The Last of Us episode 4 begins with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) trying to practice using her gun without Joel (Pedro Pascal) knowing about it. This will come into play later in the episode. Ellie and Joel continue their journey west and make a pitstop for the night. They eat 20-year-old Chef Boyardee ravioli, and Ellie’s never heard of this culinary delicacy before.
The next morning, Ellie smells something foul. Nothing is rotting. It’s just coffee. She tells Joel that coffee “smells like burnt s**t.” The audacity!
When they’re on the road again, Ellie asks Joel about Tommy. Joel says his brother is a “joiner” and has always dreamed of becoming a hero. Before the outbreak, Tommy served in Desert Storm. After the outbreak, Tommy convinced Joel to join a group. That’s where they met Tess. Tommy eventually met Marlene, who talked him into joining the Fireflies. Joel calls Tommy and Fireflies “delusional.” Apparently, Tommy has quit the Fireflies and now Joel has to go find him.
Joel and Ellie begin driving through an abandoned city when someone drops a cinderblock on the truck. A young man begs them to stop. Others suddenly begin shooting at the truck. More shots are fired after Joel and Ellie crash. A man attacks Joel and begins strangling him. Joel is about to be a goner when Ellie shoots the man to save Joel.
The young man, whose name is Brian, immediately backs down. He begins to cry and begs them to take him to his mom. Joel takes the gun away from Ellie. Joel prepares to shoot Brian when Brian tosses him his knife. Joel orders Ellie to go behind the wall so she won’t see what he’s about to do. Ellie never hears a gunshot, but Brian suddenly stops crying. She wipes a few tears from her eyes.
Elsewhere, a woman named Kathleen, played by Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey, interrogates a doctor in a cell. She believes this doctor knows where this mysterious Henry is. “This has gone too far,” the doctor says. He swears he never told “them” anything about Kathleen’s brother. Kathleen and Henry clearly have beef. He’s still in the city, and she’s on the hunt to find him.
Kathleen’s interrogation is cut short by horns outside. She thinks Henry is responsible for what happened to Brian. “This is Henry’s work,” she says. Kathleen walks back inside and shoots the doctor. She wants to find every collaborator and kill them all. Meanwhile, Joel and Ellie are trying to stay under the radar close by. Joel knows they’re running out of time.
Joel takes a moment to ask Ellie if she’s okay. He clearly feels terrible that she had to resort to violence to protect him. “I know what it’s like the first time you hurt someone like that,” he says. He wishes she didn’t have to save him. “I’m sorry,” he tells Ellie. She wipes more tears from her eyes. “It wasn’t my first time,” she admits. As a result of what happened, Joel teaches Ellie how to use a gun properly.
Kathleen is shown what appears to be Henry’s hideout. There are cans of food and drawings. She knows that Henry won’t let Sam starve. She orders the guard to protect the provisions. Henry and Sam can’t be far. The guard then takes Kathleen to another room downstairs. The floor is cracked and begins moving. Kathleen says to seal off the building for now. She’ll deal with it later.
Ellie and Joel start moving again. They climb several sets of stairs to find safety. She asks him if he’s killed innocent people before. Joel pauses and doesn’t answer. They find a place to sleep for the night. This time, he asks her about when she said she’d hurt people before. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Ellie says quietly. Joel tells her that she doesn’t have to but says it isn’t fair that she’s had to do it at her age. Ellie makes a joke to lighten the mood. They both laugh.
They fall asleep, but Ellie wakes up Joel in the night. She’s being held at gunpoint. When he turns over, a kid with red paint across his eyes has a gun pointed at him. The boy motions for Joel to be quiet.