Within the official podcast dialogue for the most recent episode, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann advised host Troy Baker about survivors who stayed alive by merely carving out a quiet nook in the course of nowhere, just like the couple at the start of the episode. Utterly remoted from the destiny of the world, these individuals had been capable of survive “lowering their world” right down to the house they made for themselves whereas staying out of hurt’s manner. Druckmann addressed this intimately:

“For followers of the sport, particularly ‘Half II,’ it reveals you may survive for those who discover, like, a quiet nook. There are nonetheless secure areas. It isn’t simply all doom, gloom, and hazard, like, round each nook. It does exist, however you may survive there by yourself.”

Furthermore, Mazin credited episode director Jasmila Žbanić for bringing her personal experiences as somebody who grew up in the course of conflict in Sarajevo to the episode. As an alternative of being thinking about depicting war-torn landscapes, Žbanić was extra thinking about depicting a “society that really functioned” in a world ravaged by calamity. The Jackson commune provided the right alternative for Žbanić to take action, because it allowed her to flesh out characters like Maria, who relied on strategies of survival that didn’t contain violence in any respect.

The dialog between Joel and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) touches upon this — though they did what they needed to for survival, there are different methods to exist with out having to kill harmless individuals. Generally, circumstances depart individuals like Joel with no selection, however these non-violent strategies, though harder to embody and stay by in such a world, exist. Žbanić makes use of this philosophy to etch a good looking, shifting episode about human goodness, the place hope exists even within the bleakest of instances.

“The Final of Us” airs Sundays on HBO.