The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘The Last of Us’ Episode 7 Recap

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Charles and Van share their instant reactions to the seventh episode of ‘The Last of Us.’ They discuss their differing opinions regarding how the episode landed, the story of Riley and Ellie’s teenage romance, and the conflicting ideologies of FEDRA and the Fireflies. Along the way, the guys talk about whether or not the significance of the Infected has become somewhat diminished throughout the season. Hosts: Charles Holmes and Van Lathan Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You're just perfectionists. Perfect Bistro. Mealtime Perfect Bestro for Every Cat. Have your human visit PerfectBistro.com. Welcome to the prestige TV podcast, a show of Electric Stare Enthusiast. I'm Charles Holmes. Together, we're known as the Midnight Boys. And we're here to discuss the most popular show on.

TV for pretty much the entire year so far. The last of us, Van, what are you eating over there? Are those lucky charms? No, nigger. That's my go-to breakfast of ground turkey mixed with egg whites and a little avocado. Nasty shit. Just love yourself. Fucking love yourself.

At least it's not Jimmy Dean. Anyway, we are here to talk about left behind directed by Liza Johnson, written by Neil Druckman. All right, we're going to the past in this episode, but we start in the press. present with Ellie as she's taking Joel to a house, but he's bleeding out. And Joel demands that Ellie leave him and go back to Tommy. As Ellie contemplates abandoning Joel upstairs, we flashed back to the story of how Ellie was first bitten in the mall. We see Ellie's time at Fedra school, where she's constantly getting into trouble in the wake of her roommate running away and leaving her behind. Captain Kwong brings Ellie into the principal's office and says she has two options,

either keep causing trouble and become a Fedra grunt for the rest of her life, or become a a federal officer that lives a life of endless perks. Riley and Lee's roommate breaks into a room and reveals that she's joined the fireflies. Riley promises Ellie the best night of her life and the duo escape to a closed-off mall where they experience its wonders, namely an escalator, Mary Go Around, photo booth, and arcade. Ellie finds a stash, though, of Firefly bombs that Riley has been guarding, which leads to her best friend admitting that she's leaving the QC and Ellie behind. After a tantrum, Ellie returns to Riley and they share their first kid. in the fifth wonder of the mall,

a Halloween shop. Sadly, infected him, Bush is the duo, but in the course of fighting him off, they're both bitten and in the present, Ellie decides that she's going to do her best to save Joel and finds a needle and thread to stitch him up. Van, we were already talking before we were recording.

Don't want to spoil it for the listeners, but we're divided on this episode. What were your first reactions? I liked it. I was really into the story of them exploring them all together. I was into the tension that Ellie is feeling, not being able to really express her feelings to her friend.

She's dealing with the teenage lover pair. You know what I mean? And it's an episode kind of like akin to almost a stranger things kind of feel. And that kind of got me into what was going on. I liked it. You didn't feel as strongly about it. By the end, it did get me emotionally. I won't lie.

By the end, I like, my heart was brink. But before we get to kind of the tragedy of that, I think the show is at this point where it's suffering from its own success, where we have things to compare it now to, where this show, thematically speaking, or this episode is very, very similar to the Bill and Frank episode in terms of what it's doing, which is instead of a romance, this melodramatic romance about old, two older men, this is a teen romance. and I feel like I liked it more than theory than I liked it in practice. And here's the thing. I'm surprised that you liked it so much because part of me was like, oh, I think for the first time ever

I'm on Van's side about the pluck. There was too much. Like we've gone so far with Ellie's character. This was the episode where I'm just like, oh, she's back to kind of being an annoying teenager. So here's the thing. Pluck is disarmed by emotion. See, that's what Pluck is for me.

Pluck is the absence of any real feeling and just a teenager that's masking it and fucking with somebody just to fuck with them. It's artificial sort of precociousness. That's what Pluck is. And I feel like the antidote to the pluck in this episode was the fact that Ellie is obviously in love with her friend. So you see moments of Pluck,

then you see her fixing her hair. in the mirror. You see her thinking about that's a really good scene between them with the lingerie because it's like, she was like, I couldn't imagine you wearing something like that

and Ellie goes, oh shit, maybe I want to wear like that. I want to wear that for you. I don't know. You know what I mean? And so there are these moments of tenderness that for me drowned out

a little bit of the pluck. I mean, one thing I think that this episode does really, really well is that the show has been laying these red crumbs for a while. Like,

why is Ellie? so interested in puns. Why is she so in that episode when her and Joel go to that rest stop and she sees Mortal Kombat, that's not a throwaway thing. And for this entire, for this entire season,

we've been asking, does Ellie have this sociopath vibe? And it makes so much sense now that when she, in that previous episode, when she sees the Mortal Kombat video game and then she goes to the basement and she kills that infected, now that scene,

plays differently because you realize that now there's an emotional connection that Ellie has to these zombies. When she kills that zombie, it's not just her being like, I want to kill you all. It's like this realization, you're the reason that I'm alone. And that's what I think that this episode did very, very well, is that it explained a lot of the things that maybe that was grading about Ellie in the beginning. You kind of understand why she's the way she is. Yeah, and I also think that, you know, it answers some questions narratively, you know, all those questions that you're talking about, I was like, how does she know what happens in Mortal Kombat?

