daughter. It leads to a tense standoff between the two stubbornly similar characters. Ellie makes Joel aware that he's the only one that's ever cared about her and everyone else either leaves her or dies. Within these scenes between Joel and Ellie, we get a sense that Joel really truly does care for Ellie more than anyone since Sarah. He questions his own sensibilities in a tender moment with his brother, so much so, to rather protect her and make sure she gets to where she needs to go. After an overnight argument, Joel offers Ellie a choice on who to venture with and without a second to spare, she shoves her bag in the arms of Joel. There's a sacred trust between the two of them that has been amplified in these moments throughout the show and the audience plays witness to it. It's true that there is a willingness to hold on by Joel and be as protective as possible towards Ellie, but he needs to do this despite limitations that he feels due to his age and mental struggles as well as his fear of the constant unknown. 

    This episode ends in dramatic fashion with Joel and Ellie approaching the campus of doctors tattooed with Firefly insignias, however, there's no one in site except for surprisingly, a gang of monkeys that had wondered in. After some quick investigating, they discover that the campus is empty before a gang of four men begin stirring outside. As they quickly and quietly try to escape, Joel fends off one of them, snapping his neck before Ellie realizes that the broken handle of a baseball bat was stabbed into the stomach of her caretaker. At first, she's devastated, but then Joel decides to pull it out of him before beginning to bleed out. As the rest of the raiders come towards them, Ellie throws Joel onto their horse, she jumps on behind him and shoots at the trio of men keeping them off their tail for as long as they get back onto I-95. Then, Ellie's biggest fear comes true, or at least that's what the show makes you think. Joel falls off the horse and Ellie thinks Joel is dead. Will she continue on without him or will we be surprised on his return on next week's episode? Something tells me this isn't the last we've seen of Joel. 

Overall Score: 9.5