The Last Of Us praised for Pedro Pascal's portrayal of Joel's PTSD

Spoiler warning: this article contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode six - scroll with caution.

The Last of Us’ latest episode, ‘Kin’, was a spicy one to say the least. There’s no doubt that certain events will have hit a lot harder for new fans than those who’ve previously played the game, although I’m sure at this point everyone knows to go into a new episode expecting heartbreak.

Although the show has remained very faithful to the source material, ‘Kin’ made some changes to Joel’s character that have been widely praised by viewers. When he asks Tommy to take Ellie to the Fireflies, he shows a much more realistic side of himself, and delivers a heart-rending monologue in which he reveals that he has “moments where the fear comes up out of nowhere”.

Take a look at the trailer for The Last of Us below.

Over on Reddit, one user wrote that the show’s portrayal of Joel’s PTSD is “one of the most realistic portrayals I've ever seen”.

“I can see how it reads as Pedro [Pascal's] Joel being ‘softer’, but nobody would call a war vet ‘soft’ for having a panic attack when confronted with violence, or for being brought to tears by their nightmares, or for going to extreme lengths to avoid certain situations entirely,” petrichorsnowstorm wrote. “Joel’s behaviour this episode makes perfect sense in this context. And the reason we're seeing so much of it now, and not sooner, is because he's finally grown to love Ellie like a daughter, and it's given him something to lose again. (Think of Bill - ‘I was never scared before I met you.’) ‘Brutal Joel’ had been his original trauma response, one that saw him shut out his feelings entirely because they were too painful. But now that those feelings have crept back in, Brutal Joel is breaking down."

Others are in total agreement: “It's spot on portrayal. Soldiers and trauma survivors oftentimes seem ok or may bit a bit closed off emotionally but then something triggered [sic] them and it turns into a near debilitating panic attack,” East-Bluejay6891 wrote.

The next episode will air on Sunday 26 February in the U.S., and Monday 27 February in the UK.