You know, maybe she was just hearing about it. And also shows that Ellie has, Ellie's character seemed out of place for me at times early on because the angstiness that she would have as a teenager, I'll be like, a lot of that angst that we have as teenagers is societal based upon some of the social, um, sort of situations that teenagers are putting to, you know, the school and all that different stuff and, you know, sports teams and all of that. You develop angst and you look to the left and it's like, hey, that person's tall than me, better looking. Remember, there was this guy named Jason Beasley. And Jason was my friend.

Shout out Jason Beasley. Shout out Jason and Dedrick Beasley. And Jason was just like, he just matured fashion than the rest of us. You know, he was in eighth grade. He was already six feet tall. which I kind of was too, but like a little bit behind him, you know? And he was already like built like a man. And we were like, God damn, Jason Beasley.

But then he never grew anymore. So by the time we got to like, I got to like the end of ninth grade, the 10th grade, I remember seeing him. I was like, God damn, life is crazy. Look at me. Why are you blowing up this man's spot? But I was seriously. But I was like, I was just remember thinking,

God damn, look, I'm fucking tall and it. I'm bigger than him. What the fuck? And so, but that's the kind of thing. But you don't have that, right? To me, unless you're in those kind of social settings and stuff like that, maybe villages and shit back in the day when we were foraging for food, it'd be the same thing.

Like, we'd be speaking a different language. And as always, they're saying, tattoo is so tall, whatever. But I see now that LES had some of those social issues. She has had, she has been the odd kid or the kid that somebody else was taking up or the kid that was getting picked on. When they were running those laps, she was the only person wearing a walkman. She was kind of the eyeball.

She was somebody that the adults always sort of took an interesting, should I say, and that the kids would fuck over a little bit. So a lot of her standoffishness, the fact that she's quippy and plucky, I feel like this episode kind of gave us an explanation for some of that. Oh, couldn't agree more. I mean, to your point,

one thing that I thought was interesting is, this is the first episode where we get to see Ben, 2 Mac11s, back into the 7 on some bullshit. I'm sorry. It's the first episode we get to see a Fedra agent that isn't a complete asshole. True. Captain Quang, even though he is

pitching a lot of propaganda to Ellie, there's a lot of truth to what he is saying in terms of like, hey, there's two ways that this can go. You keep fucking around. And essentially, I'm going to do what, we had to do with Riley, which is, you're going to be the guard that's looking at people shovel shit all day, or you're going to be the person that's in charge of the rest of the grunts.

And it was interesting seeing this Fedger agent who, even though they're still the feds, seems to have some type of level of fatherly duty to Ellie, or at least wants to protect someone that he knows is smarter than she probably gives herself credit for. Can I get maybe too deep here? Go on, man. Thank you.

Thank you, Charles. You know what, Charles? You always let me go off the rails. That's what I love about you, man. Yeah. My job. My brother. Thank you.

I thought about this scene, and it was a very meaningful scene to me. The version of the world that we encounter in The Last of us is very shitty. Yeah. It's a very shitty world. And what he essentially does to Ellie is tell her that her life is going to be full of shitty choices and that the best option for her is to choose the least shitty choice. And he says, what we do here, some people don't like, but it has to be done. That is the choice that we give kids now.

What we tell kids essentially is, hey, after high school, you're going to have to go out into the world and produce for the rest of your life. You're not going to sit around and paint. You're not going to spend your life devoted to the betterment of you. you're not going to save the spotted aisle. You're not going to do any of that stuff. For most people, that's going to be stuff that you do in your spare time. Hopefully, after you've given all of your talent,

your life force, and your will to production, to producing in society, hopefully you have something left over to do some good. Maybe you will. But let me tell you what the real is. The real is you need to go and figure out how to inject yourself into the systems that we have here and try to maintain some of the soul that you have while doing. The Last of Us has managed to maintain the ethos of how the world was,

which I guess will always be there since human beings have created this world for themselves. But just do it in a way that exposes just. just how fucked up the choice really is. When you tell a kid that wants to paint that they have to go be an accountant, no distra accountants. Shout out to CPAs. I know motherfuckers that love numbers.

My CPA will be like, oh, man, I, like here, I got a way to save you an extra $1,200. And I'm like, thank you, man. Look how we did it. You know, like they really into their jobs. So I'm not trying to dissing it.

