ONE
Fireworks. People chanting and celebrating in the street. FEDRA is defeated, its officers shot, and the Resistance owns the city. (This is a flashback.) Henry and Sam hide from the searchlights and communicate with sign language.
TWO
A jail enclosure filled with people. Kathleen, Perry guarding her, enters and sits. These are the FEDRA snitches. With her sweet, girlish voice, Kathleen promises them a trial (where they’ll be found guilty) and some time served if they tell her where Henry is. When she threatens to shoot them, someone implicates the doctor. Kathleen insists Perry go door-to-door until Henry’s found. And the snitches, even the one who talked, should be shot and burned.
Henry and Sam enter a building. Random gunfire can be heard outside. They find the attic hidey-hole where the doctor waits. (Kathleen shoots him at the beginning of the previous episode.) Henry calculates they have enough supplies for 11 days. In that time they need to figure out an escape route.
THREE
To calm Sam, Henry comes to see what he’s drawing on his Magic Slate Paper Saver. (Yes, I had to google the official name of this well-known toy.) It’s Super Sam, wearing a heroic mask. Henry gives him a bag of crayons so he can decorate the brick walls.
FOUR
Dissolve to Ten Days Later. The walls are covered with drawings. Sam is hungry. The doctor hasn’t returned. They’re going to have to leave the attic and find food. For bravery, Henry paints a red mask on Sam’s face.
As they prepare to sneak out of the building, squealing tires and gunfire are heard by Henry. They are directly across the street from the Laundromat, and Joel is engaging the Resistance. Henry signs to Sam, “New plan.”
Nighttime, and Henry and Sam come up the stairs. Glass crunches, and Henry warns Sam that it’s noisy. He gives Sam a gun and shows him how to hold it. In they go.
Cut to where we left off last episode, with Ellie waking Joel. Henry has his gun on Ellie, but he wants to cooperate. Joel uses his “asshole voice”, as Ellie calls it, but Henry decides to trust them and signs to Sam. Joel’s face changes when he sees their relationship.
They sit around a camp light and share jerky. Ellie introduces herself, knocking Joel’s leg so he’ll be friendly. Joel wants to be done with them, but Henry has an escape plan they all can use.
SWITCH
Daytime, and they survey the city from high up. Henry and Joel negotiate. Joel won’t work with FEDRA rats. Henry admits he pointed an unloaded gun at him and has no skill with violence. Henry says, “I show the way, you clear the way.”
FIVE
They look over to see Ellie and Sam giggling together. Joel can’t say “no” now.
We have a team.
The only way out of Kansas City and past Kathleen’s Resistance army is maintenance tunnels. The catch? FEDRA drove all infected underground 15 years ago and never let them back up. But FEDRA also cleared out the tunnels, or so Henry was told.
The team enters the bank building, which will be their access point underground. Joel tells Ellie to get out her gun. Their flashlight beams show empty tunnel passages and water dripping from overhead pipes. They find a doorway painted with kindergarten school artwork. Sam smiles, and they enter. Little chairs and low tables, toys and games. It’s an abandoned settlement. Sam and Ellie find a comic book from a series they both love. She slowly mouths its motto — “endure and survive” — and Sam signs along, teaching her.
While the kids play, Joel and Henry watch. Joel apologizes for his FEDRA comment. Henry shares his story. Sam had leukemia and FEDRA had a limited supply of the drug he needed. In exchange, Henry gave them “a great man” and head of the Resistance, Kathleen’s brother. (Powerful scene between the two men.)
Outside in the street, the Resistance continues to search. Perry finds Kathleen in her childhood bedroom, now dilapidated. He reports that they’ve found neither Henry nor the stranger. Kathleen reminisces about her brother. “He was so beautiful.” He wanted her to forgive Henry. She, Kathleen says, is no Michael. The Resistance, Perry responds firmly, is with her. (Another great scene.)
Our team emerges from the tunnels at night. They’re on the other side of the Resistance perimeter. No one’s around while they walk through a deserted neighborhood. Ellie invites Henry to come with them to Wyoming. Gunfire sends them hiding. It’s a sniper. Joel sneaks around to the back of the house, dodging bullets. Upstairs, Joel finds an old man who won’t surrender. It’s shoot or be shot. Afterward, as Joel inspects the rifle, Kathleen’s voice comes over a walkie-talkie: They’re almost there.
In the street, Ellie and Henry hear engines coming and Sam sees the lights. They run out of the way while Joel starts sniping. A plow bulldozes everything in the road; Joel shoots the driver, and the truck veers into a house and explodes.
Kathleen and the Resistance walk closer. Henry calls out to let the kids go and he’ll surrender. Kathleen says no, giving a speech about one child not being worth everything else. Henry steps out, hands up, and Kathleen racks her handgun.
A noise. The truck that crashed into the house sinks front end down. A rumbling . . . and then about a thousand infected rush out of the hole. The Resistance shoots at them. Henry returns to the kids.
Infected come for them. As they run, Joel snipes the chasing monsters. Mayhem ensues.
As Perry protects Kathleen, a beast of a clicker comes from the sinkhole. It takes him out.
A (very scary) clicker child tumbles into the car where Ellie hides. Ellie climbs out only to see Henry and Sam trapped under a car, infected everywhere. Joel clears the way for her. She stabs clickers in the neck while Joel keeps shooting. As they run for the woods, free, Kathleen stops them. A beat, while she looks at them, then a clicker child launches at her back and tears her apart. Joel herds the team quickly away. Kansas City is no longer occupied by humans.
In a quiet house, Joel and Henry recover while Ellie reads a comic book to Sam in the next room. The men share a moment. Joel formally invites Henry to join them. He accepts.
SIX
Ellie continues to read and mime in the bedroom. Sam stops her and writes on his Magic Slate, “Are you ever scared?” They write back and forth. “I’m scared of ending up alone,” Ellie says. Sam writes, “If you turn into a monster is it still you inside?”
SEVEN
He shows her the bite on his leg. A beat, then Ellie shows her healed arm. “My blood is medicine.” She cuts her palm and holds it against his wound. (Wrenching scene, beautifully acted.)
EIGHT
Morning. Ellie’s fallen asleep in the chair. Sam faces away from her toward the window. When she touches his shoulder, he turns and attacks. They tumble from the bedroom, waking the men.
With no time to think or decide, Henry shoots Sam.
He hyperventilates, realizing what he’s done and why. Joel tries to coax the gun away, but it’s too much. Henry shoots himself.
NINE
Joel and Ellie bury them. Ellie lays the Magic Slate on the grave. She’s written: I’m Sorry.
Grieving, they silently walk toward the west.
CRITICAL NOTES
I’m basing the Three/Six on the Magic Slate. (How could I not?) Sam is scared at these moments. I love the visceral quality of the plastic sheet zipping the writing clean and the sound of the stylus hitting the cardboard.
The Eight is devastating. I’ve noted the action moments. The screenwriter chose key beats and then stepped away. The production — acting, directing, editing — stitched those beats into a tapestry. This is, in my opinion, the best process a movie team can practice. What they’ve made from that trust and artistry is too beautiful to describe. I’ve done my best to stay out of the way and keep it simple.