Ellie is Joel’s protector during the course of this episode, from the events which played our previously Joel is recovering and Ellie takes it upon herself to find them both some food. As she lurks around the snowy forrest she is met by a strange pair a men who explain their commune of people are starving. In exchange for medicine for Joel, Ellie agrees to share the food with them but things quickly take a dark turn.
During this episode we see another layer to Ellie’s character, from episode seven she has grown and we only see her develop more through episode eight. Ellie is the core to this episode, she drives the narrative and sadly finds herself in some truly disturbing situations. Ellie, to put it bluntly, is a badass and Bella Ramsey plays her so well. Ellie faces some of the hardest and toughest decisions through the course of season one but she tackles everything in the best possible way, with a sharp tongue and no fear of violence.
The episode begins slow, introducing us to our new characters and quietly suggesting some underlying moments for the audiences to pick up on. The set up is good, although it did move very quickly, I felt as though this episode could have been stretched into two but in saying that, this is sadly our penultimate episode for season one. Meaning, it made sense for this narrative to fall into a singular episode to leave room for the finale. Though, the moments between sadistic cannibalistic cult leader David and Ellie could have been developed much more, the episode built up the final takedown well but again, it could have been further explored and drawn out more.
Overall, episode eight was another winner, I love seeing Ellie take charge and show us what she is truly made of and the ending where Joel heroically saves the day warmed my heart. A truly terrifying plot this week but damn did it end with a bang.
9/10
PROBE POINTS
Commentaires