But what I'm saying is that conversation is important because, it's still relevant in the world that they live in. We have that conversation with kids all the time. Okay, yeah, you like making little wood figurines, but what you're going to do to make money? I mean, did this episode remind you almost of, I got flashbacks to being in high school

and that feeling of like when the military comes, the recruiters come and you like, there's this dawning realization that there are some kids in this school that will be able to go to college and generally the younger kids, the black kids, the poor kids will have to make a decision like, hey, if you want any of that shit,

if you want a Hellcat, you better sign on the dotted line. Like my cousin Ra Rao went to the military. And it's like, I come from a family that a lot of my family was in the military. Same. But like, in order to go,

he had to sell us on the military because I was like, I'm not fucking going to the army. I will tell a quick little sidebar story. of how I trod my father by making him think I was considering. He's very funny. But I'm not going to the army, but over the course of him enlisting, because Rara was a bigger guy, he had to lose weight to qualify to go to the Marines, right?

To be able to go to Marines. It's like a weight in him. And so during that time, he was indoctrinating himself and then kind of indoctrinating us on all the great things that the military does. And some of this stuff was enlightening. And some of it was like, no, dog, I'm not fucking with none of that. That's not my stop. But in the same situation, that's kind of what you'd have to do with Fedra.

We look at Fedra, the viewer of this show, as being these sort of fascist dictators who want to maintain a dehumanizing status quo and all the QZs. But there are probably many Fedra agents who don't look at it. like that, who look at it as, like he said, they're maintaining the last shred of order before everybody rips everything to pieces. So seeing her live in this moment where her, Ellie's biggest power in the show

is her childlike aura. The fact that she is dependent on Joel in one second, but at the same time is reintroducing him to a future and a possibility and things that he lost when his daughter died to see her confronted with someone who's taking that away from her

for her own good, which we do the kids all the time, was a cool scene for me. Now, here's my story real quick. I got to do it. Yes and peace. I was walking on campus and I saw the Army recruit.

And I'm not talking, type of guy that like would always do whatever the person in the booth that kiosk had set up. If there was a kiosk, I would visit it. Just talk to the people. I don't know. What are you got going on? What are you guys doing out here, you crazy motherfuckers?

I remember I took a Scientology stress test one time. Oh, geez. I did. I took it. They put the little thing on me. And I did it. I was like, what the hell? I didn't know it was Scientology at first.

Blinked twice. If Tom Cruise, it had something over you. you. It said it was a stress test and I was walking through the mall and never forget it. I was like, I'll take it. And I was sitting there and talking it. It was like, hey, have you ever heard of Dionetics? I'm like, yeah, it was a book that they did the commercial for it. I was like, whoa,

is this a? And I was like, all right, appreciate you guys. No bad things said, not for me. Peace. Okay. So I'll go, I go to the college kiosk, Army. I go talk to the Army guy. And so I do the whole thing.

Talk to the Army guys. I was like, hey, why not? Here's Army stuff. Whatever. And the Army guy starts calling the house looking for me. My dad pick up the phone. The dad come in the room, is like, some kind of Army dude calling here looking for you. I'm like, yeah, that's not a big deal. I just like, we're walking through campus.

And I stopped and talked to the Army recruiter people, just stuff or whatever. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Like dad, I was just fucking blowing off steam I was just fucking around talking to them So I had a good conversation about Fucking China and all of this different stuff And you know, whatever

I had a little debate with the guy But dad was like, yeah, you're not going to the army He's like, you're finishing college and then you're gonna go out there And use your brain You're not going to the army He's like, see what's see your Uncle Charles He's not going to the army

He's like, hey, got no problem with that You know I love, you're not going to the Army. I'm like, all right, cool. Like, oh, this bothers him. Got calls, people with the phone. I was like, hey, I need to know more. He was like, well, the best thing that we could do is an in-home visit where me and one of my colleagues come to your house.

You're an asshole. You're a asshole. You're a colleague to come to your house and talk to you all about the military and stuff. I was like, fuck yes. what times you all have available? And they were like, we come around 10, 11 o'clock. I'm like, no, can't come then.

I need you guys to come 3.3.30. My father run a construction company. He'd be at work at 5 a.m. Around 3.30, he'd normally be back home, depending on whether or not it was the last couple of days of a job. Sometimes they work way longer. And so the guy, my dad walks in, and it's two guys.

full-on army dress with pamphlets talking to different stuff. They got a little laptop computer where they're showing me videos and my father walks in and I go, oh, I look over, I go, that's my dad

who gets up. The dude gets up. He goes, Mr. Lathan, pleasure to meet you. Your son, and my dad goes, he takes his hat off he goes, he takes his hat off and he goes

no, no no, no, no. He's like, no, he's like, no. He's like, I'm sorry, my brother was in Vietnam. I appreciate y'all. I love y'all. I can't do it. No, no. And I just stood back there and watched this happen.

