The Last Of Us Episode 3 Review - 8 Ups & 0 Downs

2. Ellie & Joel Bonding

The Last of Us TV
HBO

With this in mind, it's also important to note that we got some advancement in Ellie and Joel's relationship in this episode. The pair are still frosty, but Joel's explanation (or, I suppose, theory as it's not officially confirmed) of how the infection hit so hard thanks to tainted food not only allowed for some world-building exposition, but for Joel himself to slip unconsciously back into a fatherly role.

This fatherly role re-appears at the end as well, as Ellie explains how alien it is to be sitting in a real car. The awkwardness of Joel having to put her seatbelt on for her again evokes a paternal instinct he usually tries to repress. Though they still have a long way to go, it's clear in these situations that the man Joel was isn't as buried as he wants to believe.

Joel hitting Ellie with the "only you" comment when she asks if there are any monsters in a room was also great. You know they're gonna hit you with that again during an otherwise traumatic scene further on down the line.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.