‘The Last Of Us’ Season 1 Episode 7 Non-Spoiler Review – “Left Behind”

Tonight’s episode of Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s post-apocalyptic drama television program, The Last of Us, introduces us to Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) first love of her life, Riley (guest star Storm Reid). Following last weekend’s sixth episode, the series continues the three-part winter section of the 2013 video game series, this time adapting the supplemental downloadable content (DLC) featuring the two female characters.

The seventh episode of the series’ premiere season is titled, “Left Behind”. It is written for television by Neil Druckmann and directed by Liza Johnson (Barry, Silicon Valley, What We Do in the Shadows, The Sex Lives of College Girls).

In this review, I will be discussing The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 7. There will be no spoilers present, as the title of this article suggests. Nonetheless, please read ahead at your own discretion as I will discuss some character developments and some references to the source material, i.e., the 2013 video game.

Please note that I have seen all nine episodes of this first season at least twice each ahead of the season’s release.

The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 7 Synopsis

According to WarnerBrothers Discovery, here is the synopsis for The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 7–“Left Behind”.

TBA

Discussion

Despite its 55-and-a-half runtime, tonight’s The Last of Us offers as much as it can, and so it has some highs and some lows. In its adaptation of “Left Behind”, what is new that we do not get in the video game is the protagonist Ellie’s (Ramsey) background at the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA) military school. The character, like her close friend Riley (Reid), is a fighter and is her own person, taking nothing from anybody. It isn’t necessarily that they are troublemakers, but as young adults, they just do not know any better.

At this point in the season, The Last of Us has cut down on the amount of Infected it includes. Compared to the small horde that chases the girls in the DLC, this episode only features one. In doing so, it minimizes the horror and drama that came with it. As for the exploration of the QZ’s mall, there is not much movement from the girls and we just see cut tos from scene to scene.

Of course, what continues to lend some life to this episode is Santaolalla and Fleming’s scoring and Klean and Broucek’s supervision. I commend Greenspan and Hofmeijer for successfully including songs by Etta James and A-ha into the soundtrack.

Appearances Matter

What makes the episode as good as it appears deals with Sereda et al’s camerawork and Paino’s set design team to provide us with their version of the Boston quarantine zone mall from the video game. From FEDRA Captain Kwong’s (guest star Terry Chen) military school office, Ellie and Riley’s shared bedroom, and the mall, this entire flashback episode has something good going for it.

I highly appreciate Healy et al’s set decoration of the girls’ room to display Ellie’s love for science–including dinosaurs and outer space. The room includes an A-ha and an Etta James music tape off to the side in one frame. On a wall are a drawing of a Triceratops and a poster of the moon and its different lunar phases. On a bedside table is the first volume of Will Livingston’s No Pun Intended, Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros.’ Innerspace–directed by Joe Dante–, and more.

Easter Eggs

Savage Starlight Issue No. 8–“Negentropy” appears in Ellie and Riley’s bedroom. The graphic novel was previously featured in The Last of Us Episode 105 inside a room where Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) and two others hide.

A-ha’s hit song “Take on Me” plays in the background of the episode when Ellie and Riley enter the mall. This song is a huge reference to Ellie and Joel’s love for music in The Last of Us Part II. It is also a huge theme present in the video game series–the characters taking on the world as if everything is working against them.

Dawn of the Wolf Part 2 is featured as a poster and as a film that played at the mall’s movie theater right when the Cordyceps outbreak happened. This was a little Easter Egg found in The Last of Us Part II, although as of now, it may mean nothing.

Mortal Kombat II makes an appearance twice in the episode, once as a poster and a second time as an arcade game. The video game previously appeared in The Last of Us Episode 103, albeit no power was available to turn the game on. In the DLC video game, Ellie and Riley played with a ruined generic fighting arcade game, and they had to imagine that they played characters who fought one another.

The Crew Behind The Last of Us

The Last of Us is created for television by Mazin and Druckmann.

Greg Spence and Cecil O’Connor serve as the producers of the series. Jacqueline Lesko is the co-executive producer. Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Evan Wells (Naughty Dog), Rose Lam (Schmigadoon!), Carolyn Strauss, Druckmann, and Mazin are the executive producers.

Ksenia Sereda serves as the cinematographer for the episode. Roger Vernon does additional photography.

Timothy A. Good and Emily Mendez are the editors. Timothy A. Kuper, Ben Cook, and Andrew McGivney are the assistant editors.

Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain) scores the music for the episode, with David Fleming doing additional scoring. Jake Staley and Juan Luqui do additional music for the episode. Michael J. Benavente is the supervising sound supervisor. Christopher Battaglia and Chris Terhune serve as sound designers.

Evyen J. Klean (Game of Thrones, Watchmen, Euphoria, Scenes from a Marriage, Peacemaker, House of the Dragon) and Ian Broucek (Peacemaker, Orphan: First Kill) are the music supervisors. Maarten Hofmeijer serves as the music editor. From PlayStation Studios, Scott Hanau serves as the score supervisor. Andrew Buresh, Anthony Caruso, and Scott Bergstrom do the music engineering and editing. Evan M. Greenspan does the music licensing for the show.