I'm like 20 years old, bro. I watched this happen. I watched this. dude get upset. My dad going back and forth. The whole time my dad is yelling at this guy, he's warming up a piece of fried chicken. What? He's arguing with the dude.

He's holding like a box from Popeyes. And he warms up a piece. He goes to the microwave and he's talking to the dude. The dude's getting the guy going back and forth. My dad's plugged in and the thing. The chicken is warming up, and then my dad gets a chicken out, and he's got a mouthful of chicken. He goes, no, y'all ain't going to pull those rifle in my son, hand.

No. The only thing we use a rifle for around here is to shoot deer. Anyway, that's the story. Rest and peace, that. Well, thank you for that enlighting story about Van Halate the Senior. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about Zeppbound, terse appetite, the first and only FDA, approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with

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may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsened kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit Zepbound.lily.com. What this episode actually does, though, is that as much as it gives a face to Fedra that isn't just like big fascists,

even though they are still big fascists. They're fascists for sure. It makes you think about the fireflies differently as well because the fireflies, to me, I'm just like, all right, y'all employing child soldiers, basically. They have Riley sleeping in a mall alone, a mall that it seems that they have not checked for safety reasons. So part of me also felt for Ellie in that,

situation where she obviously knows that Fedra are the feds, but also is realizing that is what the fireflies offer any better? Probably not. But remember, there's no good choice. Yeah, sure. When you're in a situation like that, the essential, I mean, not even a situation like that, even like in our current world, what we're essentially battling over our perspectives, what your idea of freedom is, what your idea of.

fascism is. Even the empire thinks that they're the best option. They want power. You know, Star Wars now, they want power, but they think order is the best way to run the galaxy. Remember the guy and Obi-Wan is like, there's nothing wrong with a little order. You hear people say that all the time today. There's one complete political faction that runs on order, law and order. And there's a whole part of the country

that believes that that makes them more free. So essentially all of these gun battles are over perspectives. The thing that gets lost in these things, like here in The Last of Us, is what it does in individual life or two lives or three lives. Like the effect that sort of those big mechanisms or those big ideas have on people. Is it worth having a 17-year-old kid live by themselves in an abandoned mall, guarding bombs while there are zombies in it, mushroom zombies, pizza topping zombies

while there's zombies in there. Is your is your cause worth that? Is your cause worth hanging people in an open square so that everyone can see it

and they leave the lives of fear? Is that your idea of holding things together? Is it an amalgam of the two? And then these people, these characters in this show become sort of just examples of that. It's interesting. Like you say child soldier, right?

She's 17, right? Yeah. Is that a child soldier? I mean, I'm not saying that it's not a child soldier, but what I'm saying is in this situation, here for us, that's one year from basically when we'll put a fucking, I don't know any 18-year-olds right now

that I don't consider it to be children. But here's the thing, the way that Riley describes how the fire flies found her made it seem very like, oh, they are praying on children in terms of like, they see this child who was very, very good at sneaking around in this QZ. Marlene comes and gives her this offer of like,

hey, I can give you a better life. And then we realize later in the episode, the fireflies are doing to her what Fedger was going to do. They're shipping her ass off. She's a grunt. Like, maybe she's not a grunt for Fedra, but she's still a grunt. She's still going to this QZ

with the implication that it almost seemed like Riley was like, I don't know if I'm coming back. It almost seemed like they were sending her to death. I mean, I get. You know,

I'm not saying either side is right. I'm saying it like, you get into a situation, if you're the fireflies, they're a rag, tag, bunch of freedom fires. So the decisions

that they're making, their biggest consideration is mission accomplishment. Yeah. You know? I won't say one thing about the episode that kind of fucked with me a little bit. Everybody, thanks for indulging me in that story, by the way.

That was fun to tell. There is a part of this show. I know this happens in most zombie fare. There is a part of this show to where the importance of the infected is started to be diminished a little bit. Now look. I realized that we can't have

hordes of infected in every show. I realized that we did get infected in this show. But think about what had to happen. The infected are queued in by sound. They turned a whole fucking mall on it. They were riding the carousel, playing video games, having a dance party to music.

They don't give a fuck. I'm just being for real. And maybe that's how things would be if you live there for long enough but shit in the walking dead if you honk your horn they go hey you know what I'm saying

like what are you like what are you doing like relax and no those motherfuckers can see so it was just you know the only thing while watching the episode I'm like the scene

where Riley cuts the the mall on is beautiful. And it was so well shot dripping with life, how that place was dead. And it just came alive. It made me want to drive down Hollywood Boulevard. I'm serious. And like, look at all the lights.

