Seattle: Day Two has begun, and The Last of Us Season 2 is progressing at an even faster pace than I could have imagined from the game. Dina and Ellie are one step closer to finding Abby; however, Ellie finds herself one step closer to losing her soul. All this and more on this week’s The Last of Us.

Like last week, we begin with a flashback in Seattle with the WLFs. This time Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach) is talking to one of her Sergeants, Park. There was an incident, and they had to quarantine a basement at their local hospital. Fans of the game will know why! There was something critical in the first game that caused a lot of obstacles but was left out of the first season: spores! Spores can infect anyone who inhales them, so the game requires everyone but Ellie to wear a gas mask when they encounter an area with them. In other words, the virus has gone airborne!

In the present, Dina (Isabella Merced), once again showing she’s the brains of the operation, is triangulating the positions of the WLF troops back to their bases. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) reveals that she’s bad at math and leaves Dina to do her thing. This is such a good dynamic, because right now Ellie needs a logical voice of reason and intelligence. She’d be dead without Dina.

Like the game, Ellie explores the theater a bit and comes across a main stage with a series of guitars. Once again, in the game, you could pick one up and play with it, much like Ellie does here. And like the game, we hear the intro of a fan favorite song: “Future Days” by Pearl Jam. For those who played the game, you’ll know why this was an incredibly emotional song and the significance it has to Ellie. Here, it’s a really great visual illustration of her sorrow over Joel’s death. Me too Ellie. Me too.

Dina figures out where they need to go, and the duo sets out. They come across a series of Seraphite corpses that have been brutally murdered by the WLFs, with an intolerant slogan spray painted on the wall above them. It’s such a disgusting but very realistic sight. A sign of peace says “Feel her Love” but spray painted below it by the WLFs says “Feel This, B**ch.” It gets Dina to confess to Ellie the tragedy of her first kill, which was an event that led to the deaths of her mother and sister. She understands where Ellie is coming from, and showcases her support for this mission, reassuring Ellie that no matter what, she’s with her. It’s such a sweet moment of support and love, and Ramsey and Merced have the most genuine chemistry. Again, Dina is amazing!

They make it to an abandoned office building where they suspect they will likely encounter some infected. They’re not wrong. Only the infected they encounter end up being intelligent ones, and the entire place is filled with them. In a terrific and incredibly suspenseful scene, Ellie urges Dina to lock herself in a supply storage cage, and the infected begin tearing away at it, as the others swarm and bite Ellie. Then, before you can say “deus ex machina” an unknown gunman comes in and saves them. Oh, hi Jesse (Young Mazino)! He and Tommy came to Seattle for Ellie and Dina!

Unfortunately, the sound of the gunshots from the altercation has lured WLFs to the location, and they chase down the trio, who flees into a nearby park. The WLFs immediately cease fire and turn back. That’s because the park is Seraphite territory, as Jesse, Ellie, and Dina witness first hand. While hidden in the vegetation, they see a group of Seraphites taking a captured WLF soldier. They proceed to hang him, while inserting a sharp scythe into his stomach, and disemboweling him. It’s brutal and horrifying. The trio is spotted, and Dina is shot with an arrow, as the Scars believe them to be WLFs. They split up, as the Serphites give chase, The whistling and the torches are an eerie sight to behold after such a brutal moment. Luckily, our heroes escape and lay low until the crazy cult disperses.

Away from the rest of the group, Ellie escapes the park and comes across a hospital, a WLF encampment. Little does she know that at that hospital is Nora (Tati Gabrielle), one of Abby’s friends, last seen aiding Abby in her murder of Joel. Ellie finds her and holds her at gunpoint. Bella Ramsey is incredibly menacing in this moment, revealing to Nora she knows who she is, and threatening her with steely resolve. Gabrielle also gives a cruel performance as Nora plays mind games. She tries to get away, but Ellie is able to chase her down. It’s an absolutely terrifying moment, with Ellie’s bloodthirsty mercilessness coming to the surface.

Nora tries to escape down an elevator shaft, that drops down to (you guessed it) the aforementioned basement level of the hospital; the one Park was talking to Hanrahan about at the beginning. Ellie relentlessly follows her down, as we finally see hundreds of cordyceps growing all over the place, with disgusting spores everywhere. It looks like a warped and disgusting version of The Upside Down from Stranger Things. Ellie is able to track down Nora who is already dying and infected.

“You killed us both,” Nora growls.

“Did I?,” Ellie fires back, coldly.

In her final moments, Nora finds out Ellie is immune. She explains to Ellie about the horrors that Joel committed to the Fireflies and Abby’s father at the hospital from Season 1. Ellie tells her she knows before demanding once more to know where Abby is, which Nora refuses to tell her. Ellie’s cruel streak unleashes itself, as she savagely puts away her gun, finds a lead pipe, and begins beating Nora brutally. You can absolutely see how the cycle of vengeance and violence is slowly turning Ellie into something unspeakable, and it’s heartbreaking to watch as she descends more and more into a place of no return.

The show cuts away just long enough though, to remind us of the happy teenager Ellie once was, as, very likely in a flashback, a familiar character returns.

Overall Score for 2×05: A-

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We have decided to move forward with recaps for The Last of Us Season 2 on a week by week basis. Check out our recap of Episode 2×03 right here, and 2×04 here.

As someone who is passionate about the game and the series, I feel it’s our responsibility to do what we can to combat the often cacophonous sounds of online trolls review bombing a show that features beautiful themes and incredible representation for POC leads like Merced, Luna, Pedro Pascal, and more, as well as brilliant LGBTQ+ representation. It simply does not make sense for petty individuals to get away with trying to destroy a work of art just because they don’t love what it represents and the messages it’s trying to convey. So if you’re not a fan of what we’re trying to do here, you can simply ignore this. However, for those of you who feel as strongly as we do, about continuing to promote diversity and amazing story telling within the nerd community, I encourage you to buckle up. Because we’re going to go through this harrowing journey together over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned fans!