Victoria Thomas is the casting director for the episode. Corinne Clark and Jennifer Page are the Canadian casting directors for the episode. Megan Bayliss serves as the Canadian casting associate. Elizabeth Brown is a casting associate. Alyson Lockwood is the extras casting director. Isabel Barker is the cast assistant.

Denton Edge serves as the stunt double for Joel, while Taryn Roberts is the stunt double for Ellie. Victoria Goodman is the stunt double for Riley. Jim Sinclair is the Infected man stunt double.

Colin Lorimer is credited as the storyboard artist for the episode.

Aesthetics

John Paino serves as the production designer. Don Macaulay is the supervising art director.

Andrew Moreau is the art director for the episode. Hitoshi Okamoto, Nathan Blackie, Matt Vest, Oshy Parasol, and Marie Massolin serve as the assistant art directors.

Kyle White (The X-Files, Crazy Rich Asians, The Predator, Snake Eyes), Angie Rae, Amanda Nicholson (Wynonna Earp), Austin Wang (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Always Be My Maybe, The Man in the High Castle, Snake Eyes, Pachinko), Shannon McArthur (The Magicians, The Stand), Melanie Viger (Supergirl), and Michael Erickson (Once Upon a Time, Falling Skies, The Flash, Supergirl) are the set designers for the episode. Paul Healy is the set decorator. Alan McCullagh, Alexandra M. Lingnau, and Jason Coxworthy are the assistant set decorators.

Cynthia Ann Summers is the costume designer for the series. Kelsey Chobotar and Rebecca Toon are the assistant costume designers.

Chris Glimsdale is the head of the hair department. Penny Lea Thompson serves as the key hairstylist. Courtney Ullrich is Pedro Pascal’s personal hairstylist.

Connie Parker is the head of the makeup department. Joanna Mireau (Peacemaker) is the key makeup artist.

Joel Whist is the special effects supervisor. Alex Wang is the visual effects supervisor. Sean Nowlan is the VFX producer. Luke Botteron is the VFX editor. Baljot Bhatti and Ryan Faulkner are the VFX assistant editors.

The Cast of The Last of Us

Bella Ramsey portrays Ellie. Pedro Pascal portrays Joel Miller.

Storm Reid (Euphoria, The Invisible Man) guest stars as Riley, Ellie’s first crush and best friend in the Boston quarantine zone. Terry Chen (Almost Famous, Snakes on a Plane, The Cabin in the Woods, Bates Motel, Jessica Jones) portrays FEDRA Captain Kwong.

Ian Rozylo (Man of Steel, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Man in the High Castle, Altered Carbon, Batwoman) co-stars as an Infected man in the Boston QZ mall. Ruby Lybbert plays Bethany, one of Ellie and Riley’s peers at FEDRA military academy.

Performances and Character Developments

Ramsey continues to show viewers how excellent they can be in the role of Ellie. Their scenes with Reid as Riley are really good, especially noting their dynamics in the video game. Even though this flashback is meant to take place prior to the present-day 2023 events of the pilot, Ramsey seems to have solidified Ellie to a science very well. I also appreciate how the character interacts with other people that isn’t Joel or people that he knows. More so, I love how her face lights up with glee and joy whenever she is with Riley, and this might be the only time in her life she has experienced immense happiness. With the carousel ride, the video games, and the Halloween masks, this could be peak Ellie for the season.

Reid’s Riley is portrayed as a character who is taller and two or three years older than Ellie. The actor has made the character her own. I love the juxtaposition of her yearning for a family of her own and Ellie’s being content with just being with Riley. There is also a scene where the two girls are window-shopping and Riley talks about her imagining what Ellie would look like in certain clothing. Along with the bottle of booze that they take with them, there seems to be a transition in them from girlhood to womanhood.

Ellie and Riley’s exploration of the mall was better in the video game, especially with them on the run from multiple Infected. At the very least, I would have liked to see what ultimately became of Riley and how Ellie was discovered by the Fireflies. Unfortunately, that does not happen, and we are left to wonder about that transition.

Final Thoughts on The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 7

“Left Behind” is adapted pretty well in a lot of areas. Even though it has the runtime that it has, I would have liked to see a story where the girls are in the mall longer. What made the DLC as long as it was had to be the dramatic time it took with Ellie to find supplies for Joel’s wound, her defending him from mall intruders, along with her time with Riley. I believe Ellie taking Joel to a neighborhood was a wiser narrative decision than bringing him to some random mall.

Ultimately, this episode is about the liminal process of life and the people that are left behind so that others–in this case, Ellie–can literally become the last of this world’s survivors. The inclusion of “Take on Me” is a good setup for what we get in the future season(s) of the series. Personally, this is not my favorite episode of the season, however, I do admire the storytelling decisions that were made. Next week, we get the introduction and downfall of the season’s worst character ever. Until then, all we can do is wait.

The Last of Us is now airing on HBO and streaming via HBO Max!

Have you played The Last of Us or its sequel? If so, what are your thoughts? Let us know! For more drama, horror and science-fiction-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Also, if you want a closer look at Ellie, Joel, and the Infected, then you might want to purchase the Artwork of The Last of Us (2013) via Amazon!