Because when I first came out to L.A., I used to be like, oh, my God, I'm a country-ass nigga. I'm like, oh, my God, look at all the lights. You know what I mean? I really felt that way, bro. You've never done that. When you come to L.A.,

I'm going to ride you down Hollywood Boulevard at night so you can see all the lights and then we're going to ride down the strip and we're going to look down at LA and before you know it, the entourage theme is going to happen. Yeah, yeah. And then we're in that scene. Wait, I'm the Midnight Boys. Really, do it really quick. Of the Midnight Boys, who's who in Entourage?

I'm Ari. No, no, no, no. You're Vince. I'm definitely are. Are you fucking nuts? You're definitely Vince. I'm so Ari, bro. What do you mean?

I'm, I'm Ari, excuse me, your Vince. Oh, no, don't do that to me. I'm Ari, your Vince. Steve is definitely E. Steve is E. And Jomey is Turtle. And I'm actually probably a combination of Ari and drama. Like, I'm probably, I'm probably, a Drari.

Like, you definitely got to be Vince, the cool, disaffected. Talent, talent, big word Rolling Stone writer. You're definitely Vince, for sure. No,

I just watched Devil Wear Prada. I can't be that, man. Nah, is, is, is, but anyway, getting back to this episode,

the thing that I do agree with you, do you think that this show in terms of the infected is falling back on the one zombie trope too much, where at a certain point, like we all know a motherfucker is going to get,

bit. But I've seen this happen with Henry and Sam. We see this happen with Tess. We see this happen with Riley. There does become a point where I'm just like, yo, we got to like mix up the deaths a little bit more. Everybody can't because like it's telegraphed. I'm like, when I saw Riley, I was just like, yep, she's getting bit. Like that's just how the episode's going to end. Am I nitpicking a little bit too much or is that just what zombie shows are always going to be? I think that's what they're all going to be. And to a certain degree, it's our job to make a podcast about a show. And so we

rip it to shreds and put it under the microscope, look at the DNA, resequencing, and do all that stuff. So to a degree, it doesn't really affect it. But yeah, there's a, there's certain tropes in zombie land that you see coming from like a mile away zombie land. That's actually

a movie itself. Certain tropes, two movies, double tap. There's certain tropes in zombie fair that you see coming from a mile away. And there's no way around him. Like, you just can't like not do them. The only movie that was like a completely different view of zombie-esque

shit to me really was kind of World War Z. Can't watch it. I can't do the fat. I can't do fucking fast. Fass zombies are weird. Yeah. No, I can't do that shit. Fast zombies are tough, bro. They're terrifying. These quarter-step

zombies are pretty fucked too, man. I'm not going to lie. All right. One more nitpick. This is actually a nitpick. But like in this episode, I'm like, bro, this infected motherfucker might as well just be in the NBA. The way he was running and jumping. I'm like, God, damn. Like, is he a superhuman? I kind of felt bad for him.

I'm like, yeah, they're about to get fucked up. He looked like the Jonathan Majors cover before when he was like up against the wall. That was beautiful. And he was a part of the wall, bro. He was like a big mushroom. He was chilling. He really didn't want to hurt. He was asleep.

and they were, he's like, yo man, I envisioned him as someone who didn't want to attack. He's like, yo, is somebody fucking playing Mortal Kombat? Like what? There's no fucking way.

That's what piss me off. Be real. When Ellie was just like, I don't know how to play Mortal Kombat. I'm like, bruh, like the joystick, the fucking buttons are right there. It ain't that hard.

Just move left, move, punch, duck. What are we doing here? They were playing Mortal Kombat. Look, it is, I thought it was a brilliant, little dainty

love scene with a tragic ending. Storm Reed is great. She's a great young performer. I enjoyed it. I do think that if there's a criticism to be made about The Last of Us, is that there is not a,

not a ton of dramatic energy to its central narrative. Yeah. Like it gets to a point to where there are so many things that are more important than Joel getting Ellie to any one specific place. And that, I guess, to be honest with you, and we could go to Kai for this, is like a video game because in a video game, you'd have to have side quests and all this different stuff. And I wonder in the video game, which I've only. recently begun to play and haven't played it a lot if it feels like delivering Ellie is the most important thing or if some of the things that are happening on the side like in the other video game become like top of mind and in your faith.

