The Last of Us was a complete revelation when it came out. Finally, a video game adaption that wasn’t just good, it was a masterpiece. It hit all the beats from the popular video game while adding new ones and giving greater depth to some of the characters.
So… how do you even begin to rank the episodes? They’re all really, really good. So consider this a ranking not of worst to best, but “fantastic” to “incredibly fantastic.” Of course, your ranking may be different! Why not rewatch your own favorite episodes before season 2 comes out next year?
Episode 1×04 – “Please Hold To My Hand”
This is a slow episode with minimum zombie action. Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsay) kinda-sorta bond, but Joel still considers Ellie to be “cargo.” He’ll change his mind soon enough.
This is a good story, but honestly, anything following the Bill and Frank episode (keep scrolling!) would have been a downturn, no matter how minor. There’s lots of great stuff in here, though. Ellie gets her first onscreen kill—though, as she later admits, it’s not actually her first overall—and Joel starts to see her in a new light.
Episode 1×05 – “Endure and Survive”
The only reason this episode is so low down the list is because of the horrific thing that happens at the end. Yep, it’s an apocalypse and yep, children wouldn’t be spared in a real one … but it’s so painful, okay?This is a thrilling episode where Joel and Ellie attempt to escape Kansas City with the help of Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his little brother Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard). But they’re pursued by Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) who holds Henry responsible for the death of her brother. Her need for revenge has warped her into a horrible person, and she gets her just desserts.
Episode 1×01 – “When You’re Lost In The Darkness”
Oh, the first ever episode of The Last Of Us was so damn bleak. Something terrible happens to a child in this episode too, so sometimes I just skip it on rewatch and start at episode two. It’s a very good episode, of course (though maybe a bit predictable, even if you haven’t played the original games) but so depressing! Nico Parker does such a great job as Sarah and then we lose her.
Episode 1×07 – “Left Behind”
The pain just keeps on coming! In this episode, we see Ellie’s backstory and the tragedy of her first love, Riley (Storm Reid). Riley and Ellie spend one joyous night together in an abandoned shopping mall, but they fail to take safety into consideration. An infected attacks and bites them both: Ellie survives because of her immunity, but Riley does not. Reid puts in a fantastic performance here and makes it impossible not to feel for poor Riley.
Episode 1×02 – “Infected”
Joel, Ellie and Tess make their way through the abandoned, overgrown, strangely beautiful city of Boston, and the two adults get to know Ellie and her amazing immunity. But another major loss is coming for Joel… Tess is bitten by an infected, and ends up sacrificing herself so the others can get away.
This episode also gives us a stunning opening scene that’s one of the most chilling sequences in the season. A professor of mycology, Ratna Pertiwi (Christine Hakim) is approached by soldiers in Jakarta and sent to examine the corpse of a woman with a mysterious infection. She discovers that the fungus Cordyceps has evolved and is infecting humans, and tells the authorities to bomb the whole city rather than the let the infection escape. Her eventual fate is left unsaid.
Episode 1×06 – “Kin”
Here, we catch up with Joel’s younger brother Tommy at Jackson, a safe haven away from all the zombies. It’s a welcome sigh of relief. We get to know Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley) as people, and get further development of the Joel-Ellie relationship.
Ellie learns about Sarah, but she struggles to connect with Joel right up until the last stretch of the episode… and then Joel is stabbed by raiders. Ellie goes completely to pieces, because Joel has become the last person left who cares for her.
Episode 1×09 – “Look For the Light”
The episode everyone was waiting for with baited breath. The shocking ending of The Last of Us was what made the game what it was, so could the show stick the landing? It turned out that yes, it could. Joel coldly massacres a hospital to save Ellie’s life, thus ruining all chances of the cure for the Cordyceps her brain might have provided, and humanity is doomed once more. It’s an incredible episode that absolutely rips out your heart and stomps on it.
Episode 1×08 – “When We Are In Need”
Every apocalypse show needs a cannibal episode! Ellie seeks medicine for a dying Joel but encounters David (Scott Shephard) and his religious cult. They want revenge against Joel for killing one of their men, but Joel is a force to be reckoned with even when severely injured. Ellie is captured by David and she soon realizes he’s been feeding his followers the remains of dead people.
David is the most horrific villain the show has seen, which is really saying something. And yet, it’s impossible to cheer when Ellie kills him, because of the intense toll it takes on her.
Episode 1×03 – “Long, Long Time”
The most beautiful episode of a beautiful show. “Long, Long Time” takes a deviation from the main story to show us Bill (Nick Offerman), Frank (Murray Bartlett) and the relationship they form after the end of the world. Frank’s optimism melts the heart of the gruff, cynical survivalist Bill, and they spend the rest of their lives together.
While the episode was review-bombed by homophobes, it went on to be the most highly acclaimed episode of the entire series. It’s tragic, it’s life-affirming, and it will make you sob like a baby.
