The Last of Us Episode 4 Ending Explained: Who Are Kathleen and the Hunters? What Happened Between Joel and Tommy?
The Last of Us Episode 4 introduces us to Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, a character who is posited as a great enemy for Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsay). But he has also left us with a great cliffhanger by introducing Henry and Sam into the series, two young brothers persecuted by Kathleen’s group of Hunters. After a long truck ride in which Joel and Ellie have continued to hit it off, understand each other, and get along better and better, their truck is broken into by looters in Kansas City. Joel confronts them, killing two, but is surprised by a third. Ellie comes to her aid by shooting the gun that she hid at the end of The Last of Us Episode 3. The looter is mortally wounded and asks for mercy before Ellie’s disconcerted face, visibly affected.
Joel takes charge of the situation and ends the life of the attacker so that Ellie does not take the blame, but this opens a conversation in which we discover more about the past of both. This is not the first time that Ellie has killed another human being, although she does not want to develop the subject further at the moment. Trained by Phaedra, it seems that Ellie’s past is not as innocent as one might think. Joel, for his part, admits to being a looter at the start of the apocalypse, though he denies killing innocents (not very convincingly, it must be said).
The Last of Us Episode 4: The Story Plot
Noting the situation regarding Bill and Frank in Lincoln, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) continue their journey to Wyoming in search of Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Passing between abandoned highways and desolate ruins, the relationship between the two begins to show the first attempts at understanding: small glimmers, fleeting fragments in which two tormented souls approach each other with extreme caution, trying not to stumble in the conflict. From the pick-up journey to the arrival in Kansas City, the protagonists’ concerns will re-emerge in a story that returns to talking about survival and morals. The episode directed by Jeremy Webb certainly does not stand out for particular directorial choices, but it becomes perfectly functional to the beautiful dialogic structures of the scripts: the alternation of interpersonal developments, meticulously cared-for scenarios, and references to the reference work enhances the work thanks to the mastery of the showrunners.
The story thus acquires a completely different pathos, more immersive and constant in keeping the tension high – which is evident even for the protagonists themselves. The danger becomes the main protagonist of an episode vexed by the conflict between ethics and personality, introducing some interesting characters in an oppressive context in which the exasperated sense of community risks making barbarism prevail over reason. Not surprisingly, the preponderant colors are gradually duller as the boundaries of morality become foggier: in a hostile world, brutality and instinct reveal the strengths of a short narrative arc with an extreme emotional charge, intense like few others. While placing the (classically human) desire for peace below the perspective of a future for oneself, it is through the idea of motivation that each character emerges in its depth, offering an all-round look at the terrible dynamics of a universe that always the more it stands on the verge of collapse, and which pushes the observer to question their idea of justice in the face of unthinkable events.
The Last of Us Episode 4 Ending Explained: What Happened Between Joel and Tommy?
Pascal and Ramsey’s characters head to Wyoming and on the way, start talking about Tommy, and Joel explains that first, they were together, then Tommy met Marlene and she convinced him to join the Fireflies and work for them, but he stopped that after a while and is now doing things on his own. Apparently, Joel and Tommy haven’t seen each other in a while, but he’s determined to find his little brother. Now that Tess is gone, he is the only family he has left.
Who Are Kathleen and the Hunters?
The trio that has assaulted Joel and Ellie is part of the Hunters, a group of survivors that have gained control of the Kansas City quarantine zone and is led by Kathleen. The next chapter will delve more into his story, but for now what we know is that the community is searching for Henry, a mysterious figure who betrayed them. Upon discovering that an outsider has killed three of his men, all suspicion turns to Henry, who is blamed for the altercation. The Hunters are a fairly large community and armed to the teeth, so they are presumed to be an even greater threat than the clickers themselves, absent in this episode. The search for Henry intensifies and Kathleen’s army combs the city door to door. Joel and Ellie sneak into a towering building and settle on the 33rd floor for the night. There, despite Joel’s security measures, they are surprised by a young man and his little brother: Henry and Sam.
Who Are Henry and Sam in the Video Game The Last of Us?
We finally get a face of Henry (Lamar Johnson), and he doesn’t seem as bad as he was made out to be. Henry is a young African American who remains hidden from the Hunters along with his little brother, Sam (Keivonn Woodard), of whom we can see some drawings of masked superheroes found by Kathleen and company in their obsessive search. Henry, who looks much younger than in the video game, is shown pointing a gun at Ellie, while Sam is shown with a superhero mask painted on his face, scared. We will have to see how its history develops in the series and what its origin is, but we can take the game as a reference to get an idea. Although we are already seeing that there are multiple differences between the video game and The Last of Us series. Although be careful, possible SPOILERS are coming from the video game and, therefore, from the HBO Max series.
In the game, Henry and Sam are 12 years apart. Both brothers lived for most of their lives in the Hartford quarantine zone, until the army abandoned the area and supplies ran out. After their parents died, the siblings had to forage for supplies in Pittsburgh and were attacked by the Hunters just days before Joel and Ellie’s arrival in the city. Henry and Sam manage to flee and meet up with Joel and Ellie, allying with them too… Try to escape? We will see. Let’s leave it here. Although we have warned of spoilers, what can come (if they follow the same story as in the video game) is so shocking that we prefer that you discover it for yourselves. Perhaps we will find out in the next episode, the 1×05 of ‘The Last of Us’, for which we already have a trailer and which also comes with good news: it will arrive two days earlier so as not to coincide with the Superbowl.
