‘The Last of Us’ Episode 3 Brings Bill on an Emotional Odyssey – CNET

The Last of Us episode 3 aired on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, choosing up with plucky teen Ellie and gruff smuggler Joel (Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal) as they take the following steps following final week’s tragic loss. Their mission is to get Ellie, who’s resistant to the fungus that is turned a lot of the populace into savage cannibals, to the insurgent group referred to as the Fireflies. 

The hope is that they will replicate Ellie’s resistance and restore the world. They want a automotive to proceed their journey, so they should cease on the residence of Joel’s buddy Bill (performed by Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman) — a personality whose grumpiness and survivalist tendencies gamers of the unbelievable PlayStation recreation that impressed the present will bear in mind all too effectively.

That will not put together you for episode 3’s heartbreaking story. Let’s dive in.

Bill the survivor

A flashback reveals how Bill managed to keep away from getting dragged right into a quarantine zone by the US army after the September 2003 outbreak. His paranoid anti-authoritary tendencies labored in his favor, and he hid as his neighbors had been caught up within the sweep (a horrible mass grave Ellie and Joel uncover in 2023 suggests they had been all killed).

“Not today, you new world order jackboot fucks,” he says after the troopers fail to seek out his subbasement hidey-gap.

Probably for the very best, since Bill had an arsenal of weaponry and appeared completely prepared for a siege. Finding himself the city’s sole remaining inhabitant, he strikes decisively to fortify his location with traps and collect provides to stay a solitary life of luxurious because the world outdoors falls aside.

That positive seemed like a juicy steak too.

Love within the darkness

In 2007, Bill’s approach of life seems to have served him effectively — he seems to be a lot the identical 4 years after the outbreak. His lonely existence modifications eternally when Frank, a survivor from the Baltimore quarantine zone, falls right into a entice outdoors his perimeter. 

Frank seems to be an completely pretty man, managing to interrupt down Bill’s emotional partitions (with a bit assist from Linda Ronstadt). The pair fall in love — the transformation in Offerman’s efficiency is beautiful — and construct a life collectively regardless of their differing personalities.

They even befriend Tess and Joel through the years, having the smugglers over for a meal and agreeing to work collectively. Tess and Frank instantly hit it off, whereas the extra extreme Joel and Bill discover a mutual respect.

In 2010, raiders assault the city — one thing Joel warned Bill would occur. The fortified defenses maintain up, however Bill is shot and solely survives as a result of Frank’s round to patch him up.  

Jumping to 2020, we uncover that Frank has suffered from main well being issues through the years and has misplaced most of his mobility. He’s confined to a wheelchair, and it is clear he is struggling to make use of his palms as effectively. Bill is a loving caregiver, serving to his accomplice take his tablets and get round.

Tender final moments

One morning in 2023, Bill wakes as much as discover Frank sitting up beside him. Having accepted that there is no technique to deal with his ailment, he admits to having spent most of the evening getting out of mattress, and informs Bill that it is his “last day.”

“Give me one more good day … take me to the boutique, where I’ll pick outfits for us. You’ll wear what I ask, and we’ll get married. And you’ll cook a delicious dinner,” he says, earlier than taking his tablets out of his pocket. “And you’ll crush all of these up, put them in my wine. I will drink it. Then you will take me by my hand, bring me to our bed and I will fall asleep in your arms.”

Bill struggles to simply accept Frank’s choice, however finally agrees. Their last hours collectively play out in a phenomenal, touching montage. I’m not crying; you are crying.

Once the wine is poured, Bill complies with Frank’s lethal request. However, Bill additionally reveals that he’d carried out the identical to his personal wine — sentencing himself to the identical destiny. Bill tenderly pushes Frank into their room and the scene fades to black.

Ultimately, Ellie and Joel arrive on the home and uncover a word from Bill explaining what occurred (“To whomever, but probably Joel”).

“I used to hate the world and I was happy when everyone died. But I was wrong, because there was one person worth saving,” it reads. “That’s what I did, I saved him, then I protected him. That’s why men like you and me are here: we have a job to do. And God help any motherfuckers who stand in our way.”

He tells Joel to make use of his weapons and gear to maintain Tess secure, which clearly hits Joel arduous. The duo take Bill’s automotive and hit the street to seek out Joel’s ex-Firefly brother Tommy in Wyoming (with Ronstadt’s 1970 music Long Long Time kicking off their journey).

A unique destiny

Bill’s recreation counterpart is not practically as emotional a personality. He’s nonetheless a talented survivalist who’s barricaded himself in his city with all kinds of traps, however we do not get practically as many hints about his underlying heat.

He rescues Ellie and Joel from a swarm of contaminated, however instantly needs them gone. Ellie and Joel enter an uneasy alliance with him to get the automotive they should proceed their journey, battling contaminated to achieve a automobile. 

They succeed on this mission, permitting Ellie and Joel to drive into the sundown (till issues go horribly mistaken once more) and Bill to return to his isolation. So his destiny is unclear, in contrast to within the present.

Bill alludes to his relationship with Frank in a single of many offended feedback.

“Once upon a time I had someone I cared about. It was a partner. Somebody I had to look after,” he says. “And in this world that sort of shit’s good for one thing: gettin’ ya killed. So, you know what I did? I wisened the fuck up. And I realized it’s gotta be just me.”  

Bill and Frank’s sexuality isn’t made specific within the recreation, nevertheless it’s urged by a homosexual porn journal Ellie discovers in his residence. 

What about Frank?

We by no means see Frank alive within the recreation, since he and Bill had a falling out previous to Ellie and Joel’s arrival. At the tip of their journey throughout the city, the trio uncover Frank’s physique hanging in the home he’d lived in.

We study that he’d been bitten by some contaminated and opted to take his personal life reasonably than flip right into a shambling monster. You may discover a word containing his last phrases.

“Well, Bill, I doubt you’d ever find this note cause you were too scared to ever make it to this part of town. But if for some reason you did, I want you to know I hated your guts. I grew tired of this shitty town and your set-in-your-ways attitude,” it reads.

“I wanted more from life than this and you could never get that. And that stupid battery you kept moaning about — I got it. But I guess you were right. Trying to leave this town will kill me. Still better than spending another day with you. Good Luck, Frank.”

Ouch. Bill is not too completely happy to learn this, so he flings it away. In the PS5 remake, you get the “In Memorium” trophy when you choose up the crumbled word (within the present, Joel crumbles up Bill’s word and tosses it apart).

Prior to reaching Bill’s city, you could find a smuggler’s word about Frank. It reveals that he’d deliberate to quietly transfer into the Boston quarantine zone after buying and selling with the smuggler, however by no means made it. In the present, when Bill finds him within the entice, Frank says he was on his technique to Boston.

Episode 4 of The Last of Us hits HBO Max subsequent Sunday, Feb. 5.