‘The Last of Us’ Recap: ‘Kin’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Six of ‘The Last of Us’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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If there is one complaint that fans of zombie themed storytelling, and fans of post-apocalyptic storytelling in general, harbor, it would have to be that a vast majority of these stories… gloss over some key problems that people would encounter when the end of everything arrives at their doorstep. For instance, there is always somehow… plenty of food to be found in these worlds. When in reality, the collapse of our industrialized world, would make finding food something of a chore since so few of us know how to live off the land. Not to mention, hygiene would be of concern as well, since all the comforts regarding it, that we take for granted in the here and the now, would be gone… and proper hygiene is indeed essential to proper health.
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But… that core complaint is one that a majority of fans of this type of storytelling don’t voice often, since these stories tend to offer so much. After all, they thrill us with scares, and they feature intelligent commentary and epic situations for the characters to overcome and one can overlook the other stuff when there is a bloodthirsty zombie, and the friends it brought with it, are banging at a weak door. If anything, the only reason such a complaint is top of mind today, is largely due to the fact that there is an apocalypse story that is finally addressing such matters. Giving rise to the reality that those problems could easily be snuck into a story… since they were everywhere to be found in last night’s episode of The Last of Us on HBO. 

For ‘Kin’ is a story that saw Joel and Ellie finally make their way to Wyoming in the hopes of finding Tommy and in the hopes of arranging a meeting with the Fireflies to save everything and everyone, and after a tense encounter with a kind couple that forged their own way in the woods, and a treacherous winter trek across frozen bridges and landscapes… they finally found Tommy in the tiny little berg of Jackson, Wyoming and well… all of the things that would be troublesome to us in a time of crisis such as this… were put on display. Since this is where Joel and Ellie were able to enjoy a decent meal for a change after foraging for ages on end, reminding us of the fact that we have it pretty darn good when it comes to food while at the same time, showcasing the challenges that would go into eating at the end of the world.

But while it was wonderful to see a horror story finally address that, and hygiene through Ellie’s haircut and the reaffirmation that human biology doesn’t stop when the apocalypse comes calling… alongside a reminder of what creature comforts actually do for our psychology, just focusing on those elements would have made for a boring episode. Which could explain why such issues are so rarely addressed. So, instead, this particular tale opted to explore a matter that is incredibly critical to all of us and has only been touched upon a handful of times in post-apocalyptic storytelling. Specifically, how the end of the world would not harbor an ounce of mental health care for the survivors of the apocalypse and that is something that needs to be touched upon more, because this is an environment that would have a profound impact on a person’s psychological health and mental standing.

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After all, they would be subject to horrors untold, especially if the dead were coming back to life or if people were infected and transformed by a rogue mutant fungal infection, and that would absolutely bring them down into the doldrums of depression and undoubtedly cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and well… handling that would be critical to our survival, the only question is… how? How does one do that in a world where therapy isn’t an option anymore? Well, that was handled through Joel primarily in this tale, through a journey that first acknowledged the reality that mental health issues would indeed be a thing in this world, as evidenced by the fact that Joel began to have anxiety attacks as he and Ellie encroached upon Jackson, and even while there. Simply because, that PTSD reminded Joel of the unresolved pain the world brought him and well… that pain pushed him to do what one would need to in this world to heal.
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Which is… to face that pain. To purge it and try to do one’s best to heal with chaos surrounding them and well… that happened here, and it was powerful to say the least. Since Joel confided in his brother the ache, he felt all this time after losing Sarah, and how that ache destroyed his confidence in the mission at hand and how he wasn’t sure he could complete it because of the pain and the fear. Not to mention, since Ellie learned about Joel’s past, that allowed for the two of them to have a stunning heart to heart about their own shared traumas and the lasting damage it caused both of them… and how they had to heal from it. Because without moving forward, there was no future for either of them in this broken and devastated world and well… purging the pain and learning how much he meant to someone again… did a lot for Joel. For it taught him to make things right via his own actions and via honesty and that led to a beautiful finale to this journey.

Wherein Joel embraced the mission and Ellie after trying to send her off to Colorado with his brother, which is where the Fireflies were posted, and the road trip that followed… allowed for these two to deeply bond and return us to the story at hand. Because their arrival at the University of Eastern Colorado, the base of the Fireflies, turned out to be somewhat fruitless. For they abandoned their facilities to reasons unknown and only left behind a map hinting at a move to Salt Lake City, putting Joel and Ellie on a new and perilous journey, one that started out… in a harrowing manner. Since the duo ran into hostile people while at UEC and Joel was badly injured in the fight. To the point where his fate remains up in the air because of his injuries, a move that will leave us counting down the minutes until next week’s tale to see if he is indeed okay, or if this story is about to take a devastating turn.

But while we wait, we can relish in a truly brilliant episode. One that genuinely took the time to further the realism already present in this story by addressing those very real-world problems. But above all, it is this episode’s frank examination of trauma and PTSD that earns it high marks. Since mental health is still something of a taboo topic unfortunately, despite the fact that it is important and needs to be treated with the same urgency and concern as our physical health. So, a round of applause is due to this series for putting it in the limelight and for pointing out the benefits of facing our pain and working to heal and well, it will be quite interesting to see what kind of a man Joel becomes from the lessons learned here. Provided of course, he can overcome his deeply concerning wounds. Until next time.  

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