The Last of Us is incredible. It truly is a show worth every ounce of praise. From its stakes to its characters to its keen attention to detail, The Last of Us is building a world that's both magnetic and repelling (lest I remind you of that Clicker kid). But with all its detailed world-building, the show has yet to explain a minute detail that's been plaguing me for the past few weeks: How the hell are people still eating bread?
In episode 2 we learn that the cause of the cordyceps outbreak was a contaminated supply of flour and grain produced out of Jakarta, which provides the world's largest flour supply. We also deduced that the reason Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Sarah (Nico Parker) never got infected that day was because they avoided eating biscuits, pancake mix, and birthday cake (which thankfully Joel forgot to buy). But then in episode 2, right after a bone-chilling sequence of events in Jakarta, we see Ellie (Bella Ramsey) eat a sandwich. And not just any sandwich. A chicken sandwich with sliced toast that looks straight out of a Sara Lee bag from Target.
The show-stopping bread consumption doesn't end there. We also see Bill (Nick Offerman), Frank (Murray Bartlett), Tess (Anna Torv), and Joel eat some bread rolls in a flashback to the foursome's first hangout. Bill and Frank are also regularly seen feasting on bread. Now, is it interesting to see The Last of Us transform bread into a jump-scare worthy prop? Yes, it is. But is it also a giant question mark that we need to answer? Well, it probably isn't, but it's an itch I need to scratch.
We can assume that our cottage-core kings, Bill and Frank, are making their own bread. They're out here — mid-apocalypse — growing strawberries, eating roast, and having wine, so we can assume that the couple is savvy enough to make their own sourdough at home. But what about Ellie's sandwich? She mentions that Marlene (Merle Dandridge) got the chicken from smugglers, so in that vein, Marlene also probably got the toast from an outside source as well.
The Fireflies have multiple bases, and we know they're even living in lab centers. There's a whole bunch of doctors trying to make a cure, so maybe there's a whole bunch of former botanists occupying an abandoned center to grow produce, and yes, even make bread. While it may seem far-fetched to imagine a group of people entirely dedicated to making bread (or other foods), what else would you try to do to survive in an apocalypse? Canned food is limited, and with no end in sight, it makes sense that the Fireflies would dedicate their resources to grow things and do some baking.
I'd also assume that these lab centers probably developed a process to make sure their supply isn't contaminated, or might be using oats or something instead of flour. And if the Fireflies aren't actually the ones making bread, it could be a self-sustained community like Tommy's (Gabriel Luna) producing and outsourcing it to smugglers for a hefty price.
But all of these ideas are just a bunch of what if's, and an overarching theme tying them all together is this: It's really hard to imagine making bread in an apocalypse that started because of bread. So why bother? Why even try to make this thing? Does no one have any trauma? One round of food poisoning can put you off a meal forever, so how is everyone fine with eating carbs again?
My bread dilemma seemingly adds another layer to The Last of Us' world-building, introducing a reversal to the food group hierarchy. In our world, carbs are the most abundant and common food group. But in The Last of Us world, carbs are more like caviar. It's interesting to see everyone go through so much to still make and eat carbs. It also goes to show one of the many ways humanity has adapted to the apocalypse — endure, survive, and try to eat carbs by any means necessary.
Yes, Ellie having that mouth-watering sandwich is a loose plot hole, but I'm going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and assume they've figured out how to grow uncontaminated grains 20 years into the apocalypse. That still doesn't explain how they've all managed to collectively heal from the trauma of outbreak day, aka bread's villain origin story, but I digress. In their defense, I think living in a carb-less world would have gotten me before the zombies.
The Last of Us is now streaming on HBO Max.
Topics HBO The Last of Us
