The Killing Moon

We’re no better off as we come back to ‘present day’ dystopia with Ellie watching over an ashen-faced Joel as he tries to fight his infected wound.

No, not that kind of infected, but he isn’t looking good. Ellie knows he needs to build his strength, so she heads off on the hunt.

What she finds is David and his band of brothers, out tracking the very deer she has in her sights. Following an awkward stand-off, she agrees a trade for antibiotics, but in a cruel twist of fate – and one that has you questioning yet again how far one should excuse dreadful actions with love – the man who stabbed Joel and was immediately killed by him was one of David’s community… and they want revenge.

I will admit my first eye-roll as it appeared that a person of faith, leading a religious community, was the bad guy. Turns out I was wrong – he wasn’t a person of faith, he was an opportunistic manipulator with the blackest of souls who exploited an apocalypse to create a theocratic prison for his ‘flock’. It made me sick and I think that’s exactly as intended. Not satisfied with one hideous evil, it’s soon clear he’s guilty of another.

He says he recognises something of Ellie’s fire, her natural-born leadership, but it’s a deeply self-serving play and I am so pleased to say that he underestimated her. He definitely shouldn’t have played with that particular fire, that’s for sure.

Ellie, sadly, doesn’t escape the trauma David inflicts unscathed. You can see something break in her and it’s one of the most harrowing scenes in a series full of  harrowing scenes. Oh Ellie. If you ever had a childhood in this world, it’s over now.

Verdict: So cruelly you kissed me… but that killing moon came too soon. 8/10

Claire Smith