The Last of Us - Feel Her Love

Day 2 of Ellie’s journey in Seattle is as momentous as it is in the video game as she tracks down Nora in the hospital and tortures her for information. I appreciate how unafraid the show and its actors are to go to the darkest places. Bella Ramsey’s portrayal of this vital scene is a lot colder and more ruthless feeling than in the game, adding new layers to her grief and just how far she is willing to go.

I think one of my favourite things about this show is how it feels like a love letter to the game and to fans of the game while still being open and raw for newcomers to enjoy the story. There is a certain reverence in the quieter, more peaceful moments of the episode. The scene where Ellie looks around the theatre stands out to me as she connects with this memory of a bygone age and takes some moments away from the horrors of the outside world.

It allows her to settle into her grief with a brief rendition of Pearl Jam’s ‘Future Days’. It’s an anachronistic song given the show changed the outbreak from 2013 to 2003, but I’m grateful it was kept in the story for its thematic importance to both Ellie, Joel, and their relationship as a whole.

The quieter moments like this are also what make the more horrifying elements of the show sing. Yes, we got out first introduction to stalkers way back in the premiere but that in no way prepared me for how insanely horrifying they would be in larger numbers. I thought as someone who’s played the game countless times that I would be prepared for these encounters, but the game’s stalkers are positively delightful compared to these monsters.

The stalker design was a great way of adding tension to the encounter to offset the fact that it was pretty obvious that Ellie and Dina were never really in any danger by virtue of being the main characters. This show is really putting the actors and their characters through their paces and it’s a testament to their acting that they can make fights like these feel tense even without the stakes of not knowing whether they will survive or not.

We also get our first introduction to spores in this episode, which is timely as the spores are a key part of the confrontation with Nora in the game and I don’t think the scene would have played out as well without them. The imagery of the people trapped in the fungus, still alive, the spores misting out on their breaths was inspired and haunting. It’s this kind of unsettling atmosphere that makes me such a big fan of horror in the first place and I love that the show keeps finding new ways to impress me.

We also have Jesse re-introduced to the story this episode, having arrived in Seattle with Tommy to find Ellie and Dina. We don’t see Tommy however which is a little disappointing as I’d had high hopes that the scope of the television show would have been able to give us more time to see his side of the story in Seattle. But it’s good to have Jesse there as Young Mazino has great chemistry with both Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced and I’ve been looking forward to seeing their dynamics develop, particularly in the wake of Dina’s pregnancy.

What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments below!

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