A Bloater is hiding beneath Perry and Kathleen’s basement in The Last of Us episode 4.
It is one of several varieties of Infected in The Last of Us.
The episode 5 preview trailer, which showed the Bloater enveloped in flames charging at the camera, confirmed this.
Fans have most certainly been waiting for the Bloater to come for quite some time. Joel and Ellie have already encountered one in the game before being ambushed in the city.
While we don’t know for sure, it’s extremely likely that this Bloater will bring down Kathleen, Kansas City’s mayor.
Table of Contents
“The Last Of Us” (Episode 4): Who Is Hiding Beneath The Ground?
Kathleen and Perry discover a hideout utilized by Sam and Henry in the newest episode, which takes them to the basement.
Perry appeared worried about what he saw in the basement and demanded that Kathleen see it as well. When they open the door, viewers discover the entire ground covered with fractures and something massive moving beneath it.
Perry and Kathleen become terrified as they notice the movement beneath the floor growing more forceful than ever.
They exit the room and shut the door. Perry is aware that the creature lurking beneath the fractured floor is anxious to emerge, and that if it does, it will spell disaster for everyone.
Perry wants everyone to know about it, but Kathleen isn’t ready for it since she doesn’t want them to get paranoid and harm their morale.
We are certain, based on what we observed in that moment, that we are moving closer to seeing our first glimpse of the Bloaters. Bloaters, for the uninitiated, are a type of infection that has been operating as a host for Cordyceps for over two decades.
Because they’ve been sick for so long, their entire body is now covered in a hardened fungal plate, making them more difficult to destroy.
What Do The Hunters Do With The Bloaters?
However, this begs the question of why the Bloater is beneath the basement and what the Hunters know about it.
While it is possible that the Hunters – a much deeper-explored faction in The Last of Us game – imprisoned it beneath the ground as a potential weapon to use against adversaries, Kathleen and Perry most likely caged it to keep their people safe.
This would explain their fear of the Bloater’s possible escape, as the Bloater escaping whatever constraints it is held in might endanger their life in the Kansas City QZ.
What this signifies for The Last of Us is that it could lead to a climactic action sequence involving the Bloater.
While the game had multiple Bloater boss fights, HBO’s The Last of Us already dodged one with Bill’s story twists in episode 3, implying that co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann likely want to retain the Bloater as a single threat to make it feel more serious.
This menace might be seen in The Last of Us episode 5, with the Bloater wreaking havoc as a third force opposing both the Hunters and Joel, Ellie, Henry, and Sam.
Also Read: Freeridge (Season 1): Review Of Episode 6 “Revenge”, Filming Location Explored!
“The Last Of Us”: Facts And Trivia
- Kathleen’s resistance is a brand-new feature of the show. We knew nothing about the individuals organized in Pittsburgh in the game, other than that they effectively overthrew the federal military.
- Through Kathleen’s eyes, we observe their hardship and struggle, as she suffered immensely under military control. This feels comparable to the second game’s characterisation of the Wolves military, and offers some early welcome dimension to how humans in other cities respond to military authority.
- Henry and Sam are also introduced in a unique manner. In the game, Henry strikes Joel after mistaking him for a member of the violent resistance. Seeing Ellie convinces him that he is not one of the “evil guys.”
- Here, the two brothers gain the jump on both Joel and Ellie, and we still don’t know what their motivations are. This is undoubtedly the season’s poorest ending shot, but at least the audience is rewarded with warmer, more relaxed moments between our two characters.
- Ellie’s discovery of aspects of the old world is filled with wonder. She eats canned ravioli and says Chef Boyardee “was good.” When Joel becomes annoyed by her inability to read a map, she retorts that it’s her second day in a car.
- For the first half of the show, Joel is our driving protagonist, but Ellie is the audience’s surrogate in understanding this universe.
“The Last Of Us” (Episode 4): Reviews
Following The Last of Us’ show-stopping “Long Long Time,” episode 4 titled “Please Hold My Hand” refocuses on Joel and Ellie’s westward journey and introduces a new character who may force the show’s story to stray from the game’s in other exciting ways.
The episode begins with Ellie pointing her illegally obtained revolver into a mirror in an abandoned gas station, a tragic juxtaposition that sets the tone for what follows.
Her posture says “Taxi Driver,” but her lips says “Pew pew,” which tells us everything. She’s a tough kid…but still a kid.
Throughout the program, this dichotomy is conveyed. The gun serves as a through line in this scene, signifying the violence and brutality Joel appears to wish to protect or at least prepare Ellie for.
Ellie’s joke book is another thing that serves as a metaphorical through line, emphasizing that she’s growing on Joel and that he no longer sees her as “cargo”—he’s starting to care about her.
Aside from Joel and Ellie getting up to each other, the episode’s other major issue is the appearance of a new set of survivors who are just as dangerous as the fungus folk.
Joel and Ellie being assaulted in Kansas City (which has been altered from Pittsburgh in the game) and smashing their pickup into a laundry is an homage to a notable experience from the PlayStation classic, but what happens next is novel.
Ellie saves Joel’s ass with the gun she snuck, and instead of slamming into her for lying, he just demands that she hand over the rifle. Later, he instructs her how to properly handle it. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s performances are nuanced, especially in these passages, and the material allows their eyes, body language, and demeanor to convey the story.
It’s encouraging to see Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann having the bravery to add a new character like Kathleen to the original plot. Because she’s so entwined with Henry from the start, it’ll be intriguing to watch if the brothers’ fortunes differ from their game counterparts’.
So far, the developments surrounding Kathleen and her gang haven’t been as as compelling as Bill and Frank’s, but there’s still time to see how Kathleen affects events moving ahead.
The episode’s last minutes provide some insight into Joel and Ellie’s pasts. Joel almost admits to killing innocent people in order to survive in the years since the breakout, and he doesn’t want that for Ellie.
“It’s not fair to have to cope with all of this at your age,” he mumbles, the most compassionate and fatherly thing he’s spoken to her yet. When he recalls her saying she’s wounded people, she refuses to discuss it.
The show’s approach to constructing Joel and Ellie’s relationship, brick by brittle brick, is brilliant. You can feel the attraction between them developing, but you know they’re both haunted by visions from their past that they’ll never be able to shake.
With Kathleen and her people added to the mix, the spark appears to be ignited for an explosive fifth episode, with Henry and Sam placing guns to their heads to conclude the show.
Read More: Kokdu: Season of Deity (Season 1) Release Date And Preview Of Episode 3, Cast, Plot