So let's go to Kai's video game corner because what's interesting about this episode is that it's not in necessarily like the mainline game. This is a combination of a couple source material. So can you kind of walk the viewers behind the story of of Riley and this central narrative and how it fits into the larger Last of Us canon? So essentially it all stems from this 2013, four-issue comic run that was kind of coming out alongside the actual game called The Last of Us American Dreams,

which was written by Neil Druckman and kind of details the beginning of Ellie and Riley's friendship-turned relationship. And this episode specifically, though, is like how you alluded to. there's also DLC downloadable content called Left Behind, which is the title of the episode. And this episode is pretty much just pulls it directly from those events, where you kind of go back in time and you're playing as Ellie,

because this is at the point in the main game where you turn from playing as Joel to playing as Ellie, which is kind of a huge development. And then it swaps between the timeline of present day, Ellie, where you're searching for medicine for Joel, and then to Ellie with Riley in that mall. And that's where all of this episode comes from. Really quick, if we're going to be honest,

when she found the needle and thread, I was like, the Fedra education must have been fucking shit. Because I'm like, you can't, you don't got a lighter. We can't disinfect this shit. You ain't got no alcohol. You can't dip this in Joel's alcohol. When she was putting the dirty needle in there, I'm just like, bro, what are you doing?

He's going to die from that shit. Yeah, so this is kind of rough. I have a bone to pick with you, Kai. Oh, it's here. I love it. Lakers back-to-back 87-88 championship. You weren't even fucking thought about. I can't believe you got that hat on.

I used to have that shirt. My uncle gave me that. My uncle gave me a shirt with the Lakers and the Dodgers. It said L.A. is title time. It was during that time. Don't ever wear stuff from my ear. I got to call you out. I got to call you out, bro.

Last week, we missed something here on this podcast that everybody was talking about The fact that the girl that we might have saw in that town was Dina. Mm-hmm. Everybody was talking about it, but we weren't talking about it here on the Last of Us podcast. That's fair. Because I was like, we didn't talk about that on a video game corner. Wait, I'm assuming Dina from Last of Us 2, Part 2. Yeah, Last of us part 2.

All right. Here's the thing, though, if we did talk about that shit, everybody would be like, spoiler alert, spoiler alert, da-da-da-da-da. Listen, not to, not to, I'll take to me a copo, I'll take it. But it's like, I did not want to get too far ahead, you know, for if we're going to play devil's advocate a little bit. I didn't want to get too far ahead, elude anything to part two. Did you realize that as being her when you saw her? I had a good feeling.

And because there was no, like no one was talking about it at the point when we watched it, like, you know, I had no way to confirm it. But I was like, that was in my immediate gut for sure. I ain't going to hold y'all. They're doing black people dirty in this show, bro. How? Talk about it. All the black people die. Like, here's the thing.

If, like, somebody basseye eyelashes at you, I'm like, oh, you're not long for this world. Riley, I was just like, yeah, she's out of here. Joel's daughter, out of here. You know what? Like, it's getting rough. It's getting rough for our black brothers and sisters than last month. They do this in every show, bro. In every show where it's zombies, it's like the niggas replaced the zombies.

I'm serious. It's like the zombies replaced. It's like sometimes I. wonder if this zombie stuff is actually some type of suburban angst that white people have

about black people moving into their neighborhoods and all of that stuff because wherever zombies come, the first thing they do is snack on some niggas. So it's almost as if the zombies become, in a way, black people. We don't know what they're going to do. Wait, are you saying that

Bill didn't really build that fence to keep out the affected? It was to keep out the niggas. Bill had a don't tread on me for the hack. Bill, I'm sorry. I love Bill. Bill has some questionable politics, guys. There's no way. Think about it.

What was the last time you ever met a doomsday prep, you could kick it with? Like, you, there's like, a dooms they prepor that's like, oh, you know, that, you know what I'm saying? That fucking Black Lives Matter, I fuck with the ethos

of that. If Bill would have had a black, well, he wouldn't have had that, because it wasn't around. But you know, I don't go through Bill's bunker and see the autobiography of Malcolm X by Alicel. You're not going to see that. You don't know this. You don't know this.

You know, you know when Bill changed? Frank. Frank is down. For like, Frank is, like, Frank is, Frank is literally. Oh, Frank is waking up. Listen to NPR watching Rachel Maddow. He's like, come on.

Frank is front line of the protests. Are you with the cops? You let her go. Let her go. Let her go. Don't fucking touch, y'all. No justice, no peace. Bill?

No. Bill is having all kinds of questionable conversations. But yeah, so, but in every zombie situation, that's why we got a zombie movie coming. Little roles are reverse. Think about it. Where wouldn't the zombies want to be in the place where the environmental conditions aren't as good?

Where maybe people have not access to better foods and stuff like that. I have a whole movie. I do. I have a whole movie where the zombies don't even want us. And we rule in the new...

Just wait to easy. It's funny. It's funny. It's funny. Talking about funny, I want to give our man, Kai, a chance to redeem himself.

