The Last Of Us Episode 7 Shows Why FEDRA Was A Necessary Evil In The Apocalypse

After getting into a fight with one of her fellow juvenile FEDRA trainees, Ellie is disciplined by FEDRA Captain Kwong (played by "Kung Fu's" Terry Chen). While giving her a stern talking-to about cups and keys (a questionable visual metaphor for Ellie's career potential), Kwong asserts that FEDRA has kept society from completely falling apart. Despite the fact that the organization has devolved into a mostly corrupt, fascist police force that primarily seeks to maintain its own power rather than to help rebuild society, Episode 7 does show why the government believed martial law was their best option.

Presumably not grasping the full scope of the impending apocalypse, those in power merely sought to preserve "order." As we see when Ellie and Riley visit this mall, one way in which this short-sighted goal manifested itself was in the forceful prevention of looting. While the fate of material objects and property would be irrelevant (even if the world didn't ultimately descend into complete decay), it does remind viewers that people in the world of "The Last of Us" can be dangerously selfish.

From mere isolationists like Bill (Nick Offerman) hoarding resources to the vicious bandits who murder for supplies, "The Last of Us" would have viewers understand that people can give in to their worst impulses at the end of the world. Though the ends don't justify the means and the negatives of FEDRA's existence arguably outweigh the positives, Episode 7 provides some perspective on how it rose to power in the first place and why it could be seen as necessary.