Elsewhere in the city, bandit leader Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey), her second-in-command Perry (Jeffrey Pierce), and their group search for Henry (Lamar Johnson) and his brother Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard).

Mazin found the production locations in Canada more closely imitated Kansas City and felt Pittsburgh was not important enough to the story to justify the difficulty in manufacturing it.

[1]: 26:03 In August, Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Montreal Woodard's casting as Henry and Sam was announced alongside the confirmation of Kansas City replacing Pittsburgh.

[18] Druckmann found following antagonistic characters made the story more interesting, allowing an understanding and justification of their actions,[1]: 16:44  as opposed to being seen as "obstacles" like in the game.

[19]: 2:42  Mazin compared Kathleen to Madame Defarge from Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859): a revolutionary who becomes terroristic due to cruel circumstances, which allows the audience to empathize.

[22] Mazin and Druckmann felt her casting was unusual as she has a "sweetness" that conflicts with Kathleen's position in the episode, an intentional decision to intrigue the audience;[1]: 23:58  Lynskey wanted to play the character as "soft spoken and delicate" to juxtapose her violence.

[20] In response to a comment from Adrianne Curry stating Kathleen's "body says life of luxury...not post apocolyptic [sic] warlord", Lynskey wrote the character was meant to be intelligent rather than muscly.

[27] Madeline Carpou of The Mary Sue felt its inclusion reflected Ellie's character arc: her actions in the episode set her down a path towards the events of Part II.

[28] Following their use in the episode, "True Faith" and "Alone and Forsaken" ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, on Billboard's Top TV Songs chart for February.

The website's critical consensus called the episode "a terse chapter that's preoccupied with setup over payoff" but "an absorbing watch all the same thanks to Joel and Ellie's budding chemistry".

[6] Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's performances as Joel and Ellie were praised;[37][38][42] Den of Geek's Boo lauded their nuance in quieter moments.

[44] Push Square's Bayne found the pacing effectively blended character moments and action sequences, and wanted the episode to be longer as a result.

[26] IGN's Simon Cardy enjoyed the humorous moments between Joel and Ellie, though noted the episode was generally weaker as it primarily stands to set up the following one.

[3] Den of Geek's Boo considered Kathleen and her group less interesting than the previous episode's Bill and Frank, but acknowledged their stories remained unfinished.

[4] Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall wrote the narrative setup, while less engaging than the previous week, was necessary considering the events of the following episode.

[42] IGN's Cardy compared the cinematography during the ambush sequence to Emmanuel Lubezki's work in Children of Men (2006), calling it demonstrative of "the classiness on display in every aspect of the show's production".

[37] Push Square's Bayne lauded Webb's direction for focusing on quieter moments,[43] and The Escapist's Mooney applauded his decision to keep the camera on Ellie and Kathleen when they fire their guns.

[41] The New York Times's Noel Murray commended John Paino's production design, "from the trashed gas stations to the wreckage-strewn Kansas City streets".