Last episode is not. So, I have a question for all of us. I'll start with you then, and then I'll go, and then we'll end with Kai. If you could pick one restaurant from a mall for the apocalypse,

Everything else is done, but endless supply. What would you pick, Van? I've never wanted Kai's answer on something more. I might have to plead the first. We're giving you time to think, Kai. I want to go, Van. You got one, you know what I'm saying, to pick? What would it be?

First of all, you guys, I hope everybody knows I was fucking with Kai. Nobody gives a fuck about the DNA thing. I just wanted to bring it up. Nobody gives a fuck. Nobody cares. It was good that she was. that she was there. I just didn't know, like, what the fuck it was.

I'm totally joking with kind. And it has to be some place that all you guys know, because it was this one place I used to go in Baton Rouge that was in the mall. But yeah, it got to be a shame. You got to be a chain. I got to be honest, bro. It sucks what it would be chick-fil-A.

It sucks what it would be chick-fil-A, man. I got to, like, if I'm being honest, guys. Really? Yeah, it sucks, but it would be Chick-fil-A. Look, I don't really go there, you know? But when I do go, I'm never disappointed. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, guys. Like, I'm sorry. It's just, I don't really go there. But when you do go and stuff, and think about it. In this situation, it would not be, there wouldn't really be to nobody for them to donate to. So it's like, maybe it's like a different thing. But it would probably be Chick-fil-A if I'm keeping it above, man. So Chick-fil-A is a problematic but good choice.

Don't judge me for this choice. I'm just thinking of this is the apocalypse. I think I got to go with the Panda Express. Just because... Oh, Jesus. Christ, that's terrible, Charles. How's that terrible? Charles, I can't fuck with the panda, bro.

Can I... Here's the thing. Can I pitch you on this? Sure. I'm not saying that this would be the best option quality of food-wise, but I'm trying to think of Chick-Billay is just like...

There's only so many ways to skin a chicken sandwich. The chicken sandwich is a chicken sandwich and you got the fries. You feel me? At least with the Panda Express, I could be like, all right, I'll have the Orange Chicken this Friday. Next Friday, I'll get the Loud Main. There's enough options where I could parcel it out. There's only so many, like, fries I can eat. I don't know, bro.

I mean, you do have vegetables at some vegetables at the Panda Express, but I haven't fucked with the Panda in years. I haven't eaten the Panda in years. I mean Panda Express with this Spotify I didn't think so before but it feels like now you down with the red Panda you know what I mean? I haven't eaten the Panda shout out of look

the Panda is a mother this is what happens when people get some money they start looking down at the shit that really got motherfuckusk facts I'm still on my Panda Express I know you are of course you are I know you are I know you are that's facts

one thing that I will be completely on me and calica have talked about this one thing that i will be completely is i don't eat no regular burger no more i'm just like i'm just like i'm just like i eat your burger that you got from your the burger is going to be my it's i've changed nigger i want high like like like it's it's i can't the the panda i can i can i can taste the the poverty you know what i mean i can like i can i can i can feel That is the only thing in terms of like food is different now. Trying to eat like a little Debbie cake, maybe like a month ago. It was so depressing.

Oh, fuck, I can't do that shit no more. It was so depressing just how not great the cake was. I went to this French bakery near the crib and I got a croissant and I put a little butter on it and I ate that motherfucker with some truffle. Different. different. I'm sorry. That's a fact. I want all the mail. Y'all can get mad at me, but that's real. Kai, what about you? Like, what are you going to? Kai, please, come on, bro. Like, come on. Where are you going to eat? So I got to be straight, first of all. I'm not lying. You guys took 1A, 1B for me. I was doing some research while you are talking because I was, man, man, man, I was doing some research while you are talking because I was, man, man, I got to go, Popeye's. Oh, shit, yeah, Kai to me. Because that's still good.

I didn't know, wait, I didn't know if Popeyes counted because I don't usually think of Popeyes is like, they're, I've seen them in spots. I've seen him like multiple times in different mall. I mean, maybe, I haven't, I haven't seen Popeyes in the mall here as much, but in Louisiana, there's narrowing the mall without a papas. Wait, that's actually not a bad choice.

Now, my second choice, would y'all fuck with some Auntie Ann's pretzels in the apocalypse? I haven't eaten it in a long time, but I used to like that a lot. The cinnamon and sugar, like, It's fantastic. Think about it. Come on, man.

You walk into that mall. You smell those pretzels. Okay, let me ask you this. A mall dessert spot. You have to have a dessert spot too. Ooh. Fuck. I don't want to just jump to Mrs. Fields.

It's Mrs. Fields. It's, so Cineabon. Okay. Oh, not Cineabon. Cineabon. Oh, Cineabon. It's crazy, dog. Cinevon is great.

