‘The Last of Us’ episode 5: What does Ellie’s message on Sam’s board really mean?

Oh you thought things couldn’t be more emotionally draining Last of Us Was it episode 3?

Well, it seems we were all wrong about that.

After a tense, action-packed escape from Kansas City, followed by a violent confrontation with Kathleen’s militia, and an erupting sinkhole full of infected, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and new pals Henry (Lamar) Johnson) and Sam (Kevon Woodard) — were going to have a happy ending in Episode 5. Joel must have had adult companions who he reluctantly respected! Ellie would have friends to read comics with!

But no. Of course it was too good to be true. And after the episode abruptly ends in tragedy, Ellie writes a simple note by Sam’s grave saying “I’m sorry.”

But what exactly happened? What do the notes mean? Let’s recap.

What happened to Ellie and Sam?

With the door to the room they share in an abandoned motel closed, a deaf Sam uses a magic eraser board to question Ellie.

“Do you have any fears?”

After a bit of back and forth and joking about the scorpions not landing, Ellie gets serious.

“I’m scared to end up alone,” she writes. “what about you?”

“Are you still inside when you become a monster?” is Sam’s answer.

At this point, he pulls up his pants leg to reveal a bloody bite mark. During an earlier confrontation, Sam was bitten by the Infected without anyone else realizing it. Ellie probably knows what this means, but doesn’t leave the room to tell Joel. But either way, she showed Sam her healed bite marks and wrote on the chalkboard, “My blood is medicine.” She then cuts her palm and smears blood on the wound on Sam’s leg, the last thing Sam wrote was “stay up with me” and Ellie “I promise” and answer.

Sadly it’s not good. The next morning, when Ellie gets up in her chair, she finds Sam has an infection. He attacks her and is shot dead by her brother Henry, who turns her gun on himself.

Why does Ellie write “I’m sorry” on the blackboard?

After Henry and Sam are buried, a blank-faced Ellie places the boy’s magic eraser board by the mound of dirt. When I picked it up after Joel had left, I noticed she had written two words, “I’m sorry.”

On the surface, there are many ways to interpret this. Of course, the simplest explanation is that Ellie is sorry that Sam has passed away. I think it’s linked to a conversation I had with

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Henry asks as two adults watch children reading cartoons in another room.

“Yeah, I think it’s easier with kids anyway,” Joel replies. “There is no one else to rely on. That is the difficult part.”

The line about who depends on you is important. When the door closed and Ellie and Sam were alone at the motel, they were no longer just kids. they were friends now. Sam confided her secret to Ellie, and for better or worse she temporarily assumed the “adult” role in the situation.

Ellie writing “I’m sorry” on the board could have several different meanings. It could mean that she’s sorry that her blood didn’t help save him, or that she didn’t keep her promise to stay up with him. There is a nature.

But more than anything, it signifies a tragic growing up moment for her character. With Sam, she had someone to count on for her self, and she betrayed him, at least in her own mind.

As she writes the note, she may also be grappling with the broader implications of what Sam’s death means. So I had to transport Ellie… She’s special. But what if her gift can actually help no one but her?

What if all that was in vain and Sam was just one of the many people he couldn’t save? There is one more thing.

The Last of Us is streaming now HBO Max.(opens in new tab) New episodes air every Sunday at 9pm ET on HBO.