Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Episode 4: “Please Hold My Hand.”
It’s not long now before HBO drops The Last of Us‘ fifth episode, “Endure and Survive,” two days earlier than their scheduled programming so as to not compete with the Super Bowl viewership on Sunday night. In last week’s episode, “Please Hold My Hand,” we saw Joel and Ellie crash their truck into a laundromat in Kansas City, where they were subsequently ambushed by a group of raiders operating in the area, led by an original character known as Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey). During the commotion, Joel and Ellie come across another minor character, Bryan, portrayed by Mexican-American actor Juan Magana. Even in such a short amount of time, Magana’s performance is winning the hearts of many and breaking the hearts of some.
At some point, after FEDRA was overthrown by Kathleen’s revolution, Bryan joined the group and acted as a lookout for any trespassers. Bryan was among the ambush squad that attacked Joel and Ellie, managing to flank Joel and grapple him from behind. Bryan almost strangled Joel to death, but while he was choking Joel with his rifle, Ellie shot Bryan with her pistol. Joel and Ellie have a brief exchange, during which Bryan pleas for his life and urges that he made a mistake and that they could “be friends” to trade supplies. Having made up his mind, Joel demands that Ellie “go back behind the wall” and shield her eyes from what he was about to do. In the moments that follow, Joel kills Bryan with his own knife as we hear his agonized screams off-screen.
Apparently, despite playing an extremely minor role in the grand scheme of the show, Magana has attracted the attention of viewers everywhere. In fact, some are even claiming that Magana played a more pivotal role in Joel’s character development than we even realized at first.
The merciless killing of Bryan paints Joel in a rather unflattering light, particularly in regard to his beliefs in humanity and his overall morality. It speaks to the brutality of Joel’s composure and the lengths he will go to not only protect himself and a select few but also establishes him as a very real, very lethal threat. Perhaps Bryan’s short stint explores Joel’s lack of empathy in a harsher way than most, but it does an excellent job of making us, the audience, feel sympathy for someone like Bryan, who’s realistically no different than Joel.
A few Redditors weighed in on Magana’s performance, even pulling comments that showrunner Craig Mazin has made about the human condition and how Joel disregards human life without remorse. Mazin makes a valid point — outlined below — about how gamers will indulge in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us while reloading at every checkpoint and gunning down hundreds of foes in the hours-long playthrough, eventually viewing FEDRA, the Infected, and anyone else as nothing more than obstacles to overcome. On the other hand, HBO’s rendition hammers home how significant it really is to take another person’s life with your own hands, speaking to the hard-hitting reality of this apocalyptic world and what one must do to survive.
Of course, it wouldn’t be The Last of Us without some good old feuding. This whole discussion of Joel and Bryan actually allowed the Joel/Abby debate to resurface. When The Last of Us: Part II first came out, there was an abundance of hate for Abby, the antagonist of Ellie’s story. So much hate, in fact, that Laura Bailey, Abby’s voice and motion capture model, started receiving death threats. We won’t go too far into detail with that whole fiasco, but it’s essentially double standards to find Joel guilty of murdering Bryan unnecessarily but justified in killing Jerry, Abby’s father. This argument thereby nullifies Abby’s right to revenge and paints her as nothing more than a villain deserving of death.
That whole debate is ridiculous, really, but get a fandom riled up and it’ll rear its ugly head. Back to the matter at hand: Excellent work, Juan. We salute you.
Published: Feb 10, 2023 02:47 pm