Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 4 of The Last of Us.
One of the themes indicative of dystopian and/or creature-based media is the concept that living human beings are far worse than mindless fictional monsters.
In the newest episode of HBO’s The Last of Us, Joel (Pedro Pascal) indicates as much; he explains to Ellie (Bella Ramsey) that they camp in the woods overnight not to hide from roaming Infected, but from autonomous people who would do the pair far worse harm than a robbery.
Indeed, Episode 4’s enemies are a guerrilla group of humans.
In this way, the fourth episode both doubled down on a zombie media trope and elevated it with additional nuance.
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