REVIEW: ‘The Last of Us,’ Episode 4 – “Please Hold My Hand”

The Last of Us Episode 4, titled “Please Hold My Hand”, turns its focus on the budding companionship between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The duo continues to make their way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, which is made much easier by the fact that Joel now has a car. But they soon run into trouble when they are ambushed by a group of revolutionaries in Kansas City. The group’s leader Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) is hellbent on finding her family and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals.

In fact, the main theme of “Please Hold My Hand” is about the lengths people have gone to in order to survive in a Cordyceps-infected world. Once again, showrunner Craig Mazin adds some more nuance to TLOU‘s world, as Kathleen was created exclusively for the show. And she provides a great contrast to Joel: while he’s been hardened by the effects of the world, he only kills to protect himself and Ellie. In contrast, Kathleen manipulates her revolutionaries with fiery rhetoric and turns them against anyone she deems an enemy. Part of what’s made the show compelling is how it’s drawn unintended parallels to the current state of the world, and what makes Mazin’s writing so great is that he can do those parallels in a subtle way. The way Kathleen’s revolutionaries operate is extremely similar to a cult, as they hang on her every word and move with frightening precision.

None of it would feel real without Lynskey’s performance, which is frighteningly intense. She never has to raise her voice, instead speaking in a measured tone – even when delivering threats to a doctor she’s held captive. In my opinion, this is even scarier than if she was yelling. However, Lynskey is only in a few scenes, which is a little disappointing. She’ll likely play a role in future episodes, but her performance was so good that I could have spent an entire episode following her and her crew.

The bulk of the episode is dedicated to the bond between Joel and Ellie, and it leads to a plethora of hilarious moments. Yes folks, I actually chuckled at a few points during the post-apocalyptic series. It’s all due to Ramsey’s sense of comedic timing – she gives Ellie some choice lines as she bugs Joel with a book of groan-worthy puns and talks about how bad his coffee is. That sense of levity helps put the audience at ease, which makes the dramatic moments hit that much harder. And it’s safe to say that Pascal can play “world-weary father figure” in his sleep; the man continues to sell a world’s worth of emotion with just a mere look.

When it comes to the action, director Jeremy Webb prefers a handheld approach, adding an element of chaos to the proceedings. Joel guns the truck down an alley as revolutionaries hurl concrete bricks at him. And a struggle between Joel and one of the revolutionaries will have viewers on the edge of their seat because it feels like a genuine life-and-death struggle. Webb also finds some solace in the quieter moments, especially in the opening, where Ellie is fooling around with a gun. Even if it’s the end of the world, she’s still a teenager and curious about how things work. That youth also leads to one of the episode’s most shocking moments; I won’t spoil it, but it proves that Ramsey was the perfect choice to play Ellie.

The Last of Us Episode 4 shows that there are more dangers lurking in the world, even if it’s mostly setting the table for future episodes. It also ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger, which is both surprising and infuriating. Surprising because each episode has been self-contained, but infuriating because I have to wait a week to see what happens.

The Last of Us is available now on HBO Max with new episodes premiering every Sunday.