LAST OF US EPISODE 6 JUST SUBVERTED A COMMON POST-APOCALYPTIC TROPE

In both The Last of Us game and the series, the trip to Tommy's settlement in Jackson provides a moment of respite for Joel and Ellie. They can rest, shower, get warm clothes for winter, and plan for the future. In the series, Joel and Tommy have a long conversation, during which Tommy tells Joel that he cannot replace him for the rest of Ellie's journey to the Fireflies, as he has a good life in Jackson with his wife Maria and a baby on the way.

However, there is a grim truth behind Tommy's "good life," which is revealed in one of the episode's smallest but most powerful moments. This moment reveals an important trait of any post-apocalyptic story. Joel and Ellie are given a tour of Jackson by Maria and Tommy and see that the community has everything one needs to survive. When Ellie asks if Maria is in charge, she replies that she is a democratically elected member of a council. Tommy adds that everything they see is completely shared with collective ownership.

When Joel deadpans, "So, Communism?" Tommy is quick to dismiss it. But Maria surprisingly agrees with Joel, stating that it is literally like that, and that they are communists. This realization stops Tommy in his tracks, as he did not realize that the community he built, which aims to serve as many people as possible, was communism. He thought it was just the best way to provide for survivors.

This accidental communism trope is all over post-apocalyptic media. If you are in a world devoid of any infrastructure, your first thought isn't the "every man for himself" ideals of capitalism, but the sharing and rationing of community-based survival. Other examples of this trope include Lost, Dark, and Netflix's The Society.

The Last of Us series "lampshades" this trope by drawing more attention to it. Tommy's hard-working contractor personality was born and bred in capitalism, and he, like Joel, grew up in the South in the 80s, where they would have been inundated with fearmongering of communism and socialism. However, in a world overrun with Infected, there is no room for the free market. Even Fedra's operation is a version of socialism with its system of rations and military schooling. Jackson is the idyllic example of how communism would work with perfect circumstances and an unwitting leader - a slice of the old life in a world mostly devoid of life altogether.

The Last of Us airs new episodes on Sundays on HBO.