The Last of Us Episode 8 Review: A Thrilling Penultimate Episode

David (Scott Shepherd, The Young Pope) is a bad man. A very bad man. Atrocious, abominable, the worst of the worst. If there are men like David in heaven, forget what Jesus said about narrow gates and eyes of needles, because a heaven with men like David is not an exclusive club. 

We are introduced to David in The Last of Us Episode 8 — the first season’s penultimate episode. When we first see him he reads the Bible to his congregation. The way he reads is pleasant, almost comforting, reminding me of the Pastors that I’ve had (and still have) in my life, but those Pastors are good men, and David is not. Yet, before knowing the context of this reading, it came across as deceptive, manipulative, and controlling. After seeing him comfort a crying child at her father’s funeral, you’ll still see him as a deceiving, controlling manipulator, but this deceiving, controlling manipulator was providing something these people needed. You sympathize as much with their needs being met as much as you loathe he who deceptively provides them. 

Regardless, they trust him. They trust him to provide food. They trust that the food he provides is venison. They trust that justice will be dealt to whoever killed the little girl’s father. 

Unfortunately for our heroes, Joel and Ellie are the ones who killed that little girl’s father. 

It’s easier to argue for sympathy for the little girl than it is for David. I said, last week, of homophobic bigots, that they are either “lying or blindly regurgitating a lie.” The contrast can be applied to David and his congregation, with the qualifier that his congregation is sympathetically believing a lie. David doesn’t tell his followers that the father was killed in self-defense, that he was killed on a mission for the meat David’s been feeding them. As far as this little girl is concerned, her Dad was killed for no good reason, and it’s easier to sympathize with the deceived than it is to sympathize with deceivers like David, men who use the deaths of fathers to keep little girls under his control.

That it’s easier to sympathize with the little girl than it is to sympathize with David is not inconsequential to the episode. David’s right hand man, James, is a fascinating testament to this distinction. He’s portrayed by Troy Baker, who played Joel in the video game series, and he’s trying to kill our new Joel. Hell, James is even comfortable with letting Ellie die. But he doesn’t feel like an antithesis to his Last Of Us heritage. He opposes David’s desire to capture and “save” Ellie not out of disdain for Ellie, but because he at least has some belief in what he’s doing. He wants justice for the little girl’s father because he believes in it, whereas David is willing to let Joel walk as a means of convincing Ellie to be his pet. James is an uncomfortable survivalist, and David is an opportunist.

Still, there’s one thing about David’s lies that’s uncomfortable and necessary for me to confront: I wish that his lies were true. That he actually cared about the little girl who lost her father, that he’s actually willing to let Joel go, that he actually cares about Ellie and isn’t just grooming her to be his next pet.

But those lies aren’t true. David is still a bad man. 

Thankfully, at the end, after Ellie confronts the horror of bad men like David, she still has a good man like Joel. 

The Last of Us Episode 8, ‘When We Are In Need’ is now streaming on HBO MAX.