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

2. Ellie & Joel Bonding

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.