I got my tini's getting bigger just thinking about it. Like, br, bro, I still fuck with Cineabon. I'm like, Cinebond is crazy, bro. Cineobot, like a Cinebond. I can't do Cineabon, man. I can't, like, stop, bro. I haven't had Cineabon in years. No, no.

Here's the thing, I love Cineabon. That would be my choice. But as an adult, just knowing what it will do to my body. Like, come on, man. Bro, we are way off the cuff. We're going to stay here for one second as we're going to get back to the last of us. To all of the kids, I'm 42. So all of the kids out there that tell me, like, what's the worst thing about getting older?

Really, there's not really anything bad about getting older. Like, I'm not to the old, old points where it's like whatever. Really, everything is pretty dope, except for one thing. Just your stomach and shit just changes. Yeah. I used to be able to, like, I used to love a crispy cream. Like, I eat one crispy cream now, and my toes start tingling. Like, I can't even handle one.

I used to love I used to sit down and house crispy creams You know what I'm saying Mash them up Big thing of milk Eat just going nuts Now you eat one

And it's like God damn I shouldn't have done that So here's the thing Muffolkers don't tell you When you get older You can't even have that sugary cereal anymore first thing in the morning I can't have like cinnamon toast crunch in the morning

Like none of that shit I have to eat like a piece of toast I don't know what we're talking about Yeah it is a depressing pressing Kai Kai still wakes up in the morning Hey Hey

this is Kai This is Kai in the morning guys Oh I have sugar snacks What are out of sugar smacks? What do you eat in the morning Kai? Be honest, don't like

He eats some sugar smacks He really won't put me on blast again He has a flash onesie Pop tarts Pop tarts are the go-to See what I'm saying? You eat pop tarts? You eat pop tarts?

I haven't had a pop tart in here, bro. Bro. I tried with a Pop-Tart. It fucked my world up. It is like, it's like just frost it on top with the sugar and shit. I can't even fucking do it. And then you like, you like a Pop-Tarts still, don't you, Kai?

I love Pop-Tarts. Can't lie. How old are you, Kai? I'm 24, just turned 24. Yeah, all right, you got like, you got six more years. Yeah, I think, I think Kai will be good to 32. Hmm. Why?

I was good to like 30. 30 maybe. And then I had to change. You know what I'm saying? I started eating a lot of kale and whatnot. I think Kai, I think Kyle will be on the panda until about 32. I'll take it. If I can get that far, let's do it.

Kai, once, when you call me back with you 30. I'm going to get you, like, eating right. Call you back. Appreciate that. You'll be working for him. Kai's fucking going. Come on. What are you talking about?

Like, you know, like, Kyle is a professional 24-year-old. Not true. No, for real. Like, I. I think Kai is being mentored by Palpatine. Like, Guy is like, like, Kai is like on his way, man. Hey, have a good podcast. I appreciate it.

Kai is by far the most mature person of the three of us on this podcast. Oh, absolutely. Guys, I was just like, are we, all right, guys, we're recording today and here's the link. Thank you so much, gentlemen. I'll see you soon. Anyway, we need to get back to last of us. Last thing I want to talk about is I have to give a shout out, emotionally speaking. The end of this episode broke me in terms of like when they both think that they're going to die when Ellie or Riley,

and Riley's just trying to be like, yo, we got two, we got three options and she can't even get the third option out. That's when the episode went from like, this is all right to just like, okay, this is why I love the last bus. But that was heartbreaking, man. How did that make you feel, man, at then? It wasn't obviously the scene when Ellie showed her wound didn't have very much weight. It had weight in terms of the way they were feeling at that time, but you knew she was going. it'll be okay. But when Riley lifts up and you can see the wound on her hand, and you know that that's her fate, that's kind of what the show does well. Like each of these shows is like its own little life. It has its own little life cycle. You get the beginnings of something. You get this thrived. You get this thriving. middle where people are alive and they're in love.

And love is essential theme and all of this stuff. They're alive. They're in love. They're vibrant. And then you get what we all have at the end is that we all have a fate. And in this world, the fate is a lot more frightening. It seems to be a lot more imminent sometimes. And it seems to be in a lot of ways as inescapable.

as our fates are right now. And we sort of watched that happen to both of them. And to have two kids there with no guidance, there was no strong male voice, there was no Joel, there was no Tommy, there was no sergeant from Fedra. No Marlene, no one. No Marlene, no one.

Two kids left to ponder what you do in a situation like that. Heartbreaking, really scary, really well done. Yeah. That is the perfect place to end this. Shout out the Pop-Tart Maestro, Kai, for producing us. Thank you to my co-host, Van, for teaching all of y'all that while you're young.

Make sure you eat all the crispy creams possible because it's downhill from here. I've been Charles Holmes. And this has been the last of us on TV. We'll see y'all next week. Be-boo! Be-boo!