Spoiler warning for episode five of The Last of Us.HBO’sThe Last of Usbroke tradition on Friday by airing episode five a few days early. That’sso the show didn’t conflict with the Super Bowl, which typically takes the vast majority of TV viewers every second Sunday in February. And it seems that might have been a smart move as episode five is now the highest-rated episode of the whole series.
“Endure and Survive"has a 9.6 rating on IMDB so far. That’s higher than both the first and second episodes introducing the show, and even higher than episode four, “Please Hold to My Hand,” which causeda 14-percent spike in viewers last week. Episode three, “Long, Long Time,” which centered on the relationship between Bill and Frank, only has a 7.9 ratingdue to homophobic review bombers.
Related:One Scene In The Last Of Us Episode Five Required 65 Prosthetic Artists And Five Hours Of Prep Time
Episode five largely dealt with Henry and Sam, two brothers trying to survive the apocalypse. The events of the show differ slightly from the events in the game, although both still featured a scene where a sniper tries to kill both them and Ellie and Joel. Cornered in a cul-de-sac by revolutionaries, the group is “saved” by a wave of infected that attack the bandits and allow Ellie, Joel, Henry, and Sam to escape, but not before Sam gets bitten by an infected.
The culmination of the episode largely follows the game, which gets pretty emotional.
“Endure and Survive” is perhaps The Last of Us' most technically demanding episode yet.It took five hours and 65 prosthetic artiststo create the wave of infected for episode five,with one 6'6” stuntman needing to put on an 88-pound (40 kg) costumeto play the role of the terrifying bloater. There were also 15 clickers and 60 generic infected running around, biting and clawing and generally spreading the tendrils that would create more infected.
The next episode will be back to our regularly scheduled Sundays starting February 19. In the meantime, enjoy the Super Bowl.
